FS7: Catalyst Browse and XAVC workflow

L

Lenilenapi

Carbonite Member
I'm confused about XAVC workflow.
Because I still use FCP 7 and can't use XAVC files directly I usually transcode to Pro Res for my use.


However many of my clients can use XAVC and I wish to show them how to work with Catalyst Browse or prep files for them myself.


I'm guessing that like with the XDCAM BAVC folder , i want to get the MXF files outside of the XDRoot folder.
Is that correct?


I think what i'm supposed to do is use Catalyst Browse and after choosing the correct XDRoot folder and a destination folder, hit "Transcode To". Here I pick the destination codec as XAVC-I again, and choose whether I want to create files that have been color corrected or are untouched.


What i don't get is whether this means I am re compressing my original files . I don't think so , but isn't that what "transcode" would usually mean? If I choose to "All color settings" or add a LUT, I'm not baking that in to a newly compressed file am I? In XDCAM the initial step with Content Browser simply pulls the XDCAM MOV's off the BAVC folder so they are usuable, but its not a recompression. Is that transcoding?


So what is actually going on ? Does the color correction simply add metadata or burn in . Does the same thing happen wihen "transcoding" to ProRes? Where is the metadata kept?


Sorry to be so dense, I know these are basic questions.


lenny
 
Codec = Compress/Decompress.

Transcoding to ProRes involves decompressing the XAVC to baseband (uncompressed video) and then recompressing to ProRes.

If you want to give your clients the XAVC, why not just copy the .MXF files to a drive for them? Alternatively, if you want to keep all sidecar metadata intact and keep the original Sony file structure, you can use the "Copy To" function in Catalyst Browse, with the benefit of a checksum verification. That clones the originals without any transcoding.

By the way - FCP7... I've found the whole "which NLE now?" question a real struggle over the past couple of years. FCP7 has become gradually unsupported, if I want to keep the rest of my Mac software and OS up to date. For example, our Matrox monitoring boxes won't work with Mavericks and FCP7.

After 3 years in the wilderness with FCPX, Prem Pro and Avid, I've settled back on Adobe CC/Prem Pro - the closest I can find to the User Experience I enjoyed for years with legacy Avid and FCP7.

It sees the copied FS7 MXF files (without sidecar folders) with no issues and it's based on NLE conventions going back to when I first moved from Steenbeck/Umatic to Lightworks in 1992 (no "magnetic timeline" bollocks.)

I say this because I'm a Film Editor much more than a camera op - I know the pain of moving between systems, but I would humbly suggest that you might want to look at this as a crossroads opportunity to try Premiere Pro. Or FCPX, if you can handle a completely different way of navigating a timeline and letting it take control of where everything is (I can't.)

Ben.
 
Oh, and by the way, you can also apply basic LUTS as an adjustment layer in Prem Pro - ie, paste a filler block above an entire sequence with a rough LUT for viewing purposes. If things start to bog down, drop the playback resolution to half (still way better visual quality than Avid 15:1 used to be.)

Ben.
 
Orrrr...

If you want to stick with FCP7, you could output proxy editing copies (ProRes LT?) with LUT applied from Catalyst Browse and conform it later, once the edit is locked, in something like Resolve?

Right, enough from me for now...
 
Ben, Thanks - I am planning to switch to Premiere eventually , but for now I just want to understand how to tell other clients who will use XAVC with a variety of other NLE's how to deal with the XAVC files in Catalyst Browse. What the heck does it do when you use it to break files out of the XDRoot folder. Maybe you don't need to do that anymore.
Is the XDRoot folder as inviolable as the BAVC was.?

Should you never transcode XAVC to XAVC because that's a double compression? Not clear to me.

Does keep All color settings affect the XAVC file or just the metadata file - and which one is that anyway?
 
Lenilenapi said:
What the heck does it do when you use it to break files out of the XDRoot folder. Maybe you don't need to do that anymore.
Is the XDRoot folder as inviolable as the BAVC was.?
Click to expand...

I just tried it with Avid MC8 and it didn't recognise the MXF. Prem Pro is quite happy with the MXF, broken out of the file structure.

Lenilenapi said:
Should you never transcode XAVC to XAVC because that's a double compression? Not clear to me.
Click to expand...

Good question. With ProRes and older DV formats, you could run a native workflow and the codec was quite happy, as files were simply unwrapped, rather than re-compressed.

It appears under the "transcode" menu, so that would suggest it's decompressing and re-compressing, which doesn't sound good - a question for Juan on the Sony forum maybe?

Lenilenapi said:
Does keep All color settings affect the XAVC file or just the metadata file - and which one is that anyway?
Click to expand...

I just ran a test and it created a flattened new XAVC file with the colour adjusted (opened in QT7.) So that suggests a transcode to me.

Ben.
 
I use Avid 8.3 and my current workflow is to copy the files to a drive with Catalyst Browse. Then I create a quick lut in Catalyst to transfer intended EI exposure data to Avid. In avid I just AMA my footage and work away. On larger projects AMA might bog down but I have had no issues working with the native XAVC-I files via AMA.
 
I'm using ShotPutPro 5 to transfer from cards, Log and view with Catalyst Browse. AMA into Media Composer 8.3 leaving original Sony file intact. Drop LUT onto clips in Media Composer bin, additional color/exposure correction on time line where needed. and as Frame Farm says, edit away with no problems. With a couple clients who wanted original media just copied original Sony file structure to a hard drive for them.

cheers
Morton
 
I have a similar post process to Morton except I use Catalyst to copy the media and file structure to my edit drives and then AMA into avid from the copied media.
 
Typically, I'm copying the folder structure directly to my Mac hard drive, then open the files in either Media Composer 8.3 or Resolve. Bear in mind these are XAVC files from an F5, which should be like the FS7. Also, note that new Avid plugins for XAVC are here: http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/pdzk-ma2. MC 8.3 works just fine for me, so, I can't explain those that seem to be having trouble. Only the video file and associated .xmf metadata file is really necessary.
 
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