Continue reading »]]> MXF is a file format for the exchange of programme material between servers, tape streamers and to digital archives. MXF bundles together video, audio, and programme data, such as text – together termed essence – along with metadata and places them into a wrapper. MXF does not force the use of certain video or audio compression types but also the internal index and partition structure can vary. The body can be based on several different types of material (essence) including MPEG, DV and uncompressed video and audio, it also uses the SMPTE KLV data coding system, which has the advantage of being a recognized standard.

• See also: What is MXF | What can MXF do

The MXF container is not so widely accepted as MP4, QuickTime MOV, and M4V format. Neither does QuickTime plays MXF format nor does iTunes stream MXF files. Professional editing software like Final Cut Pro and Avid support a range of MXF footage (but not all of them), while iMovie won’t let your import MXF to at all. That’s where MXF Converter comes in (learn how to convert MXF files on Mac). This article outlines the Free and Best 6 MXF Converters for Mac programs reviewed, go ahead to learn and compare them by yourself.

• Pavtube MXF Converter for Mac
• Aiseesoft MXF Converter for Mac
• Calibrated{Q} MXF Import
• MXF4mac Player
• MXF Import QT
• Pavtube Media Magician for Mac

1. Pavtube MXF Converter for Mac

Pavtube MXF Converter for Mac is an easy-to-use and intuitive Mac tool for users of Panasonic P2 camcorders and Canon XF series cameras. It lets you imports P2 MXF, XDCAM, and Canon XF .mxf footage and export editable Apple ProRes/DVCPRO/HDV/Avid DNxHD/AIC codec so as to import to video editing software like iMovie, Final Cut Pro (X), Final Cut Express, Avid Media Composer, Adobe Premiere, and more. More than generating editable files for video editing software, Pavtube Mac MXF Converter also comes with optimized format presets for almost all popular multimedia devices, such as iPad, the new iPad 3, iPhone, iTouch, Apple TV 3, Motorola Xoom, Asus Transformer Pad Infinity 700, Google Nexus 7 Android 4.1 Tablet, Samsung Galaxy S3, Acer Iconia Tab, Samsung Galaxy Tab, HTC Evo 4G, Samsung Galaxy X S II, PS Vita, PS3, Xbox 360, etc. In general, the Pavtube MXF Converter for Mac offers best MXF Playback and Import solutions with its extensive output options and flexible settings.

System Requirements:

• Mac OS X Leopard (10.5), Snow Leopard (10.6), Lion (10.7), Mountain Lion (10.8)
• 1G Hz or above Intel processor
• 512 MB physical RAM (memory) or above
• 1024*768 or higher resolution display.

Price: $29

2. Aiseesoft MXF Converter for Mac

Aiseesoft MXF Converter for Mac can convert MXF file to other popular video format like MP4, MPG, 3GP, MKV, AVI, WMV, FLV, VOB, SWF, DV, M4V, and MOV, etc. on Mac. Also this application supports converting MXF to 3D videos on Mac. You are allowed to convert MXF recordings to other video format that can play well on any portable devices such iPad 2, The new iPad, iPhone 4S, iPod, Apple TV, and Android devices, etc. It also has multiple editing functions to help you edit different MXF recordings instead of professional video editing software.

System Requirements:

• Mac OS X 10.5 or above
• Intel processor
• 512MB RAM, Super VGA (800×600) resolution
• 16-bit graphics card or higher

Price: $29

3. Calibrated{Q} MXF Import

Calibrated{Q} Import components are QuickTime components for NATIVE Importing and Playback of supported MXF or XDCAM EX MP4 Files in QuickTime Player and CatDV on Windows & OSX, and in Final Cut Studio 2 & 3 Applications, and in Final Cut Pro X (MXF files only) and other QuickTime enabled applications on OSX. With Calibrated{Q} MXF Import, you can import and work with DNxHD .MXF files in Adobe Premiere Pro CS 5.0/5.5/6.0, Adobe After Effects CS 5.0/5.5/6.0, or Adobe Media Encode CS 5.0/5.5/6.0.

