[Michael Thibault]

No. Avid disappeared with their tail between their legs. The last statement I had from them regarding that matter was that it was, “The Media Composer plugin for AMA link does not support the MXF wrappers from Davinci.”

I’m not going to get into a flame war about whether it’s correct or not. I’m simply telling you the facts of what they told me. Are they clueless? Duh. But being as they seem hellbent on AVOIDING solving the problem, I have no idea what the ‘real answer’ is. But I do know this; WHATEVER the workflow, if you pull media into Media Composer and it CHANGES THE TIMECODE that’s clearly NOT RIGHT. Software has bugs and this seems like a HUGE one.

As for my show, I’m in the process of overcoming the whole damned thing because there really is no solution coming. My original timecode was modified by Media Composer, and as slow and laborious as it seems, at least that is a way of getting me out of this flustercuck.

Avid Media Composer 8.4, FCP 7, cutting on an iMac Retina 5K, 27″ 4Ghz iCore i7 with 32GB of RAM

[Michael Thibault]

Hi, stavro.

Funny thing, THIS ISSUE turned out to be THIS ISSUE:

https://forums.creativecow.net/thread/45/902188

Avid has spent 3.5 hours remote driving my workstation a month ago and tried to figure it out only to hit a wall. After supplying them bins, media, and screen shots for them to tech on their end they now seem to have completely bailed on helping me. After not hearing from them for THREE WEEKS they closed my case number. When I contacted them about it they apologized and promised to call me last Monday. They didn’t. To paraphrase Archer, “That’s just classic Avid.”

Eventually I just re-transcoded the whole show again via Resolve and dragged the database .mdb file into a bin. Bypassing the AMA/Link Media plugin ‘solved’ the problem. If ‘solving’ equals ‘avoiding it like the plague.’

Avid Media Composer 8.4, FCP 7, cutting on an iMac Retina 5K, 27″ 4Ghz iCore i7 with 32GB of RAM

[Michael Thibault]

No, I get it. No hard feelings.

It may be an issue specific to 2K media. I noticed you were using the Blackmagic Pocket Camera. Maybe that’s a factor. I don’t know.

The MXF OP-Atom clips I transcode in Resolve seem valid to me. Whatever Media Composer says is wrong with them I can’t find in any other program. So If I inspect the ‘corrupted’ frames in Resolve or even bring DNG frames into Photoshop, there doesn’t seem to be a problem.

I can’t release media but I can send you some bins, if you like.

Avid Media Composer 8.4, FCP 7, cutting on an iMac Retina 5K, 27″ 4Ghz iCore i7 with 32GB of RAM

[Michael Thibault]

I am not “spreading” misinformation. That was a direct quote from the Avid tech who logged onto my system for 3 1/2 hours this morning and tried to suss the situation. Whether you see the same results as I do, I can’t speak to. I know that Scott Freeman experienced the same issue on his end, with his media, last night before he inexplicably deleted his posts. That’s why I posted a screen shot. Also, these people seem to have the same issue going back a few years:

https://community.avid.com/forums/p/103105/595281.aspx

https://community.avid.com/forums/p/107682/624012.aspx

https://community.avid.com/forums/p/125343/718259.aspx

https://community.avid.com/forums/p/95578/571339.aspx

It isn’t me and it isn’t my system. And being the messenger does not make me the bad guy or someone with ulterior motives or an idiot. I simply made the mistake of trying to cut a 2K feature in Media Composer 8 and it has DESTROYED my project. For 3 1/2 hours I watched the Avid tech support try every way to Sunday to fix the issue and even they couldn’t figure it out (Yet. Fingers crossed.).

I don’t know crap about the flavors of MXF or wrappers or AMA plugins or whatever. I just want to be cutting. And I’m not posting this as some evil attempt to badmouth Avid. I’m doing so that the next poor SOB like me who has this issue may find this thread helpful.

