Avid MediaFiles creates named folder instead of numbered
updated 1 month, 1 week ago 3 Members · 10
Posts 
Hello everyone. I’m doing some dailies for a show.
I am using Resolve to create the dailies.
I’m having some difficulty getting Avid to create msmMMOB.mdb files for me.
I create a new folder on the Avid MediaFiles>MXF>(N) path and when I launch media composer, nothing happens with generating an mdb. I thought maybe there was an issue with the partition I’m using (I have a partition for cache, projects, and the media all separated) so I made a new title on the media partition and it created a folder. What’s weird though is that it did not make a “1” folder. It made a folder with this layout: Johndoe imac.1
So my current workaround is this:
-Close MC
-Delete the .mdb and .pmr file in the Johndoe imac.1 folder
-Move MXF media into the folder
-Open MC, it remakes new mdb and pmr files
-Drag mdb file into a bin and the new dailies show up
-Close MC
-Rename Johndoe imac.1 folder to highest new number. Ex: 5
-Reopen MC and all is where it should be still
This seems a bit ridiculous and I’m doing something wrong somewhere along the line.
ADDITIONAL INFO:
MC 2018.12.12
Resolve 16
MXF Format: MX-Op Atom 720p 8-bit
Are you working on shared storage? That’s how Avid manages multiple users in the same media files location.
Did you try making new user settings. And is Enable bin sharing on 3rd party storage ticked in general settings (it should be unticked)
Shared storage: Yes.
New user settings: I have not. What’s the best practice for this?
Enable bin sharing on 3rd party storage: I think we do want that ticked actually because of the fact that we are using a QNAP for our storage and Mimiq which is a emulator for bin sharing.
I made a new folder by copy pasting the JohnDoe imac.1 folder name, and made a “JohnDoe imac.2” and put some media in it. As soon as I opened MC the folder populated with an MDB and PMR.
Is this normal practice for shared storage? If so, I guess in this case I’ve solved the issue.
Is it okay for me to rename these to simple numbers like the shoot date later on?
shared storage systems do not use the “number only” format. They use computer name.number. Perfectly normal.
Thanks Glenn. Great youtube videos by the way. Came across them recently.
Now that this part is sorted, the only problem I’m having now is getting the Scene/Take and soundroll metadata to come across. In the past I’ve done this using an ALE and linked it to the clips but I’m having no luck as I’m now receiving an error screenshotted below.
I have assist using source clip filenames on in Resolve. I make sure that’s on BEFORE bringing in any media. I have the correct frame rate setup in both Resolve and Avid. Screenshot there as well.
Order of operations:
Set project settings and timeline settings in Resolve (timeline setting set to 720 due to VPN remote workflow)
Bring in audio/video
Sync audio with timecode
Make timeline with selected clips in Resolve
Export ALE from that timeline
Export 720p DNx files
Copy MXF files to Avid MediaFiles then open Avid to generate mdb file
Bring in MDB file to new bin
Select the clips and import ale (set to merge with master clips)
UPDATE:
If I export it as MXF OP-Atom 720p it DOES NOT work.
– I’ve tried every single flavor of DNxHD and DNxHR at this resolution. When I export these I make sure my timeline is set to 1280×720.
But if I do MXF OP-Atom 1080p 36 it WORKS.
I’m working with a VPN setup for about 6 people so I’d really like to stay in 720p haha. Gonna keep trying because something has to give, but any help would be appreciated as 720 would be best case scenario.
I’m going to guess the ALE out of Resolve is tagging the clips as 1080, while the bin in Avid is tagging the clips at 720…that may be your error. Have you tried editing the 1080 column to be 720?
Or bring the 720 media into resolve, and make an ale from that?…just spit ballin here.
Ok Chris, i took a quick peak at this.
I did what I assume you did, which, again assuming, you did dnxHD not dnxHR?
I created dnxhd 720 8 bit media, exported an ALE out of Resolve.
Brought that media into Avid via link, and tried to import the ALE…got the same result as you, an error. I then exported an ALE out of Avid to see what was different. The ALE in Resolve does say that the media is (in my case) 4k, not 720, which makes sense, as the ALE is based on source material, not what you are about to output.
I’m not sure that is the issue however. I think it is the DNX HD. When you get 1080 to work, are you doing DNXhd or DNXhr? I ask, because the other item i see in the ALE from Avid is the clip name has a .mxf extension on it, but the ALE from Resolve doesn’t. Once I changed this in notepad ++ the ALE merged inside Avid.
I did try changing a couple of other items along the way in Notepad ++, and none of them solved the problem until i lost the .mxf extension in the name column. It is possible it worked because of a combo of things, but i’m guessing it was the .mxf extension.
Give that a try and see if it works.
Glenn
Super late reply but thank you Glenn. We had to get to work so what I ended up doing was create 1536×864 (pure 16:9 aspect ratio) DNxHR LB files. Those work great with the ale and the only hiccup is that the editors have to use the new title tool instead of the old one that they normally prefer.
I’ll have to give that a shot with the mxf extension. Thanks for checking it out for me!
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