sony f-350

[Ian Planchon]

thanks.

the disc should have plenty of space, it is empty,and I am only trying to send it a 6 minute clip.
am I right in thinking the U1 makes it operate more like the EX workflow? or is there no difference?
I am running a 32bit OS, so that shouldn't be a concern, I will check on the firmware for all the cameras, they are brand new out of the box, but that doesn't mean they have the latest firmware obviously.

the day is done for me, so I will check that out tomorrow. Any answer on HD back to the camera/deck using the iLink?

[Anton Strauss]

the U1 is a pleasure, it acts like an external hard disk (connects via USB) and all I ever do is copy/paste to and from

the transfer speed is way faster from U1 than from camera via firewire

I don't use any XDCAM transfer software, way too slow because it also imports all XML garbage and proxy stuff

I only need the clip files, nothing else

[Doug Jensen]

Originally Posted by Ian Planchon

I will check on the firmware for all the cameras, they are brand new out of the box,

Where did you find brand new F350 cameras? They haven't been made for a couple of years.

[Doug Jensen]

Originally Posted by Anton Strauss

I don't use any XDCAM transfer software, way too slow because it also imports all XML garbage and proxy stuff. I only need the clip files, nothing else

I use XDCAM Transfer because I prefer that workflow. It offers many advantages over simply copying clips. How do you convert to MOV? Or do you have a plugin that allows MXF files in Final Cut?

I assume that you know that can turn off the automatic loading of Proxies and Thumbnails when you don't want them.

[Anton Strauss]

Hi Doug

I don't need to convert anything because Edius supports editing of native MXF files in realtime, even with 4 layers

[Ian Planchon]

Originally Posted by Doug Jensen

Where did you find brand new F350 cameras? They haven't been made for a couple of years.

b-stock I guess. Again, this isn't my gear, I didn't purchase them, I am just helping figure out the workflow, which is giving us all fits because it's not working the way we had hoped. and yes, we are probably missing some really simple step, but thats what we are trying to figure out. right now, we hook up the deck/camera via firewire, import the clips, edit, then export back. the HD export is where we have the problem. I just don't see what we are missing.

[Doug Jensen]

Originally Posted by Anton Strauss

Hi Doug
I don't need to convert anything because Edius supports editing of native MXF files in realtime, even with 4 layers

Well, then you couldn't use XDCAM Transfer even if you wanted to because it requires full installation of Final Cut Pro, right? So I don't understand your previous comments about CHOOSING not to use XDCAM Transfer. That statement seems misleading to me. It's not a big revalation to announce that you don't use a tool that wouldn't work for you anyway.

There are other people reading these threads who would come to the conclusion XDCAM Transfer is optional. It is not optional for a typical FCP / XDCAM workflow.

[Alister Chapman]

So the problem is with export from Vegas to the Disc, which with HD files is stopping at 6mins. What is the error message?

Have you tried a short clip of say just a couple of mins. Another thing to try is just to use the windows explorer to go in to the "Clip" folder of a disc and pull out one of the MXF files. Then try to copy that same file back to the "clip" folder on the disc in the camera, try this with a long clip. If that works it eliminates the camera and connection to the PC as the source of the problem and would point at Vegas. Also try to save an XDCAM MXF out of Vegas to your hard drive, then simply use windows explorer to drag that file from your PC to the "Clip" folder on the camera, it should copy across. Use the C0001.MXF... C0002.MXF clip naming convention to make sure that's not tripping you up. If the camera has up to date firmware then if you set Clip Naming to "Free" in the camera menu the you should be able to give your clips any name.

As others have said it should just work and is normally so simple that you don't have to think about it.

[Anton Strauss]

Originally Posted by Doug Jensen

Well, then you couldn't use XDCAM Transfer even if you wanted to because it requires full installation of Final Cut Pro, right? So I don't understand your previous comments about CHOOSING not to use XDCAM Transfer. That statement seems misleading to me. It's not a big revalation to announce that you don't use a tool that wouldn't work for you anyway.

