Designed for heavy-duty field acquisition, Sony XDCAM camcorders are capable of shooting in either standard definition or high definition, and provide the excellent picture quality, operability and reliability. As we know, Sony XDCAM-native file types include XDCAM Professional Disc media (using MXF) and XDCAM EX media (using MP4). And most users find that the Sony XDCAM footages are not so easy to work with. This page explains how to play, edit Sony XDACM HD and XDCAM EX footage on Mac OS X.

Many users have been jumping over hurdle after hurdle trying to get XDCAM footage onto Mac for playing with QuickTime or editing with Final Cut Pro. With running XDCAM Transfer, you can import XDCAM HD .mxf into Final Cut Pro software directly, but the limit is that it needs an original file structure, if one file is out of place - it screws up the whole import/transfer process. With the XDCAM Browser, you can preview the XDCAM EX .mp4 files or export as a mxf file, but the limit is that it can't transfer to a .mov file and this rewapped .mxf file may not be viewing. So it will be impossible to play Sony XDCAM MP4 footage if you use QuickTime as your media player on Mac.

Perhaps mindful of these concerns, you'd better to transcode Sony XDCAM file to a Mac-compatible .mov file for enjoying which retain the same size and quality. Here comes Brorsoft Video Converter for Mac, which can help you to transfer Sony XDCAM MP4/MXF to QuickTime .mov easily. This program supports professional encoders like Apple Intermediate Codec, ProRes, DNxHD and more- ensuring maximum editing quality and efficiency when working with iMovie, Final Cut Pro, Avid Media Composer, etc respectively on Mac OS X. Just download and follow the guide below to achieve your goal in a fast way.

Download the Mac Sony XDCAM to MOV Converter:

(Note: Click here for OS X 10.5)

How to Convert Sony XDCAM media to QuickTime .mov on Mac

Step 1: Install and launch the Sony XDCAM Converter for Mac. Click the Add Video button to import Sony XDCAM separate .mxf or .mp4 files.

Step 2: Click on the dropdown menu of "Format" and select "Common Video -> MOV – QuickTime (*.mov)" as target format. This format is specially designed for QuickTime playback. If you want to edit XDCAM video in FCP, "Final Cut Pro ->Apple ProRes 422 (*.mov)" will be the best choice.

Tip: If you want to set some parameters for the output profile, you could click the "Settings" button to set the output bitrate, encode, frame rate, resolution, sample rate, channels, etc.

Step 3: When the former steps finished, you can press "Convert" button to start transcoding Sony XDCAM files to QuickTime MOV for work natively on Mac OS X including Lion and Mountain Lion.

After the successful conversion, you can easily transfer Sony XDCAM video to Mac for editing in Final Cut Pro or playing with QuickTime without any plug-in.

Related guides:

How to Import Sony XDCAM (HD422) MXF, IMX to Adobe Premiere Pro
How to Log and Transfer Sony XDCAM footage to Final Cut Pro
How to load Sony XDCAM HD422 MXF to Avid Media Composer