Thursday, May 23, 2013

Convert and Transfer Sony XDCAM footage to QuickTime MOV on Mac

This article will show you how to convert XDCAM EX HD files to QuickTime MOV on Mac.  

XDCAM EX 

The Sony XDCAM EX is a high-quality video camcorder, capable of shooting in either standard definition or high definition. XDCAM EX video and audio content is stored on Sony SxS solid-state Express Card 3/4 media within MP4 container files. You can record video either 1920 x 1080 or 1280 x 720 modes.

XDCAM EX HD MP4 video is recorded from Sony XDCAM EX. But after test, we find that this MP4 format by Sony can't even be played on Mac OS 10.8. Many fresh users don't know what to do. But don't worry. Just follow me to learn how to play and view .mp4 files from Sony XDCAM EX.
Soutions:
  1. With running XDCAM Browser you can preview the MP4 files or export as a mxf file, but can't transfer to a .mov file and this rewapped .mxf file may not be viewing.
  2. Of course You can play this video file on the camcorder and through the Sony software, but if you use QuickTime as your media player, you will have to convert Sony XDCAM HD file to a compatible format with QuickTime MOV for playback. So how to convert a XDCam EX MP4 file into a mac-compatible .mov file for enjoying which retain the same size and quality? 
  • Calibrated{Q} MP4-EX Import component ($149.95) supports tranferring MP4 to QuickTime MOV. (Not supported FCP X)
  • Calibrated{Q} XD Decode codec ($89.95) to encode MP4 files for playback. (Not for use when any version of Final Cut Pro, Final Cut Studio or Final Cut Server is installed, and at least a Intel Core 2 Duo with two physical cores is highly recommended)
  • As the solution above takes too much money, and you may may have reliability and incompatiblity issues. Here comes the third solution, using Pavtube HD Video Converter for mac can helps you to tranfer Sony XDCAM MP4 to QuickTime mov easily and fastly. (Easy and Helpful)
As you see, the last solution is the esaiest and effective way. Below are step to step guide for Converting and Transferring an XDCAM EX to QuickTime on Mac.

Step 1. Download Sony XDCAM MP4 to MOV Converter for mac, and install it. Click the "Add Video"  button to import Sony XDCAM EX seperate MP4 files or press on"Add from Folder" button to add MP4 folder.


Step 2. Select output format.

Click on the dropdown menu of "Format" and select "Common Video -> MOV – QuickTime (*.mov)" as target format. This format is specially designed for QuickTime playback. You can also choose format as you need in the format column, such as AVI, MKV, MP4, etc.

         
Step 3.Adjust video and audio parameters.

Click "Settings" button to customize the output video and audio settings by yourself. You can also use the default parameters, they will ensure you a good balance between file size and image quality basically. You can change the resolution, bitrate, frame rate as you need.

         

Step 4. Click "Convert" button and this Sony XDCAM EX MP4 Converter for Mac will start transcoding Sony XDCAM MP4 to QuickTime MOV.

After you converting Sony XDCAM  HD Video to MOV for QuickTime, you can play the converted footages smoothly on Mac.

Further Reading:


Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Panasonic Lumix DMC-G6 News, Reviews, Tips



Lumix DMC-G6  Hands on:

Panasonic has just announced a new member to their lineup of mirrorless digital cameras: the Lumix DMC-G6. This camera succeeds the G5 and adds to it an array of performance and imaging enhancements, many of which are focused around improved movie recording and the integration of built-in wireless connectivity. Enhancing the G6 is the new Lumix G Vario 14-140mm f/3.5-5.6 ASPH POWER O.I.S. lens, which is also an update of a former product and features an increased maximum aperture and lighter overall weight. 

G6 specification highlights: 
  • 16MP Live MOS sensor 
  • ISO 160-12,800 (extendable up to 25,600) 
  • 3.0", 1.04 million dot capacative LCD 
  • 1.44 million dot OLED electronic viewfinder with eye sensor
  • Full AVCHD 1080/60p video with full manual control (and 2.4X digital teleconverter option) 
  • 3.5mm external mic socket 
  • 7 frames per second continuous shooting, 5 fps with AF-tracking 
  • 23 Scene modes including 'Cute Desert' and 'Sweet Child's Face' 
  • iAuto mode can automatically detect when to use 9 scene modes 
  • 'Clear Retouch' touch gesture-based heal tool 

FAQs: 
  1. What is the body made of??