System Requirements: Mac OSX (Intel) 10.5/10.6/10.7

Price: Free for 30 days

4. MXF4mac Player

MXF4mac Player can open most MXF variations. It supports, XDCAM HD, AVC-Intra, JPEG2000 (optional with J2K Codec) , DNxHD, HDV, Uncompressed SD/HD, Uncompressed Avid 10 bit, DVC-Pro HD, IMX-D10,DV, Meridien, Sony Proxy and more.The MXF4mac Player is also able to play Panasonic P2 XML documents like movie files with video and audio linked together. Of course it is compatible to QuickTime movies and more (e.g. .mp4, .avi, .m4v, .wav, .aif, .aiff). Open or just drag nearly any flavour of MXF files into the MXF4mac Player to watch it, even in full screen.

System Requirements: Mac OS X v10.6, v10.7, v10.8

Price: $0 (freeware)

5. MXF Import QT

MXF Import QT is an advanced MXF reader for QuickTime that supports MXF variations from broadcast media, ingest, transcoding, playout devices, hard disk recorders, and MXF-based software. MXF Import QT is a versatile solution for direct conversion-free, real-time MXF access and editing that works with Final Cut Studio, Final Cut Server, and Logic Pro. It allows natively open and access a broad range of MXF variations without converting or referencing to the QuickTime movie format. The unique integration enables Final Cut Studio, Final Cut Server and other solutions to directly work with native MXF media.

System Requirements: Mac OS X v10.6, v10.7, v10.8

Price: 499 EUR

6. Media Magician for Mac

Pavtube Media Magician for Mac is a useful timeline-oriented video editor and converter. It helps edit and convert not only camcorder videos, but also MXF, MTS, TS, Tivo, MKV, FLV, and so on for further editing in non-linear editing software, watching on iOS/Android/Windows RT tablets and phones, or direct uploading to YouTube.

It features smart camcorder wizard, lossless trim/cut MTS/M2TS frame by frame, preset optimized output formats, Apple ProRes encoding (for Mac only), 3D effect adding, and more for you to explore.

Nowadays, kinds of camcorders record videos in HD or Full HD. Professional Photographers like to edit their camera clips without quality lossless. So as to keep the video quality as good as original. With a mac computer, there are many useful editing software. Like FCP (X), FCE, iMovie, Adobe Premiere, Avid Studio, iPhoto etc. If you often use such editing software, you may find, each editing software has the most suitable codec for editing. Which will help us maintain video quality to a large extent. For example, FCP series prefer Apple ProRes codec, while Apple Intermediate Codec (AIC) is most suitable for iMovie or FCE. However, our camcorders record videos in kinds of video formats, when you import them into the editing software, sometimes, it will take a long time for rendering. In fact, it’s the process of transcoding.

System Requirements:

• Mac OS X Leopard (10.5), Snow Leopard (10.6), Lion (10.7), Mountain Lion (10.8)
• 1G Hz or above Intel processor.
• 512 MB physical RAM (memory) or above.
• 1024*768 or higher resolution display.

Price: $49

Continue reading »]]> With every new camera, comes many new questions about workflow. The term ‘workflow’ can be fairly broad, but today I am looking at importing Canon XF300 footage into various non-linear editing systems (NLE). The Canon XF300 uses the same workflow as the Canon XF series of cameras (which includes the XF305, XF300, XF105 and XF100), because it records in the same .mxf format. Below, I outline how to ingest footage onto a hard drive, and how to import into Avid Media Composer.

1. Back Up Canon XF300 footage to computer hard drive

Canon  provides a piece of software called the Canon XF utility, which is used to playback and download clips off their original media. The footage on the CF card can be backed up with the XF Utility by clicking on the ‘Backup’ button on the upper left corner. Before doing so, make sure you set the location to store your footage in the Preferences menu.

2. Import Canon XF300 footage to Avid Media Composer

To bring your Canon C300 footage into Avid Media Composer, it’s advised that you convert Canon XF300 footage to a native editing format for Avid. Native HD camera compression formats (including .mxf) are efficient, but simply aren’t engineered to maintain quality during complex post production effects processing. Uncompressed HD delivers superior image quality, but data rates and file sizes can stop a workflow dead in its tracks. Avid DNxHD delivers both efficiency and quality without compromises. And it is supported on Media Composer, NewsCutter, Symphony, Avid DS, and Interplay Assist. Here’s how to convert Canon XF300 .mxf to Avid DNxHD video:

Required Tool: MXF Converter for Windows | MXF Converter for Mac

Step 1. Add Canon MXF footage to the Canon MXF Converter.

