Other: XAVC... how do I just play it!?

JMtheDP

JMtheDP

Veteran
Hi Guys

I have been dealing with some XAVC footage recently, both from the F55 and also from the F65 via RAW Viewer... but how the hell do I watch it?

I don't fancy paying £30 for content browser, but surely there must be SOMETHING that just lets me play the stuff? I've got plenty of editing software which can work with it, but I just wanna view rushes.

It seems a bit loony, really.... nothing I have can play it, not even VLC (which does one frame and shuts down for some reason).

I am on windows....

James
 
Thanks Viddo. I'm downloading a trial of Catalyst Prepare as that looks like it could be very handy software for my DIT station...
 
JMtheDP said:
Thanks Viddo. I'm downloading a trial of Catalyst Prepare as that looks like it could be very handy software for my DIT station...
Click to expand...

You should try Browse as well. Browse is free, seems to run on the same engine as prepare, and has plenty of transcode, logging, and lut-checking-baking capability.
 
Browse is nice, WHEN it works. It seems to have a mind of it's own with regards to when it will function. WHen I first DL'd it after getting my F55 the other month, it crashed every time I tried to use it, then it just seemed to work perfectly-could play, adjust, apply looks, etc. And yesterday it started crashing again every time the thumbnails start to load.
 
Catalyst Browse has some annoyingly slow navigation features, but it's the best software I've found for cataloging and organsing XAVC files - you can combine cards into a single folder, you can create your own folder names, and don't have to worry about corrupted folder structures.
 
Run&Gun said:
Browse is nice, WHEN it works. It seems to have a mind of it's own with regards to when it will function. WHen I first DL'd it after getting my F55 the other month, it crashed every time I tried to use it, then it just seemed to work perfectly-could play, adjust, apply looks, etc. And yesterday it started crashing again every time the thumbnails start to load.
Click to expand...
+1
Exactly. It's great when it works but on Mac at this moment is not very reliable. So what I do to play rushes? Open Premiere Pro, create random project, import all the footage and watch it there. Far from ideal :(
 
alohype said:
+1
Exactly. It's great when it works but on Mac at this moment is not very reliable. So what I do to play rushes? Open Premiere Pro, create random project, import all the footage and watch it there. Far from ideal :(
Click to expand...

I'm on Mac, as well. We can always playback in-camera and make sure clips are good on the cards, but we still need to be able to check the data on a computer because I like to "spot check" clips on the drives after I download them before the clients or producers walk away with them, so I don't get those dreaded phone calls, emails or texts later on(which I have been getting way too many of the last 12 months. And all have been because of "post" with the lone exception of a drive getting damaged in transit and wouldn't spin up afterwards).
 
alohype said:
+1
Exactly. It's great when it works but on Mac at this moment is not very reliable. So what I do to play rushes? Open Premiere Pro, create random project, import all the footage and watch it there. Far from ideal :(
Click to expand...

Have I got this right? James is asking about playback on a PC.

Mac users - why aren't you just opening the MXF directly in Quicktime Player?

I do it all the time. It won't "preview" with the space bar yet, but it plays back no probs with a double click.

Sorry if I missed something.
 
Not working on mine :( Unless I am missing something important (like drivers).


Side question: does anyone know what is a function of .BIM files? (every clip is .MXF, .XML and .BIM) Cannot find info on them.
 
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Can confirm that Telestream Switch 1.6 (free reader as well as the two paid versions) play XAVC files. Definitely worth a look

Ned
 
XAVC seems to be very very fiddly on different computers, different OS's, different processors etc. Hard to get a handle on when it works easily and when it doesn't. For some people it apparently plays better than ProRes and for some its the opposite ( at least that's what I've gleaned form posts here.)

I don't have any trouble playing it on my late 2012 Macbook Pro but I have a 2.7GHz i7 w 1GB Nvidia card & CUDA. On the other hand even though I've downloaded the software I cannot get it to play in quicktime. It should work in FCP 7 for me but it won't . Sometimes the audio stutters especially in 4K and especially in Resolve. I just decided to get a newer machine for editing.
 
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