URGENT - XDCAM Import Time Help!

T

tirapell

Active member
I rented a PMW-200 to do a short project along with 2 64GB SxS cards and I am shooting in HD422 50mb/s at 720p. Am I missing something or is the import time for XDCAM footage unreasonably long!? I can't imagine pro's work in an environment where it takes an hour to import 2.2GB of footage, or 30 hours to upload 1 64GB card? I imported less than 1/3 a card (18.5GB) and it took 8.5 hours to import overnight. If this is the expected import time, I'm in quite the predicament going forward as I had planned to shoot and upload in the same day.

I've tried both FCP and Sony's content browser.

I have plenty of storage space. Even if the conversion from .mxf file to something FCP can use (.mov) takes a while, is there a better way to off-load footage from the SxS cards to make them usable again? I can import later as the rental unit and cards are due back.

By the way, I have experience with AVCHD and AVC-Intra (on the comparable HPX-250) and the import times aren't comparable at all. Both are very quickly ingested.

Any help here would be greatly appreciated!
 
SxS ingest should be at least 6x faster than real time. And rewrapping to MOV from MXF does not add any extra time -- it should still be at least 6x faster than real time.

It sounds like you don't have all the necessary drivers loaded. But since you have left out a lot if important information, it is hard to say. For example, you don't mention what Sony utility software you are using for the ingest, or whether you're using a card reader or the camera itself, or what your workflow steps are.

You can download everything you need from Sony right here: https://pro.sony.com/bbsc/ssr/micro...o-xdcam-downloads-XDCAMSoftwareDownload.shtml

Pay special attention to this download: "[FONT=Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial]SxS Device Driver Version 1.05 and SxS UDF Driver Version 2.00 for Mac OS X[/FONT]"

Once you get the necessary drivers installed, everything should work fine.

If you still need more help, I have this short video. http://www.vortexmedia.com/STREAM_XDB.html
 
SxS ingest should be at least 6x faster than real time. And rewrapping to MOV from MXF does not add any extra time -- it should still be at least 6x faster than real time. It sounds like you don't have all the necessary drivers loaded. But since you have left out a lot if important information, it is hard to say. For example, you don't mention what Sony utility software you are using for the ingest, or whether you're using a card reader or the camera itself, or what your workflow steps are.

You can download everything you need from Sony right here: https://pro.sony.com/bbsc/ssr/micro...o-xdcam-downloads-XDCAMSoftwareDownload.shtml

Pay special attention to this download: "SxS Device Driver Version 1.05 and SxS UDF Driver Version 2.00 for Mac OS X" Once you get the necessary drivers installed, everything should work fine.

If you still need more help, I have this short video: http://www.vortexmedia.com/STREAM_XDB.html which is an excerpt from my 3-hour PMW-200 training DVD. http://www.vortexmedia.com/DVD_PMW200.html
 
on my EX1 (35mbit) i import via the express card slot on my prehistoric macbookpro and its very fast. as i recall about 6.7x. i seem to recall importing from the camera once and its very slow. maybe not even 2x as i recall.

this is going into older FCP's but not FCPX.

FCP needs XDCAM software.

david
 
David, that's exactly the solution I came up with. Copy via the Express Card slot in the MBP and then import afterwards. It gets the cards clear fairly quickly, about the same as my experience with AVC-Intra.

Footage is gorgeous from the PMW-200 at 422 & 50mb/s!
 
tirapell said:
David, that's exactly the solution I came up with. Copy via the Express Card slot in the MBP and then import afterwards. It gets the cards clear fairly quickly, about the same as my experience with AVC-Intra.

Footage is gorgeous from the PMW-200 at 422 & 50mb/s!
Click to expand...

It's good that you have found a workaround, but you have not solved the root problem. Importing directly from an SxS card in the Express Card Slot should be 6-10x faster that real time and there should be no reason at all to transfer to a hard drive first before importing. So once again, I will advise you that you do not have the proper drivers installed on your computer.
 
Doug Jensen said:
It's good that you have found a workaround, but you have not solved the root problem. Importing directly from an SxS card in the Express Card Slot should be 6-10x faster that real time and there should be no reason at all to transfer to a hard drive first before importing. So once again, I will advise you that you do not have the proper drivers installed on your computer.
Click to expand...

Doug, thank you for your patience. I finally had a slow-down in shooting and followed your directions. You (as I expected) were right. I did not have the UDF driver installed, which I believe lead to the ultra slow import of the UDF file-type that HD422 50mb/s creates.

It would import/upload before, but the speed was painfully slow. The UDF driver was the magic. Thanks again.
 
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