AMA Linked Media Has Different Timecode

[Michael Phillips]

What file are you creating out of Resolve? You should just be making native DNxHD OPAtom files rather than an interim file that still needs to be AMA linked. Try that and see if it corrects the problem.

Michael

[Michael Thibault]

These are 2K MXF files in a directory structure that matches the original camera media directories. So AMA/Media Link (whatever they want to call it) is the only way to preserve that path.

That is very depressing if you’re seeing the same thing. Basically, I can’t get my show out of Avid because the timecode has been changed. Every time I export an AAF of a sequence it uses the wrong timecode.

What a disaster.

Avid Media Composer 8.4, FCP 7, cutting on an iMac Retina 5K, 27″ 4Ghz iCore i7 with 32GB of RAM

[Michael Thibault]

I transcoded my Cinema DNG in Resolve to DNxHR HQX files. I then brought them into Media Composer via AMA Link/Link To Media. Once there I transcoded those to DNxHR SQ files to edit with. I only discovered today that AMA linking seems to CHANGE the timecode of the clip in Media Composer.

Interesting tidbit: If I transcode DNxHR SQ files from Resolve and place those in an AvidMediafiles folder and drag the msmMOB.mdb file into a bin in Media Composer the timecode is correct. It appears that AMA linking is utterly flusterclucked. Unfortunately for me, that means I cannot get my show out of Avid.

Avid Media Composer 8.4, FCP 7, cutting on an iMac Retina 5K, 27″ 4Ghz iCore i7 with 32GB of RAM

[Michael Thibault]

I tried but the “Select Window” never appears. Plus, I have four weeks of footage. There’s no way I can go through all those steps for each and every piece of media. It’s either a global remedy or I eye match the show and get the hell off Avid.

Thanks though.

Avid Media Composer 8.4, FCP 7, cutting on an iMac Retina 5K, 27″ 4Ghz iCore i7 with 32GB of RAM

[Michael Thibault]

Avid Media Composer 8.4, FCP 7, cutting on an iMac Retina 5K, 27″ 4Ghz iCore i7 with 32GB of RAM

[Michael Thibault]

UPDATE: I just got off an epic 3 hour 35 minute support call with Avid who explained the problem as, and I quote:

“The Media Composer plugin for AMA link does not support the MXF wrappers from Davinci.”

Therefore it will not recognize timecode and generates its own which is completely different from the timecode embedded in the media.

The Avid tech struggled with multiple workarounds to try and force the correct the issue and ultimately could not get the system to stick to the correct timecode.

Currently I am uploading media for Avid to test on their end and it’s 50/50 whether they can figure out how to modify/change/replace the plugin so that Media Composer to recognize Resolve MXF and not change the timecode automatically. However, it appears that all the DNxHR SQ clips that I have transcoded from the AMA Linked HQX clips have the bad timecode baked in and have to be re-rendered and, theoretically, overcut to existing sequences. I say ‘theoretically’ because every time you bring in a new, correct media clip into Media Composer it immediately changes it to the wrong timecode that Media Composer thinks it already has in its databases. This seems baked deep in the way Avid manages media, which essentially puts you back behind the eight ball. Deleting bins, projects, settings, AMA databases, modifying timecode, etc., etc. doesn’t seem to make a difference. Once that bad timecode is a bin, it’s there to stay.

It’s a mess.

I’ll post if they figure out a workaround or solution.

Avid Media Composer 8.4, FCP 7, cutting on an iMac Retina 5K, 27″ 4Ghz iCore i7 with 32GB of RAM

[Michael Phillips]

“The Media Composer plugin for AMA link does not support the MXF wrappers from Davinci.”

Therefore it will not recognize timecode and generates its own which is completely different from the timecode embedded in the media.

I’m sorry. I’m calling bullshit on this one.

