Edius 4.5 and Sony HR-DR60 disk drive

[megabit]

How do you use the Edius support for the *.idx files? Here is what Sony states at heir website:

"Some NLEs, such as Sony Vegas 7 (version 7.0c and later) and GrassValley EDIUS Pro4.5, have an import module that lets you import files directly from the HVR-DR60 to your PC’s hard drive. During the import process, these software will merge all divided .M2T files into a single, seamless .M2T file. "

I can't seem to make Eidus 4.51 o be able to do that... Can anyone describe the right procedure?

[GrassValley_KH]

The impression I had, was that you browse the drive as you would any normal drive, and choose the IDX files. You might need to switch the unit to some sort of 'hard disk mode' first.

Unfortunately the HR-DR60 unit I had handed to me had to go back before I had a working version of 4.5 to play with.

[megabit]

Thanks for the answer. Yes, the DR60 (in its PC mode) is visible as any other drive; you can point m2t clips and get them to your bin. The idea however is to point the idx file in a folder with a couple of m2t's, and have Edius merge them into a seamless clip on your local drive...This doesn't seem to work.

You can also switch the DR60 in video mode, and then capture from it using generic HDV input; this denies the advantage of a fst transfer, however.

I'd appreciate explanation how is the 'patent-pending' Edius DR60 import supposed to work!

[GrassValley_KH]

Sorry I can't help you further - I've e-mailed someone more knowledgeable to get some more info.

[GrassValley_KH]

Hi again - I received word back - apparently I was right. You select the IDX file and it will seamlessly stitch spanned files together, making them appear as one clip.

This only works on clips that have been split due to file size while recording. If you start/stop REC, then a new file is created - these won't be stitched.

[megabit]

Thanks, this is exactly what I expected - only it doesn't do it! There is an error message instead...

But suppose it does work, what is the idea of what it should do next: I mean, I'd like it to stich the files AND copy them to my local harddrive (thus off-loading the DR60 for immediate use). What do i do to achieve that?

Because from what I see (assuming it will do what's supposed to be done with an idx file), it puts the clips the Bin, but they are still on the DR60 drive, physically!

[GrassValley_KH]

The joy of an IT-immersed technology - the ingest is a simple matter of copying the M2T files over to wherever you'd like them to be on your system (or network) drive.

I'd say the purpose of IDX seamless stitching is for long, uninterrupted recordings that have had to be split because of 4GB file size restrictions. (FAT32)

If you're getting an error message, could you please take a screenshot and show it here?

[megabit]

I appreciate your efforts, please be patient with me - I'm afraid we're having a communication problem. So, here is what VEGAS is doing to DR60 spanned files: if they were split due to either cache recording (this produces a short 14-sec m2t per directory), or due to the FAT-32 limit of 4GB - it stiches all fragments into one seamless m2t file per each DR60 directory while copying them to a user-specified folder

Conversely, Edius usually can't do anything when pointed to an idx file (it simply displays the "can't open file" message), or even if it can (can't tell you when it can or and when it can't) - it puts the stitched file in the BIN (I'm saying 'stitched', because indeed there is one m2t per directory in the BIN, whereas there are 2 on the DR60). However, it hungs when I want to play it in any monitor (player or recorder), it crashes when I try to render it. It keeps the DR60 busy all the time (the red light is on). It denies the advantage of fst off-loading the drive!

Could you please ask your source what is the procedure - step by step? I'll really appreciate it.

[GrassValley_KH]

Ok, they need a bit more info:

1. Are you running 4.50, 4.51 or 4.51c?
2. Is it 1080/60i or 50i footage?

[megabit]

Hi!

1. I'm running the newest TBYB from www.canopus.com (4.51c, I guess)

2. I'm in PAL region; most of my footage is 1080/25p (within 1080/50i) - I have the Sony HVR-V1E

The functionality of handling the DR60 drive is very important to me in regards to my buying decision! Of course I realize I can copy the files manually in Windows, but:
- it can be very tedious, with sometimes even 100+ directories and several files per directory
- when i put such 4GB files on the timeline, they do not stich seamlessly due to the long GOP of MPEG-2

Thanks.

[megabit]

Any news, please?

[megabit]

I hate to be a nuissance, but I'm suspecting my DR60 to be at fault and would like to know whether other users can import files by index from the DR60 without problem. TIA.

[megabit]

Anybody, please?

[GrassValley_KH]

Still looking into it. Things have been slow due to IBC and preparation for a new update to the software.

[megabit]

Hi Kenneally,
Could you give me a working link to the 4.52 update? They say the DR60 import is fixed, but I am not entitled to download from the offical site (as of now) - if the feature now works, it'd help me decide between Edius and Vegas, which aslo has problems with the DR60! Thanks,

Piotr