EX & Premiere CS4

[Ed Kukla]

Anyone using these together?

I use Clip Browser to import clips to hard drives. In that process I name the clips for easy ID. But the PP clip bin does not display the clip name. I've checked all options and it isn't capable.
After selecting a clip, the new name will show up in the preview window. But randomly stabbing at clips in the clip bin is tedious when you have 50 clips in there.

Is there something I'm missing?

[Vincent Oliver]

If you export the clip via Clip Browser as a .mxf (for NLE) file and give it a new name then it will show up in Premiere CS4 -

[Ed Kukla]

Sorry, I'm lost on that one.
When you say export, are you talking export from the SxS card or export from hard drive to PP? I don't do any exporting into PP, I open up PP and find the hard drive with the clips and there I am.

[Paul Gale]

What Vincent is saying is that you can export FROM CLIP BROWSER as an MXF file - Clip Browser will re-wrap the file as MXF which PPro likes as well as the raw MP4 files. Although I don't do this - I always import EX1/3 footage like you do. When importing, I select the whole folder and drag it in - you still get the XML import errors but that doesn't cause any problems.

EX footage import is a bit half-supported in CS4 really - like not being able to do a standard import of the MP4 file - let's hope CS5 will be a lot better!

I've also found that PMW-350 files don't import properly - no audio. These need to be converted first to MXF files and they then work fine.

Paul.

[Vincent Oliver]

Thank you Paul,

In ClipBrowser select a clip and then right click on it and select Export, then choose which wrapper flavour you want i.e. .mxf (for NLE). Now select a folder where you want to place the converted file, click on the Output file name and rename the file.

[Ed Kukla]

Vincent

Thanks for the tip. That works. I posted this question on the premiere help site and got no help.

Any other tips on using this? It is just what I need for using Premiere.

And what about FCP? I don't use fcp but I have clients that do. Should I use this method for them too?

Are there any drawback to using this vs the way I was?

Again thanks

[Doug Jensen]

Ed,

No, you don't want to have your FCP clients follow those directions.
FCP will not accept MXF files. Your FCP clients need to use Sony's XDCAM Transfer software to rewrap the clips to MOV.

Clip Browser is used to backup and organize your native BPAV folders.
XDCAM Transfer is used for MOV conversion and import.
The features found in XDCAM Transfer blow away the options in Clip Browser, and it's a very powerful piece of software.

You might find this page on Sony's website to be helpful.
Sony | Micro Site - XDCAM

[Ed Kukla]

Doug

Got it. When I shoot for myself, using PP CS4, I'll transfer to hard drives using the mxf for nle.

When transfering clips to client HDs for use with FCP, I'll use the standard Clip Browser method.

Am I loosing anything, or risking anything in my mxf for PP workflow?


Also, I'm still not sure where mpeg4, mxf, .mov all fit in this equasion.

[Doug Jensen]

I know nothing about Premiere and have never even seen it on a computer.
However, with that said, I can assure you that you lose absolutely nothing (assuming you follow proper procedures) when you re-wrap to MXF or MOV. There is no transcoding involved. The software is merely stripping off the MP4 headers and footers in the file and replacing them with MXF or MOV. The integrity of the video/audio data is not changed one bit.

MP4, MOV, and MXF are just different containers for the same data. Imagine you pour a coke from the can to a glass. The coke is the same, only the container is different.

[Vincent Oliver]

Originally Posted by Ed Kukla

Vincent

Thanks for the tip. That works. I posted this question on the premiere help site and got no help.

Any other tips on using this? It is just what I need for using Premiere.

And what about FCP? I don't use fcp but I have clients that do. Should I use this method for them too?

Are there any drawback to using this vs the way I was?

Again thanks

One hardware item that has been a godsend to me is the Matrox RTX2 card, this enables you to work in real time with all your clips and also it has a much better codec for converting from HD to SD than Premiere.

As Doug points out, the MXF is just a wrapper, your files remain just the same. Glad you found the tip useful.

[Ed Kukla]

This is all very helpful.

If I start by rewrapping to mxf for PP will I suffer any more or less if I need to rewrap to a different wrapper later? Who knows why at this point but anything is possible. I might run into a need to send footage to an FCP user at some later point. One exampe might be stock footage. I injest as mxf but later need to supply mov file to a client.

Similar question regarding transcoding to quicktime, wmv, flash or other output file formats after editing for web use, DVD, BR DVD, etc.

[Vincent Oliver]

You can EXPORT anything on the timeline as a QuickTime movie, that is what I do when supplying clients with footage.

[Ed Kukla]

Originally Posted by Vincent Oliver

You can EXPORT anything on the timeline as a QuickTime movie, that is what I do when supplying clients with footage.

Right, I've done that. But do I loose any quality in the process?

Seems like I'm going from mpeg4 on the card rewrap to mxf in PP then to mov for output. All with no loss?

[Doug Jensen]

Originally Posted by Ed Kukla

This is all very helpful.

If I start by rewrapping to mxf for PP will I suffer any more or less if I need to rewrap to a different wrapper later? Who knows why at this point but anything is possible. I might run into a need to send footage to an FCP user at some later point.

The best workflow is to archive your original BPAV folders and make all your conversions from there. If you're not archiving your BPAV folders, you should be.

[Vincent Oliver]

Originally Posted by Vincent Oliver

You can EXPORT anything on the timeline as a QuickTime movie, that is what I do when supplying clients with footage.

As Doug says you should back up your BPAV folder. My suggestion was based on the assumption that you will have edited your footage and want to deliver a MOV file. I haven't found any software (for Windows) that will re-wrap a virgin EX file to a Mov file, for Macs there is XDCAM Transfer which I haven't used but I am told it is good.