Convert P2 structure to friendlier single file format for PC (or Mac)?

[Philip Merten]

What software are you editing on?

[Alex Vak]

Using mostly TMPGEnc software (Video Mastering/Authoring), which will happily accept mov/mkv files.

[Philip Merten]

If you are looking to transcode P2 files to Quicktimes you can use Sorenson Squeeze or Adobe Media Encoder..

[Alex Vak]

Can this be done without re-encoding? I thought Adobe applications (don’t know about Sorenson) always re-encode. I am almost sure FCP7 did the “conversion” to .mov losslessly, since it was an extremely fast process – through “Log and Transfer”, if I remember correctly.

[Philip Merten]

Both of them re-encode the material. I’m not familiar with the software you are editing with, but with Avid, Final Cut, Premiere, etc…this is not an issue…

[Alex Vak]

Thanks for your suggestions. I think ffmbc (free tool) will do this with its rewrap function, I’ll give it a try.

[Shane Ross]

If you used Premiere on a PC, you wouldn’t re-encode. it would work with the MXF files native. Avid on a PC…consolidate and it’s still native…no reencoding.

The software you are talking about, TMPGEnc, is an encoder…not editing software. So you want to just encode the raw P2 files to something…do no editing? And the software doesn’t work with MXF, so you are looking for another solution?

I’m curious. You have used FCP 7 in the past…why not continue to use it? it didn’t break. You just switched platforms and are doing things differently. Avid will access the P2 media, and can export a SAME AS SOURCE Quicktime. Although that seems a bit much if all you want is one file.

Shane
Little Frog Post
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def

[Alex Vak]

Video Mastering Works can edit, too. Certainly not as advanced as Avid/Premiere but way cheaper and more flexible in some ways. FCP7 has been uninstalled and is not available. This is a very interesting find, I will test and report. It reportedly can re-wrap to mp4/mov.

[Steve Eisen]

The workflow is different on a PC than with FCP 7. FCP 4-7 never was able to read the original MXF files from P2 cards. The way to get the files on your system was to use log and transfer. FCP would create a whole new DVCProHD video file from your P2 data.

NLE’s such as Adobe Premier and Avid Media Composer work with the native P2 MXF files and all you do is import those files on your system. Premiere and Media Composer are identical on the Mac and PC.

Your question is a little confusing. Do you want to take your DVCProHD codec (QuickTime) files from a Mac and use them on a PC? Or do you want to import P2 files on a PC NLE?

Steve Eisen
Eisen Video Productions
Vice President
Chicago Creative Pro Users Group

[Alex Vak]

My goal is to find an inexpensive way (on a PC, preferably) to create those .mov files FCP7 generates from P2 cards (with Log and Transfer), without having to use FCP7. It is important that no re-encoding occurs. I am confident “Log and Transfer” does not re-encode, but merely re-wraps/remuxes the separate .mxf audio/video clips into a single .mov file which contains both audio and video. I know Premiere/Avid can handle P2 cards directly, but that’s not what I am after. To summarise, I need my P2 DVCPRO HD clips stored/transfered as .mov files, not in P2 folder format where audio/video files are split. Embedded metadata is not critical.

I did a quick test with the aforementioned AWPro Client, but it generated a video-only .mov file.