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Media Manager NIGHTMARE
So I have read dozens of posts about media manager problems and none seem to explain what I am witnessing in my suite.
My System: FCP 6.0.5 OSX 10.5.8
Footage: XDCAM EX CodecBackground: My work flow is heavily set up to rely on media managing my projects with not handles to take them in for final finishing. Long story short, the truncated video files with NO handles, save me epic amounts of time in color, audio, and final compositing. This work flow worked fine for years and most recently with DVCPRO P2-based 13-part series it was flawless.
The footage: This year’s series is shot almost entirely in the XDCAM EX codec. 720p 23.98/720p 59.94 depending on the scene. Some of the media has been sub clipped in logging projects and some has not.
The Snag: When I media manage I set the manager to copy footage, deselect any handle settings, and delete unused media. I also, deselect any non-native clip angles, render files etc. The only thing MM should be doing is spitting out a new project with handle-free media. Instead I get a what appear to random heads and tails on many of my clips. There doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason to the length or the clip which doesn’t work. For example, I have isolated a clip that is problematic. That full clip is 35 seconds long my ins and outs select 1 second of footage but MM spits out a file 2 seconds and 15 frames long!? Before I MM I remove sub clip limits and make all sequence clips independent but it seems to have no effect. The problem is seen on multiple projects and across 4 different edit suites. While original suspicious that this is a sub clip related issue but can’t seem to get it nailed down and I can replicate the problem with Non-subclipped material.
I am absolutely stumped. Does anyone have any suggestions. I’ll be happy to provide as much info as any needs. I have screen shots of this phenomenon as well. I’ll try to upload them.
Thanks in advance for any help!!!
Alex J.
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6 Replies
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Hi
Is this a GOP-length phenomenon?
Native long-GOP editing must alway need an ‘invisible’ handle – to refer back/onwards to the required I-frame for the clip in/out frame.
Unless you recompress into an intra-frame codec. -
Does the clip have a reel number attached to it? Every time I’ve had a handles issue with media manager it’s had to do with a reel assignment.
I’m guessing with XDCAM import you had to enter one.
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I forgot to mention that the clips all have reel #’s that was my first guess as well.
As for the long GOP note you may be onto something there. Is the only solution to transcode all footage? I’m dealing with about 900 hours of xdcam footage. That’s not a typo. Can you point me to more info on this issue? I’ll run some tests and post back the results tomorrow.
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It looks like this is a problem with the long GOP. Setting Media Manager to recompress the footage to DVCPROHD and then Media Managing the resulting project to copy with no handles gave me the desired results. A few extra frames at the end of the new clip but I’m thinking that’s the result of a 23.98 clip in a 59.94 drop frame time line. Looks like another hiccup for long GOP editing and is a strike against a XDCAM work flow that has been quite smooth so far. I wonder where else this issue will raise it’s ugly head. Thanks for your suggestions and if my projects don’t reflect the results of my tests I’ll be back on with more info. In the meantime, if anyone else if facing a similar problem the recompression seems to do the trick.
Cheers,
Alex
Alex J.
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Hi Alex,
Thanks for posting this up. We just came across the exact same problem. The only difference is that
1) we are using FCP 5.1.4
2) we shot on SD, 24p (Panasonic DVX-100)
3) we are only getting a couple of seconds of handles at the end of some of our media.We have over 250 hours of footage and have already started cutting the project but are preparing for an extra editor to come on board. After doing the media manager copy onto the new drives for the new editor, we then noticed the same problem you had with MM adding extra handles. We noticed that it was adding 2 different types of things to our tails:
1) a couple of seconds of dead frames (basically a still)
2) overlapping footage from the proceeding clipSince we shot in a different format from you, do you (or anyone else) think that MM re-compressing and then MM copying as you did would help?
Again, thank you so much for your post and I hope to hear from you soon.
Thanks,
Chris Guevarra
massmovementtv.blogspot.com -
Hi Alex,
Thanks for posting this up. We just came across the exact same problem. The only difference is that
1) we are using FCP 5.1.4
2) we shot on SD, 24p (Panasonic DVX-100)
3) we are only getting a couple of seconds of handles at the end of some of our media.We have over 250 hours of footage and have already started cutting the project but are preparing for an extra editor to come on board. After doing the media manager copy onto the new drives for the new editor, we then noticed the same problem you had with MM adding extra handles. We noticed that it was adding 2 different types of things to our tails:
1) a couple of seconds of dead frames (basically a still)
2) overlapping footage from the proceeding clipSince we shot in a different format from you, do you (or anyone else) think that MM re-compressing and then MM copying as you did would help?
Again, thank you so much for your post and I hope to hear from you soon.
Thanks,
Chris Guevarra
massmovementtv.blogspot.com
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