Introduction : XDCAM codec

XDCAM is a professional standard for tapeless video, introduced by Sony in 2003. The first two generations, XDCAM and XDCAM HD, using the Professional Disc as recording media. This disc is similar to Blu-ray Disc and contains, either 23 GB of data (PFD23, single sided) or 50GB (PFD50, double-sided). XDCAM records in color resolution: 4.2.2

The third generation XDCAM EX uses SxS cards. In September 2008, JVC has announced its alliance with Sony to support XDCAM EX format.

XDCAM-E has allowed the development of camcorders in a compact, robust and high performance such as the PMW-EX1 and PMW-EX3. These cameras allow acquisition Full HD 1920 x 1080 with a Long GOP MPEG compression of 35 Mbps, recording on SxS memory cards to meet the standard ExpressCard. Given that most laptops are now equipped with an ExpressCard slot, this media type has a compatibility ensured for many years to come. Thus, the XDCAM EX, which the workflow is supported by major manufacturers of editing software, has been widely adopted since the launch of the PMW-EX1 in 2007

In April 2009, JVC released the HM100 model very compact and cost (< 4000 $) which also uses the XDCAM-EX (and HM700 model)

In November 2009, Sony released an upgraded version of the PMW-EX1, called: PMW-EX1R

XDCAM-ex records in color resolution: 4.2.0 and 1920x 1080 pixels with a bitrate of 35Mb in its highest resolution.

To learn more about XDCAM : Sony XDCAM

 

Contents of the SxS card

The SxS card has a general folder, named: BPAV with a sub-folder: CLPR

Then, each shot (start / stop camera) gives rise to the creation of a files as the following:

Within each folder, we find the main video file, file. MP4 and several other small files

In Edius export, the name of a folder structure is:

 

 

 

Edius and XDCAM-EX

Edius is designed to edit the XDCAM and it is very easy and smooth, better than HDV.

Despite its great video quality, XDcam is a little bit hard to select clips due to its multiple folders where to fetch the MP4 video files. If you have 100 shots, there will be 100 folders. It's a pain opening 100 folders to retrieve 100 MP4 files. Solution: use the Sony Clip Browser which allows you to view clips and easily select the MP4 files.

 

Workflow: Import XDCAM-EX in Edius

At the first time, download and install free software Sony : XDcam-EX Clip Browser

 

1st step : Copy clips from the SxS card to the PC HDD.

with Windows Explorer
make a simple copy / paste between the SxS card and PC hard drive.
Warning: it is imperative that the PC file name is: BPAV
(If these are new clips: copy / paste these new sub-folders in the folder associated BPAV already created)

with Sony Clip Browser
It is also possible to use Clip Browser to copy the footages from the SxS card to the PC with a few advantages:
- Reconstitute a clip that was cut into 2 parts because of the border 4GB (FAT32) or writing between 2 SxS cards.
- Allow to extract only a few clips from the SxS card to the PC.

 

2nd step : select clips with "Clip Browser"

Open Clip Browser and use only the window "Explorer". All partitions containing a folder BPAV are represented by a yellow cylinder adorned with a red mark ... Just "click" on the "cylinder" to open all the videos on the BPAV (NB the BPAV's are not displayed)

r

 

 

3rd step : Drag/drop to Edius bin

Drag and drop clips "selected" (Ctrl / Shift) for Clip Browser to the Edius bin.

These clips are XML (pointers 1.82Ko) containing all useful informations.
You may edit as well with the XML as with a "normal" clip.

 

Note: Create only one folder per partition drive : BPAV , otherwise Clip Browser crashes.

Solutions to choose from:

1 - rename the file BPAV like : BPAV in Mexique, for example, once transfer done (at launch, Edius have to relink this one).

2 - Open CPLR folder and copy / paste folders from SxS to this original CPLR.

 

Marc and Bertrand - 10/2009