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Exporting AMA linked sequence
I’m cutting a new showreel, very simple 10 minute sequence which is a compile of 5 scenes taken from complete films. I usually do this in Premiere but thought I’d try in Avid this time since I’ve got an active license.
Because it’s a simple edit, and the films are all mixed formats (different frame rates and codecs), I wanted to try doing it with AMA linking instead of transcoding. I also want to avoid transcoding because one of the films is quite low res h264, and I don’t want to crush it any further. I know, the usual advice is to transcode, and I would never usually bother with AMA but if there is one situation where I thought AMA has a purpose, I thought it would be something like this.
Now I’m trying to export either mp4 or mov and it keeps crashing (screenshot attached)
Is it possible to export an AMA linked sequence directly? Or does it still need transcoding first? And if that’s the case, what’s the point of AMA linking?
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7 Replies
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yes, it is possible to export a Linked sequence directly. The error you are seeing is related to the audio contents of your sequence, or perhaps to the destination audio format you have chosen in export settings. Can you share a screenshot of the export settings you are using?
you might also try to export to MXF op1a and use a third party app to make your MP4 or MOV. Shutter encoder, ffmpeg, adobe media encoder, etc.
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Thanks for your reply,
If audio related, I thought maybe the problem was I had mixed audio tracks (some stereo some mon), but I just changed all to mono and it hasn’t had a difference.
I already tried MXF op1 but it also crashed on export. Might try again later. Right now I’m exporting a wav of the audio (which is taking way longer than it should), so I can try restriping audio with a single wav and getting it out that way….
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UPDATE:
I think the problem is caused by mixed frame rates. 2 clips were 25fps and the project is 24fps. So I transcoded ONLY the 25fps clips, and since David says the error message pertained to audio, I striped back into the sequence ONLY the audio of the transcoded clips (in an effort to keep video as native as possible). This worked. However, it again reinforces that AMA is a pretty useless function if the odds are that transcoding at least some of your sequence will be needed at some point anyway.
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There is nothing wrong with ama, or linking as it is now called in Avid. Ive used links for feature length films with no issue. To troubleshoot your issue, go back to your linked sequence, and only output a section from each clip. Avid is actually really good at letting you divide up you export or playback to narrow down where your issue might be. Im guessing at least one of those small exports will fail, and that can help you narrow your focus to that file, to see what might be different about it.
Another easy “fix” if you think it is an audio issue is to have Avid convert the sample rate, format and bit rate for all audio properties on export.
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Thanks Glenn,
I had actually already tried that, and each clip output fine individually. This is what led to my suspician that the problem was not an individual corruption, it was a frame rate compatibility problem across the whole sequence.
Curious, if you’ve a lot of exporience exporting AMA on features – did you ever have mixed frame rates, and how did it go? -
Usually your mixed frame rate comes into Avid with no issues at all.
How long was your timeline, and what format were you trying to export it as….just stereo audio?
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Yes, the mixed frame rates came into avid with no problem. And editing was no problem, it was just exporting which was problematic.
As I said in the OP, sequence was just 10 mins long, very simple compile of 5 clips. Some clips had stereo audio, some have 5.1 mono mix. (Although pretty sure that wasn’t the problem, since I tried changing the stereo tracks to dual mono with no success.) I posted my export settings above already – stereo mix.
I think also my setup isn’t the best config for avid. I’m an offline editor so I don’t have the most powerful workhorse. Cutting on a 2019 16-inch MacBook Pro, 2.4 Ghz 8-core Intel i9, 32GB RAM. I offline features with minimal FX and GFX fine, but I always get nervous on export.
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