Avid Media Composer 8.4, FCP 7, cutting on an iMac Retina 5K, 27″ 4Ghz iCore i7 with 32GB of RAM

[Michael Thibault]

UPDATE: I just got off an epic 3 hour 35 minute support call with Avid who explained the problem as, and I quote:

“The Media Composer plugin for AMA link does not support the MXF wrappers from Davinci.”

Therefore it will not recognize timecode and generates its own which is completely different from the timecode embedded in the media.

The Avid tech struggled with multiple workarounds to try and force the correct the issue and ultimately could not get the system to stick to the correct timecode.

Currently I am uploading media for Avid to test on their end and it’s 50/50 whether they can figure out how to modify/change/replace the plugin so that Media Composer to recognize Resolve MXF and not change the timecode automatically. However, it appears that all the DNxHR SQ clips that I have transcoded from the AMA Linked HQX clips have the bad timecode baked in and have to be re-rendered and, theoretically, overcut to existing sequences. I say ‘theoretically’ because every time you bring in a new, correct media clip into Media Composer it immediately changes it to the wrong timecode that Media Composer thinks it already has in its databases. This seems baked deep in the way Avid manages media, which essentially puts you back behind the eight ball. Deleting bins, projects, settings, AMA databases, modifying timecode, etc., etc. doesn’t seem to make a difference. Once that bad timecode is a bin, it’s there to stay.

It’s a mess.

I’ll post if they figure out a workaround or solution.

Avid Media Composer 8.4, FCP 7, cutting on an iMac Retina 5K, 27″ 4Ghz iCore i7 with 32GB of RAM

[Michael Thibault]

Avid Media Composer 8.4, FCP 7, cutting on an iMac Retina 5K, 27″ 4Ghz iCore i7 with 32GB of RAM

[Michael Thibault]

I tried but the “Select Window” never appears. Plus, I have four weeks of footage. There’s no way I can go through all those steps for each and every piece of media. It’s either a global remedy or I eye match the show and get the hell off Avid.

Thanks though.

Avid Media Composer 8.4, FCP 7, cutting on an iMac Retina 5K, 27″ 4Ghz iCore i7 with 32GB of RAM

[Michael Thibault]

I transcoded my Cinema DNG in Resolve to DNxHR HQX files. I then brought them into Media Composer via AMA Link/Link To Media. Once there I transcoded those to DNxHR SQ files to edit with. I only discovered today that AMA linking seems to CHANGE the timecode of the clip in Media Composer.

Interesting tidbit: If I transcode DNxHR SQ files from Resolve and place those in an AvidMediafiles folder and drag the msmMOB.mdb file into a bin in Media Composer the timecode is correct. It appears that AMA linking is utterly flusterclucked. Unfortunately for me, that means I cannot get my show out of Avid.

Avid Media Composer 8.4, FCP 7, cutting on an iMac Retina 5K, 27″ 4Ghz iCore i7 with 32GB of RAM

[Michael Thibault]

These are 2K MXF files in a directory structure that matches the original camera media directories. So AMA/Media Link (whatever they want to call it) is the only way to preserve that path.

That is very depressing if you’re seeing the same thing. Basically, I can’t get my show out of Avid because the timecode has been changed. Every time I export an AAF of a sequence it uses the wrong timecode.

What a disaster.

Avid Media Composer 8.4, FCP 7, cutting on an iMac Retina 5K, 27″ 4Ghz iCore i7 with 32GB of RAM

[Michael Thibault]

OMG, right? I’m on DAY TWO of this nonsense. I don’t now why EVERYTHING in Avid has to be so damn difficult. It’s insane. If Apple hadn’t stabbed FCP right in the heart Avid would most likely be bankrupt already. Instead, they’re back in the mix and as buggy and money grubbing as EVER. Ugh.

Okay, I’m done ranting now.

Avid Media Composer 8.4, FCP 7, cutting on an iMac Retina 5K, 27″ 4Ghz iCore i7 with 32GB of RAM