XDCAM Transfer Issues

S

Stephen Cross

Member
Hi guys,

Wondering if someone has experienced a similar problem. I am trying to do an import into final cut pro and load up the XDCAM software, the camera is connected to the computer and I can see the clips appearing on each SXS card in the source bar. The problem is there is no thumbnail - it says "No Image Available", I can't play or watch the clip and it won't let me import.

The weird thing is the XDCAM EX Clip browser software works fine, I can see everything and play the clips.

I think it is a codec issue as footage I have imported on another mac will not open in quicktime or display when I try and drag into final cut..

Anyone that can provide assistance will have my love and dedication forever!
 
I can't help other than to say that I am experiencing the same issue with XDCAM Transfer 2.5.1 Clips often don't show up and long clips, if they appear, have no thumbnail and can't be viewed. This is a big problem because I can't get my footage into FCP.
 
Sounds like a similar problem I had a few weeks ago. After a week of phone tag with Sony and being on speakerphone on their trouble shooting floor for over 5 hours, and after sending them the SxS card it was apparent that it was an MXF metadata issue that was corrupted for no apparent reason. For XDCAM transfer software to import, it needs to read this MFX file which corresponds to all over the clips on the card... if this file is corrupt or damaged XDCAM can't do anything. Clip Browser software is more pliable as far as viewing the wrapped mpeg2 or mp4 mxf wrap. Apparently you can extract the clips easier using a PC version of the software.

Do you see the clips come up in media mode on the camera or do you just see the SxS icon?

1. Copy over the BPAV directory to your hard drive (apple i to see if the data is there)
2. If the BPAV directory is less than 8gb and can fit on a DL DVD I would burn it to dvd and send it to Sony for unwrapping (unless you have a PC based work flow and they can walk you through the unwrap if you're still having issues)
3. Yell at Sony for wrapping everything in MXF!

Hope this helps... I have never lost a single clip of footage yet, knock on wood, but there have been glitches like this that happen with any solid state workflow.

Cheers
 
In my particular case, I can see the clips in both clip browser and in cam but only 3/4 of the clips show up. I have upgraded to 2.7 and it seems to do a bit better, but I'm concerned that I won't be able to access the remainder of my footage without outside assistance...

Do i need a driver for S X S cards to be recognized in Windows?
 
I think it is a codec issue for me.

I imported the footage through XDCAM transfer on my laptop which works fine - I moved it onto an external HD and copied it to my iMac. I try and view the quicktime files on my iMac and import them into final cut but it doesn't work, yet they work on my laptop fine. This is why I suspect it is a codec.

I have to be honest, Sony could have handled this a lot better - this software is very confusing and I don't believe it is made as securely as it needs to be when I am dealing with expensive client paid footage!

If anyone can point me to where I can get a codec for the XDCAM EX for quicktime I think that might help - any ideas?
 
This issue is driving me nuts as well. I"m trying to figure out a safe workflow so that I can shoot on location, dump the contents of the card onto my MacBook Pro's hard drive and an attached Firewire HD at the same time and then burn a DL-DVD of the files when I get home. I'd also want to copy the BPAV folders from either my MBP or the FW HD to my Video harddrive for editing. That way I have lots of redundancy in case disaster strikes.

However, I'm having some of the same issues you guys are with NOT being able to browse these BPAV folders from the saved copies. I can't put this camera into "full" service with a client until I can get this figured out.
 
I think it is a software upgrade issue you are having but unfortunately I can't remember which one just at the moment. Don't know about PC but with a Mac you need FCP 6.0.2. Can't remember if I needed to download something additional though.
 
FCP 6.0.2 is required for EX and 6.0.3 adds support for XDCAM HD422, the new optical disc based products introduced at NAB2008.

The way this works is that Apple provide the codecs as part of FCP and Sony provides the tools to convert from MXF (optical disc) and MP4 (memory card) to QuickTime. Consequently, QuickTime files imported by XDCAM Transfer won't play on a machine which doesn't have the appropriate version of FCP installed as the codes aren't there. Clip Browser however uses its own decode engine which means it'll play the clips anywhere although the quality appears to suffer a bit.

If you're still having problems a couple of suggestions:

1) Download XDCAM Transfer 2.7 from here

http://www.sonybiz.net/biz/view/ShowContent.action?contentId=1203501581812

It appears that previous versions wouldn't let you add a BPAV folder on its own; you had to choose the folder above it. This version lets you select the BPAV folder itself. Note, it must be called BPAV - if you've renamed it to 'Card 1' or something, name it back to BPAV again. Also, the BPAV folder must have been copied in its entirety from the card as any missing or changed files might render the whole lot unreadable.

