Edit Sony PMW-160 XDCAM HD422 video in FCP 7/X


If you experience any issues working with Sony PMW-160 XDCAM HD422 video in FCP 7/X, you may follow this short guide to learn a way of transcoding Sony PMW-160 XDCAM HD422 video to ProRes codec for use in FCP smoothly without rendering.
working with Sony PMW-160 XDCAM HD422 video in FCP 7/X
Sony PMW-160 XDCAM HD422 and FCP 7 crashing
“Hi, all, I can’t import Sony PMW-160 XDCAM HD422 footage to FCP 7, please help!!! I am using xdcam transfer for unwrapping the footage. FCP 7 keeps crashing frequently. Sometime it shows “coded error”. Sometime there are green flashes on external and internal screen all of sudden. After reading lot of forums I tried changing sequence setting to ProRes, cleaning/reinstalling OS and FCP, running all updates, trying with diffident graphics card and other macpros like 2.26 2.8 etc, but nothing worked. I am working on Macpro 2.4(8core) with 14GB Ram, FCP version 7.0.3. OS Lion. xdcam transfer 2.13 Decklink HD with latest driver. Is there anybody in this world editing Sony PMW-160 XDCAM HD422 footage in FCP 7 successfully? What are your configurations? Please advice. Thanks for any help.”

Final Cut Pro 7 can ingest and export XDCAM, XDCAM HD, and XDCAM EX using third-party Sony XDCAM Transfer software. Editing XDCAM requires a DV or IMX Easy Setup, and editing XDCAM HD or XDCAM EX requires an Easy Setup corresponding to your format.

FCP X can import XAVC and XDCAM / XDCAM EX files shot on Sony SxS card via installing XAVC/XDCAM Plug-in for Apple (PDZK-LT2). This camera import plug-in allows viewing and editing capability in Final Cut Pro X.

If for whatever reason these methods do not work, we would recommend converting everything to ProRes, as we know that will work for sure. HD Video Converter for Mac will open Sony PMW-160 XDCAM HD422 footage with the mxf extension and convert them to MOV with your codec of choice. That should probably be Pro Res 422. Read on to find a quick guide on how to convert Sony PMW-160 XDCAM HD422 clips to ProRes 422 for FCP 7/X editing.

Here’s what you need
HD Video Converter
working with Sony PMW-160 XDCAM HD422 video in FCP 7/X

[Guide] How to convert Sony PMW-160 XDCAM HD422 clips to ProRes 422 for FCP 7/X editing?

The steps
Step 1: Run HD Video Converter for Mac as a professional Sony PMW-160 XDCAM HD422 video Converter. When its main interface comes up, click ‘Add File’ to load source video to it.
transcode Sony PMW-160 XDCAM HD422 video to ProRes

Step 2: Select ‘Apple ProRes 422 (*.mov)’ as output format for opening with FCP 7/X
From the ‘Profile’ list, move to ‘Final Cut Pro’ catalogue, and select ‘Apple ProRes 422 (*.mov)’ as target format. Apple ProRes is the best suited editing codec for FCP 7 and its former version FCP 6 and the most recent version FCPX. When loading them into FCP (X), you needn’t wait for a long time for rendering. To create smaller files, transcode your source files to Apple ProRes 422 (LT).
transcode Sony PMW-160 XDCAM HD422 video to ProRes
Apple ProRes 422 – Higher quality than Apple ProRes 422 (LT);
Apple ProRes 422 (HQ) – Keep original video quality for editing in FCP;
Apple ProRes 422 (LT) – Get a smaller file sizes than Apple ProRes 422;
Apple ProRes 422 (Proxy) – SD levels – 480i/p and 576i/p. Used in offline workflows.
Apple ProRes 4444 – Edit and finish 4:4:4 material.
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.

Step 3: Adjust video and audio settings (for advanced users)
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: Click ‘Convert’ to start Sony PMW-160 XDCAM HD422 files to ProRes MOV conversion.

Step 5: Click ‘Open Folder’ to get generated ProRes QuickTime files for transferring and editing in Final Cut Pro 7/X with optimum performance.

To import the transcoded files into Final Cut Pro 7, simply navigate to File > Import > Files and select the converted clips. Alternately you can simply drag and drop the files into your “Bin.”

To import the transcoded files into Final Cut Pro X. navigate to File > Import > Media. In the window that comes up select your transcoded ProRes clips. DO NOT check “Create Optimized Media” OR “Create Proxy Media”. Both of these check boxes are unnecessary because we already converted the media to ProRes which means Final Cut Pro X can use the footage without “optimizing” it. Checking this box would create a redundant and time consuming second transcode of your footage.

Hopefully this tutorial gets you on your way to an effective Sony PMW-160 XDCAM HD422 workflow in FCP 7/X.

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