Blog

On MacBook Pro, used Sony Clip Browser (ClipBrowser) to import footage from a Sony XDCAM-EX to Mac OS HFS+.  This machine had MacDrive installed, enabling Windows apps to directly access files on the HFS+ file system.  On same machine, under Boot Camp (BootCamp) and Windows 7, ran Sony Vegas NLE.   Successfully imported and used footage by both of the following methods:

• Sony Vegas’s Device Explorer [View > Device Explorer].
  • This took several minutes to import.
  • Importing resulted in copying the [.mp4] file (and other files) to the NTFS partition.
• Direct use of [.mp4] on the HFS+ partition.
  • No need to import as such, just constructed waveforms etc.
  • This completed in seconds.
  • Only downside is that it ewas unable to save the waveform files etc., due to my config of MacDrive (read-only), so it would have to do this every time I opened the project.
    • Have yet to try the same thing when MacDrive has config for full read/write access.

GRAID mini was initially a single partition formatted HFS+ under GPT partitioning-scheme.

Repartitioned it as MBR partitioning-scheme where the HFS+partition (existing but reduced) was followed by an NTFS partition.  The repartitioning of the disk and the formatting of the NTFS partition was accomplished from Mac OS, using the iPartition application.

When I first connected the resulting disk to a MacBook Pro, the HFS+ partition was seen OK under Mac OS.  However the NTFS partition seen from Boot Camp / Windows 7 caused Windows Explorer to crash, whenever it was selected or right-clicked in that applications left-hand pane.  On the other hand if the thing selected in the left-hand pane was the computer itself then the NTFS partition (among other volumes) was listed in the right-hand pane, and it was possible to right-click that without the application crashing.  Also, no problems were experienced when accessing it from commandline, or when using Windows Explorer to look inside its folders (as opposed to teh top-level).

By right-clicking the NTFS partition in the right-hand pane, selected options to:

• Define it as a mainly-videos drive.  Presumably alters the block size or something.
• Change that volume’s name, from “GRD mini NTFS” to “GRm HTFS.  Not sure if relevant.

Subsequently was accessed OK in both left and right hand panes.

• General
  • Show advanced tools [No] -> Yes
• Video
  • Import HD video as: [Large 960×540] -> Full - Original Size

No way I can see to define the iMovie work-area folder, where media gets imported to for example.  Maybe there’s no choice over this, which would be a shame (don’t want movies filling up my system drive).  In my case the iMovie work-area was:

• /Users/davidesp/Movies
  • iMovie Events.localized/
    • New Event/
      • iMovie Data
      • iMovie Cache/
      • iMovie Thumbnails/
      • <a source media file>
  • iMovie Projects/
    • My First Project.rcproject

Sometimes the media files for a project are stored in several folders on one or more scratch disks. This happens if you selected a different scratch disk each time you captured media files, or when the name of the project file changes (this often happens when you save often to different filenames).  It would be tidier to consolidate all the media files for a project into one folder.Of course it may be better to avoid making a mess in the first place, as per this person’s advice: <<<I set up each project in its own folder so and then set up capture scratch render files and everything else. This way if I need to move anything you can move the folder onto the hard drive and you dont have to worry about what stuff to move.  >>>There are two approaches (I am aware of):

• Manually copy/move the relevant files (project, source media, renders) then Reconnect the consequently offline media.
  • May only have to reconnect one file, provided the reconnect all files in this relative path option is checked.
• Use Media Manager.  This is more efficient, because all of your clips are reconnected automatically after the media files are moved.

The Manual Approach:

• The Project file.
  • This is the most important file.
    • If all the media in your project came from external media or generated media like titles or color mattes, this is the only file you actually need to move to another computer.  Everything else can be re-imported (e.g. batch-captured) or re-created (e.g. re-rendered).
    • But usually you’ll want to bring other files with you, as below.
• Source Media files.
  • Recordings e.g. captured video and audio clips. These are usually stored in your Capture Scratch folder in a folder with your project name (unless you saved them elsewhere or moved them). If you move these to another computer, you should only have to reconnect one file, if you have the reconnect all files in this relative path option checked.
  • Other media/project files - you might have Motion or LiveType projects, Photoshop graphics, After Effects animations, or any number of other media files for your project- obviously you’ll want to move these over to the new system, and you might want the original project files also.
• Render-files.
  • There are exceptions, but it is best not to move render files - this can lead to problems.
  • It’s better to rerender on the new system. If you must move them, they are in the “Render Files” folder.