    The body of this camera is made out of a composite material.
  2. Is it compatible with batteries from older models, or is it a new battery design?

    The G6 uses a 7.2V, 1200mAh battery, Panasonic product number DMW-BLC12. As far as I can tell, this is the same battery used by the G5, GH2, and FZ200.

  3.  Is is possible to log & transfer G6 recordings to FCP 7?

    Many Panasonic users may encountered import AVCHD files to FCP 7 problem. It is due to the format and codec incompatiblity. FCP only works in specific formats and video resolutions. The material from this camera has to be converted to FCP friendly codec, such as apple prores. So converting G6 footage to ProRes is the best method.
  4. How to remove the rendering time and smoothly edit G6 MTS files in FCP X ?

    As we know, Apple ProRes 422 codec MOV format is best supported video codec and format for FCP X. And Pavtube iMedia Converter for Mac can help you easily transcode G6 MTS to Final Cut Pro ProRes 422 codec. 

Tips:

This Mac Panasonic AVCHD Converter can be your best partner to convert Panasonic AVCHD MTS for FCE/iMovie and make Panasonic AVCHD files editable in Avid Media Composer.

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Make Blackmagic Production Camera 4K footage editable in FCP 6/7/X

Videomaker's Best Camcorder of NAB 2013 is the Blackmagic Production Camera 4K. Do you know it? The team at Blackmagic Design has been hard at work preparing the release of the Blackmagic Production Camera 4K. Now, the professional has blend in our life. The Blackmagic Production Camera 4K can capture 3840×2160 on its Super 35 sensor,which can effectively retain the contents when shooting . And because the machine can use the RAW format video capture, which makes the cameraman shooting can have more space in the post-processing.




For Blackmagic Production Camera 4K users, you may want to convert the Blackmagic 4K video captured with the camera to other format files for further usage. However when you enjoy the stunning videos recorded of HD image quality, you may encounter problems of trying to edit Blackmagic 4K footage in FCP. To make 4K videos editable in FCP, we can transcode Blackmagic 4K AVCHD, MTS, M2TS, MXF, XAVC video to FCP compatible codec.

What we use: Pavtube Media Magician for Mac ($45)

This app supports a variety of codecs and file types, including AVCHD, MTS, M2TS, TOD, MOD, MKV, MOV, AVI, MP4, ASF, DVD compatible MPEG files, flash videos and even protected TiVo recordings. So it will be your ideal choice to cut/encode the Blackmagic 4K video to Apple ProRes 422 HQ which is the best codec for FCP. In case you have the same problem with importing Blackmagic 4K shootings into FCP, I'd share the workflow here.

Guide: How to Change Blackmagic 4K Video Clips to ProRes 422 HQ clips

1. Connect the Blackmagic 4K cam to Mac and the software will pop up a wizard for you to capture AVCHD, MTS, M2TS, MXF, XAVC from camcorder. This wizard is brilliant – we have used it to import many 4K videos that had not work in FCP Log and Transfer window.

 

2. Drag and drop video clips to timeline.

 

Tip: Here you can remove unwanted video clips and trim out unwanted frames by frame-accurate. Also, you may trim, cut, delete, rearrange order, and merge videos. Find some helpful instructions in below guides:

How to split/cut/trim video in frame accurate editor without re-encoding on Mac?

How to do timeline editing and select frames accurately using frame selection controller?

3. Click the Output button on the top and switch it to output interface.

Here you can set common video format like AVI, MKV, MP4, MOV, MPG, etc as well as intermediate codec for non-linear video editing app like FCP and Avid MC.



4. Export Apple ProRes video for FCP 7/FCP X.

For importing Blackmagic 4K video to FCP, follow the steps to set Apple ProRes 422 preset:



a. Move your mouse to Editor, click on the tab.

b. Select "Final Cut Pro" group.

c. The default output format for FCP is Apple ProRes 422. To use ProRes 422 HQ codec, you need to click on the "Format" bar and choose "Apple ProRes 422 HQ" from the drop-down list of.

d. Press the plus sign (+) to add task for conversion.

e. Select the task(s) and click on the triangle sign to start encoding Blackmagic 4K recordings to Apple ProRes 422 MOV for FCP.

