Why Premiere Pro and After Effects doesn't like Sony EX3 XDCAM files

Got Problems importing Sony PMW-EX3 xdcam mp4 footage into Premiere Pro/After Effects for further editing? Look no further, follow the easy workaround to achieve your goal smoothly.

Question:

I recently purchased two PMW-EX3 cameras for use here at my work, and I thought that I had them up and running perfectly but recently ran into a problem importing footage. When I shoot anything over around 13:40:00 long, PP CS4 will not import the entire length of the clip, only the first 13:40:00 (give or take a minute or two). When I play back the clips on the camera or in Sony's clip browser software I can play the entire duration of the clip. When I'm in PP using the Media Browser window to get to my footage, it even shows me the correct duration of the clip in the Duration column, but when I copy it over into my project bin, only that first 13 and a half minutes makes it. And a similar problem importing the files from EX3 into After Effects. AE only imports the first MP4 file of your clip and not the rest.

I've searched lots of other forums, and while I've seen various issues with importing XD EX footage into PPro and AE, I haven't seen this best solution yet. 

Sony PMW-EX3 can shoot XDCAM EX MP4 recording with true 1920x1080 resolution on dual SxS cards. As the XDCAM mp4 footage still cannot fully supported by some video editors like Adobe Premiere Pro and After Effects on Mac. So if you are using Premiere and AE for editing just like the above user, the best workaround for us is to convert Sony PMW-EX3 mp4 to Adobe Premiere Pro/After Effects most compatible MPEG-2 format, and it will make the editing work much smooth and easier. 

At first, you need to find a third party program to do EX3 files to MPEG-2 transcoding. As far as I konow, the best hd video converting program is Pavtube HD Video Converter for Mac, a powerful XDCAM Converter for Premiere/AE, which is use-to-use, capable of converting XDCAM video to various formats for editing with Premiere Pro, Avid Media Composer, Final Cut Pro, iMovie or FCE on Mac, and supports batch renaming painlessly. Download it here and get to konw the detailed steps as below.

Guide on transcoding Sony EX3 XDCAM to MPEG-2 for Premiere Pro and After Effects editing on Mac

Step 1: Install and run the best Sony XDCAM Converter for Mac. Click the “Add Video” or "Add from folder" button to import .mp4 files from the Sony EX3 camcorder. Join mp4 clips via checking the “Merge into one” box.



Step 2: Hit the Format box and select Adobe Premiere/Sony Vegas --> MPEG-2(*.mpg) as output format for editing EX3 XDCAM video in Premiere Pro and After Effects natively.



Step 3: Click the “Settings” icon to do some audio, video parameter settings like video bitrate, frame rate, audio sample rate, audio channel, etc. (Optional)

Step 4: Click the "Convert" button under the preview window, the Mac XDCAM Converter will start the conversion from EX3 to Adobe Premiere Pro/Adobe After Effects immediately.

After the conversion, you will be able to get the output files via clicking on “Open” button effortlessly. Afterwards, you can import Sony EX3 MP4 footages to Premiere Pro CS and After Effects for further editing easily.

XDCAM Related:

• Transform Sony XDCAM EX MP4 to FCP 6/7
• Open Sony PMW-200 XDCAM MXF in iMovie