Question to Sony EX-1 users

[xpycm]

How to merge multiple MP4 files from SxS or SDHC card, not re-wrapping them?

When you record a live show or wedding ceremony, the duration often exceeds 1 hour. As a result, you get several small MP4s, sitting in separate folders within CLPR folder inside BPAV folder, as you can see in Windows Explorer. Sony Clip Browser shows them as 1 file and can play it as a single file. With SE 1.55 / 2.0 we are able to edit MP4 files natively, without re-wrapping them to MXF or MOV container.

The question is - how to merge them into 1 big MP4 file in order to place it on the SpeedEDIT timeline? If you place separate pieces one after another they have gaps in video and audio, i. e., the file is not seamless. I did not find any options of exporting these multiple MP4s from a card as 1 big MP4 file, the only option I found is re-wrapping to .MXF one (for SE 2.0) , but this takes extra time and also stutters playback in SE 2.0 vs. playback of native MP4s, which is quite smooth and much easier to deal with... I want to see 1 big MP4 in Windows Explorer instead!..

Any ideas, please?

[vncnt]

What would happen if you re-wrap to MXF (combining the separate MP4 files) while transfering from SxS to harddisk and then use a program to extract the MP4 data again from the MXF file?

Have a look at:
http://www.mp4-mp3.net/mp4/convert-mxf-to-mp4.htm

or
http://www.freemxf.org/freemxf_board/viewforum.php?f=3

Please let us know if this works.

Instead you could capture from HD-SDI.
That works seamlessly.

[KiloWatkins]

That's interesting. Wonder how moving the Folders to the timeline in order works?

[xpycm]

What would happen if you re-wrap to MXF (combining the separate MP4 files) while transfering from SxS to harddisk and then use a program to extract the MP4 data again from the MXF file?

Have a look at:
http://www.mp4-mp3.net/mp4/convert-mxf-to-mp4.htm

or
http://www.freemxf.org/freemxf_board/viewforum.php?f=3

Please let us know if this works.

Instead you could capture from HD-SDI.
That works seamlessly.

Thanks, vncnt, for your answer!

Unfortunately, I do not have any HD-SDI capture device... Also, The program you recommended, does conversions only to audio... Anyway, I just wanted to eliminate any conversions at all and just to use original MP4 files from SxS or SDHC (inside adapter) cards.

What I noticed is that every MP4 clip created by HDCam EX camera and placed on SE 2.0 timeline, at the end of the clip (only at the end) has 6 black frames, and within those frames the last 4 of them have no audio. You can trim those 6 frames on every stand alone clip but this does not work for a long continuous take - you will see a jump in video & audio.

I talked to other EX-1 owners, who use other NLEs (Edius, Vegas, Premiere) and even called Sony. The latest versions of those programs can also use MP4s natively, without conversions to MXF, but placing multiple MP4s from a long take, one after another on their timeline, is seamless... I called NewTek also, they said - it is the nature of EX files and has nothing to do with SE...

Any more ideas?..

[xpycm]

That's interesting. Wonder how moving the Folders to the timeline in order works?

You can move Folders (with MP4 clip inside of every folder) to the timeline in order, SE does a good job searching in depth for the media files, but when you play them on timeline, you will notice black video gaps and hear holes in audio in between clips (of course, if No Offset is applied in Preferences...)

[KiloWatkins]

The 6-8 black frames was reported in the first days, by one of our youngsters here, of SE2.0 download. You have both Prefs offsets off? It might be fixed with SE2.x.

Have a nice weekend all.

[Richvideo]

Yea I just got my EX1r this week and I was playing around with some footage from it and I saw the gaps as well...I have done edits in Vegas with EX1 footage and I don't remember seeing these gaps

[vncnt]

This is a common problem with cutting into long-GOP files.
The decoder must be able to see the entire GOP block in order to decode them properly.

Request a free copy of MXF-desktop at http://www.amberfin.com/mxfdesktop/
It seems it can extract the mpeg2 video from the MXF file.

So first wrap your MP4 files with Sony clip browser into one single MXF file and then extract the MPEG2 and PCM stream. That should work.

[xpycm]

This is a common problem with cutting into long-GOP files.
The decoder must be able to see the entire GOP block in order to decode them properly.

I understand GOPs but... It happens to be a problem only to SE 2.0 - other NLEs, as I mentioned before, don't show gaps... I talked to people, and Sony rep confirmed it.

So first wrap your MP4 files with Sony clip browser into one single MXF file and then extract the MPEG2 and PCM stream. That should work.

That is exactly, what I am doing now as a work-around, and I also mentioned it in my first post... I even don't have to extract anything because SE 2.0 works with MXF now. It just takes extra time for re-wrapping, and MXF files show 4 audio channels instead of 2, recorded in EX-1. If you play same clip, as original MP4 and re-wrapped to MXF, one after another on timeline, you will hear significant difference in sound quality. Also, SE on my computer likes original MP4s much better than MXFs...

[Shawn Farrell]

hmph..

[KiloWatkins]

hmph..

What are you thinking by hmph? SE2.0?