codec for XDCAM HD?

I was wondering which codec to get for XDCAM HD.
A client sent over movs in that format that won't play back.
Thanks-

what version of FCP are you running? the codecs were added in FCP 5.1.2 i think.

what format are these xdcam hd files? did the client send over the raw MXF files from the camera, or did he first import them using Sony's XDCAM Transfer application for Mac, which rewraps the files as Quiktime files?

The files are quicktime.
I'm still in 5.0.4 unfortunately. But will go on and go through upgrade hell to 6.0 if need be.
(I wish there were a way to just upgrade to 5.1, but Apple no longer seems to offer it).

In what program will they not play back? Final Cut? Quicktime player? Click on one of them and do an "Apple+I" , see what it says.

If the clips are XDCam HD 25mbs constant bit rate, you can ingest and play them as HDV. If they are 35mbs, you'll have to convert them to something else like HDV, DVCPro HD or upgrade your FCP. To convert 35mbs VBR, you can use MPEG Streamclip which is free, but you'll lose your original time code.

The codec is available from one of the installs at www.sony.com/xdcamhd. Click download, and download the FCP / Sony software. It'll install a XDCam reader that you won't need, but you'll get the XDCam codec.

For ease of use on other machines, it is imbedded inside the HDV codec file in the quicktime library folder. Once you have it, you can just copy it to other computers you'll use with this footage.



edit: I specifically don't recommend the workflow Jim is talking about. Find the right codec and edit natively. You'll be glad you did.

I was under the impression that you had to have FCP 5.1.2 to use the XDCam HD codecs?

-edit-

Yep, well, according to Sony, the minimum is FCP 5.1.1:

XDCam HD whitepaper

I am having an issue where I can play XDCam HD quicktime footage on my computer, but the lead editor can't play it on his computer. We are running FCP 6.0.0 and I am looking for the codec download that will allow him to play it. I cannot find a link to it anywhere on the Sony site and have tried the suggestions above. Can anyone help me with this?

Thank you.

>the lead editor can't play it on his computer


this usually comes down to a bad upgrade / install

the EX codecs are part of the Apple HDV codec components bundle which is part and parcel of FCP ... what version of the codec do you have?
the file is found at /Library/QuickTime/AppleHDVCodec.component
go there, select it and press Cmd-I (Get Info...). you should be at 1.4 (v218) ... or at least thats what mine says (using FCP 6.0.4)

Andy, you rock. Thanks. It was due to some funkyness with the upgrades that took place before I arrived here. Thanks again.