XDCAM EX Codec for free

[bradmagnus]

I just got some footage from a client that apparently was shot on a Sony XDCAM EX according to MediaInfo, see image for full file info: http://screencast.com/t/y5roeLmyLH5O

I've looked around, but the main solution I found was Calibrated{Q} XD. I don't work with these video files all the time, is there any way around paying $150 for the codec?

I'm on Windows 7 Premiere CS6.

[excited_Genie16B8]

If you have the original media, PP should handle it just fine.  If you have something that's been converted, go back to the client and get the original.

[bradmagnus]

So the Sony XDCAM records in a different file format?  I should be looking for a larger folder structure with the audio and video in seperate folders type thing?

[joe_bloe_premiere]

bradmagnus wrote:

So the Sony XDCAM records in a different file format?  I should be looking for a larger folder structure with the audio and video in seperate folders type thing?

Are you certain the camera was a Sony 'EX' model?

The footage for my current project was shot with a Sony HDW-F900R.

This camera records HDCAM to .MXF, .MPG or .MOV files.

We chose to shoot 1920x1080 23.976 .mxf, but I asked the

shooter to do a couple of rolls of .mpg and .mov for testing.

There was no complicated folder structure as with the EX cameras.

The card contained a single folder named: }CLP{

The only metadata was a single .MP_ file accompanying the one .MPG.

The .mxf and .mpg files import and function as expected,

but importing the quicktime files produces this error:

CS6.0.3 / Win7

.

Changing the file extension to .mpg allowed import,

but there is no audio or video stream in Premiere.

Quicktime details:

.

Quicktime player 7.7.3 only displays a white screen.

[stylish_Rocket0D4C · Accepted solution]

I don't know of a free solution to this, I assume you are looking at this codec?

http://www.calibratedsoftware.com/store/item_view.asp?estore_itemid=1000005

For me it was worth paying for it as I get a lot of these XDCAM FCP wrapped clips. It's a pain, but eventually the old FCP will die and we won't need to worry about it anymore. For now, this is the best solution.

[bradmagnus]

Yes that's the codec I'm looking at. I don't deal with this type of footage very much at all, so I was trying to be cheap... It looks like I may have to buy it.

Saville_82 wrote:

I don't know of a free solution to this, I assume you are looking at this codec?

http://www.calibratedsoftware.com/store/item_view.asp?estore_itemid=10 00005

For me it was worth paying for it as I get a lot of these XDCAM FCP wrapped clips. It's a pain, but eventually the old FCP will die and we won't need to worry about it anymore. For now, this is the best solution.

[bradmagnus]

I'm not sure of anything. I'm really far down on the subcontractor chain, and I don't know who the original vendor was. The calibrated code works, and is going to be easier than trying to figure out original footage.

joe bloe premiere wrote:

Are you certain the camera was a Sony 'EX' model?

[joe_bloe_premiere]

You should be able to import these files natively and edit

without installing any additional codecs... have you tried?

Another point, it is MPEG video in a quicktime wrapper.

Premiere uses QT (32bit) to decode and play .mov files.

This is an impediment to the 64bit nature of Premiere.

If you change the extension to .mpg or.mpeg, the 64bit engine is utilized.

[digitalkiln]

EX-3 native files have .mp4 extensions, not .mov

[joe_bloe_premiere]

Sorry, I thought he was asking about the quicktime (.mov)

file that that he linked the info on the initial post.

[Harm_Millaard]

Conclusion is clear: This is not original material, so follow Jim's advise in post # 1.

[bradmagnus]

I was asking about the file I posted originally. I'm not sure the client has the camera files, I had to wait for quite a while to get these on a hard drive from the vendor who recorded the interview. I'll try changing the wrapper and see how that works out! Thanks for the advice!

[Harm_Millaard]

You don't understand, it seems.

XDCAM-EX records everything to SxS cards, that contain one BPAV directory, which contains numerous sub-directories. After having copied the complete BPAV directory to hard disk, you go to Media Browser and import all the .MP4 clips. PR is clever enough to find the audio that belongs to each of these clips and the metadata and import that as well.

If they have a .MOV extension it is no longer the original material, it has been modified by FCP and probably changed to an intermediate format.

[bradmagnus]

I attempted changing to .mpg and .mpeg, it allowed import of the footage, but without audio.

joe bloe premiere wrote:

You should be able to import these files natively and edit

without installing any additional codecs... have you tried?

Another point, it is MPEG video in a quicktime wrapper.

Premiere uses QT (32bit) to decode and play .mov files.

This is an impediment to the 64bit nature of Premiere.

If you change the extension to .mpg or.mpeg, the 64bit engine is utilized.

[Stephen_Spider]

Before buying a codec, find out if the XDcam is the from  a Sony or JVC camera. Some JVC cams can use .mov or .mp4 wrappers for their XDcam varient.  Both should work in premiere anyway.....just one is for native FCP editing and one for PC apps.

[nw42]

FCP MOV wrapped XCDAM-EX footage is the best way to get inoperable to the rest of the world...

If you can: Use the original Mp4 files as advised

If not: Use FCP to transcode the footage to something that can be read from other software (like Apple Prores MOV)

[bradmagnus]

I am going to buy the codec, as I don't have FCP nor do I want to take the time to transcode it. Thank you for the advice.

nw42 wrote:

FCP MOV wrapped XCDAM-EX footage is the best way to get inoperable to the rest of the world...

If you can: Use the original Mp4 files as advised

If not: Use FCP to transcode the footage to something that can be read from other software (like Apple Prores MOV)

[bradmagnus]

This is a pretty old thread now, but I thought I'd update what I ended up doing. I trimmed the clips down to a few seconds from the hour or so of footage in Premiere. I didn't buy the codec (from calibrated software, just used it as a demo), just used it with the watermark. I was surprized to find out that when I pulled the sequence into After Effects for rotobrushing, it worked perfectly, no watermark from Calibrated software. I Roto'd in Ae and rendered out an mov with alpha. Thanks for all the input!