Avid: Ingesting XDCAM-EX

How to ingest XDCAM-EX.  The following methods exist:

  • Quick:
    • But this leaves it long-GOP and it remains outside AVid’s managed media database.
    • Avid AMA link to XDCAM-EX’s BPAV folder.
      • Avid: File > Link to AMA Volume (e.g. folder containing BPAV folder)
  • Robust (or not?):
    • But this leaves it long-GOP and loses some metadata ?
      • http://dylanreeve.com/videotv/2009/xdcam-ex-workflow-in-avid.html
        • Basically if you import clips this way you are absolutely locked in to those specific media files. No backup will allow a recovery or relink, short of storing the actual files (exactly) as they are created in the Avid MediaFiles directory.
        • The easiest way to avoid this problem is actually to use the older process:
          • Using Clip Browsers ‘MXF for NLE’ export setting.
          • This will create OP-1A MXF files that you can then import into Media Composer
            • (the Avid will rewrap them as OP-Atom and relocate them to it’s media directory).
          • It is a slower process, but as it’s a standard import process all the necessary Metadata will be stored with the clips to allow a Batch Import later.
    • Rewrap to AAF (the “newr process”
      • http://dylanreeve.com/videotv/2009/xdcam-ex-workflow-in-avid.html
        • Essentially this method unwraps the MP4 XDCAM-EX files and re-wraps them as MXF Op-Atom (Avid’s mediafile container) and places those files directly into one of Avid’s media directories (such as F:\Avid MediaFiles\MXF\2) and then creates an AAF file that contains a clip describing that shot (basically the easiest way to get the shots into a bin).
      • ClipBrowser Help
        • [Export Avid AAF] converts to the following two file formats (AAF containing pointer(s) to MXF containing media).
          • AAF file: Use to load clips into Avid editing system.
            • The extension is AAF, and the output destination is the media or folder specified in the Export dialog.
            • AAF files produced by the conversion can be registered in your Avid editing system project by dragging from Windows Explorer to a bin in the project.
          • MXF OPAtom file:
            • The extension is mxf
            • The output destination is the media or folder specified in the Conversion tab of the User Configuration dialog.
              • Normally this is the media folder of your Avid editing system project.
      • http://pro.sony.com/bbsccms/assets/files/micro/xdcamex/downloads/Media_Composer_XDCAM_Workflow_v9_6.pdf (2009 article recommended on CreativeCow in 2010)
      • ClipBrowser: File > Export > Avid AAF
        • But first must define the Avid project’s media location?
          • [Avid MediaFiles/MXF/nn] where nn is an integer ?
          • e.g. [F:\Avid MediaFiles\MXF\2].
  • Luxury ?:
    • Convert to DNxHD
      • http://community.avid.com/forums/p/75837/552748.aspx
        • If you do not have a Nitris DX system then you will have to transcode the material to DNXHD after import. I find that doing a rough cut in Native XDCAM will reduce the amount of material (and therefore time) that I have to transcode for final effects and finishing.
        • Clip Browser … not needed now that AMA is working great.
        • Use AMA to link to the clips/volume.
        • Take a look and edit instantly onto a sequence,
        • …or use the consolidate command to copy the clips at the native resolution into the AvidMediaFiles folder (aka Managed Media).
        • …or use the transcode command to import the clips at an AVID DNxHD resolution of your choosing.

Web Research:

