One thing I've really come to appreciate shooting with Sony cameras is MXF. Everyone can open an MXF. The news station with a 4-page spec. sheet written in 2004 can open a Sony MXF. For this reason I've used Catalyst Browse quite a lot - the ability to make selections, minor adjustments and then export a pristine Sony MXF file to send to the client is a real godsend in some situations. It's a much quicker way to tidy up footage than importing into an NLE as it doesn't necessitate transcoding. It's also clear that Catalyst is not at all designed for this purpose.
I'd really like to be able to flag / select clips for export while I'm looking through footage. There doesn't seem to be any way to do this. If I press the 'select' button to make selections persistent, Catalyst assumes I want everything to be assembled into one long stringout. Useless. Am I missing something obvious here? My workaround is to write down selected clip names on paper and then select them one-by-one for export (really copying) while holding down command! Careful you don't accidentally... ah!!
When I saw 'clip list' in the menu I thought "Aha! What a fool I am!" but no.
"Clip lists are a helpful part of a proxy workflow when working with limited bandwidth: copy the proxy clips to your computer, create a clip list using the proxy clips, and then copy the clip list back to the camera or deck. The deck will then play the clip list using your full-resolution source." Who is doing this in 2021?
So here is how I would like Catalyst to work:
1. The humble videographer selects entire clips (with the keyboard) or marks in/out points (with the keyboard) while reviewing footage. At the same time making adjustments, turning off unnecessary audio tracks, stabilising etc. Did I mention being able to do things with the keyboard?
2. Catalyst transcodes when necessary but otherwise directly copies over clips to a new MXF file. The end.
Is there any way I can get Catalyst to play nicely and do this? Is there any other software that will do something similar? It seems to me that it would be a huge asset to Sony if Catalyst was excellent. Having a fast, usable tool for weeding out bad takes and making quick adjustments would be splendid. Catalyst isn't even that far off, they just need to start again with the interface.
I'd really like to be able to flag / select clips for export while I'm looking through footage. There doesn't seem to be any way to do this. If I press the 'select' button to make selections persistent, Catalyst assumes I want everything to be assembled into one long stringout. Useless. Am I missing something obvious here? My workaround is to write down selected clip names on paper and then select them one-by-one for export (really copying) while holding down command! Careful you don't accidentally... ah!!
When I saw 'clip list' in the menu I thought "Aha! What a fool I am!" but no.
"Clip lists are a helpful part of a proxy workflow when working with limited bandwidth: copy the proxy clips to your computer, create a clip list using the proxy clips, and then copy the clip list back to the camera or deck. The deck will then play the clip list using your full-resolution source." Who is doing this in 2021?
So here is how I would like Catalyst to work:
1. The humble videographer selects entire clips (with the keyboard) or marks in/out points (with the keyboard) while reviewing footage. At the same time making adjustments, turning off unnecessary audio tracks, stabilising etc. Did I mention being able to do things with the keyboard?
2. Catalyst transcodes when necessary but otherwise directly copies over clips to a new MXF file. The end.
Is there any way I can get Catalyst to play nicely and do this? Is there any other software that will do something similar? It seems to me that it would be a huge asset to Sony if Catalyst was excellent. Having a fast, usable tool for weeding out bad takes and making quick adjustments would be splendid. Catalyst isn't even that far off, they just need to start again with the interface.
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