HD For Indies

UPDATE - see UPDATE at the bottom, I actually imported some files into my MacBook and got'em working.

OK, so I've already installed the Sony XDCAM HD software - it requires a reboot, but is pretty quick and painless.

For starters, there are some interesting notes in the installer script:

Notes
1. Maximum length of exported sequences. The XDCAM Professional Disc has a maximum guaranteed duration for recording clips. Clips which exceed this length may not be successfully written to the disc. With this in mind, you should ensure that any sequences exported from Final Cut Pro to XDCAM are within this limit.

...but they don't say what that guaranteed duration is. Does it vary by disc length? Is there more than one size of XDCAM disc? I wouldn't think so but I don't know. Anybody know? Click on comments link at end of article and clue me in.

2. Delay when importing sub-clips. This note applies to sub-clips imported directly from XDCAM discs containing MPEG HD material. If the sub-clip is selected from an original clip with a duration of 10 minutes or more, it will take between 1 and 8 minutes for the video and audio transfer to begin. This issue does not affect import of entire clips and does not affect import of sub-clips from long DV or IMX clips.
3. Cancellation of PC REMOTE mode. Some desktop Mac models do not successfully cancel PC REMOTE mode on the connected XDCAM device, even after sleep or shutdown. If this happens, the simple solution is to turn your XDCAM device off then on again.

OK. And which Macs would those be? Presumably older ones, but again, a "warning! May not work if something isn't right." OK, WHAT something?

4. Filenames used in the XDCAM General folder. You may store files associated with your XDCAM media in the General folder of the XDCAM disc (for example, text documents, spreadsheets and so on). We recommend that you do not use filenames which include special characters that may not be allowed on other operating systems, such as ? [ ] / \ = + < > ; : “ , | *.
5. Overwriting large files in the XDCAM General folder. Sometimes you may experience problems when trying to overwrite a large file stored in the XDCAM General folder directly from an application. We recommend that you save the file to your local hard disk drive first and then copy it to the General folder from the Finder.

So, once installed and rebooted, I discovered it installs a new File: Import item into your Final Cut Pro menus:

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Upon selecting that, the first time the XDCAM Transfer app runs you're faced with a preferences dialog:


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You can set your import preferences in this one. I changed mine so that it would capture to my default capture scratch disk and you probably want to do the same, since it defaults to a location on your boot drive, which isn't long term smart for heavy usage, but they get points for throwing this dialog in your face right off the bat so you'll change it. I changed mine to this:


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I figured the previews were OK to live on the boot disc, no major harm done - how big can they get?

You then see the main interface:


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...but since I don't have an XDCAM camera or deck to hook up, it's empty and not very exciting. Here's a shot I took at NAB showing it in action:



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See my comments from the Dallas XDCAM HD demo or from NAB to read more about how it works.

There's also some preferences you can set:


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It defaults to NOT importing into FCP, I'd suggest clicking it to import clips directly into FCP.


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....so I changed it. Note you can also change which, if any, audio channels are imported, and how big (if any) handles should be used when importing subclips. Touché to Sony for adding all these nice touches on a v1.0 product.


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This lets you set the size (as a percentage of the disk's TOTAL capacity) to be used for cache and previews. This is a nice control to have, and there's no magic number. For speed, you might want a huge cache to save everything, or for space you might want to keep it smaller. Up to you.


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This one let's you set the Import location (and would you want to always have it go to the same place, or change it on a project by project basis? Again, depends on your workflow personal preferences). You can also choose to overwrite existing files with the same name (good idea or bad? Not sure, again It Depends), use the disc name for clips folder, use clip title in filename, use UMID in filename (which I think is some kind of universally unique scheme that means no name replication but crazy names), or use in/out timecodes in file names. Again, all very nice, powerful, subtle choices to have - I wish the P2 import gave as many options.

This addresses some of the issues that become significant in file based rather than tape based workflows - what file naming convention should I use? Do I put metadata in the filename or not? Choice is good, because there is no one solution for everybody. Big facilities might want the universally unique file naming convention (IF I'm understanding that feature correctly, but the PDF manual makes no mention of UMID). Smaller shops and/or projects might want a more "human readable" file naming convention. Again, different strokes for different folks.

On that note, the PD on the disc image looks to be at least reasonably good, with lots of screen grabs and descriptions. Read that for further details, for me to sample out of it would be superfluous. One note, though - page 31 lists all the keyboard shortcuts. Kudos again to the developers for using lots of keyboard shortcuts, and using Final Cut Pro style keyboard shortcuts, so it all works the same way we're used to. I'm a bit bummed that this is a separate application rather than a plugin to FCP, but for the differing workflow (non-tape based), it's a perfectly reasonable and useful thing.

OK, that should be enough to keep you folks busy for a while....

UPDATE FRIDAY 5PM - ahhhhhhh, the joys of laptops: my friend Nate Weaver sent me a link to some sample MXF clips from an F350 XDCAM HD that were of interesting specifications: 24p, 25mbit CBR (24p for indie moviemaking, 25mbit for FCP compatibility). I put them in a folder, use Disk Utiility to make a Disc Image of that folder, mounted it, and got the XDCAM HD transfer software to see it. Plain MXF files didn't generate previews, but imported JUST FINE and show up in FCP as 1080p24 HDV files (same exact codec, different audio settings because you can do up to 4 tracks of audio with this format). And it plays back JUST FINE full screen on my MacBook, with Safe RT and both Playback Quality and Frame Rate set to High and Full. So field editing XDCAM on a sub-$3000 package (MacBook, additional RAM, Final Cut Studio) is an ENTIRELY feasible deal. Along those lines, a quickie performance test: With Safe RT, Full and High set, render bar for a simple cross dissolve. Dropping to Unlimited RT, orange bar, it plays fine, including the 3:16 cross dissolve. Impressive for a laptop! NO reported dropped frames (had report dropped frames turned on). Checking it again with the Activity Monitor processor load indicator on and running layered on top of full screen Digital Cinema Desktop mode, it STILL played fine, and single stream playback looked to take about half of availble processing power, the cross dissolve took about 80% processing power - so still had some headroom left - VERY impressive! And note all this was running off the battery, too, while I'm sitting at Freddie's place, enjoying a tuna steak and a beer and the sunshine and the rhodesian ridgeback panting at the table next to me (dogs allowed here). Life is gooooooooooooooooood.

: )

UPDATE 5:30PM Apple sent me an email (since I'd been at the Dallas event) pointing out the XDCAM Transfer App was available, but also pointing out the location of the white paper on the workflow:

To download the Apple whitepaper on Sony XDCAM HD support in Final Cut Pro 5, please visit http://www.apple.com/finalcutstudio/resources and click on "Final Cut Pro and XDCAM HD" under 'White Papers' listed on the right hand side of the webpage.


I'm going to download and read that tonight while setting up test files for the FCP testing I mentioned a while back.

-mike