2) Once you've installed it, choose Help->Check Installed Components. A window will open telling you which codecs that are required to view XDCAM content are installed and which ones are missing.

3) If you have FCP 6.0.2+ and it tells you that the XDCAM EX codecs are not installed then try running Software Update again to see if it picks up any more FCP or Pro Applications updates.

Hope that helps.
 
This is also pretty confusing to me as someone who has just got an EX1. I shot some test footage of random stuff, just bulk copied the 2 8gb cards to my mac HD in a simple drag and drop. Then went into the software, thinking I could just add the clips as you would add an avi or whatever, only to find it shows up as '0 clips'. Don't really understand that.
 
It does seem to be a problem common to card-based workflows. Apple have even done a support article on it. They use P2 as an example but it applies equally well to SxS cards.

For XDCAM Transfer to recognise the clips, the folder structure must look something like this.

Card 1 (or whatever you want to call it)
------- BPAV
-------------- rest of the contents of the card e.g. CLPR and MEDIAPRO.XML

In the 'Add Source...' window, pick the folder called 'Card 1' and all the clips should appear.
 
So does that mean, b/c in the initial test footage I copied I just copied the clip folders and not the entire contents from BPAV that the footage I copied is essentially useless and should be deleted or can it be recovered?

Also, I did a brief test today w/ footage to solve this myself and tried importing as follows:

1 - My original test - copying over the clip folders but not the entire bpav w/ a simple drag and drop. The footage currently isn't recognised.
2 - Plugging the SXS card into my MBPro, loading up XDCAM Transfer. This recognised the SXS card and showed the new clips I'd shot on the left menu. I selected these clips and clicked import. Each clip was then imported and left as a MOV in a folder created by the program.
3 - Use Finder to navigate to the SXS card and copy the entire card to my HD including the BPAV folder. Then I used the same XDCAM Transfer program, selected Add Source (as aiden said above) and imported the footage this way.

The thing that I am pondering is - is there any point doing number 3? I mean, if you plug in the SXS card and use the XDCAM Transfer software to import the footage to your HD, then you are only using the laptop once to transfer footage.

However, if you first copy and paste the entire card to your HD, you still then have to use the XDCAM Transfer software to 'import' the footage aka create the MOV files.

Ergo to me it seems you are doing twice the work for exactly the same result.

Am I wrong here as I don't see there being any real point doing any method other than plugging the SXS card into the laptop and importing through XDCAM Transfer directly.

I suppose it's curious to me b/c I'm coming from the DVX world of tapes where you had to capture each second as an AVI. Part of me things those MOV files I've now got on my hard drive are somehow different just because I didn't capture them.
 
andrew00 said:
So does that mean, b/c in the initial test footage I copied I just copied the clip folders and not the entire contents from BPAV that the footage I copied is essentially useless and should be deleted or can it be recovered?
Click to expand...

Not necessarily. There's talk of an update to Clip Browser due out soon that will handle individual MP4 files (but no idea if that will allow you to export the clips to MXF like the PC version can).

You can preview them in now VLC but you won't get any audio.

andrew00 said:
Am I wrong here as I don't see there being any real point doing any method other than plugging the SXS card into the laptop and importing through XDCAM Transfer directly.
Click to expand...

If you're not planning on archiving the original cards then no, just use XDCAM Transfer straight from the card.
 
Right, but is there lots of juicy info contained in the individual files that would be of benefit over the straight import? I.E. meta data or something like that?
 
Or, thinking about it, is another advantage that if you chose the 'import' method, over just copying the entire contents of the disc, are you locking yourself to mov files and by proxy to FCP? Whereas if you copy the entire disc then you are able to use the files in other formats - e.g. on Windows etc - by converting to the relevant file at a later date - I think Vegas even reads the mp4's directly?
 
It's absolutely a good idea to archive the original media if you think you'll ever need to go back to it at any point. Sorry, didn't intend to suggest otherwise !

Good point about being able to use the original clips in other environments although I don't think I'd worry too much about being locked into MOVs; it's an open standard and you can convert from that to just about anything else just as well. I believe the video and audio is exactly as it was stored in the MP4 file, it's just swapped into a MOV container for FCP. Not sure about the metadata though.
 
I suppose it also encourages an extra degree of safety with the footage - keep one copy in it's original media and archive that away. Then import and work off the mov files, store the mov files on your working external HD and if there are any problems down the line, if you drop the hard drive for example, you've still got the old reliable archive to come back to.
 
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