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Compressing DNxHD 145 to DNXHD 35 after having imported all footage and synced it with autosync
Hi
I am needing some advice on a huge project I am working on. This is my First Avid project so I am still learning but I think I have grasped how it data manages to a degree.
I was given (I had no say) 7TB of footage converted from DSLR H.264 to DNxHD 145. However this is slowing the project down and has been a pain to sync due to errors occurring (hardware overrun etc).
So It has been suggested that I compress the footage that is in my AvidMediaFiles folder. (To import I bring in my footage into 1, build a database by opening MC and then drag the dmb file into the bin i want, then move it out into another numbered folder delete the dmb and do the next bin).
My question however is, is this even possible to down convert my footage without the footage un linking?
I have heard horror stories about projects un linking and am so scared I lose all my sync work I have done over the passed month (plural eyes didn’t wanna play nice) So I did it manually and I am dealing with no slates or claps. 10 second clips and 30 min of audio…been a real mare.
If it is possible to down convert from DNxHD 145 to DNxHD 35 without affecting the project then what is the best workflow or suggested method.
No one in my company is that familiar with avid and they all want to jump onto my footage to compress it but i am holding them back out of fear of losing my work. Their reasoning is I will run into trouble when the clients come in and the project keeps crashing and it’ll end up being very slow to work on.
System Mac Pro 6GB ram, MC 6
Any advice will be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance!
Regards
Meredith
Editor/Film maker
Cape Town South Africa -
4 Replies
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There should be no performance issues if editing at DNxHD 115 (23.976) compared to DNxHD 36 (23.976) if your drives/raid are fast enough to support the data rate. Also, how are these drives attached to the CPU? I would look there first to not have to go through a transcode process. Also check to make sure you have enough drive space to hold both the DNxHD 115 and the 36.
If you do go down the transcode route, it’s fairly straightforward. Take your .sync clips, hilight them, go to transcode, select DNxHD 36, there should be no need to select audio as it will be on the same system. then OK. You will see several new clips being created with .new. One of them will be the sync clip that you will continue to use for editorial. Move those to a new bin for the editor. DO NOT DELETE original clips when doing so. When done, you can highlight sequence and do a relink to highest resolution and it will connect back to the 115.
Michael
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Hi Micheal
Thank you for your response. I just spoke to the guys in CAR and they said the footage is at DNxHD 220 and the frame rate varies between 25p and 50p (on the PAL system here).
I have a 6TB raid, but cannot use it as my footage is over 7 TB so I have had to connect to the edit share server (which is slow). But thats why I need to down convert my footage so I can work on my raid and increase my speed.
The trans code route you advise seems pretty straight forward. Not all of the shots are synced so I assume I can transcode all of my clips through avid to DNxHD 35.
But, my concern is I want to move the media files onto my Raid and off the edit share (leaving the 220 files on the edit share) then re link it at the end by bring all media files back to the edit share and relinking to highest res.
I hope that makes sense. If not I am confused. But will take it slow and run some tests first. Just trying to find safest and fastest way to get this done as the transcodes took 2 months to do and so I am now 2 weeks behind.EEK!
Thanks again!
Meredith
Editor/Film maker
Cape Town South Africa -
Mount the target drive for where the DnxHD36 material will go. When transcoding, target that drive as the destination so you can do the transcode and the move at the same time. In this scenario, make sure you also select audio when doing the transcode so the destination drive has both picture and sound elements.
Michael
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Seems to be working, Thank you ever so much. You were a great help.
Kind regards and much appreciation.
Meredith
Editor/Film maker
Cape Town South Africa
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