XDCAM Transfer and XDCAM Browser with Snow Leopard. at DVinfo.net

Daniel Goyette · August 27th, 2009, 12:51 AM

Anybody brave enough to test it and report if XDCAM Transfer and XDCAM Browser are compatible with the new MAC OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard Shipping will all new Macintosh.

Also with version of them is working , i know about XDCAM Browser 2.5 and XDCAM Transfer 2.9 but maybe other versions exist so be specific please ....

Matt Davis · August 27th, 2009, 09:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Daniel Goyette

Anybody brave enough to test it and report if XDCAM Transfer and XDCAM Browser are compatible with the new MAC OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard

Well, I have a little window of opportunity to make the switch, otherwise it's back to back until late November.

Tomorrow is Snow Leopard day. I am picking it up in the morning UK time and installing it on my backup MacBook Pro (which means today is Time Machine Day).

Will report back as soon as I can.

Simon Wyndham · August 27th, 2009, 09:58 AM

I'm going to try it on my Macbook along with FCS2. I'm sure we'll all need a couple of point updates to the OS before it is really ready for prime time, as per any other OS release.

Brooks Graham · August 27th, 2009, 10:12 AM

If I had to guess about this, I'd say that the XDCAM Transfer and Clip Browser main apps will probably be fine. What worries me are the things where Sony made kernel extensions (kext - device drivers) like the SxS driver, the FAM driver, and I think the PDWU1 needs a kext as well.

My plan is to throw Snow Leopard on my "daily driver" machines, but leave my production environments on 10.5 until I see vendors like Sony, AJA, Matrox, etc. issue statements of support, or enough people here verify that there are no problems.

There's that old saying: "You can tell the pioneers because they're the ones with the arrows sticking out their backs."

Perhaps I'm overly cautious - still testing FCS3 - but I've got work to do. (and speaking of which ... must get back to it ;-)

Heinrich Dahms · August 28th, 2009, 11:53 AM

just installed snow leopard and the xdcam and browser software are not working properly - the driver is missing in clip browser. checking it out some more.

Matt Davis · August 28th, 2009, 11:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Heinrich Dahms

checking it out some more.

And that's not half of it.

In another thread, I've been whining about how loading an SxS card in the MacBook Pro PCIe slot causes a Kernel Panic. May soon be time to concatenate threads...

Heinrich Dahms · August 28th, 2009, 11:56 AM

FCS# works great with leopard - absolutely no problems.
heinrich dahms
www.buzzmedia.net

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brooks Graham

If I had to guess about this, I'd say that the XDCAM Transfer and Clip Browser main apps will probably be fine. What worries me are the things where Sony made kernel extensions (kext - device drivers) like the SxS driver, the FAM driver, and I think the PDWU1 needs a kext as well.

My plan is to throw Snow Leopard on my "daily driver" machines, but leave my production environments on 10.5 until I see vendors like Sony, AJA, Matrox, etc. issue statements of support, or enough people here verify that there are no problems.

There's that old saying: "You can tell the pioneers because they're the ones with the arrows sticking out their backs."

Perhaps I'm overly cautious - still testing FCS3 - but I've got work to do. (and speaking of which ... must get back to it ;-)

Daniel Goyette · August 28th, 2009, 12:27 PM

In my conversation with Sony support they advised me that unfortunately
Snow Leopard is not currently supported by the current versions of XDCAM
related software's from Sony.

Since this is a very recent release from Apple that involves significant
change to the Mac OS it may take several months, perhaps winter or
spring for full Snow Leopard support from Sony. The exact schedule is
still TBD.

It is therefore recommended to continue using the most recent release of
Leopard to maintain smooth operation of the XDCAM software within the
Mac environment.

For your reference the latest Sony software release versions are as
below:

As of August 26th 2009

PDW-U1 v 2.420

PDW-U1 Utility for PC or Mac v 2.21

FAM Driver 2.20 comes with the PDZ-1 software or XDT for Mac

PDZ-1 v 2.60

XDCAM Viewer 2.30 PC only separate from PDZ-1

XDCAM TRANSFER for FCP v 2.10.0

EX Browser 2.5.1

Thanks for your continued support of XDCAM!

Andy Wilkinson · August 28th, 2009, 02:30 PM

Thanks everyone - this info saves me a bundle of serious headaches as some important corporate video project deadlines loom!

I, and I'm sure many others, very much appreciate the quick and informative assessment from you DVinfo members that Sony XDCAM, SxS etc. software and Snow Leopard don't (yet) work together, at all. I guess I'll just have to sit on the sidelines and await further developments - this is one upgrade I'll pass on for a while. A shame - but sensible.

Sony certainly NEED to react sooner than some of the predictions to resolve this if they want to keep their Apple centric XDCAM EX customer base loyal and happy...

Over to you Sony.