Click “Add” to load the source Canon MXF files. When the Canon MXF files are loaded to the MXF Converter, you can view the videos from the Preview window.

Step 2. Set Avid DNxHD MOV as output format for Canon MXF to Avid MC conversion.

Click on “Format”, and select output format from the drop-down list. Follow “Avid Media Composer” > “Avid DNxHD 720p(*.mov)”. This format creates videos of medium quality, if you feel like keeping higher visual quality, choose “Avid DNxHD 1080p(*.mov)” format.

When set output folder, or click the icon folder in Output box and browse to the destination folder.

Step 3. You can click settings button to adjust the output video’s parameters, such as resolution, bitrate, codec and frame rate, etc.

Step 4. Convert Canon XF300 MXF to Avid DNxHD MOV for importing to Avid Media Composer.

Click “Convert” button and the selected Canon XF305 MXF files will be converted to Avid DNxHD MOV. You may check the converting progress and set auto shutdown in the convert window.

After conversion, click “Open” folder to find converted Canon XF300 footage for importing to Avid Media Composer. The importing steps reference here:

How to import and manage your videos, projects, and media onto Avid Media Composer

How to direct import media files to Avid Media Composer on Mac

Additional Editing Features of the MXF Converter for Mac

– Trim, combine, de-interlace Canon MXF footage, capture Canon XF300 frame.

Trim Canon MXF clips: Click “Edit” to enter video editor, by default the “Trim” tab is activated, so just set start time and end time to include the duration you want to remain, cutting others out.

Combine/Join Canon MXF files: If you would like to join several files together, just select these files and check the Merge into one box.

De-interlace Canon MXF: Some footage may be saved as interlaced video with Juggled edges and ghosting. In that case you can set deinterlace effect to eliminate the combing. Follow “Edit”-> “Effect”-> “Deinterlacing”.

Capture frame from Canon MXF: To thumbnail video frame, you may click the “Snapshoot” button when it plays to your favorable frame.

Continue reading »]]>

CyberLink PowerDirector is a video editing software application for non-linear video editing, published by CyberLink Corporation. PowerDirector allows users to capture, edit and output from within the software and has semi-professional features suitable for the consumer level.

In the forum, many users have the problems to import MXF files to CyberLink PowerDirector 9/10, their MXF footages are recorded by canon high end camcorders, like Canon XF series, Panasonic P2 card, Sony XDCAM etc. MXF videos are not well supported by PowerDirector due to the codec. Such as:

Q1. “How to ingest and convert P2 footage on pc with powerdirector 9?

Hello, I am trying to edit a movie that was filmed a little bit ago. : It was filmed on a panasonic p2 camera which has mxf file extensions. That was dumped onto an external hard drive which is accessible on both pc and mac(exFAT) so I can see the 50gb. On Final Cut Pro I would do a”log and transfer” and click on the particular p2 folder.

How would something like this work in powerdirector 9? Is there a third party plug-in or something that would allow PD9 to read it like this. I saw that it will read rw2, but this isn’t the format.  Moreover, it just has a lot of folders that some how that “log and transfer” deal puts them together for the actual footage.”

Your help is appreciated. Thanks in Advance.

Q2. “I get a Canon XF305 camcorder and recorded some video clips, when I try to import the files to Cyberlink PowerDirector to edit, I find the files could not be recognized, so what is the problem and how can I solve it? Thanks”

Through the above questions, you will find they can hardly import the MXF footage output from these camcorder to CyberLink PowerDirector.

CyberLink PowerDirector can easily import files in various formats, the supported file formats are as follows:

Video formats: MPG, MPEG, MP4, MOV, AVI, Divx, WMV, FLV, AVCHD, DV, Canon/Nikon DSLR video files as well as DSLR video in H.264 format, HD video from HDV camcorder, WMV HD, RealVideo, Blu-ray Disc

Audio formats: WAV, MP3, WMA, M4A, AAC, Dobly, DTS, WAVE and MPEG-1 Layer III audio formats

Image formats: RAW, JPG, GIF, PNG, BMP

May be you are looking for the best way to import and edit Panasonic P2, Sony XDCAM, Canon MXF files in Cyberlink PowerDirector. Fortunately, your problems can be solved with MXF Conversion tools. MXF to CyberLink PowerDirector Converter is the terrific program that has full support to convert Sony XDCAM/Canon XF/Panasonic DVCPRO HD P2 MXF to CyberLink PowerDirector compatible formats, like WMV, MPG, MPEG, MP4, MOV, AVI, Divx. WMV format is best for use in PowerDirector on Windows platform.

