XDCAM transfer / Proxy on USB / Rendering FCP at DVinfo.net

Benno Zwanenburg · August 16th, 2010, 04:59 PM

I'm new with Apple and FCP and I encounter a little problem when importing clips directly from my PDW-700 into FCP by the Sony XDCAM transfer tool.
When I'm transferring high resolution clips, the import indicator shows 1,2,3,4,5,6,7% and then stops for about two seconds, then it goes 8,9,10,11,12,13,14% and stops again for two seconds. This goes all the way till it reaches the 100%. The XDCAM transfer tool tell's me the import speed is 1.2 but with the pauses it's 1.0. So 1 hour of HD422 1080i 25 frames takes 1 hour to import. I also think 1.2 is a little to slow.
DV-CAM material, also from the PDW-700, is 2.3 speed, also a little too slow I think. Also the DV-CAM material is having pauses while importing.
Anyone knows why it's paused everytime?
I import through firewire from my PDW-700. My Mac is a MacBook Pro, 17", I7, 8Gb RAM, 7200 RPM Harddisk, three weeks old :-)

Another question is about the proxies on a USB stick. I really don't know what you can do with this. Of course you can watch them in the transfer tool, but I can't find a way to make in- and out points and after that connect my PDW-700 to load the high-res clips. So what's the benefit of having the proxies on a USB-stick?

And my last question, I noticed that I have to render almost everything in final Cut Pro. For example the only transition that plays in real time is a cross dissolve. Also almost all the filters have to be rendered. I didn't expect it with an I7 processor, 7200 RPM harddisk and 8GB of RAM.

Daniel Wright · August 17th, 2010, 02:16 PM

At a guess, the driver is periodically checking something on the disc so the heads have to seek to another position, resulting in the pauses in your import.

It seems to take just as long to copy the MXF file off the disc with Finder as to import it with XDCAM Transfer, which suggests that the bottleneck is reading the disc rather than the re-wrapping by XDCAM Transfer. As the 422 content is 50 Mbps and the DV content 25 Mbps, it is not surprising that you see the DV clips importing at roughly twice the speed.

I would suggest you invest in a PDW-U1 for ingest. This will save wear and tear on the drive in your camera. I also believe it is a little faster (I see around 1.4 x real time with 50 Mbps clips). If speed really is the essence and budget will allow, then I understand some people use two PDW-U1s connected at the same time, effectively doubling the ingest speed.

Benno Zwanenburg · August 21st, 2010, 01:46 PM

Hi Daniel,

Thanks for your reply. I have some strange news....
Importing by the transfer tool or just copy the file by finder takes exactly the same time, just as you told:
a clip of 1 minute HD422 takes 53 seconds, speed is 1,2 BUT... when I copy the same file from the subfolder userdata on the XDCAM disc it takes just 37 seconds and the speed is 1.7 when importing!

With DV material normal import is 2,4 but from the userdata folder the speed is 3,9!

Don't you think that's very strange? It looks like the speed of my camera is fast enough. When I'm importing from the userdata folder there is no pause during importing.

I contact Sony about this, but as always, they never! respond....

Do you have any answers from my other two questions by the way?

August 16th, 2010, 04:59 PM	#1
Benno Zwanenburg New Boot Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Oosterbeek Posts: 7	XDCAM transfer / Proxy on USB / Rendering FCP I'm new with Apple and FCP and I encounter a little problem when importing clips directly from my PDW-700 into FCP by the Sony XDCAM transfer tool. When I'm transferring high resolution clips, the import indicator shows 1,2,3,4,5,6,7% and then stops for about two seconds, then it goes 8,9,10,11,12,13,14% and stops again for two seconds. This goes all the way till it reaches the 100%. The XDCAM transfer tool tell's me the import speed is 1.2 but with the pauses it's 1.0. So 1 hour of HD422 1080i 25 frames takes 1 hour to import. I also think 1.2 is a little to slow. DV-CAM material, also from the PDW-700, is 2.3 speed, also a little too slow I think. Also the DV-CAM material is having pauses while importing. Anyone knows why it's paused everytime? I import through firewire from my PDW-700. My Mac is a MacBook Pro, 17", I7, 8Gb RAM, 7200 RPM Harddisk, three weeks old :-) Another question is about the proxies on a USB stick. I really don't know what you can do with this. Of course you can watch them in the transfer tool, but I can't find a way to make in- and out points and after that connect my PDW-700 to load the high-res clips. So what's the benefit of having the proxies on a USB-stick? And my last question, I noticed that I have to render almost everything in final Cut Pro. For example the only transition that plays in real time is a cross dissolve. Also almost all the filters have to be rendered. I didn't expect it with an I7 processor, 7200 RPM harddisk and 8GB of RAM.

August 17th, 2010, 02:16 PM	#2
Daniel Wright New Boot Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: United Kingdom Posts: 15	At a guess, the driver is periodically checking something on the disc so the heads have to seek to another position, resulting in the pauses in your import. It seems to take just as long to copy the MXF file off the disc with Finder as to import it with XDCAM Transfer, which suggests that the bottleneck is reading the disc rather than the re-wrapping by XDCAM Transfer. As the 422 content is 50 Mbps and the DV content 25 Mbps, it is not surprising that you see the DV clips importing at roughly twice the speed. I would suggest you invest in a PDW-U1 for ingest. This will save wear and tear on the drive in your camera. I also believe it is a little faster (I see around 1.4 x real time with 50 Mbps clips). If speed really is the essence and budget will allow, then I understand some people use two PDW-U1s connected at the same time, effectively doubling the ingest speed.

August 21st, 2010, 01:46 PM	#3
Benno Zwanenburg New Boot Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Oosterbeek Posts: 7	Hi Daniel, Thanks for your reply. I have some strange news.... Importing by the transfer tool or just copy the file by finder takes exactly the same time, just as you told: a clip of 1 minute HD422 takes 53 seconds, speed is 1,2 BUT... when I copy the same file from the subfolder userdata on the XDCAM disc it takes just 37 seconds and the speed is 1.7 when importing! With DV material normal import is 2,4 but from the userdata folder the speed is 3,9! Don't you think that's very strange? It looks like the speed of my camera is fast enough. When I'm importing from the userdata folder there is no pause during importing. I contact Sony about this, but as always, they never! respond.... Do you have any answers from my other two questions by the way?