Barry J. Anwender · August 28th, 2009, 04:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Daniel Goyette

XDCAM TRANSFER for FCP v 2.10.0

EX Browser 2.5.1

Thanks for your continued support of XDCAM!

Sony's UK web page shows these versions as available, but when hitting the link to download them you end up with a blank page. Sony Canada currently shows no indication of these new versions. Are there any other sites where these new versions can be downloaded?

Update: Safari ends up going through endless redirects then displays a blank page. I had to fire up Parallels and use Explorer to download the Mac files. Is this what Sony's software support has come to?

Matt Davis · August 28th, 2009, 04:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Barry J. Anwender

but when hitting the link to download them you end up with a blank page.

I pulled down version 2.10.xxx this morning from the UK site, though IIRC there was nothing helpful like a 'download now' button, just a succession of screens from which I clicked the most likely thing until I got something downloading - which was helpfully called 'S03DH_1.ZIP' (!) but did eventually create a XDCAM Transfer and driver install disk.

Eric Emerick · August 28th, 2009, 05:15 PM

Using the U1 with 23GB disks from my 350, like nothing changed at all. If I do run into a problem, and it does take Sony till Winter to fix it, that may mean an end to future Sony purchases for me. They are already on thin ice with the late U1 for Mac update. Is that RED I see standing over there in the shadows?

Paul Vlachos · August 31st, 2009, 04:49 PM

Experimented with it on an old machine.

It will recognize a Sony SxS card via the Sony reader hooked up to a MacPro via USB.

It will not generate thumbnail files and, in fact, spits out this message, along with a box that let's you cancel all tasks: "the clip thumbnail could not be saved to the cache as it was an unrecognized format"

It *will*, though, let you import clips and they appear to be fine aside from that.

Called Sony in Jersey and got someone with a less-than-stellar attitude, who also gave me the line of "this just came out, right?" to which I gave him the "you're a developer; you've had it for a while" line, to which he said "XDCAM is very popular. I don't see how we can't fix this quickly," to which he then added "you're on a mac, though. Windows people come first, the mac people always get fixed last."

Have a nice day, Sony, again, for taking my tens of thousands over the years and treating me like dirt.

Have a nice day.

Paul Vlachos · August 31st, 2009, 06:58 PM

Interestingly enough, I just updated the 13" MBPro and Transfer works perfectly. Thumbnails. The error I was getting on one of my Mac Pros did not happen. I'm going to do more testing.

Also interestingly, the Mac Pro with the error would NOT let me re-install the SxS driver. Did not work.

I'll post more results in a few.

Paul Vlachos · August 31st, 2009, 07:06 PM

Okay, I will have to do some more troubleshooting, but not tonight.

The XDCAM transfer and browser work fine on my main Mac Pro. Again, no error like my original post. So, two out of three machines are fine. Clearly, there's something going on with the older Mac Pro.

This is the one that also had a kernel panic on the initial restart after Snow Leopard, which I solved by booting into Safe Mode and ditching a few extensions, including SxS.

When I get a chance, I'll put a version of Snow Leopard on a clean drive in that machine, install the XDCAM software, and see what happens then. That would eliminate hardware as an issue. It's been a long day, though.

August 27th, 2009, 12:51 AM	#1
Daniel Goyette Regular Crew Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Montreal,Canada Posts: 64	XDCAM Transfer and XDCAM Browser with Snow Leopard. Anybody brave enough to test it and report if XDCAM Transfer and XDCAM Browser are compatible with the new MAC OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard Shipping will all new Macintosh. Also with version of them is working , i know about XDCAM Browser 2.5 and XDCAM Transfer 2.9 but maybe other versions exist so be specific please .... __________________ Production D. Goyette - Production Video Corporatif - Montreal Quebec Canada. https://www.facebook.com/ProductionDanielGoyette/ , Vimeo , Youtube, Facebook.

August 28th, 2009, 11:53 AM	#5
Heinrich Dahms New Boot Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Netherlands Posts: 5	snow leopard just installed snow leopard and the xdcam and browser software are not working properly - the driver is missing in clip browser. checking it out some more.

August 28th, 2009, 12:27 PM	#8
Daniel Goyette Regular Crew Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Montreal,Canada Posts: 64	After having talk with Sony Support i can report this to you.. In my conversation with Sony support they advised me that unfortunately Snow Leopard is not currently supported by the current versions of XDCAM related software's from Sony. Since this is a very recent release from Apple that involves significant change to the Mac OS it may take several months, perhaps winter or spring for full Snow Leopard support from Sony. The exact schedule is still TBD. It is therefore recommended to continue using the most recent release of Leopard to maintain smooth operation of the XDCAM software within the Mac environment. For your reference the latest Sony software release versions are as below: As of August 26th 2009 PDW-U1 v 2.420 PDW-U1 Utility for PC or Mac v 2.21 FAM Driver 2.20 comes with the PDZ-1 software or XDT for Mac PDZ-1 v 2.60 XDCAM Viewer 2.30 PC only separate from PDZ-1 XDCAM TRANSFER for FCP v 2.10.0 EX Browser 2.5.1 Thanks for your continued support of XDCAM! __________________ Production D. Goyette - Production Video Corporatif - Montreal Quebec Canada. https://www.facebook.com/ProductionDanielGoyette/ , Vimeo , Youtube, Facebook.

