Monday, June 17, 2013

Working Natively with Sony PDW-700 XDCAM HD MXF in Final Cut Pro X

This article shows you the best solution for convertting XDCAM HD MXF files from Sony PDW-700 to a file format that is editable/supported by FCP X.
 
PDW-700 camcorder is a popular member of Sony's XDCAM family, equipped with three 2/3-inch type CCDs – a newly developed "Power HAD FX" progressive CCD with 1920 x 1080 effective pixels. It also offers very high quality HD recording at a data rate of up to 50Mbps using the MPEG-2 4:2:2P@HL compression, and provides multi-format recording flexibility including 1080i, 720P and SD, with HD/SD conversion and cross conversion between 1080i and 720P.


The XDCAM series takes recording to the next level, utilizing non-linear single and dual-layer optical Blue Laser technology. Less time logging, capturing and digitizing footage allows videographers to move seamlessly between acquisition and post-production. However, Sony PDW700 XDCAM camcorders' video format is MXF, using this MXF footage on Mac is a big problem. If you try to import PDW-700 HD MXF footages to Final Cut Pro X for further editing, you may meet some incompatible issues.

Sony has recently released version 2.9 of the XDCAM Transfer Software, which adds additional features including the ability to write back MXF files to the Clips folder with the PDW-U1. You can learn how to import XDCAM Disc footage directly into the Final Cut Pro editing system with XDCAM Transfer here.

Anyway, this MXF file with MPEG HD422 codec is a not standard editing format for FCP X. In case that you have more unexpected problem, you are suggested to convert Sony PDW700 MXF video to FCP X compatible format like ProRes 422 codec. As ProRes codec is a common format developed by Apple, ProRes 422 is intended for non-linear editing with Apple Final Cut Pro. They retain higher quality when you convert Sony PDW700 MXF to FCP X using Apple Prores codec. Below is an easy way for you to import Sony PDW700 XDCAM HD MXF to Final Cut Pro X on Mac.

1.Download Pavtube MXF Converter for Mac. This is excellent software which can help you convert Sony PDW700 XDCAM MXF video to ProRes for FCP X. Besides, it supports many other formats for output.

2.Install and launch this Sony XDCAM MXF to FCP Converter, import the MXF video you want to convert.



3.Choose the best output format for Final Cut Pro . Click on "Format" and choose "Final Cut Pro >>Apple ProRes 422 (*.mov)". It is the best codec and format for editing XDCAM MXF in FCP X.



4.You can click settings to adjust the output parameters, such as resolution, bitrate and frame rate.



5.You can click edit button to edit MXF video, such as deinterlace, denoise, mute, volume up and crop.

6.Click convert button to start transcoding MXF to Apple ProRes for Final Cut Pro X and import the converted video file into FCP X. 

Now you can load and edit Sony PDW700 XDCAM HD MXF footage in FCP X instantly without rendering.

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