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Avid to Da Vinci Problem
Hi,
I was wondering if you might be able to shed some light on a problem which I have been working on trying to fix for some time now but have hit a brick wall. I’ve been through just about every post on this forum, Avid’s and elsewhere to try to find a solution to no avail.
Software;
Avid Media Composer 8.9.3
Da Vinci Resolve 14.3 (Free)
Mac OS High Sierra 10.13.3Hardware;
Mac Pro 2013
AMD Firepro D500 3GBWe are about to start editing a feature length documentary in MC and I have been running and testing workflows for the past week while we await storage for all of our footage to make sure it all runs smoothly.
I’m using two of the main cameras which will be featured in the film as test footage as this is all I have access to at the moment. Sony A7S MP4 AVC Long-GOP High and Panasonic EVA1 MOV AVC Long-GOP High422. There’s about 20 other types of cameras which are going into this fly on the wall project.
My current workflow is to AMA the footage and then transcode into DNxHR LB 1080. We will be delivering at 4K but would like to work in 1080 as we feel this is what our system will be able to handle best. I am using Scott Freeman’s technique of duplicating the clip Name into a custom bin column ‘LINK’ and the Start Timecode into ‘Auxiliary TC2’ laid out in this article ; https://www.avidblogs.com/how-to-roundtrip-davinci-resolve-to-avid-media-composer-tutorial/
I am then dropping multiple clips from each camera into a sequence and relinking the original 4K footage. I’m keeping the relinked sequence at 1080 as the unpaid version of Da Vinci does not support 4K. However every single time I import the sequence into Da Vinci with Scott Freeman’s suggested workflow I receive the same message. Here’s an example.
Clip ‘C0004’ in track V1 at timecode 01:00:00:00, with reel name ‘C0004’ and filename ‘C0004.MP4’:
Mismatch between specified target timecodes [-00:00:00:01 00:00:32:11) and located file timecodes [07:25:01:20 07:25:34:08)
Mismatch between specified target timecodes [-00:00:00:01 00:00:32:11) and located file timecodes [07:25:01:20 07:25:34:08)
Mismatch between specified target timecodes [-00:00:00:01 00:00:32:11) and located file timecodes [10:51:35:08 10:52:06:08)The timecode thing is definitely a concern but I am not sure it is the route of the problem, however I will mention it anyway as it may be at fault. All A7S clips I import into MC start with the same timecode, 00:00:00:00. No I know this isn’t the case as these clips metadata in Da Vinci are different timecodes. Another problem of course is that A7S clips will often have the same name from each card as it names C001, C002, etc. Da Vinci also doesn’t seem to like the timecode 00:00:00:00 and reads it as 00:00:00:01 as per the error message. I think this will almost definitely be a problem in round tripping between the two and that needs to be figured out.
The reason I am not entirely sure this is the route of the problem is because I am having the same issue with the EVA1 footage, which clips do have the correct start code. The error message for this is;
Clip ‘A003C002_171107_J79G’ in track V1 at timecode 01:00:00:00, with reel name ‘A003C002_171107_J79G’ and filename ‘A003C002_171107_J79G.MOV’:
..which isn’t much of an error message if I’m honest.
And that’s it really. We aren’t (I hope) doing the colour on this ourselves as it definitely deserves a professional colourist, I’d just like to make sure we don’t do an entire edit without it being able to go into Resolve. Unfortunately I’m just about at my wit’s end with it and am thinking about suggesting doing the project in Premiere where I have never had relinking issues, but know that it is not entirely reliable for feature length projects.
Any help, suggestions, criticisms welcome – anything!
Thanks,
Ben
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5 Replies
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Timecode is the issue as Media Composer AMA linking is not reading the timecode in the file. You might want to consider creating native Avid Media in Resolve to ensure timecode is correct. Be sure to set up REEL ID correctly. Also, the free version support 4K UHD (3840×2160), not 4K or higher.
As far as the second issue, there is not a lot to go on without seeing it or having the file to test with.
You may want to invest in the Nablet XAVC-S AMA plug-in for $99 if you want to do transcode in Media Composer.
https://www.nablet.com/products/plugins/avid-media-composer/xavc-s-ama-plugin/Also, DNxHR LB is not 1080 unless you are working and transcoding in 1/4 proxy while in a 4K (UHD) project. Also, note that DNxHR 1/4 proxy is exactly the same as working in DNxHD 36. Now if your aspect ratio is not 16:9 for 4K UHD, then work in 4K with 1/4 proxy.
Michael
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Thanks Michael for taking the time to look into this.
I think I have gotten the A7S footage working using the Da Vinci Round Trip method outlined in this article; https://droppedframe.com/2017/10/09/resolve-to-avid-a-dailies-workflow/ . I am transcoding to DNxHR LB into 1080p and working in a 1080 project in MC and everything seems to link well when going back to Resolve, even with duplicate filenames in the sequence. I then change the Da Vinci project settings to UHD and all is well. Thank you!
I am unable to test the EVA1 footage at the moment as I am waiting for our producer to pull the trigger on the Studio version but I will report back with my results in case anybody is reading this in the future and needs to know the solution.
The only question I have with this workflow is when you sync your audio. In your practice is it best to sync the audio in Resolve or in Avid? We will be sending the audio to an engineer to be mixed in Pro Tools once the edit is finalised.
Thanks again, Ben
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I would sync in Media Composer.
Michael
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I believe there are still issues syncing audio in Resolve, and then trying to get a list to show the original wave file name when sent back to the sound house. Avid will not give you an issue here.
Glenn
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Hi Michael
Thank you for your reply to my forum post. Any help and advice is very much appreciated. While we have figured out most of our workflow ins and outs, there is one which I am still scratching my head about which hopefully you might able to shine some light on.
We have footage which is not at our master project timerate (29.97, 60, etc. while we are cutting at 23.976). How do you go about dealing with this with the Resolve > Avid > Resolve roundtrip?
Thanks again,
Ben
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