Avid and P2 file names

[Shane Ross]

Another question.

When I try to look at the card backups with AMA, to see if I can find the missing files, I go FILE>LINK TO AMA VOLUME…then direct to the P2 card backups…and then the AMA bin starts filling up with footage NOT on that volume, but rather the already imported media. Not highlighted in Yellow, and showing the DRIVE as the drive they have been imported onto, NOT the drive the card backups are located. So I can’t check the cards to see if the footage is there, or gone.

My assistant loaded the footage initially, and I am not entirely sure how she consolidated it over. Shot an email asking how, awaiting a response.

Shane

GETTING ORGANIZED WITH FINAL CUT PRO DVD…don’t miss it.
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def

[Shane Ross]

Forget it…you all are useless… 🙂

Solved it myself. Sorta. Turned AMA off because it was USELESS in looking at the original card backups. Kept loading the consolidated footage. I had P2CMS to look at the footage and I found the other half of the interview. Spanned. So I go back to Media Composer after I turn off AMA, I do FILE>IMPORT P2…and BOOM! The clip does from 13 min to just over an hour. As if the footage was never missing in the first place.

Man, FCP has a HUGE leg up here with tapeless…IMHO. It will assign a REEL name that matches the backup folder name so I know what footage came from where. Avid MC track this? No.

Shane

GETTING ORGANIZED WITH FINAL CUT PRO DVD…don’t miss it.
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def

[Mark Spano]

[Shane Ross] “It will assign a REEL name that matches the backup folder name so I know what footage came from where. Avid MC track this? No.”

Shane, in the AMA settings, you can specify so that when you do Link to AMA Volume, it will create bins that are named whatever the folder name is. That’s the only way I know that MC will “track” that. But I find it very useful. Your assistant may not have this set correctly and therefore AMA’d all of the folders into one bin, not named for anything.
Also, lots of times if I’m concerned, I will then copy the bin name and paste it into some aux info column so it stays attached with my (consolidated) clips.

[Oliver Peters]

Shane,

I’ve run into this issue, as well. Avid tells me that under AMA, the P2 metadata is what comes in from the cards per Panasonic’s specs. If a UserClipName is present, then that info overrides the ClipName.

This was apparently coded that way due to client request, with the argument that if someone went to the trouble of adding a UserClipName, then that’s what they wanted. I countered, “Shouldn’t you see both? What if the the UserClipName was incorrectly entered?”

I had a set of P2 clips that all had a UserClipName of 1001 (production error). Several cards worth! FCP had no problem with it, but Avid and Premiere Pro both did the same thing. The reason FCP doesn’t have a problem is because L&T isn’t really reading all P2 metadata according to the Panasonic spec.

– Oliver

Oliver Peters Post Production Services, LLC
Orlando, FL
http://www.oliverpeters.com

[Shane Ross]

OK…NOT solved. Apparently only the FIRST part of the interview is linked to consolidated media, and then the other 3 parts are linking to the camera originals…the backup files. I guess I goofed by choosing IMPORT P2>Clips to Bin. I need to choose MEDIA?

THIS IS INSANITY!!!

Why won’t AMA show the FULL clip, spanned? It only shows the first P2 file…and it WILL NOT show the others. And now part of it connects to the consolidated media, the other to the backup? What kind of half-baked workflow is happening here?

Avid MC’s reputation for rock solid media management is taking a SERIOUS hit with me. I can’t believe it is doing this.

Shane

GETTING ORGANIZED WITH FINAL CUT PRO DVD…don’t miss it.
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def

[Mark Spano]

Shane, I am sorry that I don’t have much experience with spanned P2 clips. It sounds incredibly troubling. I have done tons of AMA link / consolidate functions to load footage (using Symphony v4.0.5) and while I do come across the occasional hiccups in consolidating media, giving it another shot usually rectifies it. What you’re saying here sounds like it’s not giving you any kind of error message to lead you to believe something was imported incorrectly, but it is actually importing incorrectly and you’re missing lots of stuff. This is troubling indeed, because in most of my cases, I would have no idea what was supposed to be there to begin with, so if this happened to me, I’d have no idea that any problem occurred. Yikes. Good luck, and please report if you figure it out.

[Shane Ross]

I’m going to make a new project, try AMA into that. If it works, then I’ll bring the bin into the current project. If not, then I’ll try the IMPORT P2 option.

Trying to do things the right way, AMA just isn’t cooperating…acting like it should. Or it is and I don’t understand how it works. I mean, when I load an AMA volume, I expect to see the VOLUME…in yellow. NOT the already imported clips. I have no idea why it isn’t doing that right…

Shane

GETTING ORGANIZED WITH FINAL CUT PRO DVD…don’t miss it.
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def

[Ron Gerber]

If you are spanning P2 cards make sure your back-up of the P2 cards includes the “last clip” file from each card (it’s not in the contents folder it’s seperate) otherwise it won’t know which clip to span to.

[Eric Futterman]

After importing the file you may need to transcode it to your drive so it flows into your timline.

Or…..you may have to render the clip into the AVID world.

Also you may want to get Media Composer 5. More accepting of different formats. Hope that helps. Sorry if it didn’t.