Below is a guide for you, you can follow it to convert MXF to PowerDirector support format.

Before conversion you need

1. Transfer the .mxf clips to hard disk.

2. Get MXF Converter ($29). Click here to download a trial. A trial won’t expires but it converts MXF with Pavtube logo on the screen.

(Good News, now if you buy Pavtube MXF Converter for Windows or Mac products, you can get a Free DVD Creator for Windows or Mac in the 2012 Thanksgiving Giveaway (Nov. 14- Dec. 10), please take a look!)

Step 1. Add MXF files.

Launch MXF to Cyberlink PowerDirector Converter. Click the button “File > Add Video/Audio” to add MXF files to the professional MXF Converter. Or drag and drop .mxf clips to file list.

(Note: While importing the P2 MXF files, please make sure you have the original P2 MXF file structure as it saved on your camcorder. If you only have some random MXF clips, your files will have image only without audio.) If it is necessary, you can double click the each file to have a preview.

Tip: If you wanna join AG-HVX200 P2 MXF files for CyberLink PowerDirector 10, just check the “Merge into one file” box.

Step 2. Select WMV as the output format for CyberLink PowerDirector 10 and set the output folder.

Click on the “Format” and get the dropdown menu, then move you pointer to “HD Video”, from the sublist, you can easily find the “WMV HD(*.wmv) or MPEG-2 HD Video(*.mpg)” which is the compatible format for you to import Panasonic P2, Sony XDCAM or Canon MXF files to CyberLink PowerDirector 10 for further editing. Of course, you can also set the AVI, MOV, MP4, MPG etc. CyberLink PowerDirector support format as the output format.

Useful Tips:

Settings – click the “Settings” icon and you will go into a new interface named “Profile Settings”. You can adjust codec, bit rate, frame rate, sample rate and audio channel in the interface according to your needs and optimize the output file quality. You can set the video size as 1920×1080; set bitrate from 1Mbps to 20Mbps; set frame rate as 24p or 30p to get best output video for CyberLink PowerDirector 10.

Step 3. Click the “Convert” button, start converting your Panasonic P2, Sony XDCAM, Canon MXF files to WMV/HD MPEG-2 for CyberLink PowerDirector 10 with the NVIDIA CUDA and AMD APP acceleration technologies support. You can find the process in the “Conversion” interface.

After the conversion, you can easily import/edit MXF to CyberLink PowerDirecor for editing. Then feel free to create brilliant movies like a pro with the powerful set of integrated tools.

How to load/import converted MXF footage to Cyberlink PowerDirector

Step 1. Start up Cyberlink PowerDirector, follow “Open Folder>>Import Media Files” to import individual video clips.

Step 2. Browse to the converted .mov video and press “Open”.
Now the MXF footage is successfully converted and imported to Cyberlink PowerDirector and you can get down to video editing. Read more from MXF Column page.

Supported MXF camcorder models by MXF Converter

Canon: Canon C300, Canon XF100, Canon XF105, Canon XF300, Canon XF305

Panasonic DVCPRO HD P2: AJ-HPX3700, AJ-HPX2700, AJ-HPX3100, AJ-HPX2100, AJ-HPX2000, AG-3DP1, AG-HPX500, AG-HPX370, AG-HPX250, AG-HVX170, AG-HVX171, AG-HPX371, AG-HPX600, AG-HPX255, AG-HVX200, AJ-HPM100, AJ-HPM200, AG-HPX300, AJ-HPX3000

Sony XDCAM: Sony XDCAM SD, XDCAM HD and XDCAM HD422

Continue reading »]]> Canon developed Canon XF Utility for exclusive use with movies captured with the XF camcorders (XF305/300/105/100) and Cinema EOS C300 camera. The Canon XF Utility offers various options for managing and playing back clips recorded with the camcorder with which the software was supplied. Mainly, Canon XF Utility lets you do the following:

* Checking and playing back clips – Display a list of all the clips recorded on a CF card, search the list and play back clips.

