Importing video from a65 to Final Cut Pro 7

[tochown]

Can anyone help with Log and Transfer problems in FCP7 for getting video from the Alpha 65?

Previously I had an a580 and the SD card would appear in the logging window and transcode to ProRes 422 codec which worked fine.

Any ideas?

[blaireau_photo]

Hello tochown - Welcome to the Sony Forums

This may be an issue with the video file format on your A65. Could you please insert the card into your Mac and let me know the file extensions that appear on each video file i.e. xxxxx.m2ts (I believe this will be visible in the basic Mac file explorer).

Thanks,

Simon

[tochown]

Hi Simon,

In the following file structure MP_ROOT>100ANV01> there are no .MTS files at all. However there is a PRIVATE file in the top level of the SD card which is 2.84Gb in size so I'm assuming the video files are wrapped up in that file awaiting transcode?

I have the camera setup as follows:

File Format - AVCHD 50i/50p

Record Setting 50p 28M(PS)

The camera was on firmware 1.0.5 when I used it to film a couple of weeks ago. I have now updated the firmware to 1.0.6 but obviously that doesnt help with the previously recorded footage.

Normally when importing into Final Cut Pro I was able to load the card and point the software at the top level of the SD Card and away it would go transcoding into the project. Now when I try to do this the PRIVATE file is greyed out in the window, and won't let me select it, like it's locked or diabled in some way.

Tom

Message was edited by: tochown

Message was edited by: tochown

UPDATE: I have done the lastest Final Cut Pro software update. The Log and Transfer feature now recognises the SD card, and the Clip's. However their duration and file information is not showing, therefore the Queue at the bottom is just hanging as it tried to import the footage, without success. See screengrab attached.

[Mick2011]

Hi Tom

It's the dialog in FCP which is greying-out the QT 'PRIVATE' file. Have you tried opening it in Quicktime and accessing the contents that way?

That filename protocol is a default that QT should be able to deal with, according to Apple: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5409?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US

Cheers

Mick

[tochown]

Hi Mick,

I hadn't tried opening the PRIVATE file in Quicktime but I just did, and sure enough I can see all the files, open them , and if I wish save them as 1080p Quicktime Movies. I guess I could then import them into Final Cut Pro once I've converted all the files?

Just seems a very convaluted way to do something that with the Sony Alpha 580 was so simple with Log and Transfer. Would be great to find a way to do it in FCP as want to use th a65 to compliment my professional FS100 as a second camera on shoots.

Tom

[Mick2011]

I haven't really researched this – you may find the answer somewhere on Apple's support site – but I think the filetype handling is a system-level thing, rather than FCP. It's the OS (I'm guessing you're running Mountain Lion?) which doesn't recognise the Sony file structure, so it defaults to QT which for some reason does.

It may well be that the issue is sorted out with a future Mac OS update, but I doubt Sony will modify their file structure to accommodate a problem with the OS. In the meantime yes, the workflow you describe via QT is what people are doing to get around the issue.

As I say, this is just my guess. Sorry I can't be of any further help but you may get more answers via Apple.

Cheers

Mick

[tochown]

Thanks Mick, have had a dig around Apple's support site but they only support Final Cut Pro X now, which is a real shame as many pro's are still using v7.

I went through and exported all the clips from the card through Quicktime into 1080p films. These show up as .mov but sadly when trying to then import them into FCP I get a file unrecognized error message, which is quite rare for FCP.

Am now using Compressor to convert the 1080p.movs to Pro Res 422 in the hope FCP will recognise the file type and allow me to edit the footage.

If anyone else has any ideas I could try would love to hear any suggestions? Equally if you know of any Sony support team I can contact with this issue?

Tom

[blaireau_photo]

Hello again

Although I am not a Mac user myself, I am aware that in the past there have been some users who have been able to get an answer by looking around the actual Apple forums (the official ones). For Final Cut Pro, the exact forum page is at:

https://discussions.apple.com/community/professional_applications/final_cut_pro_x

Thanks,

Simon

[cmosse]

Please have a look at the following site which describes in detail the issues with FCP when improting AVCHD movie clips (note AVCHD 2.0 /50p is not supported in FCP):

http://www.aunsoft.com/avchd-to-fcp-x-7-apple-prores-on-mac-import-avchd-to-final-cut-pro/

After all it seems that using the recommended converter (AVCHD to FCPro) seems to be a good choice.

Best Regards

Michael

[taylormartin306]

Many Sony SLT-A65 users have encountered problems when import Sony SLT-A65 to Final Cut Pro, FCP doesn't support load Sony SLT-A65 AVCHD footages for editing directly, the main reason is the AVCHD video format and codec not well supported. And i have googled and find this article. Hople it helps

Importing 1080p AVCHD from Sony SLT-A65 to Final Cut Pro