August 28th, 2009, 02:30 PM	#9
Andy Wilkinson Inner Circle Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Cambridge UK Posts: 2,853	Thanks everyone - this info saves me a bundle of serious headaches as some important corporate video project deadlines loom! I, and I'm sure many others, very much appreciate the quick and informative assessment from you DVinfo members that Sony XDCAM, SxS etc. software and Snow Leopard don't (yet) work together, at all. I guess I'll just have to sit on the sidelines and await further developments - this is one upgrade I'll pass on for a while. A shame - but sensible. Sony certainly NEED to react sooner than some of the predictions to resolve this if they want to keep their Apple centric XDCAM EX customer base loyal and happy... Over to you Sony. __________________ Andy K Wilkinson - https://www.shootingimage.co.uk Cambridge (UK) Corporate Video Production

August 28th, 2009, 05:15 PM	#12
Eric Emerick Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Melbourne, FL Posts: 171	Everything is fine Using the U1 with 23GB disks from my 350, like nothing changed at all. If I do run into a problem, and it does take Sony till Winter to fix it, that may mean an end to future Sony purchases for me. They are already on thin ice with the late U1 for Mac update. Is that RED I see standing over there in the shadows? __________________ esquared

August 27th, 2009, 09:58 AM	#3
Simon Wyndham Trustee Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Malvern UK Posts: 1,931	I'm going to try it on my Macbook along with FCS2. I'm sure we'll all need a couple of point updates to the OS before it is really ready for prime time, as per any other OS release.

August 27th, 2009, 10:12 AM	#4
Brooks Graham Regular Crew Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: San Francisco, CA Posts: 121	If I had to guess about this, I'd say that the XDCAM Transfer and Clip Browser main apps will probably be fine. What worries me are the things where Sony made kernel extensions (kext - device drivers) like the SxS driver, the FAM driver, and I think the PDWU1 needs a kext as well. My plan is to throw Snow Leopard on my "daily driver" machines, but leave my production environments on 10.5 until I see vendors like Sony, AJA, Matrox, etc. issue statements of support, or enough people here verify that there are no problems. There's that old saying: "You can tell the pioneers because they're the ones with the arrows sticking out their backs." Perhaps I'm overly cautious - still testing FCS3 - but I've got work to do. (and speaking of which ... must get back to it ;-)

August 31st, 2009, 04:49 PM	#13
Paul Vlachos Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: New York, NY Posts: 88	Experimented with it on an old machine. It will recognize a Sony SxS card via the Sony reader hooked up to a MacPro via USB. It will not generate thumbnail files and, in fact, spits out this message, along with a box that let's you cancel all tasks: "the clip thumbnail could not be saved to the cache as it was an unrecognized format" It will, though, let you import clips and they appear to be fine aside from that. Called Sony in Jersey and got someone with a less-than-stellar attitude, who also gave me the line of "this just came out, right?" to which I gave him the "you're a developer; you've had it for a while" line, to which he said "XDCAM is very popular. I don't see how we can't fix this quickly," to which he then added "you're on a mac, though. Windows people come first, the mac people always get fixed last." Have a nice day, Sony, again, for taking my tens of thousands over the years and treating me like dirt. Have a nice day. __________________ One day at a time.

August 31st, 2009, 06:58 PM	#14
Paul Vlachos Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: New York, NY Posts: 88	curiouser and curiouser Interestingly enough, I just updated the 13" MBPro and Transfer works perfectly. Thumbnails. The error I was getting on one of my Mac Pros did not happen. I'm going to do more testing. Also interestingly, the Mac Pro with the error would NOT let me re-install the SxS driver. Did not work. I'll post more results in a few. __________________ One day at a time.

August 31st, 2009, 07:06 PM	#15
Paul Vlachos Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: New York, NY Posts: 88	Good on one of my Mac Pros, as well Okay, I will have to do some more troubleshooting, but not tonight. The XDCAM transfer and browser work fine on my main Mac Pro. Again, no error like my original post. So, two out of three machines are fine. Clearly, there's something going on with the older Mac Pro. This is the one that also had a kernel panic on the initial restart after Snow Leopard, which I solved by booting into Safe Mode and ditching a few extensions, including SxS. When I get a chance, I'll put a version of Snow Leopard on a clean drive in that machine, install the XDCAM software, and see what happens then. That would eliminate hardware as an issue. It's been a long day, though. __________________ One day at a time.