Trouble while importing through Sony Card Pro Duo...

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Level 1

133 points

Trouble while importing through Sony Card Pro Duo...

Hello to all!

I have been all this while shooting video with a Sony Handycam that has dual recording media: an internal 120 GB drive and also by memory card. I have not yet done recording with a memory card but have started just now. The card is a 2 GB Sony Memory Stick Pro Duo. When I tried to import it into a FCPX event by taking the card out of the camera and using a USB card reader, the AVCHD file shows up but is greyed out. Is this because FCPX does not read Memory Stick Pro Duo? I know, but have not yet tried it out, that I can import the drive with the card yet in the camera and I select the option of using the memory card as the access gate.

However I would like if I could get the importing being done with the card outside of the camera.

I would also like to state this: the Memory Stick Pro Duo would not fit into the slot for memory cards provided on my Mac. I solicit guidance in these matters.

Thanks in advance.

Dr. Somanna

iMac, OS X Mavericks (10.9), garage band, FCPX:10.0.9 version

Posted on Jul 17, 2014 8:26 AM

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Answer 1

somanna Author

Level 1

133 points

Jul 17, 2014 3:51 PM in response to Luis Sequeira1

Hello Luis! Thanks for replying. When I had connected the memory card via the card reader, it showed up in the Finder window [guess as UNTITLED]. When I selected an event in the event browser and Command>I, the Import window of FCPX showed up as seen in this screenshot:

The create archive button was inactive.

Would like to be informed as to which type of memory card is to be used by me, one that fits the slot in the Mac and is operational in my little Sony Handy cam.

Regards and have a nice day.

Dr. Somanna

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Answer 2

somanna Author

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133 points

Jul 18, 2014 1:01 AM in response to Luis Sequeira1

Thanks for your sustained interest.

I have two Sony Memory Stick Pro Duo cards [1 GB and 2 GB] which belong to a Sony Cybershot camera which I do not have now. I have no immediate need for extra drive space for shooting video as most of my projects are under 10 minutes in duration. But I was trying to explore the other ways of getting footage into the event in case, 'God forbid', the internal drive fail.

I shall in time try out what you had suggested including the workaround [show package contents...].

Your instructions to adhere to a single format per card is helpful.

FYI, when I had clicked the option of using the memory card for the recording medium, it was needed for me to format the card and I had done it.

The handy cam I use is Sony HDR-XR250E and I do not know whether it would accept and record to Mac-supported SD or micro-SD cards. I trust that members of this forum who are already using memory cards for the Sony handy cams would throw some light in this matter.

Regards and take care.

Dr. Somanna

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Answer 3

somanna Author

Level 1

133 points

Jul 20, 2014 9:26 PM in response to Karsten Schlüter

@DocKarsten!

Good morning Karsten! How is it with you? Pretty sure you have been more busy watching football than shooting videos of football being played at your place!

Have taken 2 screenshots of what I have found in the finder:

In this first thing that came out when I clicked on the 'UNTITLED' was this QT file with AVCHD as a subscription. When I opened this file, this notification came up:

This is for your 'First information'. Shall try out to get this file is 'openable' by other programs.

Regards and have a great day!

Dr. Somanna

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Answer 4

Jul 20, 2014 10:18 PM in response to somanna

somanna wrote:

… Have taken 2 screenshots of what I have found in the finder:

…

okayyyyy, thanks!

hmm, that's a bit weird: no device from any manufacturer I've handled before stores AVCHD like that! 'Usually', there's a DCIM folder (=for stills, most camcorders do both, stills & video) and there's at last a 'Private' folder, in there the AVCHD.pkg ... (some devices add a 'Misc' folder, a 'MP_root' etc etc).

double-clicking that AVCHD should, under MacOS 10.9.x, do one of the two things:

• open/playback a single recording

• open a new preview window, offering selectable icons for 2/many recordings ...

