Importing Sony A7s footage

Hi,

So I was wondering how all those A7s users import their media into Final Cut? I'm curious to know because I see a Private Folder/M4ROOT/CLIP and then I see the footage but I also see just a straight AVCHD File under the PRIVATE folder. Was wondering if there was any benefits importing the AVCHD file rather than just using the .MP4 files? Essentially

Thanks,

I just import them straight to FCPX.

the mp4s are low res, aren't they? You can have dual rec so it makes both AVCHD and low res MP4s. I have that turned off.

Also you can choose between XAVC-S (better) or AVCHD. I believe FCPX now sees the XAVC files without problem...

So... just ignore the MP4s and Import the other clips from FCPX.

I never drag the files manually from the card to hard drive... That was historically a recipe for disaster...

I just import them straight to FCPX.

Are you talking about the .MP4's?

the mp4s are low res, aren't they? You can have dual rec so it makes both AVCHD and low res MP4s. I have that turned off.

The .MP4's are not low res they are 1080P @50Mb/s. I'm just wondering if the compression is any different between the .MP4's and the AVCHD file. I also have the dual rec turned off as well.

It does see XAVC files wrapped in a MXF wrapper on my FS7 but with the A7s it only see the h.264 file and cannot tell that it is XAVC. That's what I presume after looking at the info tab in FCPX.

So... just ignore the MP4s and Import the other clips from FCPX.

The MP4's are the only thing FCPX sees so I can only import the .MP4's.

I never drag the files manually from the card to hard drive... That was historically a recipe for disaster..

Just wondering why dragging the files in manually would that be a recipe for disaster?

Thanks,

hey,

the Xavc-s codec is wrapped up in the mp4 container. so you'll want the MP4's.
If you do use the AVCHD setting, then you are limiting your bitrate to AVCHD limitations, which I believe is 28Mb/s.


And I'd also import via FCPX from the card, I seem to remember FCPX re-wrapping .mp4 into a .MOV container. (I may be wrong about that one though, it has been a few months since I've used the A7s.)

Awesome thanks FernKraft!

Yes, sorry, I was thinking about the AVCHD files which behaves differently!
(was thinking of the .mts or whatever the raw AVCHD files are called, which used to not work in FCPX if dragged from the card instead of imported)

Anyway, now that FCPX sees the XAVC-S files correctly I started to always import using the import function in FCPX... As that's where I want them anyway and FCPX then rewrapps them to .mov and if there's files that are split due to file size they are joined to single .mov files etc...

Sorry for earlier misinformation!