* Saving and writing back clips – Save clips that were recorded on a CF card to the computer, or write back preciously saved clips from the computer onto a CF card.

* Creating and editing User Memo profiles – Create, edit and save User Memo profiles on SD memory cards. Later, you can load a User Memo file from the SD memory card to the camcorder and embed this information with the clips you record.

Canon XF plugin helps users a lot while importing Canon .MXF footage to work with non-linear video editing programs. However, users still have problems one or another when utilizing the software, especially with Final Cut Pro on Mac OS X. We have a collection of frequently asked questions about Canon XF Plugin for Final Cut Pro here, and aim to provide available solutions to these issues.

Problem 1

“We are using FCP 7, and as far as I know it does not read Canon C300 files natively. We tried Canon XF utility, with very limited success, on few different machines. Main problem with that piece of software is that it expects to see compact flash cards straight from the camera and doesn’t seem to work very well with folders on an HDD. Is there a recommended workflow for us to move MXF files from an HDD to FCP 7?”

Solution to Problem 1: It is strongly suggested to convert MXF clips to Apple ProRes 422 using Pavtube Canon MXF Converter software, because FCP 7 needs to have all the footage on a timeline in the single codec, otherwise it needs to render everything and does not preview clips in realtime. The Canon Camera Video Converter tool is able to load MXF files directly from your camera, or read from a folder stored on your computer’s HDD or an external hard drive, as well as separate .MXF clips out of the camera’s original folder structure. Plus, this solution is particular helpful when you need combine footage coming from different cameras with different video modes. Best of all, it is capable of keeping multiple audio tracks in your source material.

Problem 2

“Hi, I am about to begin editing a film shot on Canon XF100. I have a hard-drive onto which all of the raw files were dumped, and am now trying to find a way of working with the files. As far as I can make out everything was copied as it should be (i.e. with the directory structure intact):

I have installed the Canon XF plugin for FCP. Problems arise when I try to use Log & Transfer to transcode the MXF material. I have tried Native/Pro Res 422/ ProRes LT/in fact all of the options from the drop down destination menu, and keep getting the same problem: namely, that about 80-90 percent of files are only transcoded in part. What I mean is that a 5 minute clip ends up as only 10 seconds. I have FCP 7.0.3 and the relevant Canon XF plugins…Now I’m at a loss as to what to do… Anyone have any suggestions as to how I can start editing this film on FCP?”

Solution to Problem 2: It seems that Canon XF utility somehow messed up when rendering the MXF media for use in Final Cut Pro 7. We heard people have troubles with EOS plugin of similar nature. Can we L&T footage without utilizing Canon plugin? Actually, there are a large number of Canon MXF converter programs claiming to be good at transferring MXF media files to Apple ProRes 422 for FCP. The thing is that it’s difficult to make audio and video always in sync in the generated ProRes MOV files. As for video and audio synchronization, Pavtube Canon MXF Converter does a good job. So, it’s wise to use this software for MXF to FCP ProRes codec conversion.  

Problem 3

“I especially get confused when I need to download the plug-ins from the Canon site, which is a real mess! I have MXF footage shot on the Canon C300 and I’m trying to convert it from true 24p to ProRes 422(HQ) 23.976. Does anyone know an easy-to-use converter to do this?”

Solution to Problem 3: Pavtube Canon Video Converter will shed you some light on this problem. More than encoding true 24p C300 MXF files to ProRes 422(HQ) 23.976, it can also rewrap MXF to PrpRes 422, ProRes LT, ProRes Proxy, and ProRes 4444 to fit different FCP use.

Problem 4
“I’ve run into a problem with a project. I copied the entire card file structure of XF305 onto a hard drive, installed all the right codecs…and it’s telling me the file structure is invalid.”  

Solution to Problem 4: Final Cut Pro users often meet unknown errors when editing Canon MXF clips. Fortunately, we always have workaround to deal with these incompatible issues. Simple convert MXF files recorded by a Canon camera to Apple ProRes 422 via using a Canon MXF Converter, this is the simplest solution.

Basically, with the versatile Canon Camera Video Converter, it will be possible to let Final Cut Pro touch MXF material shot on a Canon XF305/300/105/100 and C300 camera even without utilizing Canon XF plugin.

