Importing Sony a7R II 4K XAVC S to Final Cut Pro 7/X

The Alpha a7RII Mirrorless Digital Camera from Sony is prepared to take mirrorless imaging to another level. Onto video, the major addition is internal UHD 4K 3840 x 2160p recording at 30 or 24 fps with the XAVC S format at 100 Mbps. While, if we want to import XAVC S videos from Sony a7R II to Final Cut Pro for editing, you may find the high quality XAVC S files especially the in 4K are not recognized by FCP well. So what’s the available workflow for Sony a7R II and FCP?

Apple does not respond on these forums and no one here knows or can say when, if ever, XAVC-S will be natively supported by Final Cut Pro. Based on our testing and other users’ feedback, to work Sony a7R II XAVC S with Final Cut Pro flawlessly, a wise solution is to make the XAVC S compatible with FCP. Brorsoft Video Converter for Mac is the solid tool to help users convert 4K XAVC S to ProRes, which ensures the best results when using in Final Cut Pro 7 or FCP X.

With this professional Mac XAVC S converter, you can effortlessly encode/re-encode 4K or 1080p XAVC-S from Sony A7R II for smoothly importing and editing in various non-linear editing systems (NLE), including Final Cut Pro X, FCP 6/7, iMovie, Final Cut Express, Adobe Premiere Pro, Avid Media Composer, etc.  Now the following article will show you how to transcode Sony a7R II XAVC S to Final Cut Pro editable format in detail.

1. Download, install and run the XAVC S to FCP Converter; click “Add Videos” icon to load your source XAVC S videos from Sony a7R II.

2. Click “Format” bar and choose “Final Cut Pro > Apple ProRes 422 (*.mov)” as output format for editing XAVC S in FCP with natively supported video codec.

3. 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.

4. Hit the convert button, it will start converting Sony a7R II XAVC S to ProRes .mov for importing to Final Cut Pro immediately. Soon after the conversion, just click “Open” button to get the generated files for natively editing in FCP 7 as well as FCP X perfectly.

Related Guides:

Using Sony a7 II XAVC S in Avid Media Composer
Convert Sony a7S XAVC S to ProRes for FCP 7
Convert Sony a5100 XAVC S to ProRes for Final Cut Pro 7

Using Sony a7 II XAVC S in Avid Media Composer

As a photography enthusiast, you may just get a Sony a7 II. In addition to highly detailed stills with smooth gradations, the a7II now has access to the high-bit-rate XAVC S format with 60p, 30p, and 24p recording options, all at 50 Mbps. However, if you want to import Sony a7 II XAVC S to Avid Media Composer for editing the movies, you may find the high quality XAVC S format is not recognized by Avid. So what’s the matter? And what’s the available workflow for Sony a7 II and Avid Media Composer?

Generally, we can try Sony’s AMA plugin to import some videos like MXF, MTS to Avid for editing. But when we tried AMA, the plug-in does not seem to support XAVC-S. Well, XAVC S codec is a new one, and is not widely supported, including Avid Media Composer 4/5/6/7/8. To make the Sony a7 II XAVC S files compatible with Avid MC, the easy workaround is to convert XAVC S to DNxHD, which ensures best results when using in Avid Media Composer. Brorsoft Video Converter for Mac is the solid tool to help users make the XAVC S to DNxHD .mov transcoding on Mac OS X(Yosemite and Mavericks included).

With it, you effortlessly encode/re-encode XAVC S footage shot from Sony a7 II to Avid MC highly compatible DNxHD MOV, ensuring maximum editing quality and efficiency when working with Avid Media Composer. Besides, its also exports advanced encoders like Apple Intermediate Codec, Apple ProRes, MPEG-2, etc. allowing you to convert video to seamlessly fit iMovie, Final Cut Pro, Adobe Premiere, etc. If you are handle XAVC S files on Windows PC, please get Video Converter. Below are the steps on converting XAVC S to DNxHD for Avid.

Converting Sony a7 II XAVC S for Editing in Avid Media Composer

Step 1: Import XAVC S videos

Install and run the XAVC S to DNxHD Converter on your Mac, then run it. Click on “Add”, and browse your files; select all the XAVC S files you wanna convert. If you want to combine all the files together for easy importing to Avid, please tick the box “Merge into one” on the main interface.

Step 2: Choose DNxHD as output format

You just need to go to “Avid Media Composer -> DNxHD (*.mov)” as the best video format for editing XAVC S in Avid with good video quality.

Tips: Adjust video, audio settings

Click the “Settings” button and customize proper video/audio parameters including Video size, bitrate and fame rate and more.

Step 3: Start XAVC S to DNxHD conversion

After all necessary settings, hit the convert button to start encoding XAVC S to Avid DNxHD on Mac OS X. Once the conversion process shows in 100%, click Open to get the output videos. Create a project and start editing Son a7 II XAVC S in Avid Media Composer 5/6/7/8 smoothly.

Related Guides:

Convert Sony a7S XAVC S to ProRes for FCP 7
Convert Sony a5100 XAVC S to ProRes for Final Cut Pro 7
Adobe Premiere Pro and Sony 4K Raw XAVC/XAVC S Files Workflow

Adobe Premiere Pro and Sony 4K Raw XAVC/XAVC S Files Workflow

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Sony has started the roll-out of its new, more efficient, mid-range codec: XAVC, along with the PMW-F5 and PMW-F55 4K cameras. Now as the newly released Sony FDR-AX1 and Sony HDR-AS100V, you can get a new XAVC S codec. If you’ve got some material from Sony’s new XAVC or XAVC S codec, you will research possible workflows for Sony XAVC (S) to Adobe Premiere Pro, so as to as have smooth work with the Sony XAVC S footage. In this article, I will list specifics about a workflow of XAVC S codec through Premiere Pro(CS6).

As far as I know Adobe can’t support XAVC 4K & HD. You may also be troubled by the similar problem. To get rid of the issues, you will need to transcode Sony XAVC S to a more “edit” friendly codec for Adobe Premiere Pro like MPEG-2. Now I share the guide with you how to convert XAVC/XAVC S footage to Premiere Pro friendly format using Brorsoft Video Converter for Mac.

With it, you can effortlessly encode/re-encode XAVC, XAVC S intra footage shot from Sony PWM-F5, F55, AX1, AS100V for smoothly importing and editing in various non-linear editing systems (NLE), including Adobe Premiere Pro, Avid Media Composer, Final Cut Pro, iMovie, FCE and more. If meet the XAVC S codec issues on Windows PC, please get Brorsoft Video Converter to solve the problem.

Guide of Converting Sony XAVC/XAVC S to Adobe Premiere on Mac

1. Add raw files > Run the program you just set up. Drag and drop the XAVC or XAVC S files to the Converter. You can also hit Add files button to import videos to the app. If you wanna combine Sony XAVC files into one file, you can click the “Merge into one” box.

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2. Choose output format > Click “Format” bar and choose Adobe Premiere/Sony Vegas –> MPEG-2(*.mpg) as output format for editing XAVC in Adobe with natively supported video codec.

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3. Advanced V/A settings > 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.

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4. Start converting XAVC files > Hit the convert button of the best Sony XAVC Converter, it will start converting XAVC/XAVC S for importing to Adobe Premiere Pro immediately. Soon after the conversion, just click “Open” button to get the generated files for natively editing in Premiere Pro CC7/CS6/CS5/CS4/CS3 perfectly.