• Avid Media Composer

  Working with MXF files

  Posted by Daniel Schultz on April 30, 2013 at 1:49 am

  Still trying to get a handle on working with MXF files (a somewhat recent FCP exodus).

  So I’ve been trying to keep track of each numbered folder in the MXF folder in Avid MediaFiles.
  But then I see a folder on a hard drive that I haven’t used in a while with a bunch of MXFs in the Number “1” folder. No idea what’s in there. Is there any way to play them or link to them from AVID so I can figure out what they are and what to do with them.

  This is, perhaps, the only thing I miss about FCP7. That the proRes files are in a folder with the project’s name and can be played without the NLE.

  Thanks for your help!

  Dan S.

  James Beattie replied 13 years, 3 months ago 4 Members · 4 Replies
• 4 Replies

• 

  James Patterson

  April 30, 2013 at 7:13 am

  If you drag the mmob file from any folder in within the avid mediafiles folder into a bin, avid will populate the bin with all clips it contains.

  If you want to quickly check the folder though you should try and open them in VLC, I find it works about 95% of the time and whilst its not the smoothest way to view MXF’s it’s usually good enough for a quick check.

  Best

  Paddy
• 

  Daniel Schultz

  April 30, 2013 at 1:33 pm

  Aha. You’ve just removed the one advantage FCP7 has over AVID for me!
  Thanks…worked great drag and drop the mmob file.

  VLC wasn’t in the mood to open my mxf files today, however.

  Dan S.
• 

  Bill Ravens

  April 30, 2013 at 3:45 pm

  You can download a trial version of the Calibrated{Q} MXF codec. It will allow you to play about 50% of each the OPAtom files, via Quicktime, in the Avid media Files Folder.
• 

  James Beattie

  May 1, 2013 at 2:36 am

  Avid captures it’s files into the Avid MediaFiles/MXF/1 folder by default. AMA would allow you to link to QT files just like in FCP, however with longer sequences, it is accepted practice that you should consolidate (move those files into the MXF folder if they native to Avid), or transcode them to an Avid file.

  Avid will eventually create a Avid MediaFiles/MXF/2 folder. After 5000 files. This is due to an OS limitation that you cannot have 10k files in a folder. So, Avid plays it safe and creates a new folder at 5000 files.

  James Beattie
  ACSR Elite/Avid ACI, Apple Certified Technician

  Consulting for Workflow and Digital Technologies at Comprehensive Technical Group

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