moving DNxHD files made in Sorenson Squeeze to the Avid MXF folder

[Shane Ross]

AMA and Transcode is the best way. Then Avid can track the copies and where they came from.

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

[Amy Murray]

I did try transcoding in mc. But, for some reason the footage looked washed out, not enough contrast. When trying it in Sorensen and the bringing it into avid it looked fine? Sugestions?

[Shane Ross]

Ah, that dreaded ProRes>DNxHD gamma shift. Then yeah, do it your way. Just know Avid might not be able to link to the originals.

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

[Michael Phillips]

The only way a clip gets associated with a project is when the media is created within the project. As far as gamma and such, you can always try AMA, go to source settings and set it via a LUT or gamma stretch to be to your liking.

Michael

[Richard Sanchez]

Regarding this workflow, I believe transcoding in Sorensen assigns a “Tape Name” as opposed to “Source File Name”. Normally when you AMA and transcode a quicktime file, it tracks the source file name and will use it to relink later. It’s not the end of the world, it just means that you’ll have to add a tape name to your AMA clips when you try to relink them later.

Richard Sanchez
Los Angeles, CA

“We are the facilitators of our own creative evolution.” – Bill Hicks

[Amy Murray]

Updated post… Ok, I found “source settings” when right clicking on the clip. Do you do this step to the linked clip before transcoding it? I don’t see gamma itself, but if I play with “GFX-Video Level” and put it on “Expand video levels to graphic levels” it seems to help a little. Is this what you were recommending?

Sorry, this is all new to me. I worked in MC for 15 years but the past 6 I had to use FCP. Now I am back to MC but never used AMA or cards, we used Beta back then. 🙂

So far I preferred Sorrenson because I could view the clips and set ins and outs. Seems like when I go to transcode in MC I can’t view them. Is this true or am I missing something?

However, I am afraid that media management might get messy if the media isn’t linked to the project.

[Michael Phillips]

Source File is only created when importing or AMA linking to sources in Media Composer. All third parties using Avid’s AMT creates TAPE as there is no option for them to create otherwise.

You do not need to change sources or add TAPE names to the clips in order for a relink to happen. Since v6, you can relink between TAPE and Source Files, and since v6.5 you can relink on any column for source and any timecode column for span.

As far as levels go, once AMA and you go to Source Settings, go to the AMA Source Setting Tab and from the GFX Levels menu, select the one you like. If you have the image displayed, there is a histogram with two white marks within the frame. Those indicate video levels while the entire width represents graphic levels. You have three options in the menu – do nothing, expand, and compress. Look at the histogram to see where you shadows and highlights are falling and select accordingly. Once set, transcode as needed.

Michael

[Michael Phillips]

Yes, the GFX level offers three options of: do nothing, expand, or compress. This effects the overall black and white levels of the pictures (inculding gray scale of RGB). What you can do is look at the levels for the one you like via Sorenson, and see where it falls on the histogram and see how close you can get with the GFX levels. Once you get familiar with source settings, you can start looking at at the Color Encoding tab and playing with source color space, LUTs, and even ASC CDL’s for full control over source color space.

As far as in and out points, once you AMA link to the clips, you will see them in the bin, load them in the source monitor and play through. If you want to make in and out points, do so, and make subclips. When you go to transcode, just select the subclips and other selects as needed.

And as a last point, you can relink between TAPE and Source File. That has been possible since v6. V6.5 introduced the ability to relink based on any column as a source, and any timecode column for the in/out.

Michael

[Amy Murray]

Great, thanks. I will play with the source settings and see if I can make it work. Meanwhile, the video I already transcoded with Sorenson, I will drag and drop in a new numbered folder in the MXF folder.

Can you recommend a link where I can read about media management? I have researched a lot on line but so many people have very different ideas. EX naming MXF folders with words instead of numbers… how to keep projects organized etc.

Thanks again, you guys are great.

Oh, one more thing, I spoke with Avid tec and they told me MC 7 no longer has internal vector scopes. Can this be true?

[Michael Phillips]

Well my v7 has internal scopes…

I don’t think there is a definitive guide on how to manage media because most of these are user discovered and shared and can change based on a particular production. Things to keep in mind:

1) Media Composer expect a folder named “1” in Avid MediaFiles/MXF. If one is not there, it will always make it. Renders, newly created media and such will always go their first until it reaches some number of files (I can’t recall the exact number) to not tax the operating system and will then automatically create a “2” folder, etc.

2) If the folder is not a number – Media Composer will see the files in it before the name change, but will not index any new clips added to the folder.

3) You cannot designate a numbered folder from within Media Composer when creating media (see #1). This is all managed outside the app by the user. I would suggest this is always done without Media Composer running.

Michael