Wednesday, August 7, 2013

Sony F55/F5 XAVC 4K videos and Avid Media Composer, Xpress Pro workflow

This article outlines how to ingest Sony F55/F5 XAVC footage to import into Avid Media Composer and Xpress Pro for smooth editing.

The Sony PMW-F55 CineAlta 4K Digital Cinema Camera functions an eight.9MP Super 35mm image sensor, capable of capturing 4K, 2K and HD resolution video within a wide variety of formats by way of the camera's internal recorder. The F55 is amongst the initial digital motion image cameras using a international shutter, which fully eliminates motion skew and also other "rolling" shutter distortions.

XAVC is usually a video format that was introduced by Sony and extensively exist in Sony PMW-F55 and Sony PMW-F5. It may assistance 4K resolution (4096 x 2160 and 3840 x 2160) at as much as 60 frames per second (fps). XAVC supports colour depths of 8-bits, 10-bits, and 12-bits. Chroma subsampling is usually four:two:0, four:two:two, or four:four:four.


Having a lots of clips from my Sony F5 in 4K XAVC file format and want to edit them with Avid Media Composer and Xpress Pro, but often failed. How to resolve it?

Since Avid Media Composer and Xpress Pro (especially some versions) doesn't support the lastest 4K XAVC videos, to solve the incompatible problem, I have to convert Sony F5/F55 4K XAVC video to a native format for editing in Avid Media Composer and Xpress Pro.

By Google search, I find an excellent Mac XAVC Video Converter called Pavtube iMedia Converter for Mac which is specially designed to convert Sony F5/F55 4K XAVC to Avid friendly DNxHD mov format for editing in Avid Media Composer and Xpress Pro at high fast conversion speed and excellent output quality. No matter you are an expert or novice, you could easily use it for its intuitive interface.Just take a look at the brief guide below.

1. Download Pavtube iMedia Converter for Mac, it's an excellent Mac XAVC to Avid Converter. Follow the prompts to install the program. Click "Finish" when the installation is complete, and it will launch automatically.

2. Click "Add Video" to load 4K video files or directly drag the files into file list.


3. Click "Format" bar to determine output format. 

For natively editing in  Avid Media Composer and Xpress Pro, you are recommended to choose Avid Media Composer -> Avid DNxHD (*.mov), this format is best for native editing.


4. If you would like to customize the video and audio parameters, you can click "settings", adjust the parameters as you want, like Video Codec, aspect ratio, bit rate, frame rate, Audio codec, sampling rate, bit rate, channels.

 

5. Click "Convert" to start.

Pavtube XAVC to Avid converter can help you to convert Sony F5/F55 4K XAVC video to Avid DNxHD MOV for Avid Media Composer and Xpress Pro natively for editing.

Editor's Recommendations

Tuesday, August 6, 2013

First Canon 7D RAW video shown courtesy of Magic Lantern


If you've been lustfully eying the latest DSLR models, you want to give your trusty Canon 7D another look. Magic Lantern has been enhancing the features of Canon EOS digital SLRs for some time now, the popular, but aging semi-pro model has been given the RAW video treatment from Magic Lantern, and the first samples have now been posted (after the break). Maximum resolution still falls short of the much newer 5D Mark III's full HD at 1,736 x 1,156, but otherwise, the images are improved in every way. The video has a full 14-bit color spectrum, for starters, is completely free of compression noise and has much less (though still some) moire and aliasing. Now video can only be captured in 2 second bursts, but we saw similar limitations on early Magic Lantern builds for the 5D Mark III, as well -- meaning the 7D may finally live up to its beast-like video potential.

So far, a 7D owner named Florian has put this feature to the test, by combining a series of ~2 second DNG files taken in silent shooting mode into a 33-second video. While there's some moiré at times, the video quality is lightyears ahead of the standard H.264 movies recorded by a stock 7D.

See for yourself:

More Related:

Magic Lantern firmware boosts dynamic range of Canon 5D III and 7D
Canon 50D gains video recording through Magic Lantern RAW hack
Canon EOS 70D Hands-On, Review, Main features, and More Info
RAW 24fps DNG video hits the Canon EOS 5D Mark III via Magic Lantern!
Canon 6D FCP workflow- Transcode Canon EOS 6D 1080p MOV to Final Cut Pro

Monday, August 5, 2013

How to play XAVC video on QuickTime on Mac?

