Having issues working with Sony PMW200 XDCAM MXF/XDCAM EX MP4 files in Adobe Premiere Pro? If so, you may have interest in this post. It describes the workflow benefits of converting Sony PMW200 XDCAM footage to DNxHD/ProRes for Premiere Pro editing.
The PMW-200 is format selectable among MPEG HD422 (50Mbps), HD420 (24, 35Mbps) and DV. The PMW-200 can be used as a handheld camcorder for various types of file-based operation because it employs both industry-standard file formats: The XDCAM MXF file format (UDF formatted cards) and XDCAM EX MP4 file format (FAT formatted cards).
To be able to edit Sony PMW-200 footage in Premiere Pro smoothly, you’d better upgrade to Premiere Pro CS6. Adobe Premiere Pro CS6 software provides native support for Sony XDCAM, XDCAM EX, and XDCAM HD (including XDCAM HD 50) cameras and content with no transcoding required, smooth importing, strong metadata support, real-time editing, and flexible delivery options. For those who would not want to upgrade or still have issues using PMW-200 MXF/MP4 footage in PPro CS6, we would recommend transcoding PMW200 MXF/MP4 footage to a Premiere preferred editing format first. This requires third party software like HD Video Converter. Read on to learn a guide on how to convert PMW200 MXF/MP4 footage for use in Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 or PPro CS6 with this converter app.
Here’s what you need
HD Video Converter
[Guide] How to encode Sony PMW200 XDCAM MXF/MP4 video to Premiere editable files?
Follow these steps:
Step 1. Start up HD Video Converter as the best Sony PMW200 XDCAM Converter for Premiere. When its main interface pops up, click ‘Add File’ button to import your source files.
Useful tips:
1. This Converter supports batch conversion, so you can load multiple video files to it for conversion at a time.
2. By ticking off ‘Merge’ option, you can combine the selected clips into a single file.
Step 2: Select output format for your NLE
If you are running Premiere on a Windows PC, you can go to ‘Profile’ list and select ‘Avid DNxHD (*.mov)’ as output format under ‘Avid Media Composer’ column.
Important: If you’ve loaded a number of video clips to do batch conversion, please do remember ticking off ‘Apply to All’ option before you start.
If you are using Premiere Pro on a Mac, you can select ‘Apple ProRes 422 (*.mov)’ as output format under ‘Final Cut Pro’ column.
In addition to DNxHD and ProRes, you can also select ‘MOV (AVC) (*.mov)’ as output format under ‘Adobe Premiere/Sony Vegas’ option.
This method is also available when you want to edit Sony PMW200 XDCAM MXF/MP4 files in After Effects and Sony Vegas.
Step 3: Custom video and audio settings
If necessary, you can click ‘Settings’ button and go to ‘Profiles Settings’ panel to modify video and audio settings like video encoder, resolution, video bit rate, frame rate, aspect ratio, audio encoder, sample rate, audio bit rate, and audio channels. 3D settings are also available.
Step 4: Start Sony PMW200 XDCAM MXF/MP4 files to MOV Conversion
When ready, click ‘Convert’ to start format conversion. As soon as the conversion is complete, you can click ‘Open Folder’ button to get the exported MOV files for use in Adobe Premiere with optimum performance. Nothing could be simpler or more immediate.
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