As mentioned in the Final Cut Pro List of Qualified Devices, Final Cut Pro 5 is compatible with Sony's PDW-1500 XDCAM Deck. Here are some tips for using this device with Final Cut Pro.
Sony's PDW-1500 NTSC unit is qualified for use with Apple Final Cut Pro using the FireWire interface in AV/C mode. This permits the DVCAM streams to be captured and recorded to disc similar to using a DVCAM tape deck. Assemble edit and insert edit functions are not supported by the PDW-1500, so all newly-recorded material is appended to the end of the disc in DVCAM format.
Currently, DVCAM and MPEG IMX MXF files from Sony's XDCAM products can be imported into Final Cut Pro 5 using Telestream's Flip4Mac MXF import component.
If you insert a disc with MPEG IMX into the PDW-1500, you can import a DVCAM version of the material when you perform a batch import. When you want to print the DVCAM version of the sequence back to a disc using the Print To Tape function, the deck needs to be in DVCAM record mode (and you have to put the final sequence on a new disc). You cannot mix formats on the same disc.
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