Sony X70 and FCP X

[Paul Anderegg]

My shiny new X70 arrived, I rolled off a single clip in XAVC, and attempted to import into FCP X 10.1.1. First try, the program crashed. The second time, it only sees the PRIVATE folder, and no clips or other folders below that.

Did I just spend $2400 for a new camera that is not FCP X compatible? never had any problems importing the XAVC S files from my CX90. Any help would be greatly appreciated. As a fallback I will have to ingest through SDI and a Blackmagic MiniRecorder....ugh.

Paul

[Paul Anderegg]

Downloaded Content Browser and Catalyst Browse from Sony. Still a no go, for the most part. It will only let me "convert" to various flavors of mp4, such as 360p web, or 720p Apple Devices, and something called DPX. ProRes and other forms of XAVC are greyed out when I attempt to select them.

Switched the camera to 720p60 AVCHD.......at least that will ingest without a problem.....so much for 4:2:2 50Mbps quality. Hope this issue is resolved soon.

Paul;

[John Nantz]

Not sure why Sony doesn't want to have a file output that is FCP X friendly but you'd think it would be in their best interest to cooperate. JVC has *.mov file output so it is a friendly drag-and-drop procedure, or however one want's to do it.

Came across an aftermarket application that claims to convert sony files to Apple ProRes for FCP X/7/6 at Sony PXW-X70 FCP X | Edit PXW-X70 XAVC in FCP X via ProRes

Don't know if it's available in the App Store or if it even works. May be something worth looking into, though. Just a pain in the you-know-what workflow, though. Bringing files into another application is just more chances for errors, problems, and snafus, not to mention possible loss of quality in the data.

Don't think I'd spend that kind of money on a camcorder that only outputs to 720 without going through a lot of hassle. It'd be interesting to see if sony has a good solution to the problem.

[Paul Anderegg]

My final playback TO AIR is HDV 720p60 18Mbps MPEG2, so it's not the biggest deal in the world, but I like to play with color correction, and was hoping the 4:2:2 would benefit that process.

And there must be a million "convert to ProRes" apps out there......90% of them are infested with malware and adware.....ugh.

Paul

[Paul Anderegg]

Same problem exists on my Windows setup with Vegas Pro.

Sony Creative Software - Forums - Vegas Pro - Video Messages

Not much use at this time for a 4:2:2 format that is uneditable by any NLE. Unfortunately, Sony did not include the dual/proxy record feature they have in the consumer versions of these cameras, which would have allowed archiving of 4:2:2 but editing of AVCHD.

Paul

[Tim Kolb]

Originally Posted by John Nantz

Not sure why Sony doesn't want to have a file output that is FCP X friendly but you'd think it would be in their best interest to cooperate. JVC has *.mov file output so it is a friendly drag-and-drop procedure, or however one want's to do it.

A .mov file isn't exactly ideal for every NLE... On Windows, QuickTime is still 32 bit.

I'm not certain what FCPX's market penetration is nowadays, but I doubt any camera manufacturer is worried about FCPX needing to convert their media being a professional post production deal-breaker.

You've got HDMI and SDI outputs for a KiPro if you want to record ProRes...

[Mike Griffiths]

Originally Posted by John Nantz

Not sure why Sony doesn't want to have a file output that is FCP X friendly but you'd think it would be in their best interest to cooperate. JVC has *.mov file output so it is a friendly drag-and-drop procedure, or however one want's to do it.

Came across an aftermarket application that claims to convert sony files to Apple ProRes for FCP X/7/6 at Sony PXW-X70 FCP X | Edit PXW-X70 XAVC in FCP X via ProRes

Don't know if it's available in the App Store or if it even works. May be something worth looking into, though. Just a pain in the you-know-what workflow, though. Bringing files into another application is just more chances for errors, problems, and snafus, not to mention possible loss of quality in the data.

Don't think I'd spend that kind of money on a camcorder that only outputs to 720 without going through a lot of hassle. It'd be interesting to see if sony has a good solution to the problem.

You are out of luck Ackrok, like all the converters I've tried, may pick up the audio but not the video. Even Bulletproof, who, when told, don't seem to believe it. I've just come to Sony from years with Panasonic, I'm astonished at their compete incompetence is marketing a great camera but whose footage you cannot see! Sony Crystal browse sort of works, I can import Pro Res proxy into Premiere Pro CS6 but what is it with the H264 preset? why such low grade ones? the 1080p is 15Mb/s! where's even the top AVCHD quality? You can only import one clip at a time, but this seems to be a mistake on Sony's part. I live in Thailand where the saddest joke of the moment is the complete incompetence of the police in handling the murder of two Brits on an Island and the Minister suggesting that, since we can't catch the murderer, let's tag all the tourists. Well Sony's handling of this ,while not as sad is equally incompetent.
Why not useAVCHD 1080p.until they sort out this mess, footage is great.

