Cannot apply speed effects to XDCAM footage

[Ed Cilley]

Hey Jared,

Just a few questions to point in the right direction. So the footage is HDV, correct? Is he using AMA to link to the clips, or has he imported them into his project? What are the project settings?

Avid and FCP Preditor
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Anything worth doing at all, is worth doing well.
– Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield

[Jared Flynn]

Hi there Ed,

No, the footage isn’t HDV, it’s full-raster XDCAM at 1920×1080. We’ve been importing the clips through File > Import rather than AMA so far because we had endless problems with AMA in previous Avid builds. Our project mode is 1080i/59.94fps, which matches our footage.

This reminds me of another problem we’ve been having– for some reason Avid refuses to transcode this footage to DNxHD, which normally wouldn’t be a problem but our client’s deliverables specifically dictate DNxHD220. Could that be related to the fact that we don’t use AMA?

Thanks!

Jared Flynn
Motion Graphics Designer / Lead AE
Lone Wolf Documentary Group

[Ed Cilley]

Interesting. And you can’t transcode to DNxHD. What format did you select when you imported the clips? I would just import the clips at DNxHD220. Depending on the length of the program, this may be prohibitively huge during the rough cuts, but something I would consider.

I haven’t had any issue adding effects to clips (DNxHD145, or 220).
Mac OS 10.5.8, Avid MC 4.0.2

I also saw your post about audio and will comment to that.

Ed

Avid and FCP Preditor
_________________________________________________
Anything worth doing at all, is worth doing well.
– Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield

[Jared Flynn]

Hi there Ed,

During the import, we specifically chose DNxHD220, but the metadata for the clips in their bins all continue to list the original XDCAM 50mbps format. We’ve confirmed that Avid is still creating its own copies of the media, and it’s definitely re-wrapping the files into its own MXF file type, but for all we can tell, it’s not actually transcoding on the way in.

We’ve also had fine luck applying effects to footage in DNxHD, but for whatever reason we’re not able to create that media from our XDCAM sources.

We’re also using Mac OS 10.5.8 and Avid MC 4.0.2, on an 8-core Mac Pro, 16GB RAM and the Avid Adrenaline breakout box.

Thanks!

[Hans Sieber]

Hi Jared,

as far as I know you can`t choose the resolution of your Media when importing from XDCAM. You can actually choose any compression in your import window, but avid is just rewrapping the footage and keeps the original 50 mb compression. It`s just a copy process. If you want to edit in e.g. DNXHD 220 you need to transcode it in your avid. Best way to do that would be using the AMA mode for opening the clips on your disc and then transcoding them to your raid in the codec you like to work with. I wouldn`t do the import because of the time being lost during that action.
Hope I could be of some help.

Hans

[Jared Flynn]

Hi there Hans,

Thanks for the tip! We hadn’t tried out AMA yet; I’ll recommend that on Monday and run some tests.

Thanks again!

Jared Flynn
Motion Graphics Designer / Lead AE
Lone Wolf Documentary Group