Summary: Follow this article to learn how to play Sony XAVC footage with QuickTime Player on Mac. With this Sony XAVC Mac Video Converter, you can easily convert XAVC footage to QuickTime MOV on Mac.


The Sony PMW-F55 CineAlta 4K Digital Cinema Camera functions an eight.9MP Super 35mm image sensor, capable of capturing 4K, 2K and HD resolution video within a wide variety of formats by way of the camera's internal recorder. The F55 is amongst the initial digital motion image cameras using a international shutter, which fully eliminates motion skew and also other "rolling" shutter distortions. The XAVC format is used by Sony PMW F5 or F55 camcorder.

Shoot with Sony PMW camera, you will got some files with .xavc extension. With 4K resolution (4096 × 2160 and 3840 × 2160) at up to 60 fps, we know the recording XAVC footage is not supported by most of players like QuickTime on Mac. When opening XAVC video QuickTime, you will find a pop-up windows said mistake. So the best way to watch XAVC with QT is to convert XAVC to MOV which is the most popular format for QuickTime player.

Here Pavtube XAVC HD Video Converter for Mac is usually a handy and effective video converting plan to convert XAVC video to MOV for playing on QuickTime Player. In addition, it might help you convert XAVC to other frequent formats such as XAVC to FLV , MP4,AVI,MPG,3GP,and so forth for distinctive customers.

If you are a XAVC camcorder users and troubled with how to play XAVC on QuickTime as above, you can follow simple step-by-step guide to transcode Sony XAVC video to QuickTime MOV for playback:

Step 1. Install and launch the best XAVC to QuickTime Converter for Mac, click top left two icons to load individual videos or load the entire folder.



If you want, you can merge several XAVC clips by ticking "Merge into one file" box.
If the supposed size of the input files is 1GB, then the memory space should be up to 40GB.

Step 2. Click "Format" and choose Common Video> MOV-QuickTime(*.mov) as the best video format for playing XAVC footage on QuickTime.

xavc-to-mov-quick-time


Tips: Pavtube XVAC Video Converter for Mac can also convert Sony XAVC files to FCP, iMovie, FCE, Avid Media Composer, Avid Xpress Pro, Adobe Premiere Pro, Adobe After Effects, DaVinci Resolve or Apple Aperture 3 compatible video format for editing. Just select the corresponding option.

Step 3. You can also click "Settings" to change the output video bitrate, frame rate, size, etc. all according to your needs.

Step 4. When everything is done, click the "Convert" button at the bottom-right corner to finishe the Sony XAVC to QuickTime MOV conversion. While you wait, have a coffee or take a nap and let XAVC Video Converter do the work in the background.

After conversion, you can click "Open" to find the output quicktime mov file, then you can transfer the video files to QuickTime Player for playback smoothly.

See also:


Does Canon XF MXF files works ok with After Effects CS6 on Mac?

Summary: This article will focus on talking about how to transcode Canon XF MXF files to Adobe After Effects CS6 compatible format for Canon XF MXF and AE importing workflow on Mac.


Canon's XF series camcorders like Canon XF100, XF105, XF300, XF305 record high-definition MXF video with its own XF codec. 

Does the Adobe After Effects CS6 support Canon XF MXF footage? 

Hi All.. we are considering picking up a Canon XF-100 as our acquisition camera. However I heared that these MXF files can't work with After Effects natively. Will we need to transcode via Prelude? Thanks... 

This is for .MXF files shot on a Canon XF300. Things were working fine, but suddenly I am unable to open those mxf files in AE CS6. Even projects previously created with AE CS6 now won't open, and give me the 'file damaged or unsupported' error message in AE. Why does this happen? Any help would be much appreciated. 

As above, much to the disappointment of filmmakers that are not familiar with the .mxf format, the footage created with Canon XF Camcorders can't be imported to After Effect CS6 smoothly. If you need to edit Canon XF MXF in Adobe After Effects CS6, you are suggested converting the Canon MXF clips to an AE friendly format.  

And here  the professional and powerful MXF to AE Converter can help you do the job. With it, you can easily transcode Canon XF .MXF files to Adobe After Effects accepted AVI, MOV, MPEG or other formats that After Effect can handle well. Below is a quick guide of converting Canon XF .mxf to .mov for editing in After Effects CS6.