[John Nantz]

It's a bummer to spend that much money on a camcorder in this day and age then not have a smooth workflow. A workaround for $995 retail could be the Atmos Samurai Blade recorder-monitor. Samurai Blade | Atomos
"Lossless edit friendly compression" in ProRes and 10-bit 4:2:2

On the plus side, the recorder-monitor can be used on any camera.

As an aside, just last week Sony just increased their loss forecast for their budget year ending in March to over US$2-billion and that is deeper than was expected. They've been taking a real hit in the phone division. Last year sony sold their computer division and spun off it's television group into a separate unit. Their game network and imaging business seems to be areas where they may be doing okay.

There may be a reason why Sony doesn't want to play with FCPX while JVC, for example, has no problem and seems to be doing well. Corporate gamesmanship maybe???

[Paul Anderegg]

Found out that Catalyst Browse will not transcode 720, but will transcode 1080. Problem is, you must transcode each clip one at a time. I just shot 15 minutes of b-roll, something like 55 clips, and it greyed out the transcode option if more than one was selected. BM Media Express won't take 1080 60p, so I had to ingest via SDI 720. Very annoying that Sony offers up such a useless "workaround" for their new broadcast codec. One clip at a time...really Sony?

Paul

[Noa Put]

Originally Posted by John Nantz

It's a bummer to spend that much money on a camcorder in this day and age then not have a smooth workflow. - There may be a reason why Sony doesn't want to play with FCPX while JVC, for example, has no problem and seems to be doing well. Corporate gamesmanship maybe???

It's a new codec so it's normal NLE manufacturers need some time to catch up to release updates, don't think it's Sony's fault their codec doesn't seem to work with FCPX yet but it's apple that needs to release a update to make it compatible again, same applies for other NLE"s.

[David Dixon]

Just downloaded and tried Catalyst Browse (free) with some bare (not in a folder structure) .mxf clips from the X70. On my Mac, Browse *will* play and convert those to any flavor of ProRes including HQ, etc. And the resulting clips do import normally into FCPX.

As has been mentioned though, only one clip at a time can be converted.

For several years, dating back to Final Cut 7 and earlier, various Canon (XF Series) and (I think) Sony XDCAM clips have required a plugin for Final Cut import. I assume Apple provided some info, but the plugins are created, maintained by, and downloaded from Canon and Sony. I'm sure this will be forthcoming, but am glad there is at least a workaround for now on Macs.

However, when FCPX came out, it was six months before Canon provided a plugin for the .mxf from the XF100/300 cameras - we had to import in FCP7, then use those files in X. I hope it won't take that long this time.

[Ron Evans]

Originally Posted by Noa Put

It's a new codec so it's normal NLE manufacturers need some time to catch up to release updates, don't think it's Sony's fault their codec doesn't seem to work with FCPX yet but it's apple that needs to release a update to make it compatible again, same applies for other NLE"s.

Edius will edit with these files OK but even Sony Vegas will not at the moment. That is even sillier than FCPX !!! Vegas will edit XAVC-S and XAVC but not XAVC LGOP from the X70 or I imagine from the X160/180 which are the same. Windows version will also only transcode one file at a time no batch convert. An almost useless piece of software.

Ron Evans

[Robert Young]

Originally Posted by Noa Put

It's a new codec so it's normal NLE manufacturers need some time to catch up to release updates, don't think it's Sony's fault their codec doesn't seem to work with FCPX yet but it's apple that needs to release a update to make it compatible again, same applies for other NLE"s.

Premiere CC 2014 will import, play and edit the codec- but it is astonishing that Vegas, the Sony NLE, can't do it yet.
Sony will need to quickly produce an import utility that does for XAVC LG exactly what Sony PMH does for Sony cam AVCHD

[John Nantz]

"Money talks" The bottom line is that Sony is bleeding financially and every division must do a better job of supporting the company.

Look at the figures for SNE (Sony on the stock exchange). These are the annual Net Profit figures for the years 2010 to 2014 in Billions of Yen (~ ¥109 = $1 as of today)
Reference: SNE Annual Income Statement - Sony Corp. ADS Annual Financials

Based on their Net Profit in the table below, if they want to stay afloat then it would be prudent if they would create a hassle-free workflow for their cameras to export files to FCPX. On the other hand, they may be between a rock and a hard place with no money to fund the development work. This will be interesting.

The one-file-at-a-time is not considered hassle-free so they must do better.

For comparison:
AAPL Net Profit figures: Billions
2013 + $5.68
2014 + $6.34 Est
2015 + $7.03 Est

Market place - it's all about competition, isn't it?
The figure for 2014 may be an estimate.

[Craig Seeman]

Asked Ian Cook from Sony on another forum he visits, about XAVC-L support in FCPX and he said it's coming. Didn't say when. It looks to be an FCPX plugin. It'll have the option to rewrap or transcode the .mxf.

It'll be posted here when it happens.
Software for Sony Equipment

Specifically it'll be an update to this.
http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/pdzk-lt2