A little bit of news from IBC in Amsterdam is that Sony are going to allow owners of the PXW-FS5 to buy an upgrade that adds the MPEG2 HD codec to the camera. This is the same 8 bit 50Mb/s 4:2:2 codec as used for many years for broadcast HD television production (XDCAM HD422) as well as the 35Mb/s 4:2:0 found in many lower cost Sony camcorders such as the PMW-300 or EX1.
The MPEG2 HD422 codec is one of the most commonly used codecs world wide for TV and video production. It’s supported by just about every edit system and is very easy to handle. So if you need compatibility with legacy edit software such as FCP7 this could be the option you’ve been looking for. When you buy the upgrade you will receive a special activation code that allows you to go online and enter the cameras serial number to generate an unlock key for the codec option. There’s no need to send the camera in and it takes just a few minutes to activate the option.
The upgrade option is called the CBKZ-SLMP and the list price is 500 Euro’s. It’s actually the same upgrade option/key as used to add MPEG2 HD to the PXW-X70, but now as well as the X70 you can use it to upgrade an FS5.
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Interesting development. Pity that in essence, we are being charged for a backward compatible solution to make Sony footage work smoothly with Vegas Pro that Sony themselves initially developed. I for one will wait until Sep 20th for Vegas 14 trial to see how it handles XAVC L. If that’s no use, then I’ll have no choice but to fork out the €500 for the paid “upgrade” to mpeg2.
Or get a proper Pro edit package like Adobe Premiere CC, Resolve or Avid.
Hi Alistair.
I have been following your posts on picture profiles and LUTs – thank you very much for those and all your other thoughts so freely given.
Can I ask, which PP would you recommend for use straight to air broadcast (BBC daytime programme) with this MPEG2 upgrade?
In your tutorials I think you recommended PP6 because it uses Cine2, or PP4?
Many thanks.
Any profile with Cine2.