Is it ok for AVID to be slow with AMA footage?

[Ed Cilley]

[alec gitelman] “Is there anything I can do to make it better?”

Transcode. Clear space on your drive and let it start tonight. Not a fun solution with 8-9 hours, but it would be even worse if it was H.264.

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

[Alec Gitelman]

So if I understand it correctly, AMA is not designed for editing but only for quick access? If so, why isn’t it said so explicitly?

[Scott Davis]

It kind of is AMA=”Avid Media Access”

Scott Davis

[Michael Phillips]

The longer the clip, the slower the system will get – especially with non-native codec files like H.264. How long are your files in duration?

Michael

Michael Phillips

[Alec Gitelman]

Some are quite long. 20-50 minutes. Some are shorter.

So avid does not really allow native media editing in a true sense of the word? There’s just too many caveats it seems.

[Shane Ross]

[alec gitelman] “So avid does not really allow native media editing in a true sense of the word? “

No. Avid’s work best with Avid media. If you want a smooth experience, you need to transcode.

I blame Avid Marketting for not making this more clear. Too many people try to AMA footage and work native and working native is NOT how Avid works.

Shane
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[Alec Gitelman]

would I be ok transcoding to XDCAM MXF for should I transcode to DNxHD?

[Jeremy Cole]

I have been editing with AVID 5.5.3 using many hours of xdcam footage with no issues whatsoever. Didn’t want to have to transcode and haven’t. I will consolidate shortly, but AMA works great for me at the moment. Make sure you have the correct Sony codec for your version of AVID installed.

Regards,
Jeremy

[Roy Gilbert]

It seems to be a little pot luck with AMA. I have about 30 hours of CANON XF MPEG-2 422 50Mbits and it seems to be pretty snappy. Opening and closing sequences can take a few seconds. My last similar project I transcoded the whole lot to DNxHD 120, and of course that was faster to work with but took up a LOT of space.

It might be worth considering linking AMA, then making selects, trashing the footage you know you won’t need, then transcoding those selects to DNxHD.

Of course, if you need any of the stuff you discarded, it is still there AMA linked.

[Pat Horridge]

Yes the key factor with AMA is the codec it’s been aquired in. MPEG2 is a low demand codec so it’s easy to code and decode. H264 is the other extreme and takes a massive amount of CPU power to unpack. But does come as very small file footprint.
So if you have a fast powerful CPU you can access H264 content and play ok but for anything less AMA, make selects, don;t trash anything just tuck unused AMA clips away in a bin. Transcode the rest either to offline or direct online and edit (if the offline route the re-link back at the end)
I’ve created a course for VET
https://www.vet.co.uk/site/training/scheduled_courses/avid_ama_ingest_and_export_vet_short_courses

That specifically covers the various workflows for getting the best from AMA

Pat Horridge
Technical Director, Trainer, Avid Certified Instructor
VET
Production Editing Digital Media Design DVD
T +44 (0)20 7505 4701 | F +44 (0)20 7505 4800 | E pat@vet.co.uk |
http://www.vet.co.uk | Lux Building 2-4 Hoxton Square London N1 6US