Before processing:

1. Back up/Transfer the Canon XF MXF footage to Mac computer – copy the whole XF video folder to your computer hard drive, not just the individual .mxf files.

2. Install Pavtube MXF Converter for Mac ($29). Click here to download a free trial for test.

Step-by-step Guide: Convert Canon XF.mxf to AE CS6 supported format with best  video quality

Note: this is a Mac oriented solution. For Windows users the Pavtube Studio offers alternative MXF Converter for PC, which is very similar to the Mac MXF Converter.

Step 1. Launch the Mac Canon MXF Converter for After Effects. Click “Add Video” and browse to a Canon .mxf clip and the software will add it to file list. Repeat the operation to load multiple mxf videos. Or you may click the “Add Folder” button to import all the .mxf files in the XF file structure.

image

Step 2. Click on “Format” and choose “Click on “Format” and choose “MOV(AVC) (.mov)” from "Adobe Premiere/Sony Vegas" as the best codec for editing Canon XF MXF file in After Effects CS6.

image

Tips: You may also use AVI, MP4, MPG, QuickTime mov or any other format that AE supports.

Step 3. Click on “Settings” to redefine output quality. You can also set a different video resolution (1920×1080/1440×1080/1280×720/720×480), frame rate (24p/30p), bitrate, audio channels, etc. For users who would like to retain exactly the same settings (without any quality loss), set target settings the same to source video.

Step 4. Click “Convert” to start transcoding Canon XF MXF to MOV for After Effect CS6 editing on Mac.

After conversion click “Open” to find .mov videos and import converted .mov files to Adobe After Effect CS6 for editing.

If your MXF files have 2 audio tracks or more, here is another worth-buying software from Pavtube named iMixMXF with multi-track preserving and mixing features. You can download the trial version to have a try!

Read More:

Thursday, August 1, 2013

Seamlessly transcode MXF to MP4 with multiple audio tracks for playing and editing

Having so many MXF collections, and don't know how to edit/play MXF on Mac? You come to the right place. Get the easiest solution here!


Maybe you are a video lover. Have you ever encountered such problem that when you have shot many MXF footage with your lovely camcorder, looking forward to play or edit these mxf files on your mac, but only get the error message. Now just read the article to learn how to solve it in detail.

What is MXF?

According to Wikipedia, MXF is a file format for professional digital video and audio media defined by a set of SMPTE standards. MXF format is often used by more and more professional camcorders like Sony XDCAM, Panasonic P2 and Canon etc. to store video, audio, and programmed data.

What is the problem?

The fact is that MXF is MXF is a container or wrapper format which makes it incompatible with most of popular Mac editing software including iMovie, Final Cut Pro, Final Cut Express, Avid Media Composer, Adobe Premiere ,etc and not playable by many video players and portable players on Mac. Therefore, it will be like a mission impossible for us to edit/play the MXF video footage on Mac directly due to the format issue.

How to solve the problem?

To transport MXF to Mac for post production and playback without the format restriction, we had better convert MXF videos to something more common, like H.264 encoded MP4 video with a solid and intuitive MXF to MP4 Converter for Mac.

Pavtube iMixMXF which is strongly recommended to conduct the MXF to MP4 Conversion on Mac seamlessly. It is professionally designed to deal with the problems of edting/playing MXF on Mac. Particularly it features with keeping multiple audio tracks. In other words, it can help you to transcode MXF to MP4 with multiple audio tracks for playing and editing in a very short time. Refer to the following guides to convert MXF to multi-track MP4 on Mac.

Step 1. Download and install Pavtube MXF audio Mixer. Transfer the MXF files to HDD first and then click "Add" and browse to source .mxf video clips.



Step 2. Click on "Format" and choose "Multi-track Video>Multi-track MP4 (*.mp4)". This format will let you convert MXF to Multi-track MP4 H.264 video at 1920Χ1080 resolution and keep full HD quality.



Step 3. Click "Convert" to start transcoding MXF recordings to MP4 with multiple audio tracks for playing and editing on Mac.

Spare a few minutes to have a look at how to convert MXF to MP4 on Mac quickly and precisely.

After conversion click "Open" to find 1080p HD shootings in MP4 format and use them freely in QuickTime Player,Final Cut Pro and many other media players/editing software. Now you can import MXF on Mac for editing and playing MXF files on Mac without causing any problems.

