Working with Sony EX1/EX3 XDCAM EX footage in Premiere Pro


This post is written for people who are having issues when worked the XDCAM EX MP4 footage from Sony EX1/EX3 in Adobe Premiere Pro. It introduces a third party converter program to help you convert Sony EX1/EX3 XDCAM EX footage to a format that is full compatible with Adobe Premiere with lossless quality.
Sony EX1/EX3
Issues you may meet while editing with Sony EX1/EX3 footage in Premiere
”Hi, I came upon a problem while working with my Sony EX3 footage in Premiere. It seems that Adobe Premiere doesn’t want to accept EX3 MP4 footage. I can see the files in the BPAV folder structure in the media browser but when I try to import them it says ‘the file has no audio or video streams’. Does anyone know what I can possibly do??? I would really appreciate any help.  Thank you so much!”

”I’m having an issue when I worked the Sony EX3 footage from my client in Premiere Pro CS6. Premiere can’t recognize the EX3 XDCAM EX MP4 material. I attempted to find out a driver from the Sony website, but they seem to only have drivers for FCP. Is there a solution to solve that problem? Thanks.”

If you have been searching for weeks for ‘how to properly import MP4 files from a Sony EX1/EX3 to Premiere’, you may come to the right place here. In this post, we would like to present how to use HD Video Converter to transcode Sony EX1/EX3 MP4 media to DNxHD/ProRes MOV for use in Premiere Pro without quality loss. You can download a demo version (for both, PC and Mac) and try them. They are not free but it totally worth it.
Sony XDCAM EX to Premiere Pro ConverterMac Sony XDCAM EX to Premiere Pro Converter

How to convert Sony EX1/EX3 MP4 footage for editing in Adobe Premiere maintaining original quality?

Follow these steps:
Step 1: Start up HD Video Converter as a Sony XDCAM EX to Premiere Pro Converter.

Step 2: Click ‘Add File’ to import Sony EX1/EX3 MP4 media to the program.
EX1/EX3 MP4 Converter for Premiere

Step 3: Select output format
* If you are on a Windows PC, from the Profile list, choose ‘Avid DNxHD 1080p (*.mov)’ as output under ‘Avid Media Composer’ column.
xdcam ex to dnxhd
** If you are on a Mac computer, from the Profile list, choose ‘Apple ProRes 422 (*.mov)’ as target format under ‘Final Cut Pro’ catalogue.
xdcam ex to prores

You can also choose the WMV, MPEG-2, and MOV under ‘Adobe Premiere/Sony Vegas’ column as output, but these three formats may cause lossy quality more or loss, so the DNxHD .MOV and Prores .MOV are recommended for lossless quality.
xdcam ex to mov

Step 4: Custom video and audio settings (for advanced users)
Click ‘Settings’ button, the ‘Profile Settings’ panel pops up, on which you are able to modify video and audio settings like resolution, bit rate, frame rate, sample rate and audio channel.

Step 5: When ready, click ‘Convert’ to start transcoding Sony XDCAM EX MP4 files to Premiere Pro supported file format. As soon as the conversion is complete, click ‘Open Folder’ button to locate the generated files and now you are able to open them in Premiere for post production with optimal performance

Related posts:
Why Adobe Premiere Pro CS6 can’t import MXF files?
How can I convert DNxHD MXF to ProRes for use in FCP 7?
I couldn’t get Premiere Pro CS6 to recognize audio on MTS files
How can I make Premiere Pro accept Avid exported MXF files?