[David Lewis]

Hi Jeff:

Thanks for the reply. Indeed I did back up me “essentials”.

I successfully uninstalled MC4 and installed MC5 and all seems great.

My user settings seem to have been saved as well, so (so far!) all is good in AVID edit “paradise”.

While I’m replying… an additional question. With MC5 I should be able to import AVCHD material into the system… correct?

In the past I had to do an “out of AVID” transcoding of material. Is this still needed to be done for working with that material??

[David Lewis]

Gary, thank you a great tip!

I assume this will work for keys and other EFX as well (trial and error should answer that question!). I will try this technique today. That should be a great help. I guess I should read the manual a bit more closely.

All the best.

DCL

[David Lewis]

Hans- Thank you for your helpful reply.

I will try your suggestion… I’m sure it will work.

Too bad AVID hasn’t come up with a way to copy and paste EFX attributes like FCP (can’t speak about other systems, but they may have it as well). It can be a very handy and time-saving tool being able to transfer attributes ONLY from one effect to another.

I have successfully copied “resize” and the like, but when it comes to title or key sizes, so far it seems to be a slower process. If I use the same technique for title sizes it appears that I also will copy the title media information.

Again thanks and all the best,

David

[David Lewis]

Hi Joe-

Yes, I learned the hard way a few times before realizing that tests are the best way to insure something is “right” for whatever the real process may be.

I did what you suggested and it worked perfectly. Mind you I have a lot to learn about properly authoring a DVD… gotta take the time to read the manual and sit with the program… but for these types of “approval” DVDs, your way seems to be right on… Avid even has the built in mechanisms- if we only would look for them {:>}

I ended up exporting a QT reference to my hard drive, then using Sorensen Squeeze and the right parameter to create the formatted video and then AVID DVD by Sonic to create the proper DVD… one thing I had to remember was to add the sound file as well… it is created separately.

Thanks for your assistance and knowledge.

David C. Lewis

[David Lewis]

Hi Joe,

Thanks for responding.

What I did was take an HD project shot at 720 with 50fps (PAL project) and export the file as a QT movie using the native DNxHD 10 bit codec with which I edited the program. I’m using a test clip of about 15 sec. to see how things work (final movie is actually 10 minutes).

I used a format of 1920 X1080, which may have been a mistake, someone recommended I just use 720X576 with a 16:9 ratio. Don’t know if that’s the problem or not, but in another project which I tried to author a DVD a month or so ago, it was SD (DV clips and stills)video in 4:3 DV Stream format… which also kept crashing on import. I ended up availing upon a colleague to create the MPEG 2 DVD I needed.

Since it seems to be crashing as soon as I try to bring in the media assests (video and audio combined)

[David Lewis]

Steve, thanks for your information.

Yes I saw the Windows Media Player export option. A more experienced user may have known which parameters to use as there were many choices.

In the end I exported as a DNxHD media file. Then I used Sorensen Squeeze to create a WMV version. I followed what Perrone had suggested above, with a couple of modifications and after a couple of “bugs” I had to “kill”, I got a very good quality WMV clips that, as my client wanted “will play on ANY PC with Windows Media Player”… frankly the VLC player is a much better and free download, but he wouldn’t here it.

Being a neophyte with exporting to WMV, no doubt I added a step (and lost time) by doing it this way… just something else for me to learn.

[David Lewis]

Thank you for the reply.

I used Mircosoft Windows Media Video as the codec choice from the Avid (AVI export). I thought (no doubt incorrectly) that this would make the video compatible for Windows Media Player… I’m still learning this end of editing ( I started my off-line editing career with CTC 3/4″ in “another universe”).

I appreciate your advice and i will try the parameters you suggested for the WMV. Thanks.

[David Lewis]

Thanks for your posting on this subject. I am days away from a shoot with XDCAM (JVC camera) and editing with MC4. I had worked out some of these kinks a couple of weeks ago with some test footage and it took awhile to get a handle on what would be the best way to work with the footage.

Your postings here has help me clarify and improve on some issues I was having.

It appears that having your material on a connected hard drive, or even better, internal hard drive makes using the AMA format very easy for importing directly into the AVID. Also, having the XDCAM EX Clipreader (a “light” weight free program you can download) lets you view/log the footage outside the AVID on your computer.

As noted in your thread, I simply used AMA to import the files from my hard drive, edited them as I liked. I also toyed with consolidating to DNxHD and editing that way (I had a very small test project, so it was easy to do). A co-worker explained that consolidating to DNxHD is “easier” processing on the computer, so he recommended that codec for editing and final export of the program.

I’d be interested to know what your experience ends up showing you on the programs you edit ( that is, using the XD “yellow” footage through AMA, or editing with DNxHD.

Here’s to continued great editing with the AVID.

David Lewis

[David Lewis]

Kris:

Thanks for the input. Good point about the lo res Proxy File sound issues- that can be problematic in many siutations.

I seems that the XD format can be so heavy that some edit situations will require using Proxy files for editing a program.

I’m thinking that for many other programs it seems that transcoding to DNxHD is a real problem solver in that it is a “lighter” file to work from, making the computer work less, yet still keeping the visual quality of XD material.

Certainly for the commercials/PR clips I’m doing now, which will be no more than 2 minutes a clip ( and a maximum of 10 clips so far) the DNxHD will work fine.

Yet, I have a large documentary project (close to 75 minutes final show) that may require Proxy file editing…. don’t know how DNxHD will hold up with the large amount of raw footage I’m going to be working with on that show. Although some of that material will be archival material and in the off-line stages I’m use burned in t/c DV or VHS analog work tapes until the final cuts are chosen (there is a whole sub issue on this project on working with 4:3 material and XD material which I haven’t even begun to deal with yet!).

It would be interesting to know at what “weight” (or time amount) will DNxHD files begin to slow down the editing process.

I also wonder if DNxHD “holds up” as well when the final product is exported to the desk top and made into a media file or authored onto a DVD.

[David Lewis]

Mark:

It seems that consolidation is the route to go for me. The current project is a series of short movies (2-3 minutes each) with some FX usage, but pretty straight forward. Getting the XD footage into MFX files sounds right.

I’ll give it a shot on my test footage and see how that goes.

Again, much appreciate your very helpful input.

David