.mxf low-res proxy viewing on Apple Macs...?

[Paul W Moore]

Hi there

Is there (free) Apple Mac software to enable watching back the low-res .mxf proxy files from Sony's XDCam?

Our production mostly uses Sony's logging software on PCs (even though we are editing on Final Cut) but some colleagues want to take the files home- and have Apple computers they need to watch them back on... any suggestions?

Thanks!

Paul

[Kevin Spivey]

Download the program called "PDZKP1" located on this page:

http://bssc.sel.sony.com/Broadcastan...Download.shtml

I did this last year, and if I am not mistaken I had to download a driver to make the Mac talk to the XDCAM HD camera.

You may not have to though.

[Greg Boston]

As Kevin says, download XDCAM Transfer from Sony. It's free. You can right click on a proxy thumbnail and select export. This will make a low res MPEG4 QT file. It's almost instantaneous as the file is already MPEG4, it just gets unwrapped from the MXF and put into its own QT wrapper.

-gb-

[Paul W Moore]

I think maybe my original post was a bit confusing.

I want to enable people on the team to watch the .mxf files on Apple computers- but without the camera attached...

E.g. we will transfer the proxy files from the camera onto our (PC) network, so everyone can view them at their desktops in the office- and (for those who have Apples at home and need to log footage at home) then they can take the files away with them (on a thumb drive or data DVD).

Would the transfer software enable them to watch those files on their home computer without the camera attached?

[Scot Olson]

Another option is to use the full res file rather than the proxies. Just copy the files to a firewire drive and log them in Final Cut. Drives are cheap and the files are still fairly small.

How many files are they taking?

[Paul W Moore]

Well they'd typically be taking 1-2 discs of footage at a time- since that's what we usually shoot for one package. The low-res files work out to about 1GB for a disc's-worth so they can fit on a thumb drive and copy quickly- using a firewire drive just means a lot of copying time.

[Scot Olson]

1 or 2 disks is also pretty typical here. On our system 1 disk take from 5 to 10 minutes to copy from our XSAN to a firewire drive. This is really fast compared to moving the files off the XDCAM disk to the server. When we first looked at XDCAM I thought we would be using the proxies, but the software is not there yet on the Mac to use them easily.

The reality has been, with the low data rates, using the essence has not been to much of a problem. Sony should be releasing a new version of XDCAM Transfer shortly and that might bring some type of proxy workflow, although I don't remember that being mentioned as one of its features when I saw it at NAB.

What I am really looking forward to is the release of Final Cut Server. I don’t think it is going to use the XDCAM native proxies, which seems a waste, but it should provide a proxy workflow that is practical to use in a Final Cut editing environment.

[Greg Boston]

Just copy each disc's 'SUB' directory to a folder on a thumb drive. Name the folder the same as the disc volume name to keep it organized.

Pretty sure you can do the following:

Mount thumb drive on the Mac, start XDCAM Transfer, then select 'Add' from the lower left pane. A Finder window will open allowing you to point XDCAM Transfer to your folder on the thumb drive. Repeat the ADD process for each folder of proxies.

Logging may have to be by hand at home because I believe mark in/out points are stored locally with the computer that's running XDCAM Transfer.

-gb-

[Paul W Moore]

But it didn't quite work- since it won't play the files- it only lets you 'import' them- it converts the .mxf proxies to Quicktime files, which doesn't help since colleagues I have who want to watch them back need timecode in order to log...

[Greg Boston]

Originally Posted by Paul W Moore

But it didn't quite work- since it won't play the files- it only lets you 'import' them- it converts the .mxf proxies to Quicktime files, which doesn't help since colleagues I have who want to watch them back need timecode in order to log...

Yep, I see what you mean. I just duplicated your workflow by copying proxies from directory SUB of the disc onto an SD card on my Windows laptop. Took the card and attached to Mac then fired up XDCAM Transfer. Selected ADD and pointed it to the directory on the SD card. Can't view in XDCAM Transfer but if you import them they still have the timecode track. You have to go into Quicktime Player, open Preferences, and select show timecode when available and show absolute frames. Re-start the player and you'll now see the original timecode at the lower left of the window.

MPEG Streamclip is a free application that will allow you to create a batch list but I have to figure out how to make it show the original clip timecode.

-gb-

[Harley Flanagan]

Originally Posted by Paul W Moore

But it didn't quite work- since it won't play the files- it only lets you 'import' them- it converts the .mxf proxies to Quicktime files, which doesn't help since colleagues I have who want to watch them back need timecode in order to log...

We have the same issue.

THe good news is, the new version of XDCAM TRANSFER for the Mac will have an EXPORT w/ TC BURN-IN function.

We saw it on display at the Sony Booth and I imagine it will be here "any day now"

:)

[Greg Boston]

Originally Posted by Harley Flanagan

We have the same issue.

THe good news is, the new version of XDCAM TRANSFER for the Mac will have an EXPORT w/ TC BURN-IN function.

We saw it on display at the Sony Booth and I imagine it will be here "any day now")

Lots of goodies in the new version.

-gb-