  • Avid AMA can do this.
  • Some people advise transcoding to DNxHD.
    • What then? Do you Import it so it becomes wrapped into an MXF file?  Or one for its Vid, another for its Aud?
  • Pre Media Composer 3.5 (e.g. MC 3.0, before direct AMA-based access to XDCAM-EX was possible)
    • http://dylanreeve.com/videotv/2009/xdcam-ex-workflow-in-avid.html
      • Essentially this method unwraps the MP4 XDCAM EX files and re-wraps them as MXF Op-Atom (Avid’s mediafile container) and places those files directly into one of Avid’s media directories (such as F:\Avid MediaFiles\MXF\2) and then creates an AAF file that contains a clip describing that shot (basically the easiest way to get the shots into a bin)
      • What is lacking in this process in Metadata control. When Clip Browser generates the MXF files it’s creating files that lack some of the metadata that Avid would normally use to relink a clip to media. Most obviously there is no Source or Disc Label associated with any of these clips. What this means is that Avid cannot relink this media. So if the Avid MXF file you create from Clip Browser is lost at all it cannot be relinked. Even going back to Clip Browser and re-exporting the same clip or clips to the same media directory will not create media that Avid will reassociate with existing clips or sequences.
      • Basically if you import clips this way you are absolutely locked in to those specific media files. No backup short of storing the actual files as they are created in the Avid MediaFiles directory will allow a recovery or relink.
      • The easiest way to avoid this problem is actually to use the older process. Using Clip Browsers ‘MXF for NLE’ export setting. This will create OP-1A MXF files that you can then import into Media Composer (the Avid will rewrap them as OP-Atom and relocate them to it’s media directory). It is a slower process, but as it’s a standard import process all the necessary Metadata will be stored with the clips to allow a Batch Import later.
    • http://community.avid.com/blogs/training/archive/2008/01/29/sony-xdcam-ex-with-the-avid-media-composer.aspx
      • Article from Jan. 2008.
        • Does the July 2008 article by the same author, further below, supersede this?  It exports instead to AAF.
      • Clip Browser: File > Export > MXF.
        • (Esp: How come MXF not AAF as in one of the other methods described below ?)
        • Choose a location for the files and click Start.
        • The clips are quickly rewrapped as MXF files, like the files from an XDCAM™ HD camera.
      • Media Composer: File > Import.
        • The import box opens.
        • Navigate to the folder where the MXF files are and select them.
        • The files are added to the Media Composer very quickly, because they aren’t actually being imported. Instead, the clip information is being created in the bin and the media is being copied to the Avid media files folder.
        • (Esp: Or simply drag them in using Windows Explorer?)
    • http://community.avid.com/blogs/training/archive/2008/07/26/mac-based-media-composer-and-sony-xdcam-ex-workflow.aspx
      • Article from July 2008
      • Borne out by video tutorial at http://www.sony.co.uk/biz/content/id/1237475652763/section/broadcast-reference-information-xdcamex (as of 8 May 2011)
      • Along with Mac – Intel support, version 2 of the Sony XDCAM EX Clip Browser software now enables the MP4 files to be directly rewrapped to Avid Media Files.
      • The first step is to select the destination for the MXF files.
        • The article says “Since these are Avid Media Files the exact folder must be selected: Avid MediaFiles – MXF and the appropriate numbered folder.”  I don’t understand why this is needed.  Sounds risky.  It is not the same as the target location for the AAF Export.  Confusing!
      • Now select the SxS card or folder where the EX media is stored; choose the clips to use in the Media Composer and select File, Export, Avid AAF.
      • Select a location (ad hoc, not Avid) for the AAF file(s) and click execute. AAF files are created with the clip metadata and the clips are rewrapped as OPAtom MXF files.
      • Now in the Media Composer, select File >Import.
      • Navigate to the folder where the AAF files are and select them. The clips along with sequences are imported into the bin linked to the media ready for an edit. The sequences can be deleted.
    • http://pro.sony.com/bbsccms/assets/files/micro/hdtapelessworkflow/brochures/25633_AVID_Media_Composer_R2.pdf
      • “Sony XDCAM HD & XDCAM EX Workflows in Avid Media Composer” © 2009.
      • XDCAM EX media (natively MP4) must be converted to AAF prior to import into the Media Composer application, using XDCAM EX Clip Browser.
        • XDCAM EX Clip Browse: Tools > Options
        • Options: Conversion (tab) > Avid AAF (pane): Select a location (for the converted media).
          • This must be the Avid-generated MXF folder for your project.
            • (integer) within [MXF] within [Avid MediaFiles]
          • Warning: For a new project, the Media Composer does not create an MXF (integer) folder until the first piece of media is imported.
            • A simple way to force the creation of the MXF folder is to import one of the Avid-supplied test signals into a Bin.
        • File > Export > Avid AAF
          • This has two effects:
            • Rewraps the long-GOP media into an MXF container file in the specified [ClipBrowser: Tools > Options > Conversion] location.
            • Creates an AAF file pointing at it.  Location obtained by user prompt, must not be in the MXF location, is typically placed somewhere temporary such as desktop or My Documents.
        • From Avid, Import the AAF file.
          • This creates a Bin and a Sequence in Avid, pointing (via the database system) to the MXF file(s).
          • I believe (not certain) that the AAF file is then dispensable.
  • But some find the AAF method unreliable:
    • http://community.avid.com/forums/p/68868/385092.aspx
      • Basically the recommended workflow with XDCAM EX material, as detailed in tutorials and forum posts here, using the Sony ClipBrowser’s “Avid AAF” export method has a serious weakness. Namely lack of Metadata. There simply isn’t enough metadat in the clips to allow Avid to relink the media should you ever loose the media files created in the initial export.
      • The only way to work around this currently is to avoid the ‘Avid AAF’ export method and instead opt for the ‘MXF for NLE’ export method which will create OP-1a MXF files that can then be imported as any video or image file would be. The clips then have the necessary information to allow a Batch Import later. But it’s a slower process.
    • http://community.avid.com/forums/p/75837/552748.aspx
      • The plan is to export from Sonys clip browser to MXF for NLEs (don’t want to use Avid AAF, because of the relink trouble).  From there importing the MXF files to a Avid Bin.

Questions:: What are MXF, AAF and OpAtom?

  • Clip Browswer 2.6 says (of the location field) “Avid AAF: Output OPAtom files To”
    • http://www.digitalpreservation.gov/formats/fdd/fdd000265.shtml
      • MXF Operational Pattern Atom (OP-Atom)
        • Open standard. Developed by the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE), a member of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI).
      • Operational Pattern (OP) for a file with a tightly defined structure for a single item of essence described by a single essence track.
      • OP-Atom is designed for applications where each essence track is held separately. According to an Avid promotional booklet, OP-Atom files are “applicable to content authoring steps such as non-linear editing, where programs are created by slicing and dicing different sections of source material.”
  • It seems like an AAF file in one folder can point at an MXF file in another folder.
    • http://dylanreeve.com/videotv/2009/xdcam-ex-workflow-in-avid.html
      • Essentially this method unwraps the MP4 XDCAM-EX files and re-wraps them as MXF Op-Atom (Avid’s mediafile container) and places those files directly into one of Avid’s media directories (such as F:\Avid MediaFiles\MXF\2) and then creates an AAF file that contains a clip describing that shot (basically the easiest way to get the shots into a bin).
    • http://www.pro-mpeg.org/pages/main.php?page=0002 – Title: “MXF Overview”
      • AAF may carry references to outside material held in other places, to be used in an edit whereas MXF is always complete and self-contained: not requiring any access to outside material. In addition AAF includes basic video transition processing whereas MXF, carrying completed programme material, has no need of that.

This entry was posted on Sunday, May 8th, 2011 at 18:11 and is filed under AAF, Avid, MXF, Sony EX XDCAM, XDCAM EX. 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.

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