Help with XDCAM footage...

cinealma

cinealma

Veteran
I am helping out on a project with some editing and sound design. I received an uncompressed .mov file of the film and I can't pull in the footage on my PC (sound pulls in fine). From what I've read, it appears that what I received was a QT file that was rendered out of FCP on a Mac. And apparently, there's no way I can get to the footage without it going back into FCP and rendering out to a PC compatible format. The original XDCAM files from the camera are no longer available. This file is the whole enchilada, in a nutshell.

Does this sound right? Any ideas or suggestions?


Thanks for your time and help.
 
There's someone out there that wrote a codec that lets you play XDCAM .mov files on Windows. I think it costs around $80. I don't know the name but I know it's out there so search around.
 
Do you have quicktime installed?

What software are you editing with? uncompressed video wrapped in .mov should be no problem on the PC. After all, that's a common format for many people use to transfer from pc to the mac. Are you sure that's what it is ? Use mediainfo (view=>text)
 
Usually, I would export out from FCP using Quicktime conversion for a PC to be able to play it. And to a codec that you can cut.

If you use export Quicktime straight from FCP, you need the FCP codec install in to the machine that is intended for.

So go back and ask the person to export out using Quicktime conversion

Maybe the software called Mpeg stream clip could help? There is a PC version of it. you that to convert to the codec that you can cut on your PC
 
Question is, when you say uncompressed, was it actually exported with QuickTime conversion as uncompressed or was it exported with current settings and thus, no more compressed than XDCAM is in the first place?

If the latter, see my answer above. If you want, I can get the details on that software.
 
Two options:

1. Download the latest version of Quicktime onto your PC and install it. Then open the file. Open the file in Quicktime, and go to Window > Show Movie Inspector. When you do this, it has a paramter called "Format". Tell us what that is, and we'll tell you how to convert your file to somethig you can use on your PC.

2. Download a utility called G-Spot (codec appliance). Install it and open the file with it. It will tell us what codec was used to create the file and then we can advise you how to proceed.

If the file is in a .MOV format, chances are you're ok. There is only one major exception to this, and that is if the file was encoded with AIC (Apple Intermediate Codec). But that is usually only chosen out of Final Cut Express.. not FCP. If the file was encoded with AIC, it will HAVE to go back to a Mac and be changed. AIC cannot be used on a PC at all. The installation of a current version of Quicktime (7.6.5 right now) should sort out the problem in most cases.

I do a lot of PC <-> Mac hand off work and I use Avid's DNxHD codec for this. It's foolproof and very high quality. Essentially the same as ProRes. It's what Apple based ProRes on. And it's free for both Mac and PC users.



cinealma said:
I am helping out on a project with some editing and sound design. I received an uncompressed .mov file of the film and I can't pull in the footage on my PC (sound pulls in fine). From what I've read, it appears that what I received was a QT file that was rendered out of FCP on a Mac. And apparently, there's no way I can get to the footage without it going back into FCP and rendering out to a PC compatible format. The original XDCAM files from the camera are no longer available. This file is the whole enchilada, in a nutshell.

Does this sound right? Any ideas or suggestions?


Thanks for your time and help.
Click to expand...
 
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Download DNxHD on the Mac and the PC. Transcode to DNxHD, and hand off to the Mac or PC. No muss no fuss. And the codec is free.
 
I do not own a Mac. I frequently work on projects that involve Macs. Thus the need for an efficient workflow that allows projects to go back and forth. ProRes is nice, but it's one way only. I can't write it on the PC. DNxHD allows both systems to read and write, and does not induce a gamma shift unlike a lot of other codecs.

Honestly, it's seamless, and free. Pretty hard to beat. Cineform works too, but it's darn pricey at $499 per machine.
 
Thanks for all the replies. I haven't had a chance to check back in in a while.

Ok, so the format is:

XDCAM EX 720p24 (35 Mb/s VBR)

It is a .mov file.


Any ideas?
 
Yep,

Gotta go back to the Mac for a re-encode. Use a lossless format and at least it won't cost you any quality.
 
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