Michael Hancock
Forum Replies Created
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Thanks for the kind words.
I think I gave you bad info about the Import P2 –> Media. All that does it consolidate the DVCProHD footage to your media drive so Avid can track it. It doesn’t change it to DNxHD.
To change it to DNxHD, you need to transcode the footage. You can just select the P2 masterclips that pop up when you choose Import P2 –>Clip to Bin, then go to your Consolidate/Transcode tool and choose to Transcode the media to the DNxHD codec of your choice.
I’d test the DVCProHD footage first to see how it plays on your system. If it plays fine, no need to transcode to DNxHD. If it’s stuttering, try transcoding it and see if it plays better. If you can work with the DVCProHD footage it will save you time and disk space.
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Michael Hancock
http://www.oswaldcommunications.com -
[David Lewis] “Are there other I/O devices besides the Mojo that will allow me to import analog material into my AVID MC 4 (PC based) with a good level of quality?”
Nope. The minimum you could go with would be the original Mojo, which just does SD via Composite, Component, or S-Video, and two channels of unbalanced audio. You can find them on ebay for about $400 – $600, maybe even cheaper. Your step up from there is MojoSDI.
Here’s a Mojo for $400:
https://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?t=201142&highlight=mojo
If you need HD capturing (not file import, but from tape via SDI) then you need the MojoDX, but it doesn’t have analogue inputs so you’d need Component to SDI converters for analogue.
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Michael Hancock
http://www.oswaldcommunications.com -
Have them export a Quicktime file either uncompressed or to the highest flavor of DNxHD their project supports.
If you get a file compressed to DNxHD, go to the Avid site and download the DNxHD codecs. They’re available for free for Mac and PC systems, and once installed your FCP system will see them. You can then run them through compressor if necessary to convert them to ProRes for output. Watch for gamma shifts, though.
Uncompressed would be your best option though, and if they keep delivering files other than what you request, go over the editors head to their supervisor. If a station requests a Beta dub and you send them a DVD they’ll reject it. You should reject what they send until they send what you request.
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Michael Hancock
http://www.oswaldcommunications.com -
In Avid, all of your media goes into a specific folder, as Job ter Burg explained. If you start Project 01 and import or capture footage, that footage will go here (let’s call your media drive M:, and assume your Media Creation settings are set to MXF media):
M:\Avid MediaFiles\MXF\1
If you start Project02 and capture/import, that media will also go to:
M:\Avid MediaFiles\MXF\1
In FCP, each project can have its own capture scratch folder. In Avid, they’re all dumped into one folder. Once there are about 5,000 files in the first numbered folder (1), Avid will make another folder (2) and drop additional media in there.
To determine the drive where media and renders are saved, go to your Media Creation settings (Cmd+5) and set up your render drive, capture drive, and import drive (they can all be the same drive). Also, when you render, import, or capture footage you can select the drive to send the media to, in case you want to override the drive selections in your Media Creation settings.
Where your actual Project file resides has nothing to do with where Avid stores your media. That’s all dependent on which drive you tell it to store the media to. I personally wouldn’t recommend storing your project files on an external – save them on your internal drive and store your media on external drives. And back them up often, in case of a hard drive failure.
Let us know if you have more questions as you dig deeper into Media Composer. It’s a great app, but operates rather differently than FCP and most other NLEs.
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Michael Hancock
http://www.oswaldcommunications.com -
Turn off Sync Point editing. I’m not in front of a system and can’t remember where this option is, but I’m guessing it’s under your Timeline settings in your Settings tab. Search around in there until you find that option and uncheck it. You should be able to do a three point edit then.
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Michael Hancock
http://www.oswaldcommunications.com -
The 1080i/59.94HDV project on the earlier versions of Avid was just for HDV footage.
Shooting 1080i/59.94 HDV isn’t an option on the 170. The 170 shoots 1080i/59.94 to the DVCPro codec, which isn’t a form of HDV, so you’ll want to use the 1080i/59.94 project setting.
You would use the 1080i/59.94HDV project setting only if you’re acquiring HDV footage (which is shot to miniDV tape, basically). If you’re using the 170, you don’t need to worry about that.
Glad to hear your preliminary tests have gone well so far.
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Michael Hancock
http://www.oswaldcommunications.com -
Really helpful Grinner. Why post?
Make a new user and reopen the project. See if they’re back. Also, make sure you’re timeline is showing your Record monitor and not your Source monitor (the source/record icon in the bottom of your timeline – is it Green? If it is, click it and you’ll see the timeline for your record monitor).
Also, check the sequence in your bin – set your bin headings to show tracks – does it list audio tracks? If not, you accidentally deleted them. In that case, go to the Avid Attic and find an earlier version of your bin and try to recover the audio tracks.
Those are the few things to check I can remember off the top of my head – I’m not in front of a system right now so I can’t do more research on how you might have turned them off.
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Michael Hancock
http://www.oswaldcommunications.com -
This is an old thread!
I’m not really familiar with how Macs handle partitions and its file system (I’m more of a Windows person), but on a PC if you partition your drive and install two operating systems it will reference only the partition you boot into for system files, and treat the other partition like a separate hard drive.
If Macs operate the same way, you can partition your drive and Avid will only see the quicktime version on the partition you boot into. Boot into the other partition and it will see the Quicktime version on that boot partition.
To be completely safe, get Carbon Copy and clone your drive to an external drive. Boot to that and make sure it’s good to go, then partition your internal drive and give it a shot.
Also, you can upgrade to MC 4.0 now for about $500 and get the free upgrade to MC 5 when it comes out (in June), and I believe 4.0 is supported on Leopard. It’s definitely worth the upgrade, and since MC 5.0 will support Quicktime files natively it will play great with your FCP install.
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Michael Hancock
http://www.oswaldcommunications.com -
If he upgrades to 4.0 now, he’ll get the 5.0 upgrade for free when it’s released in June. That might make it an easier sell.
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Michael Hancock
http://www.oswaldcommunications.com -
[Paul Dougherty] “If this P2 file structure is x-fered to a drive then if I “Import P2–>Clips to Bin” and point the Avid to the folder I should get valid field TC, yes?”
Absolutely. Avid will read the P2 media natively and bring in all metadata, timecode included.
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Michael Hancock
http://www.oswaldcommunications.com