Avid MXF to ANYTHING ELSE?

[Michael Hancock]

You want to convert an Avid MXF to another file type? I’m not aware of anything that can do that.

MetaFuze (PC only) can convert certain files to MXF (there are frame size and frame rate restrictions), but I don’t know of anything that can convert an Avid MXF to another file type.

What are you trying to convert them to? The biggest issue I can see is that you’d get video or audio only. The audio and video are captured separately in Avid, so you’d have to have an app that could join the two.

Michael.

[Perrone Ford]

Call me crazy, but some people don’t necessarily want to finish in Avid, or would like to collaborate with non-Avid people.

I am aware of the Metafuze which is how I got into this mess. Essentially, the idea was to take an image sequence, add Metadata, timecode burn for editorial, and then match that back to the online. However, I am not doing that in Avid.

Metafuze creates Avid MXF ONLY. And it’s nearly impossible to get that information out. I’ve never seen any format that is so hard to convert.

I don’t really care about the audio. I’ve got that. But if I want to take the video sequence and cut it on FCP, Premiere, Vegas, Edius, etc., it’s impossible.

[Michael Hancock]

[Perrone Ford] “Call me crazy, but some people don’t necessarily want to finish in Avid, or would like to collaborate with non-Avid people.”

Export a self-contained quicktime or image sequence. Give that to the people you’re collaborating with, or give them the raw tapes.

[Perrone Ford] “Essentially, the idea was to take an image sequence, add Metadata, timecode burn for editorial, and then match that back to the online. However, I am not doing that in Avid.”

I don’t follow you here. You have an image sequence that you added metadata and timecode burn-in via MetaFuze, which left you with MXF files for Avid, but you don’t want to edit in Avid? If that’s the case, you need to find another program to add metadata, etc… that will output in format that’s friendlier to your NLE of choice.

Or do you mean you edited that in Avid now you need to online in another NLE? If that’s the case, you don’t need to convert the MXFs. You need to recapture from the original tapes based on what you used in your master sequence. Or I’m completely getting this wrong. Am I?

[Perrone Ford] “But if I want to take the video sequence and cut it on FCP, Premiere, Vegas, Edius, etc., it’s impossible.”

Recapture. Programs like Automatic Duck can translate your sequence, then batch capture in FCP, Premiere, etc…

Michael

[Perrone Ford]

Ok, lets try again.

I cut in Vegas. I have to collaborate with the local news/film folks who cut either in Avid, Edius, or FCP. I made the choice to go with Avid’s DNxHD for all my HD work so that I could trade with anyone on either platform, and they could trade with me.

However, occasionally I get things that need a timecode burn, and I’d rather not tie up my NLE half the day. So I tried Metafuze. Unfortunately, it only spits out Avid MXF files, which are apparently incompatible with anything else.

Based on what I’ve seen, it appears you are correct. I need to find a different program to handle that. I was just hoping that for the sake of my Metafuze stuff, and for dealing with anything else that might come from Avid folks, that an Avid MXF was not a dead end. But it appears it is.

[Bill Ravens]

Perrone…

If you cut in AVID, you wouldn’t be having these probs. In Avid, you can drop a timecode burn in to the timeline, which can easily be switched off and on. Then if you output using QTReference files, which take very little space and export almost instantaneously, you can then import the QTref file to your transcoder of choice, be it Vegas, Procoder, Squeeze, or whatever.

[Perrone Ford]

LOL! Yea I know. But in case you hadn’t heard, there’s a recession going on and I work in state govt. We’re losing jobs, in a hiring freeze, and lost 20% off the top of our operating budget this year. Little hard for me to ask for Media Composer right now.

So I am trying to do my best with what I have.

[Bill Ravens]

OIC. I didn’t know you worked for the state. That explains a lot…;o)