The Sony XDCAM PXW-Z100 is a fantastic value for getting into the 4K workflow. It applies Sony’s new XAVC 4:2:2 10-bit intra frame recording format bring you superb video quality. While something frustrating, when importing Sony PXW-Z100 XAVC to FCP for post-workflow, there are always some issues. To help so many guys to get of the trouble, here I’d like to share some tips and tricks for Sony PXW-Z100 to Final Cut Pro workflow based on my own experience.
As far as I know, Sony’s XAVC recording format first employed in the PMW-F55 CineAlta 4K camera is still not supported well by Final Cut Pro so far, not only the 4K video. To edit Sony PXW-Z100 XAVC footage in Final Cut Pro X or FCP 7/6 smoothly, a suggestion is to use Brorsoft Video Converter for Mac to transcode “XAVC” to “ProRes”, which is an edit- friendly format supported by FCP.
With it, you can effortlessly encode/re-encode XAVC 4K footage shot from Sony PXW-Z100 for smoothly importing and editing in various non-linear editing systems (NLE), including Final Cut Pro, Adobe Premiere Pro, Avid Media Composer, iMovie, Final Cut Express and more. Now just download it and follow the steps below to finish the Sony XAVC to ProRes MOV conversion.
Convert PXW-Z100 XAVC to ProRes for editing in Final Cut Pro
Step 1. Install the program on Mac and run it. Drag the XAVC files to the software. Or you can also click “Add” button on the top of the main interface to import video to the program. It supports batch conversion and joining multiple video clips into one file.
Step 2. Click the “Format” bar and select Final Cut Pro> Apple PreRes 422(*.mov) as output format. This format is specially designed for FCP, so that you can edit your original Sony PXW-Z100 video in Final Cut Pro perfectly.
Tip: Click “Settings” button if you’d like to customize advanced audio and video parameters like Video Codec, aspect ratio, bit rate, frame rate, Audio codec, sample rate, audio channels. For editing Sony Z100 footage in FCP 7, you’d better downscale the video size from 4K to 1080p as FCP can’t deal with 4K video well.
Step 3. Finally, hit the “Convert” icon under the preview window, and the Mac video converter will start converting Sony PXW-Z100 XAVC to Prores MOV for FCP on Mac OS X.
After the conversion, click “Open” to locate the result videos and then launch Final Cut Pro, choose File > Import > Files…, and browse to where you save the converted XAVC clips to. Choose the videos that you’d like to add. Now you can start fun away with editing Sony PXW-Z100 video in Final Cut Pro X or FCP 7/6 without issues.
Additional Tips:
This XAVC to FCP Converter can also help you to encode XAVC video to iMovie, Adobe, FCE, Avid, etc. You just need to choose a proper video format like “iMovie and Final Cut Express -> Apple InterMediate Codec (AIC) (*.mov)” in the second step. For Avid Media Composer, choose “Avid Media Composer > Avid DNxHD(*.mov)” as output; For Adobe Premiere Pro, choose Adobe Premiere/Sony Vegas> MPEG-2(*.mpg) as output.
Related Guides:
Sony PXW-Z100 to Adobe Premiere Pro CC/CS6/CS5 workflow