Sony PXW-Z150 File size

[Harry Arthur]

I have just recently purchased the above Camera and have used it a number of times for Christmas Concerts. My problem is that recording on AVCHD format I only get file sizes of 2GB. Any way that this can be changed as there also seems to be a drop out of about 2 frames between clips?

Harry

[Doug Jensen]

Harry, the real solution to your problem is to abandon the clunky old AVCHD consumer format and move to either MPEG HD422 or MPEG HD420. They both provide broadcast quality performance and specifications at still pretty low bitrates. The AVCHD format is included on the Z150 just so Sony could keep the camera backwards compatible -- but it should not be used in 2019.

[Christopher Young]

Harry if you are shooting AVCHD then you will run into the Fat32 file size limit on your cards. AVCHD behaves like this on any camera. Certain programs like Adobe, Vegas, Edius etc can bring these clips in correctly so the nasty two frame issue doesn't raise its head.

In the case of the Sony cams and if you want to avoid the issue you are best to use software like Sony's Content Browser, cost US $20, or Sony's Catalyst Browse which is free, to bring you clips in to the PC from your cards. In the process of doing this Content Browser and Catalyst will stitch all your clips together into a single file without any glitch at the file junctions. When I say all your files I mean all files that belong together in a particular shoot sequence where individual files exceeded the 2GB Fat32 file size limit.

https://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/contentbrowser

https://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/catalystbrowse

Use one of these programs and your problem will be solved. There are are other 'file stitcher' apps out there that people use but you can rely on these two programs to do the job efficiently.

The fact that Catalyst Browse offers other benefits and is free probably puts it at the head of the list. Check out page 47 of the Catalyst Browse PDF on how it all happens with AVCHD in Catalyst.

http://dspcdn.sonycreativesoftware.c...manual_enu.pdf

Seriously though if you want the very best quality files out of your Z150 in HD mode use the XAVC-L 4:2:2 10-bit 50p 50Mbps setting. The other benefit of XAVC files is that they aren't limited to the AVCHD 2GB file size limitation.

Chris Young
Sydney

[Harry Arthur]

Hi to both

Thanks for the advice. Will be trying out this advice asap and let you know how things work out. Amazing how this advice comes from both sides of the world at the same time.

BTW Doug, I enjoy your YouTube video on the same camera. I am still "experimenting" with it.Thank you.

Harry

[Harry Arthur]

Hi again

Set up the camera to run continuously capturing a MPEG HD422 file for 38 Mins. This gave me a 16GB file which I could import into Adobe Premiere CS6. Worked a treat. So thanks to both of you for your advice.

Harry

[Jeff Pulera]

Hi Harry,

Regarding the previously recorded AVCHD clips you recorded - the best workflow with Premiere is to create a NEW folder on hard drive for each SD card you want to transfer. Copy EVERYTHING from the SD card to that new folder, keeping all original folders/files intact from SD card. Then in Premiere, import clips using MEDIA BROWSER rather than File > Import. Then the long recordings with multiple 2GB pieces will actually import as one long clip, with no glitches or gaps. I've done 2.5-hour recitals that way.

In fact, always use the above method regardless of recording format, is best practice, but especially fixes the 2GB gaps you are seeing.

Thanks

Jeff

[Harry Arthur]

Thanks for that tip, Jeff. Will try it one later.

Harry