More 4K videos:

Apart from Blackmagic Production Camera 4K, there are other video camcorders can record videos in 4K, such as Canon C500, Sony NEX-FS700, Sony PMW-F55/F5, etc. the videos formats include MXF, XAVC mainly.

So now you can successfully edit high definition videos from Blackmagic Production Camera 4K in FCP. Hope this article will be the best solution. Just enjoy your fluid workflow with Blackmagic Production Camera 4K and Final Cut Pro!

Monday, May 20, 2013

Convert Sony PMW-F55/F5 XAVC Footages for DVD burning

This article mainly teaches you how to burn Sony PMW-F55/F5 XAVC files to DVDs with a professional and easy-to-use XDCAM to DVD burner.

Sony's newest recording format the XAVC can record footages in superb video quality at up to 4K (4096 × 2160 and 3840 × 2160) resolution. When you have such great quality well-done videos after shooting, you might wanna save them in DVDs. Because in that way, you can keep your videos well and watch them conveniently, and even lend it to friends. But as XAVC is a rare software, not many software can support converting XAVC footages to DVD disc, then burn XAVC to DVD for home watching will be a difficulty, especially for the Mac users.


Luckily, here is a third-party professional XAVC to DVD Creator from Pavtube which can burn XAVC files to DVD for saving or sent for sharing. With this efficient DVD burner, you can easily burn your XAVC files without any loss, quick in time, and output in amazing high quality for watching. Below is the simple steps for you to easy burn your HD XAVC files to DVD.

Step 1. Download DVD Creater.


Free download this Sony XAVC to DVD burner. Follow the steps to install and run the free program. You can see the main interface.
canon mov to dvd maker run How to Convert and Burn Canon Video to DVD

Step 2. Load video files.

1. Drag and drop Sony XAVC video files to source area (details in Source Screen)

2. Select “Add Files” from the drop-down list of Quick Start menu.
add files How to Convert and Burn Canon Video to DVD

Each file is recognized as a chapter after being imported to DVD Creator. Press on “Add title” button to add more titles. And you can do some arrangement for titles or chapters.

Tip: You can enter Video Editor to Trim, Crop, Text Watermark, add Image/Video Watermark, set Effect, and Replace audio if necessary before burnning.

Step 3. Customize DVD menu.

Turn to Menu pane and double-click a DVD menu beneath the Menu Template to apply it to your DVD. You can change the background video/image, background music, text, title thumbnail and more for your DVD menu.
dvd creator menu How to Convert and Burn Canon Video to DVD

Step 4. Preview created DVD video.

Once the DVD menu has been decided, click on “Preview” tab and your DVD video will be played just like on a DVD player. The control buttons here are corresponded with the keys on remote control.
preview created dvd video How to Convert and Burn Canon Video to DVD

Step 5. Start burning Sony XAVC to DVD.

Click the “Burn” button to start fast making DVD from Sony F5/F55 Camera – video to a writable DVD (or ISO image) that will plays on standard DVD player after burning. Now you are able to watch the DVD on your home DVD player or TV.
dvd creator burn How to Convert and Burn Canon Video to DVD

With this professional Sony XAVC to DVD Maker, you will find it pretty easy to convert Sony F5/F55 XAVC videos to DVD for you to enjoy a quality time watching movies with your family at home. If you are Mac users, you can try convert XAVC to DVD on mac.

PS: For beginners, please switch to the online guide about how to use dvd creator 

Sunday, May 19, 2013

Import and Edit Canon C500 MXF in Adobe Premiere Pro CS 4/5/6 on Mac

In this article, I will shows the best method for editing Canon C500 MXF in Adobe Premiere Pro CS 4/5/6 on Mac. If you have problems when importing Canon C500 MXF to Adobe Premiere Pro on Mac Mopuntain Lion, please follow this post below to know how to import Canon C500 mxf footage to Adobe Premiere Pro CS 4/5/6 for editing without rendering.  



Canon has officially announced the EOS C500, the professional 4K video camera output that it promised at the NAB trade show in April. A continuation of the concept of the C500, it can capture Raw 4K video footage and offers frame rates of up to 120fps in compressed 4K. It also captures 2K footage (2,048 x 1,080 pixels) at 12-bit, with 4:4:4 Y'CbCr chroma sub-sampling for high colour resolution. For 4K and 2K recording, uncompressed output is delivered to external recording systems via built-in dual 3G SDI ports. Dual HD-SDI monitor outputs support external live monitoring. Simultaneously, HD content can be written to dual onboard CF cards to provide proxy video for offline NLE systems.

