David Esp Video Technical Blog

• I installed Avid on a MacBook Pro where system drive had both a HFS+ partition (for Mac OS) and a NTFS partition (for Windows 7).  Also it had MacDrive installed, making the HFS+ partition accessible (read & write) to Windows.  Avid was first installed to just Windows.
• By default, Avid’s Media Creation settings had selected some items selected to the NTFS partition but others selected to the HFS+ partition.  As a result, both partitions acquired a [Avid MediaFiles] folder at root level.
• I understand (from www) that to prevent Avid from creating a [Avid MediaFiles] folder on a given device, one can pre-emptively create a file of the same name there.
• In addition, Avid’s Media Creation settings have options such as Filter Out System Drive and Filter Out Launch Drive.  Also Filter Network Drives Based on Resolution.
  • Latter confused me at first, i.e. what kind of resolution?  The Capture setting (tab) has a selection item for Video Resolution, the choices being DVCPro HD MXF or HD 720P MXF.   Surprises me that only these specific options should be given.  Not sure what to make of it…
    • http://pro.sony.com/bbsccms/assets/files/micro/hdtapelessworkflow/brochures/25633_AVID_Media_Composer_R2.pdf
      • Page 17: “Note: The setting for Video Resolution is ignored.”
        • This is when using Media Composer Import to get files from an optical-disc-based XDCAM camera
          • This is initiated by either [File > Import] or, from a Bin, (RightClick)>Import.
• Having not noticed the Media Creation Settings, immediately after installation I made a quick test project using QuickTime [.mov] files containing AVCHD from a Canon EOS 500D camera.
  • I simply dragged the files from Windows Explorer (on the camera) to an Avid bin.
    • Not sure what that counts as doing, I guess it’s another way of initiating an “Import”.
    • Could I instead have accessed the original (camera) format files via AMA?
  • The result was the HFS+ partition’s [Avid MediaFiles] folder contained [MXF] folder containing [1] folder containing a bunch of [.mxf] files, having names such as [EOS_0297.JPG13037404DB57E6B.mxf].  Also the database files [msmFMID.pmr] abd [msmMMOB.mdb].  The [.mxf] files were not recognized by either GSpot or VLC Player.

This entry was posted on Sunday, May 8th, 2011 at 14:19 and is filed under Avid. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.