Continue reading »]]> As a professional multinational corporation that specializes in the manufacture of imaging and optical products, Canon has been manufacturing and distributing digital cameras since 1984, starting with the RC-701. The PowerShot series (known as IXUS series in Japan) was then launched after the RC series for photographers at any level. The PowerShot camera like SX 200IS produces MVI_.files which are not recognized by some video editing and DVD building programs, e.g. ArcSoft ShowBiz DVD 2 program for authoring DVD’s/home movies. In that case, users have to convert the MVI to AVI or WMV files so that the MVI movie clips taken with a PowerShot camera can be used seamlessly in the DVD program.

Canon also developed the EOS series of DSLR cameras (digital single-lens reflex cameras) which includes high-end professional models, such as the latest Canon 5D Mark III and Canon Rebel T4i (EOS 650D). Canon claims that the Canon EOS Camera System is the most complete Single Lens Reflex (SLR) camera system in the world. Whether you are a beginner or advanced professional looking for a digital camera, the EOS System takes your photography to the next level. The EOS DSLR cameras usually shoot videos in H.264 MOV format, which is not a friendly format for most video editors. In order to generate suitable files for video editing software, you are strongly recommended to use Canon camera Video Converter to convert EOS MOV to Apple ProRes for Final Cut Pro 6/7 and FCP X, transcode H.264 MOV to AIC for iMovie and Final Cut Express, render MOV clips to DNxHD for Avid Media Composer and so on.

An additional product line new to Canon is Cinema EOS camera series. The launch of the Cinema EOS System marks Canon’s full-fledged entry into the digital high-resolution production industry. The EOS C300 camera records footage in .MXF format, which is a problematic file type either for playback or edit. Here comes Canon camera video converter again to handle these MXF clips. Simply select your MXF source material, choose the output format, and click Convert. The Canon MXF Converter will take care of the rest.

More than digital cameras and Cinema EOS cameras, Canon also produces consumer digital camcorders and professional camcorders. The consumer digital camcorders deliver superior image quality and performance and include models like VIXIA HF S10, VIXIA HF S100, and VIXIA HF100. These AVCHD camcorders in VIXIA series capture videos with .MTS and .M2TS file extensions. In attempting of adding Canon MTS shootings to an Android Tablet or Apple iPad for viewing, you can use a Canon MTS Converter to encode MTS to MP4. To import loose MTS clips out of its original file structure to iMovie or FCP for editing, you need change MTS to AIC or Apple ProRes.

As for professional camcorders, Canon XF-Series Professional Camcorders XF100, XF105, XF300 and XF305 are almost perfect. “Whether used as a companion to the XF305 or XF300, or as a stand-alone camcorder, the XF105 and XF100 are geared for a wide range of applications where high image quality, extreme portability and efficient workflow are of the utmost importance. And with true stereoscopic 3-D production and infrared recording capabilities, they allow users to expand into new markets,” stated Yuichi Ishizuka, executive vice president and general manager, Consumer Imaging Group, Canon U.S.A. The XF Series professional camcorders record footage in .MXF format, if you are new to the format, you couldn’t realize that it would be so problematic to get the MXF video into computers without using the Canon software. Yes Canon does offer XF utility to help users import MXF footage to FCP 7 and other video editing programs, but this only comes with very limited success, because that piece of XF utility software only expects to see compact flash cards (CF cards) straight from the camcorder and doesn’t seem to work very well with folders on a HDD, not to mention separate MXF clips. Fortunately, the conversion formats generated by Canon Video Camera Converter (here works as a Canon MXF Converter) would fit with the following programs:

On Mac: Final Cut Pro (FCP 6/7, FCP X), Final Cut Express, iMovie, Avid Media Composer, iDVD, QuickTime, etc.

On Windows PC: Magix Movie, Avid Studio, Windows Movie Maker, Sony Vegas, Adobe Premiere Pro, Premiere Elements, and more.

Definitely, there are a great many choices currently available in video cameras/camcorders, which one to choose is totally depending on one’s needs and budget. As for Canon Camera Video Converter, it will continue to have its place for both amateur film makers and professional videographers (Read more about Canon Camera File Transcode at Pavtube Canon Column).