There are other people reading these threads who would come to the conclusion XDCAM Transfer is optional. It is not optional for a typical FCP / XDCAM workflow.

not sure what you mean because XDCAM select is part of Edius but I don't use it because copy/paste with windows explorer is faster

also, the XDCAM transfer tool creates a unique folder per file, I find this amazing, so another reason not to use it

but that is only my preference, so no need to take that serious

[Doug Jensen]

Originally Posted by Ian Planchon

b-stock I guess. Again, this isn't my gear, I didn't purchase them,

B-stock is not the same as "brand new out of the box" -- as you first described them. B-stock is just another name for "used". In fact, Sony was selling B-stock F350's last fall on their BPC Value website that came from CNN.

I know the cameras aren't yours and you're just trying to help these guys out, but statements like "brand new out of the box" just make it harder to pin point the problem. The cameras are probably not brand new. Thus, they may not be set on the default settings anymore, or they could possibly be defective if they have a lot of miles on them already.

[Doug Jensen]

Originally Posted by Anton Strauss

not sure what you mean because XDCAM select is part of Edius but I don't use it because copy/paste with windows explorer is faster also, the XDCAM transfer tool creates a unique folder per file, I find this amazing, so another reason not to use it but that is only my preference, so no need to take that serious

"XDCAM Transfer" is a specific stand-alone software program that was created by Sony to import clips from SxS cards and XDCAM optical discs into Final Cut Pro. It only works with Final Cut Pro. It does not work with Edius, Vegas, Avid, etc.

I don't know what importing method your'e unhappy with for Edius, but it is not "XDCAM Transfer".

As I said before, XDCAM Transfer is a great peice of software and it is an integral part of the workflow for Final Cut Pro users. Also, just for the record, XDCAM Transfer does not "create a unique folder per file". It transfers all the clips into a single folder on your HDD that you choose -- while it re-wraps the files from MXF to MOV. The transfer is fast, easy, and does not drag along any XML files or other baggage. After the transfer is done, all you have is a folder with a bunch of MOV files in it and nothing else.

[Ian Planchon]

Originally Posted by Alister Chapman

So the problem is with export from Vegas to the Disc, which with HD files is stopping at 6mins. What is the error message?

Have you tried a short clip of say just a couple of mins. Another thing to try is just to use the windows explorer to go in to the "Clip" folder of a disc and pull out one of the MXF files. Then try to copy that same file back to the "clip" folder on the disc in the camera, try this with a long clip. If that works it eliminates the camera and connection to the PC as the source of the problem and would point at Vegas. Also try to save an XDCAM MXF out of Vegas to your hard drive, then simply use windows explorer to drag that file from your PC to the "Clip" folder on the camera, it should copy across. Use the C0001.MXF... C0002.MXF clip naming convention to make sure that's not tripping you up. If the camera has up to date firmware then if you set Clip Naming to "Free" in the camera menu the you should be able to give your clips any name.

As others have said it should just work and is normally so simple that you don't have to think about it.

Alister.

Truly appreciate it. I think thats what I missed is that we are renaming the clips. I will check out the menu, make sure the firmware is up to date and give this all a shot today. I am also going to call sony today regarding vegas, because its obviously part of the problem as well.

Doug, you are probably right, in that the default settings could be way off by now. I know the XDCAM is an amazing tool, and should be the easiest thing in the world to use. I just came into it too late in the game to effectively diagnose the problems.

Thanks for all the help!

[Anton Strauss]

the Edius tool is called XDCAM Select and it lets me view the entire contents of the disk as thumbnails, I can then select any or all clips and drag them to Edius Clip bin and start editing right away with the proxy files while the full res files are downloading in the background. However, this process downloads more GB than simply copy/paste of actual clip files

so you are right, XDCAM Select is totally different from XDCAM Transfer

[Greg Boston]

Sounds to me like XDCAM Select and XDCAM Transfer perform similar functions, but they ONLY work for their respective NLE counterparts, Edius, and FCP.

-gb-

[Greg Boston]

Originally Posted by Steve Phillipps

The image recorded to disc is 1920x1080 AFAIK, the chips are 1440x1080 but with horizontal offset (basically rectangular pixels I think?) to make it into 1920.

I'm fairly certain Steve, that it's a 1440 horizontal dimension throughout. The NLE software knows that the 1440 needs to have a pixel aspect ratio of 1.33 to create a 16:9 image in order to match the 1.33 aspect of the pixels on the camera's imager chips.

-gb-