DV to XDCam in vegas

DJPadre wrote on 5/13/2007, 7:14 PM
hi all,
I have a client who wants to use some footage shot in PALDV as Beta SP. As i no longer have my decks, it will be a big hassle for me to rent a deck and do my thing, so im thinkking of converting teh DV files to XDCam MXF files and uploading them to the clients server..

how would i be able to do this with vegas?

Comments

Spot|DSE wrote on 5/13/2007, 10:47 PM
Simply use Tools/Export to XDCAM
Pretty easy, or should be. I've not uploaded files to a client server, but have exported XDCAM projects to disc for use by others. Same principle, I'd suppose.
You can also pre-render the file to a greater-than-DV quality/codec, and then instruct the XDCAM export to use that file as a master.
Marco. wrote on 5/14/2007, 12:07 AM
If it is only the render process you need you should ask what disc format they will use for their XDCAM disc. File transfere to XDCAM depends on the file format of the disc. If the ProDisc is DV formatted you cannot export IMX to that disc.

So it might be MXF DV or MXF IMX. Dependend on that select the render format in Vegas. In the render dialog take Sony MXF and IMX or Sony MXF and DV as Codec in the preset dropdown menu.

Though if your clients also have a dv device this isn't necessary at all. The XDCAM devices also can be run in AV-mode. Which means the device behaves just like a dv tape device. You can connect a dv player via firewire to the XDCAM device and it will record the dv input and make it MXF inside.

Marco
DJPadre wrote on 5/14/2007, 7:01 AM
thanks for the response..

I was specifically looking to make MXF DV files so as i can upload to an FTP in the US (im in Aus) and they can direclty import these to their Avid system and avoid any conversion issues across through to NTSC from PAL
I have found that XDCam is a great compromise and its great when u can avoid any colour spacing issues.. lol

Reason i wanted XDCam is that it runs the same colourspace as PAL, and in turn, the conversion from PAL to NTSC would be pretty much nipped in the butt without any compromise to image.
Ive also got to send these to India and theyre still a little behind when it comes to XDCam and the dude i was talking to had no idea and was really puttin on the pressure of needing this on tape (id rather avoid tape though

Ive never had an issue of ingesting XDCam through BD or XDCam discs, as in every case, i have exported this out to Beta SP or ive done the finishing work out to DVD, but im trying to move away from Beta SP now as costs are stupidly high, so im trying to stick with XDCAm without any garbage

Ive exported out to XDCa, but in the past, i jstu had the camera connected with a blank disc and let vegas burn the stream to the disc.. i had never tried just creating the files

apart from the exporting, is thre anything else i need to take note of?
Also can i allocate the audio channels across the 4 xdcam channels?
ie VO on left, Interviewee on right, BG audio on ch 3/4 as the music itself is my own compositions Id rathe rprovide the lot and keep it in sync

thanks again guys
Marco. wrote on 5/14/2007, 9:33 AM
Have those 4 channels arranged as busses in the mixer (Bus A, B, C, D).

Route the Vegas timeline tracks to the desired busses.

In the render dialog have Multichannel rendering selected and via the "Channels" tab select bus A, B, C, D - all mono. On the right side of the window you'll see which channel in the MXF file will belong to which bus.

Render and it should be fine.
You can test before inside Vegas. Be sure to have multichannel MXF import selected in Options/Preferences/General. Now import the rendered MXF file and see and listen if the audio channels are spread over 4 tracks and content what they should.

Marco
DJPadre wrote on 5/14/2007, 9:50 PM
thanks marco, much appreciated!