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Conforming XDCAM in FCP from an offline AVID EDL
Hi, can anyone help me?
I’m using Media Composer and linking the xdcam with AMA and then transcoding to do my offline. I’m now at a stage where I’ve exported an EDL so I can conform/online it in FCP. So I’ve relinked in the avid to the original xdcam files and succesfully exported the edl,
… but then I realised how do I batch import them? If I find them manually and use the xdcam transfer software to import them and then reconnect the edl, that works, but that’s painstaking and I’m guessing there’s another way that I haven’t figured out yet.
Thanks in advance
Anna -
11 Replies
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Why are you going cross platform?
Can you not stay with either an all Avid or all FCP workflow? You’re just
asking for trouble going down this path.Mark
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Because that is our setup: we offline on avid adrenaline, online on fcp, and grade in colour.
We were rendering in fcp and playing out to HD tape and then digitizing in but have decided to go the data route (since we now have to with the red) and therefore decided to bite the bullet with xdcam aswell on the understanding that it was possible… is it?
Anna
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Mark is right…you are in for a world of hurt with this workflow. Cross Platform with a tape based medium is possible with this workflow as you recapture the tapes…it zips to the timecode you need and recaptures.
Tapeless…that is another story. FCP cannot take an EDL of a locked cut, with small chunks of video, and reach inside a full length clip and only read what it needs. No, FCP looks at reel name, start and end timecodes of the media. If they don’t match, FCP won’t see it.
You can try…but ZERO guarantee on this…to load the XDCAM Log and Transfer plugin so that you can then try the BATCH CAPTURE route to have it only capture the IN and OUT points. I did get this to work with P2 footage…on FCP 7. NO clue how the XDCAM software will deal with this.
Knuckle down…replace those Adrenalines with FCP stations (at a FRACTION of the cost…no need for capture hardware nor external monitoring) and move to an all FCP workflow.
IMHO.
Shane
GETTING ORGANIZED WITH FINAL CUT PRO DVD…don’t miss it.
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def -
[Shane Ross] “FCP cannot take an EDL of a locked cut, with small chunks of video, and reach inside a full length clip and only read what it needs.”
Well, that’s changing a bit. Look at the thread down below labeled “h.264 fast turnaround”.
https://www.videotoolshed.com/?page=products&pID=35
I still think it’s less than optimal to work cross platform, but there are some improvements in the XDCAM workflow that take this from ridiculous to just plain difficult.
Mark
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This is not going to do her much good.
The way it is now, there MUST be media present, as the extract tool uses QT as input, instead of XML or alike.I could make an XML parser, but so much to do, so little time…
And i believe that Automatic Duck can do the transfer WITH media.
If so, you could use my online tool to extract the HQ XDcam files.Bouke
https://www.videotoolshed.com/
smart tools for video pro’s -
[Shane Ross] “FCP looks at reel name, start and end timecodes of the media. If they don’t match, FCP won’t see it.”
Shane,
This is NOT true.
FCP (at least version 6 i’m using right now) looks at FileName and Reelname.
If those are correct, it will look at start and end TC.
If the expected TC is within the clip boundaries, FCP WILL link to it. So you can link to other files than the originals.If TC boundaries or Reelname does not match, other weird stuff may happen.
(Fcp can also link to files with same filenames but other Reenames.)And this is getting quite interesting and important!
Currently i’m developing an application that can compare and rename files.
IOW, with that you can have a proper relink and/or consolidate funcion based on TC and Reel info only.Bouke
https://www.videotoolshed.com/
smart tools for video pro’s -
“The way it is now, there MUST be media present, as the extract tool uses QT as input, instead of XML or alike.”
exactly my problem… I can get the clips to link up if I manually find the clips and import them (I haven’t tried the log and transfer yet i wasn’t aware there was a plugin for that… thanks for the tip).
I’ve now of course realised that I need a batch import really, that finds the xdcam mp4’s based on name and folder and imports the subclips. And/Or at the very least the ability to consolidate all (relinked original source via AMA) the clips onto one transferable drive. (I note I haven’t had a response from the Avid forum as yet)
In the meantime I may revert back to the old tape way of doing things, it’s just very render intensive when you have the vast amount of rushes that we do.
And I can’t unfortunately tell my boss to ditch all his Avids for FCPs…
pleased to know I’ve raised a worthy topic
Anna 🙂
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eeer, Anna,
If you have your material (although in offline) in Avid, you can use Automatic Duck to get offline media into FCP.
Then, (If you have shot XDcam disks, not EX or alike), you can use my tool to batch ingest.[Anna Fuller] “xdcam mp4’s”
Huh? It’s MXF that gets converted to QT…[Anna Fuller] “In the meantime I may revert back to the old tape way of doing things, it’s just very render intensive”
Huh? If you use a deck over 422 / SDI, you can ingest to a nice RT codec. No added render time compared to file based ingest.
This is Sony, they give you the opportunity to use file based media like a VTR (at a price)And in the time this thread is alive you could have done 12 hours worth of show…
But for the future, do have a look at Automatic Duck and my tools…
Bouke
https://www.videotoolshed.com/
smart tools for video pro’s -
eeer Bouke,
it’s EX1 and what I get is a lot of drives with the bpav folders containing subfolders that contain Mpeg-4 movies, xml etc, so I was importing them using XDcam Transfer and then rendering to uncompressed 10-bit 4:2:2, and playing out to HD tape.
I’ll have a look at toilet duck and your tools on monday.
Thanks for your help
A 🙂
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Ah, i see.
Forget about the XDcam ingest tool on my site. That one is for disk based XDcam.
It is very well possible to automate your workflow, but i doubt it’ll be worth while (this would take me about two days to create something.)Another thing,
10 bits is overkill, as it is shot at 8 bits.
Also, Prores is probably more than enough. You could save some drive space there.
Or, you could just render ‘everything’ to ProRes overnight, and then do a file based conform using a tool i’m currently developing. (Contact me offlist to get a copy).
This will take some drive space for a short time, but once my app. is done you end up with a trimmed version.But again, i would ingest in Avid, then take the sequence to FCP either as a rendered QT (check the other thread for gamma issues)
and use the EDL to razor it. You could even use DNxHD in FCP, if you’re going to do a roundtrip trough Color, you can render to ProRes there.
or use Automatic duck to do the transfer of media.Bouke
https://www.videotoolshed.com/
smart tools for video pro’s
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