Intro:
If you are a videographer, cinematographer, editor, or just someone learning to edit and got your hand on some footage from a newer Sony camera with high bitrate or MXF video files, you may have issues playing the footage on your computer.
The workaround:
I always organize footage in the finder on my Mac before importing to Final Cut Pro. I recently started to edit other companies footage in addition to my own. I was excited to check out new footage from a company that shoots on the FX6, FX3, A7sIII and A7IV, until I received the footage and was unable to preview, open, or edit with the footage. It wouldn’t open in the Finder, FCPx, or compressor. Finally I was able to convert it all to ProRes using Adobe Media Encoder. This “fixed” my issue, but was frustrating to say the least. It uses more space, and takes considerably more time to prep before being able to edit footage.
The Fix:
Thankfully I was able to figure a very simple and easy, but scary fix. In short, update your Mac to the current OS, and perform the “pro video formats” update in System Preferences -> Updates. Unfortunately this won’t make thumbnails show on the files, but you can play and edit the footage after updating.
Updates Are Scary:
If you are a pro you know that updates can be scary, as it risks breaking compatibility with plugins and revealing new software bugs. When you rely everyday on your software to pay your bills, it’s always a risk so be sure to do a quick google search before updating. I have everything working well on my system with MacOS 12.3 and FCPx 10.6.1.
Conclusion:
I hope this was helpful to you. Sometimes all you need to do to use media from new gear, is update you software to the new software. One think I always have to remember is the software will never go back, so might as well move forward with it. Nothing wrong with delaying though while waiting for pro apps and plugins to catch up. Thank you for stopping by and keep creating!
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