Read More: Canon XF300 | Canon XF105 | Canon XF100

Canon C500 is very excellent, you may have bought a C500 camcorder and need to edit C500 files in Premiere Pro CS 4/5/6, but C500 MXF files are not well supported by Premiere Pro CS, as you may encounter many audio and video problems, such as bitrate unsupported, and synchronization program. 

We did a test, we had only been able to get 35Mbps and 25Mbps files to work in PPro CS4, we have to use CS5 or above to edit natively 50MBPS 422HD recordings with AMA MXF or Canon XF Plugin. To edit C500 MXF videos, you’d better upgrade to CS5/CS6. But some users can’t upgrade to CS5/CS6, what will you do? 


In fact, it is an easy solution for many users, it can save money and same time. The most importnat is that the conversion won’t reduce the video qaulity. Here we run an top tool as the MXF to Adobe PPro Converter to take an example. Below is the simple guide on how to convert C500 MXF movies to Premiere Pro CS4/5/6 supported formats.


Step 1. After downloading, install and run this Mac MXF Converter for Premiere Pro, just copy the MXF files from the CF cards right to your hard drive, import the files to the software.


Step 2. Click "Format" bar to choose the output format. Click "Format > Adobe Premiere/Sony Vegas > MOV (AVC)(*.mov) or MPEG-2 Video (*.mpg)" as output format. The MXF to Premiere CS Converter for Mac will convert Canon C500 MXF videos to MOV/MPG with the original video resolution.



Step 3. You can click "Settings" button to adjust the parameters, such as resolution, bitrate, etc.

Step 4. Click "Convert" button to start converting Canon C500 MXF to MOV/MPG for importing to Premiere Pro CS4/5/6 on Mac.

After the conversion is finished, just run Adobe Premiere Pro CS4/5/6 and import the .mpg or .mov files for editing. You will find the output video work perfectly on Adobe Premiere Pro CS.


PS. If you do not know how to import video to Adobe, please reference the following guide:

Adobe Premiere Pro workflow: How to import Media Files to Premiere Pro on Mac

Canon MXF

Read More:

Thursday, May 16, 2013

Mac Canon MTS Converter-Working with Canon Legria HF20/HF200 MTS (AVCHD) Videos on Mac

Using a top Canon MTS Converter, you can make it easy to import and edit Canon Legria HF20/HF200 AVCHD files in Final Cut Pro, Avid, iMovie, Final Cut Express and Premiere Pro on Mac.


Canon's acquitted itself quite well with a nearly identical trio of flash-based AVCHD camcorders, the HF10/HF11/HF100, and follow-up models HF20 and HF200 manage to improve upon their legacy. Canon Legria HF20 and HF200 are hot Canon cameras, and the only difference between the two models is color and memory configuration: the HF20 has 32GB built in, while the HF200 has none. Aside from their stunning features, the compatibility of Canon Legria HF20/HF200 with Mac is the hot topic of discussion among the users.


As the AVCHD format is not good for Mac editing, it takes long time to render, and you can't edit the Canon HF20/HF200 AVCHD MTS files smoothly in Final Cut Pro (X), Avid, iMovie,FCE and Premiere Pro. To achieve you goal smoothly, below is simple tutorial for you.

Tips:Watch MTS Movies on Mac via iTunes?

Converting Canon Legria HF20/HF200 MTS files for editing in FCP (X), Avid, iMovie,FCE and Premiere Pro etc.

In order to process Canon HF20/HF200 footage fast and seamless on Mac, it requires that the AVCHD .mts videos to be transcoded into an editing friendly format before importing the HF20/HF200 video to non-linear editing apps. This is usually done with a Mac Canon Video Converter.

Recommended Tool: Pavtube HD Video Converter for Mac

The software converts Canon HF20/HF200 mts to Apple ProRes/DVCPRO/HDV/Avid DNxHD/AIC/AVI/WMV/MOV/MP4 and creates stunning high definition footage up to 1080p.