What happens, when you right-click (in Finder…) that AVCHD-file, and choose 'show package content'? (apply screen-shot)

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Answer 5

somanna Author

Level 1

133 points

Jul 20, 2014 11:19 PM in response to Karsten Schlüter

Right-clicking the QT file gave birth to BDMV file which also cannot be read by any application. This is the screenshot:

Further, I finally tried what I assumed should normally take place, import the clip from the card lodged in the camera and connecting the camera to the Mac. I was sad to realise that even this would not be read by the system, FCPX import included. In the import window the same data was being displayed [AVCHD...] but was greyed out.😟

If this is the case I know of only this method of getting at least a low quality video into the system...use Picture Motion Browser to get M2TS file onto my Windows laptop, copy it to my Mac, and use M2TS converter to get the video readable by FCPX!

Hope I could get in a AVCHD file of the video in!

???

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Answer 6

somanna Author

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133 points

Jul 21, 2014 12:31 AM in response to Karsten Schlüter

I've done what you asked and the individual contents were displayed. The 'Stream folder' had no data on it. Two other contents had some data...vide following screenshot:

The video clip is playing well in the camera.

ps: This AVCHD file is the disk image of the video clip which I have saved on my desktop.

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Answer 7

somanna Author

Level 1

133 points

Jul 21, 2014 2:44 AM in response to Tom Wolsky

Thanks for joining this thread Tom.

I had written to Karsten earlier regarding how I had made a disk image of the video file using disk utility, and let me paste the said reply here:

I tried out this after finding no application I had was capable of opening the file: made a disk image of the file using disk utility. The disc showed up in the import window of FCPX, but the file appeared greyed out, inaccessible to FCPX.

Looks like connecting the card via the camera [have'nt tried that out yet but will do so now] would be the option for me to get the data into the system!

Regards and have a great day.

Dr. Somanna

By the time I had written the above reply, Karsten had asked me to apply a screen shot after right-clicking 'open package contents'. As I had by then disconnected the camera from the computer, I did the right clicking action upon the disk image of the video in question.

However, after reading your query, I connected the camera to the computer once again and checked up on the package contents of the BDMV folder...I find that the contents of it are the same as the one in the screenshot posted above. Let me send you the new screenshot of the contents of the BDMV folder while the card is yet in the camera connected to the computer:

Disk utility has made a true copy of the video file on the memory card. What next?

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Answer 8

Jul 21, 2014 3:07 AM in response to somanna

@Alchroma:

I wonder if it's a format thing??

uhm, well ... I dare to say no - afaik, those Sony-sticks are mechanically different, but electrically standard fat32 formatted;.. ok, there could be some 'secret' partition scheme at work or somethin' ... no idea.-

@somanna:

I had written to Karsten earlier regarding how I had made a disk image of the video file using disk utility,

ooops - did you? missed that part!!! So, this is NOT the original but some sort of copy???

So, to repeat my Q above: "Does the stick show any content in the cam?" => nobody can answer that, cause there's no stick? ...

well, then I'm outta here - the 'Stream'-folder contains the videos; your screenshots indicate 'zero kb' = empty; in conclusion: somehow, somewhere, your videos got lost in the process of making a copy - at last, that is an assumption, 'cause a test on 'Square 1' (=in cam) isn't possible, we can not know if there were videos at all!!

Last attemp:

Did you tell the cam to record on stick?

Did you tell the cam to copy from 'internal' mem to stick?

Are you sure, there was any video on stick at all? 😮

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Answer 9

Jul 17, 2014 10:33 AM in response to somanna

The card slot in the mac is for SD cards, which most of the manufacturers use. Even Sony has them in some products, though it prefers its own Memory Stick formats - these can't be directly inserted in the slot in your mac, as you correctly described.

It is clear, however, that your mac is reading the card, and as such it is mostly irrelevant what kind of card that is.

When say "it shows up", do you mean in the Finder, or in the Import window of FCP X? If the latter, can you see it in the Finder?

What happens if you try to create a Camera Archive (in the import window), or manually drag the contents of the card to a folder in the Finder?

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Answer 10

Jul 18, 2014 12:33 AM in response to somanna

It looks like the camera may be recording in some variation of AVCHD that may not be completely standard, and FCP X is not recognizing it.

Here is what I'd try: first, copy the full contents of the card to a hard drive on your mac. See if FCP X can import from there (I'm guessing it won't, since the structure is just the same, but it doesn't hurt to try).

As a workaround, you can try and import the files individually: control-click on the copy in your drive, show package contents and navigate to the individual video files. FCPX can now import those mts and similar, but of course this is just a workaround...