The Media Manager Approach:

• OS X:
  • Ensure there is a destination folder for the project.
• FCP:
  • In the Browser, select all items in the project.
  • Make sure the Browser window is active.
  • Menu: [File > Media Manager]
  • Set the required options e.g. handles (margins), select the destination folder (mentioned above) and press [OK].
  • Files created by the Media Manager:
    • [<Destination Folder>]
      • Project File [<projname>.fcp].
      • [Media]
        • [<projname>]
          • <Media Files>
  • This structure is a bit mad but it’s the FCP convention…

Refs:

• [http://www.dvcreators.net/how-do-you-move-a-final-cut-project-from-one-computer-to-another]
• [http://forums.creativecow.net/thread/200/880525]
• [http://documentation.apple.com/en/finalcutpro/usermanual/index.html#chapter=94%26section=9]

Some hard drives attached with FireWire may perform slowly with Windows 7 on a MacBook Pro (15-inch, Mid 2010).  Not aware of any such problem on my system, but found this in passing, worth keeping a note of…[http://support.apple.com/kb/TS3188]

• MacBook Pro (15-inch, Mid 2010): FireWire drives perform slowly with Windows 7
  • Last Modified: April 14, 2010
  • Article: TS3188
• Issue:
  • Some hard drives attached with FireWire may perform slowly with Windows 7 on a MacBook Pro (15-inch, Mid 2010).
• Products Affected
  • Boot Camp, MacBook Pro (15-inch, Mid 2010), Windows 7
• Resolution
  • This situation may occur because of an issue in the 1394ohci.sys driver in Windows 7.
  • Microsoft has posted a “hot fix” for this issue.  See the Microsoft website for more information.

Using the ExpressCard slot for SxS cards (XDCAM-EX) in Mac OS, I noticed that sometimes they dpn’t appear to “seat” properly, removing and reinserting the card normally fixes this.  I wondered if it was just my machine, but I just read of a similar experience by others: [http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/sony-xdcam-ex-cinealta/144158-sxs-cards-mount-inconsistently.html].

On a MacBook Pro, official SxS card in ExpressCard slot is seen OK by Mac OS. However on same machine running Boot Camp Windows 7, it is not seen.SxS drivers have been installed in both cases (OS X & W7). For W7 I tried a couple of versions, including the one from SXS Drivers, stated as “Updated for Windows 7″. The webpage also says “This OS must be factory-installed”, so I wonder what special things they do at the factory!I see at an apple forum some comments (at [http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2306364&tstart=0]) that “there is still no ExpressCard support in release 3.1 (of Boot Camp)” and “At the moment I’m aware of exactly zero Firewire ExpressCards that work in Windows 7 on Boot Camp”. Not familiar with this territory - maybe implies that the Sony drivers are not sufficient?Posted my problem at DvInfo: [http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/sony-xdcam-ex-cinealta/477958-mbp-boot-camp-w7-cant-see-sxs-osx-can.html].  Response confirms Apple not only do not support ExpressCard (EC) under Boot Camp on a MacBook Pro, they may never do so, given that the new model lacks any EC slot.

 In Windows 7, there are two applications folders.   Presumably the same as in Vista (which I have never used), as reported at [http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=87478]:

• Program Files = 64bit apps
• Program Files x86 = 32bit apps
• If the installer is a 32bit application, it will install it to the x86 directory. If it’s a 64bit application it will install it to the regular one.

Remove large items e.g. video files (to separate storage or delete).[http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/last-minute-spring-cleaning-of-your-windows-xp-system]

•  Windows: [Start > Run > Cleanmgr.exe]
• Defrag (registry as well as volumes)
  • No slowness problems so didn’t try that.  If it ain’t broken…
• …

Resulting filespace usage:

• Windows 7
  • System Disk (Boot Camp) 41 GB
  • …includes Documents 175 MB
• XP SP3
  • Initially:
    • System Disk 42 GB
    • …includes My Documents 21 GB, mostly large downloads.
  • Finally (once these downloads were migrated elsewhere):
    • System Disk: 20 GB
    • My Documents 370 MB

[http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/sony-xdcam-ex-cinealta/235167-vegas-9-imports-native-xdcam-ex-files-2.html]

• as of May 2009:
  • Technically, you “can” edit the .mp4 files right from the card. You’d need to drill down through the directories via the standard Vegas Explorer tool (not the new Device Explorer), find your .mp4 clip, and bring it into your project.
  • “We do not currently support shot markers from EX in the Vegas Pro 9 Device Explorer, but it is on our radar.”
  • Spanning clips does not work properly for everybody (could in principle be due to their circumstances as much as the app).  Recommended to join these together using ClipBrowser thenexport as MXF for NLEs.  … It is really the same concept as (FCP’s) XDCAM Transfer except instead of re-wrapping as [.mov] it re-wraps as [.mxf].
  • (In the case of FCP) … the metadata is part of the MOV after … re-wrapping the file for FCP.  (Possibly) Vegas had a problem with managing the metadata and their solution was just to (import the) native (essence/mp4) files.

My own experiences:

• A long shoot gets listed as a sequence of smaller clips, corresponding to the separate [.mp4] files recorded by the camera.  This is known as a spanned clip.  Each of the smaller clips is of size no more than around 3.5 GB.
• Device Explorer import results:
  • Clips with names like [929_1332_01_20100318_191600] i.e. having datetimes.
  • These clips consist of the following files, with main file name as per the clip:
    • XDCAM-EX:  [.mp4], [.xml]
    • AVCHD: [.mts] (but no clip info files).