As with any new technology, there is a learning curve and some pain for early adopters. One of the issues with the CompactFlash media workflow introduced with the new Sony HVR-Z7U and HVR-S270U camcorders is the fact that CF cards are formatted in FAT32, therefore they have a 4GB filesize limitation (that’s about 20 minutes of video). Much like Panasonic’s method of spanning P2 cards, these new HDV camcorders simply split the recorded M2T clips at 4GB for rejoining later. Sony has released a software utility for PC users that can address this rejoining process, as well as provide renaming assistance if you’ve managed to record clips on different cards with the same filename. My understanding is that it’s basically a standalone import utility that will automatically re-join split clips as it pulls them off the cards. You can download it here.

There is also a new Final Cut Pro plugin from Sony that enables access to the CF media from FCP’s Log and Transfer function. Again, this is a very P2-like workflow. One minor difference is that the Log and Transfer Preview is inactive. Once files are selected, the software wraps the M2T streams into Quicktime and automatically joins 4GB-spanned segments as it transfers the clips. I have to say that I am quite impressed that Sony has delivered this particular plugin so soon. It looks like a simple and trouble-free workflow for Mac editors. You can download both versions and instructions here. We have continuing coverage of these two camcorders here.