One thing that comes to mind: always shoot in the same format per card, i.e. if the camera supports different variations of frame sizes, data rates, etc., don't mix them in the same card.

I'd next erase the card or take a new empty card, shoot a few clips (all with the same camera recording settings) and see if it imports.

Regarding the card: if the camera has a hard drive and a memory stick, it is unlikely to also support SD cards. I guess you'll have to use a USB card reader, or import by connecting the camera directly to your mac.

The slot in your mac supports only SD cards (these can be full-size, or "micro-SD" cards fitted to an adapter, and can be named in some variation like SDHC, SDXC or similar). Other formats like memory stick or CF cards do NOT work in this slot; they don't even fit.

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Answer 11

somanna Author

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133 points

Jul 18, 2014 7:52 PM in response to Luis Sequeira1

Hello Luis, this is 8-17 am now here in India and let me wish you a 'good morning'!

I would like to know whether the SD cards I may use have to be only from Sony...whether some non-Sony economical brands could serve the need?

Wish Sony handy cam users could throw some light as to what types would be acceptable. This subject might appear to be outside the purview of this thread and forum, but yet is a very true part of it.

Regards and have a great day!

Dr. Somanna

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Answer 12

Alchroma

Level 7

23,918 points

Jul 18, 2014 9:22 PM in response to somanna

somanna wrote:

Hello Luis, this is 8-17 am now here in India and let me wish you a 'good morning'!

I would like to know whether the SD cards I may use have to be only from Sony...whether some non-Sony economical brands could serve the need?

Wish Sony handy cam users could throw some light as to what types would be acceptable. This subject might appear to be outside the purview of this thread and forum, but yet is a very true part of it.

Regards and have a great day!

Dr. Somanna

Any brand SD card will do the job.

What you need to look for is the speed the card works.

Cameras can use different size SD cards it's best to check the camera manual to get a compatible card.

eg. Can the camera use SDXC cards?

I'd suggest class10 With a read/write speed of around 45 Mbps.

You can get faster at more $$ of course.

I run Sandisk at the above level shooting HD 50p without issue.

Al

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Answer 13

somanna Author

Level 1

133 points

Jul 19, 2014 2:35 AM in response to Alchroma

Thanks for your information.

I searched Sony website for information relevant to the matter under discussion. Learnt that SD cards are compatible with my model, but performance of micro SD is not guaranteed. I had to learn from GOOGLE what SDXC cards are and the Sony manual has not even mentioned this card's compatibility and I need to deduce that this card isn't compatible.

May I know what is the type and capacity of the memory card, and the camera model which you use? This last sentence will only quench my curiosity but may not meet my immediate need! Curiosity, they say, kills cats, but I say, curiosity makes men wiser!

😁

Regards and have a nice day!

Dr. Somanna

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Answer 14

Alchroma

Level 7

23,918 points

Jul 19, 2014 6:02 PM in response to somanna

somanna wrote:

May I know what is the type and capacity of the memory card, and the camera model which you use? This last sentence will only quench my curiosity but may not meet my immediate need! Curiosity, they say, kills cats, but I say, curiosity makes men wiser!

😁

Regards and have a nice day!

Dr. Somanna

I use 64 gig cards in Panasonic cams. AC90 and SDT750.

Regards what goes in where:

Not all cards work in all equipment.

The XC on the end of SD means Extended Capacity, 32gig to a proposed 2 Terabyte.

You could bet your camera will work with 32 or less but make sure the cam can use the larger capacity SDXC cards.

The file structure written to the larger cards may not be understood correctly by devices not designed to operate with them.

Here is a link to a very useful overview of SD, SDHC and SDXC cards specs:

http://au.lexar.com/content/sdxc-faqs

Al

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Answer 15

somanna Author

Level 1

133 points

Jul 20, 2014 6:34 AM in response to Alchroma

Thanks for your information. Today afternoon I happened to scrutinise carefully a Pastor's handy cam and found SDXC 'logo' imprinted upon it. My camera which is older than his does not have this logo but the cover of the memory card slot has SD Pro Duo imprinted upon it.

I have gone through the good link you have referred me to and the crisply given information understood.

I now think that a SDHC 32 GB card should be the one which I could use for my work.

Thanks for sharing the above information.

Dr. Somanna

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