A bit of explanations regarding XDCAM EX and Premiere Pro CS4 :
XDCAM EX video container, whose name is MP4, wraps MPEG-2 codec for
images + high bit rate PCM codec for audio. So Even if people from
Adobe tell you that it is possible, for example, to export XDCAM EX
format in mpeg-2 with Premiere pro CS4, be aware that :
- Premiere Pro CS4 does not allow to export MPEG-2 images codec with
PCM audio codec, but with MPEG audio codec. MPEG audio codec is 3
megabits per minute maximum, PCM audio codec is 11. That’s why to
export XDCAM EX with Premiere makes you lose about 70 % of your
original sound information.
- Premiere Pro CS4 does not export Mpeg-2 images with smart rendering.
(Smart rendering consists in rendering only sections affected by
editing effects, in order to don’t have quality loss on others
sections.)
- So to export XDCAM EX MPEG-2 images with smart rendering + XDCAM EX
PCM audio codec from Premiere Pro CS4, no choice but to buy 359 $ / 279
€ (plus appl. Tax) Mainconcept plug-in.
- Unlike Premiere Pro CS4, most professional video editing softwares
(Edius, Final Cut Pro, Vegas...) do export PCM audio codec and MPEG-2
with smart rendering without compelling customers to buy anything more.