1. Download and run the perfect Mac Canon MTS Converter (If you are windows user, clik to download Canon MTS Converter), and then click "Add Video" button or "Add from folder" button to load HF20/HF200 AVCHD MTS source files.


2. Click format bar to choose the format for output.

For iMovie and FCE, you can choose 'Final Cut Express -> Apple InterMediate Codec (AIC) (*.mov)';



For FCP (X), you can choose 'Final Cut Pro -> Apple ProRes 422 (*.mov)';

 

For Avid, choose 'Avid Media Composer -> Avid DNxHD (*.mov)';



For Premiere, just choose Adobe Premiere -> WMV (VC-1) (*.wmv).

You can click "Settings" button to customize the output settings such as resolution and bitrate. Edit function is also available in this great Canon AVCHD Converter.

3.. Click "Convert" button to start transcoding Canon AVCHD MTS files on Mac for popular NLEs. Once the coversion completes, you can import and edit Canon HF20/HF200 AVCHD files natively with Final Cut Pro (X), Avid, FCE, iMovie, Premiere you want.

To make things much easier, please learn to know how to huge MTS files to DVD if you like, and learn More Canon MTS Video Converter Related Guide: 

Read More:

How to import Canon EOS T2i/550D MOV to FCP X for editing

Follow the guide to easily transcode your Canon T2i/550D 1080p H.264 MOV to ProRes 422 MOV format for smoothly editing on Mac.

EOS T2i/550D, a famous Canon DSLR that can offer HD video recording, is perfect for capturing clips or sequences which a consumer camcorder would otherwise find difficult or impossible. The T2i allows you to film at either 1920x1080, 1280x720 or 640x480 pixels with 30fps, 25fps, and 24fps. Video is an absolute highlight of the EOS T2i/550D and it's wonderful to have this degree of control in a camera. 

All of these are great, till you find it is a problem when you want to edit Canon T2i/550D footage in Final Cut Pro X. The thing is, I'm having an issue with the video clips during importing to FCP X: the output video from Final Cut Pro X is choppy, and there are lags or skipped frames even when exported to 30fps." The extension of the video file is mov, isn't this is a FCP friendly format? How can I import my Canon EOS Rebel T2i / 550D mov video to FCP X for editting?  
 

T2i record video in H.264 MOV, this format is supported by many editing software, but it can't be supported perfectly, take FCP X for example. Final Cut Pro X supported best video format is Apple ProRes 422 Codec MOV format, you can edit video with this format in Final Cut Pro X smoothly. That is to say, it's great choice to convert T2i/550D MOV to ProRes 422, then you can edit T2i/550D video well in FCP X on Mac. You can follow the steps below to convert T2i/550D footages for FCP X. 

Required software: Canon to FCP Converter for Mac 

Working as a Canon DSLR Camera to FCP Converter, it helps you import CanonT3i MOV to FCP, encode Canon 5D Mark III MOV for FCP X, edit Canon G12 MOV with FCP, as well as transcode Nikon D3200 MOV to ProRes for FCP X 

Step through: 

Step one. Run Pavtube Canon Video Converter for Mac. Click "Add" button, browse to the footages and load them to the converter. 



Step two. Select the items to be converted, and click on "Format" bar to set a FCP friendly format in Final Cut Pro template.

There are Apple ProRes family, DVCPRO and HDV codecs for your choice.

Basically, "Apple ProRes 422 (*.mov)" is the best format for 
converting 550D footage to FCP.



If you prefer smaller file size, choose "Apple ProRes 422 (LT) (*.mov)" instead. 


Step three. Click the "Settings" button and set proper video/ audio parameters.

My advice is to set the video size, bitrate and fame rate to be exactly as the footages so that you will suffer least quality degradation.

For example, when the video is shot at 1920*1080, 5mbps, 30fps, you could set Size-1920*1080, Bitrate-original, Frame rate-30.

If you would like to use default settings, simply skip this step. 



Step four. Click the "Browse" button next to the Output File Name field and select a location on your HDD for the output video file. 

Step five. Click the "Convert" button to start conversion. After conversion you can click the "Open" button to locate converted video files for importing to FCP without rendering.

Now can easily transcode T2i/550D 1080P H.264 files to FCP X compatible format for editing, this software runs fast, so you can convert your T2i/550D footages to FCP in less time.

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