Various XDCAM EX posts from 2008

[Oyvind Stokkan]

Hey guys!

Did a lot of skiing footage this easter. Needed to get sound AND slow motion so shot in 50p. To get the footage to play at half speed in a 25p timeline i need to export with prores 422 and conform with cinema tools. Is there a faster way to do this? Maybe a plugin?

[Brian Cassar]

I'm not sure whether anybody had written about this phenomenum-

I connected the EX1 via composite to both a 21' and a 36' CRT TV and I played around the downconvert options from squeeze to letterbox to edge crop. I was focusing on a back focus test chart and I was on the extreme tele position. When I choose letterbox, the picture looks soft but when I choose any of the other 2, the resolution seems to increase by 1.5x to 2x more (this being subjectively to my eye). The lines of the test chart stand out much sharper!

Incidentally this softness and lack of detail/resolution that I'm seeing in the downconvert to letterbox option is the same type that I have been experiencing when trying to convert from HD to SD in any way and means, i.e both via software or hardware. I wonder whether there could be any correlation.

I also wonder whether other HD or HDV camera owners, such as the Z1, can see this issue, or whether this is only an EX1 issue.

[Richard Gillespie]

I am a great fan of the Sony LBEACHC scene file on my F330. Does anyone know if this can be matched on an EX1 and if so how to do it. Thanks.

[Rob Collins]

I know that Blu-ray delivery is of interest to this forum--see this thread for my experience.

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=114552

[Michael Mann]

I spoke with a well-informed techician at Sony Professional Broadcast service center in Cologne about Prime support and possible alternatives for European users:

If Europeans decide to buy otside Europe (much lower price but no Prime support) they WILL get full repair/service/support for their EX1 at Sony Professional Broadcast service centers. Payment will be on a time and material basis, after cost estimate. Quality and speed of service will equal that of Sony Prime support, but no free loan units given.

Since one can save up to EUR 1,500.00 when not buying in Europe I find this worth a consideration!

[Randy Strome]

Here are a few more examples of some curve adjustments.

The first two are related to the Gamma setting:

http://www.dvinfo.net/gallery/showim...3&userid=50923
http://www.dvinfo.net/gallery/showim...3&userid=50923

The second two show the max adjustments of the Black Gamma setting:

http://www.dvinfo.net/gallery/showim...3&userid=50923
http://www.dvinfo.net/gallery/showim...3&userid=50923

Hope these are useful for visualization of these settings.

[Paul Joy]

It crossed my mind today that as Final Cut Pro isn't used to import footage directly, any in / out points from the original SxS footage is not stored in the NLE. So for instance, if I use the XDCAM Transfer app to import a small part of a clip then a quicktime file is created on my scratch disk of that small part.

With tapes, if I need to recapture that clip I can just load the appropriate tape and using timecode re-capture it. Can the same thing be done the the Transfer app?

Paul.

[Nick Wilson]

I am going to be picking up my EX1 in the next couple of weeks, and was thinking we could come up with a set of acceptance tests that any buyer should do to make sure the camera is free of the known issues. I have:

Vignetting - OIS on - point camera at uniform expense of wall - set correct exposure - zoom through full range - watch for vignetting particularly between 10mm and 25 mm

Backfocus - set full manual focus - zoom in - focus on object at about 3 m - zoom out - check whether focusing closer sharpens image

Zoom - set top handle zoom speed to 2 - zoom and check for smoothness

Any additions or corrections?

Cheers, Nick

[Matt Davis]

I'm getting this message 4-8 times per card ingest (8 and 16 GB cards).

The dialogue concludes with (Cancel All Tasks) and (OK).

Clicking OK continues the ingest, and maybe it will cough up another instance. Maybe not.

When the dialog appears, the clip currently ingesting IS NOT INGESTED.

Therefore, before doing a wipe of a card, it is imperative that you check each clip in the browser against every clip in the Finder's folder to ensure you have them all.

Clips that cause the dialog to appear in one pass do not seem to repeat when tried again. Go figure.

With a file copy to one hard drive and a full card ingest to another drive, this is making the process something that has to be watched moment by moment, rather than something that can be checked or simply automated.

I can work around the very powerful audio system that can bite you if not careful. I can invest in IR filters to protect lenses and get neutral blacks. I can, to a certain extent, assign Flange Back adjustments to 'Maintenance' and forgive rather poor ergonomics with a friendly shrug, but this error is spooking me badly. What's even more spooky is that nobody else seems to have mentioned it...

... Anyone else?

[Charles Young]

I was wanting to take the firewire output from the EX1 and connect it to my desktop computer, possibly control the camera and record video on to the hard drive. Is there any software I could use to remotely access the desktop from any computer and control the EX1? Or remotely start recording and/or monitor the firewire output of the EX1?

I tried VNC but the video blanks when I connect remotely to my desktop.

[Paul Joy]

I recently purchased a 500Gb version for use as a high speed external scratch disk but it causes my mac pro to lock up whenever I use the XDCAM Transfer app. Copying files too and from it manually works fine, it just seems to be the Sony app that causes the problem.

Anyone else have a similar experience?

Paul.

[Paul Burgess]

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P;ease ignore this post -I do mnot know how to delete it.

[Joel Brooks]

I am looking to purchase the 16 gb sony SxS cards. I am looking for suggestions as to the best prices. I also would like to know if anyone has orderd their EX or other items from Promax? Is this a good and reputable company? They seem to have good prices and good reseller ratings.
Thanks for any info.

Joel Brooks
Moments in Time Video Productions

[Sven Puks]

Hi,

I am looking for field audio recorder to fit with xdcam ex. Any suggestions? As far I know there is no possibility to sync any audio recorder to xdcam ex. Am I wrong?

Thanks!

Regards,

Sven

[Jeremy Hughes]

Has anyone been able to shoot and record via HD-SDI out yet? I'd love to see some comparisons between the 422 and 420 recorded to the cards - not to mention the artifacting differences that anyone may be seeing.