I took some of my DNG media into Resolve, exported MXF OPAtom1a (one file for all tracks), then in Media Composer used the MXF AMA plug-in to link and I have correct timecode. I have used MXF OPAtom1a from Resolve for many codecs and have never had a timecode issue.

In Resolve you have MXF and MXF OPAtom1a.

MXF + DNxHD creates .mxf files for each track in the file. So if VA1A2 you will have three files.

MXF OPAtom1A, for the same source clip you will have 1 .mxf file.

What works:
MXF gets added to the Avid MediaFiles/MXF numbered folder structure.
MXF OPAtom1a gets linked via the MXF AMA plug-in.

What does not work:
One cannot link MXF (separate files) via the MXF AMA plug0-in.
One cannot put MXFOPAtom1a files in the Avid MediaFiles/MXF folder structure.

Here is the original DNG file in Resolve:

Here is the MXFOPAtom1a file linked via the MXF AMA Plug-in the bin. The timecode is exactly the same:

But to say that MC does not support MXF wrapped codecs from Resolve is flat out wrong that misinformation should not be spread.

Michael

[Michael Thibault]

I am not “spreading” misinformation. That was a direct quote from the Avid tech who logged onto my system for 3 1/2 hours this morning and tried to suss the situation. Whether you see the same results as I do, I can’t speak to. I know that Scott Freeman experienced the same issue on his end, with his media, last night before he inexplicably deleted his posts. That’s why I posted a screen shot. Also, these people seem to have the same issue going back a few years:

https://community.avid.com/forums/p/103105/595281.aspx

https://community.avid.com/forums/p/107682/624012.aspx

https://community.avid.com/forums/p/125343/718259.aspx

https://community.avid.com/forums/p/95578/571339.aspx

It isn’t me and it isn’t my system. And being the messenger does not make me the bad guy or someone with ulterior motives or an idiot. I simply made the mistake of trying to cut a 2K feature in Media Composer 8 and it has DESTROYED my project. For 3 1/2 hours I watched the Avid tech support try every way to Sunday to fix the issue and even they couldn’t figure it out (Yet. Fingers crossed.).

I don’t know crap about the flavors of MXF or wrappers or AMA plugins or whatever. I just want to be cutting. And I’m not posting this as some evil attempt to badmouth Avid. I’m doing so that the next poor SOB like me who has this issue may find this thread helpful.

Avid Media Composer 8.4, FCP 7, cutting on an iMac Retina 5K, 27″ 4Ghz iCore i7 with 32GB of RAM

[Michael Phillips]

I certainly did not mean you were spreading misinformation, but Avid support should not be making this blanket type statements when they are not true. But in re-reading my response it can certainly be taken that way, And for that I apologize.

But all the examples you have linked to in your response are related to QuickTime wrapper and not MXF. Avid has had a bumpy history with QuickTime metadata and to this day still cannot support the embedded REEL ID from a QuickTime file as you might find with an Arri Alexa recorded ProRes file.

If you want to send me a small MXF file you created from Resolve, I will take a look at it. But from all my MXF wrapped codec workflows I have never had an issue. If I am doing a MC only edit then I will make native MXF DNxHD (OPAtom). If I plan on using both Premiere and MC, then I will make OPAtom1a versions.

send via filemail.com or similar the exported MXF to michael[at]24p[dot]com

Michael

[Michael Thibault]

No, I get it. No hard feelings.

It may be an issue specific to 2K media. I noticed you were using the Blackmagic Pocket Camera. Maybe that’s a factor. I don’t know.

The MXF OP-Atom clips I transcode in Resolve seem valid to me. Whatever Media Composer says is wrong with them I can’t find in any other program. So If I inspect the ‘corrupted’ frames in Resolve or even bring DNG frames into Photoshop, there doesn’t seem to be a problem.

I can’t release media but I can send you some bins, if you like.

Avid Media Composer 8.4, FCP 7, cutting on an iMac Retina 5K, 27″ 4Ghz iCore i7 with 32GB of RAM