If true, remember Nero 6.

Nero 6?

Here is something I found on the Vasst site. It looks as though it will be supported very shortly.


Check out the link at the very bottom of the page.
You will have to do the free registration if not done so allready.

http://www.sundancemediagroup.com/articles/Vegas_6_update.htm

"XDCam support:
Vegas 6 offers XDCam support, simply drag the MXF files from the Explorer to the Timeline. You'll be able to edit the MXF files in real time on the timeline. This is a very sweet option for broadcasters moving to the XDCam format. This is a "soon to come" feature, but not available as of midnight, 4/17/06."

Well I hope they get on with it! I am slightly confused as people have had this feature demonstrated to them, so I have no idea why it wasn't in this release.

Is there anyone in the know who can shed any light on why it wasn't included this time around?

I know that compared to the HDV hype XDCAM compatibility isn't as high on the priority list, but I know of several XDCAM guys who would love this feature. I've got several projects coming up over the summer where I will be away from base. So being able to perform rough cuts using PDZ1, exporting the cliplist EDL and using them to conform the high res MXF versions of the video without having to go through the capture process on the Vegas timeline when I get back would be brilliant.

My guess is they have it working, but still have a few issues that they need to work out. I.E. they couldn't fix all the bugs before NAB. They demoed it just to get people talking about it, let people know its coming and because NAB is a great showplace for their audience. It seems like they need to be more clear about this.

I too wait for this feature.

How do you connect a XDCam to a Vegas system?

Marco

There are 3 ways to use xdcam. The first is normal firewire capture. But this only works for DV25.

The second is to have the camera or deck in PC Remote mode. This means that the camera acts like another disc drive. You can copy files to and from the disc just like a hard drive. If Vegas had MXF I could either copy the clips/files I wanted onto my hard drive (for faster access times) and then drag them to the Vegas timeline. Or I could drag them straight from the camera onto the timeline.

It would be even better if Vegas, when they implement this feature, could allow the use of xdcam cliplists saved with PDZ1 too for the complete NLE speedy workflow.

Just these last few minutes I thought of another good reason for MXF support. It occurred to me that the Panasonic HVX200 recording to P2 will be recording MXF files too. So this would mean that Vegas would be HVX200 ready (assuming they made it able to read DVCProHD encoded footage).

The last method is to use an optional network card for the camera or deck. But with firewire FAM available there is no need for this. Perhaps it's a bit faster, but its just an added expense.

Thanks for the input. What kind of connection would you use to have MXF-access? Also firewire? Kind of network cable?

Marco

To use FAM mode on the XDCAM camera or deck you will need to get Sony to send you the PDZ1 software so that you can install the FAM drivers (the software is free. You just need to ask them to send it to you if you own a camera. It comes with the decks)

Then go to the Operation menu and turn "PC Remote" on, connect the camera to your PC with a standard firewire cable, and re-boot the computer. The PC will then recognise the camera as an extra drive. You can copy any files you want to the "General" folder on the XDCAM disc. So on a smaller project, if Vegas had MXF implemented you could quite easily perform a rough cuts only edit on a laptop in the field with PDZ1 and save that EDL back to the camera.

Then when you get back to base you could copy the MXF files to your PC hard drive and use the EDL you created in the field to recreate a high res version of your rough edit on the Vegas timeline. You would tidy it up, add the sound, titles etc.

Now, I could copy all my VEG files and title graphics and sound back onto the XDCAM disc "general" folder. This could either act as an archive, or if I needed to take the project to someone else that had Vegas and xdcam I could give them the disc and it would have everything on it they would need to load up the VEG project onto their PC. No lugging hard drives around, and around 19gb more storage space than DVD. I could also then perform a final tidyup on the disc and delete any of the clips I didn't use in the edit.

Fantasic for archiving Vegas projects or transporting around to places that also use xdcam (admittedly not many smaller operations at present).