Additional Contents

If you don't want to get multi-track videos or your videos has less that two audio track, you can try Pavtube MXF Converter for Mac (only $29), an alternative professional MXF to MP4 Converter and a good partner with your simple and efficient MXF to MP4 Conversion workflow on Mac.

Read More:

Adobe After Effects Renders Taking Forever? You Can Speed Them Up with Network Rendering

If you don’t have the latest and greatest system (and even if you do), there is a great way that you can actually speed up your renders in Adobe After Effects. If you’ve got another computer system or two hanging around collecting dust, you can put those machines to good use by setting up Network Rendering in AE. Check out the tutorial below from Aetuts+ to get the full scoop and get your renders flying:

 


It’s great that the other machines don’t need another license of After Effects to actually participate, so you can take as many systems as you want and as long as they are on your network, you can get Network Rendering up and running. Faster is faster, so even if it’s an older system, shaving off a few minutes from a render can be a big deal in the end (especially if it means you can go home early, or move on to something else sooner).

Check out this link for more information on different render setups in AE.

Who has set up Network Rendering? What would you recommend if you’ve faced any issues?

Links:

How to Set Up AE for Network Rendering on Multiple Machines — Aetuts+
Automated rendering and network rendering — After Effects Help

Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Flawlessly Convert Sony HX200V 60p MTS files for using in FCP, iMovie, QuickTime Player


Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX200V is a fast-shooting megazoom with excellent photo and video quality for its class, and plenty of shooting options to make casual and advanced shooters happy. Recently, I take some pictures with it of birds, try to capture flight and movement and want to select individual frames. I'm satisfied with the full HD Movie Shooting capability (1920×1080/60p) and Optical SteadyShot Active Mode.

However, My HX200V camera gave me videos as AVCHD file which I have not acknowledged with. I tried with both FCP, iMovie and quicktime, but none of them could recognize it. Is there any step-by-step work flow for this? Which software can convert video taken with my Sony HX200V Cybershot camera for working with my mac? PS: the footages are on 1080 60p. 

In this case, I googled to search the solutions. I find this 60p MTS and M2TS video format is not friendly for use on Mac, Mac platform best supported format is .mov format. So I tried to seek for the best avchd converter for mac to do convertering. Now I get this MTS/M2TS Converter for Mac from Pavtube.

I have successfully convert Sony HX200V 60p AVCHD to best codec for editing on Mac. This software is top MTS converter for Mac that can transcode AVCHD files to Apple InterMediate Codec (AIC), Apple ProRes 422 codec, QuickTime codec, etc. These output formats are specially presetted, so the conversion quality is guaranteed, I can get lossless video conversion with this tool. 

Here I will share the easy steps that you can follow to transcode Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX200V 60p AVCHD MTS to MOV for using in FCP, iMovie and QuickTime Player. 

1. Install and run the best Sony 60p MTS Converter for Mac, it's an professional AVCHD to FCP/iMovie/QuickTime Converter which can convert Sony DSC-HX200V 60p AVCHD files to different formats on Mac (including OS X Mavericks 10.9).  
Click "Add Video" to load the 60p .mts files from Sony HX200V Camcorder to the Mac Converter. 



2. Click "format" bar to choose output format:

Choose "Final Cut Pro -> Apple ProRes 422 (*.mov)" as the best output codec for importing 60p MTS files to Final Cut Pro (X) editing.



Choose "iMovie and Final Cut Express > Apple Intermediate Codec(AIC) (*.mov)" as the best video format for editing 60p AVCHD files to iMovie. 


Choose "Common video -> MOV-QuickTime (*.mov)" to play Sony 60p AVCHD mts with QuickTime Player.




Step 4. You can click “settings” to customize the output parameters, adjust the resolution, bitrate as you want. 

Tips:

If you would like to add Anaglyphic 3D effect or Subtitle for your footage, click "Edit" icon to start video editing with your 3D files, such as adding Anaglyphic 3D effect(Red-Blue, Red-Green) as well as adding watermark, trim your videos and so on.

You can also click "Subtitles" option, add srt, ass, ssa suntitle you want.

Step 5. Click convert button to start converting Sony HX200V 60p AVCHD MTS to Prores/AIC/QuickTime mov for FCP, iMovie editing and QuickTime Playere playback.

After the Mac MTS to MOV conversion, you can import the converted footages to FCP, iMovie  and QuickTime Player for editing and playing smoothly on Mac.