Improved AVCHD to Media Composer Workflow

While we wait for AMA support of AVCHD there is an improvement that I found that some may know but I thought I would share it here for those that missed it.

Step one – Convert AVCHD (.mts etc.) file to avi using Cineform Neo Scene.  This $100 product is gaining alot of attention because other NLEs are beginning to support the Cineform Codec natively.  This works with cameras like the Canon 5D/7D too.  It converts the color space to 4:2:2, handles 24p correctly and is considered visually lossless.  It is fairly fast too.  I know that there are alot of TMPGEnc fans out there (and there are others) but there is another reason for using Cineform.

Step two – Open MetaFuze (a free Avid product – download latest version at www.avid.com/metafuze) and open the avi file created in step one.  Yes the Cineform codec is supported in MetaFuze when you have the free Neo Player or the Neo Scene product installed.  Choose your flavor of DNxHD and point the output directory it to the Avid MediaFiles directory of choice.  Add any pertinent meta data as needed.  Then transcode.  It allows you to dedicate mutiple CPUs as needed, and group files to batch process.

Step three – Fire up Media Composer, open a project, then use the media tool to locate the files you created in step two.  Drag them to a bin.  Your files are immediately ready to use.  That beats a fast import any day. 

Enjoy!

Keith

MC 5.5.2 not responding when playing clips

Hi all,

I've just purchased and installed Avid after being away from editing for a year or so. I have started a new project, accessing my clips through AMA link. I can scroll through the clips fine when I drag them into the playback screen and scroll the mouse over the timeline, but as soon as I hit play the clip stops after a second and Avid crashes with the curser going into beachball mode. I have to force quit avid and start again.

I have checked the footage in XDCAM clip browser and they are ok. The project settings in Avid are consistant with how the footage was captured (1080p/25). I have uninstalled and reinstalled Avid MC but the same problem occurs with every clip.

I am on an iMac OS X 10.7.1 Lion, 3.06 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 4GB 1067 MHz RAM.

Any help would be greatly appreciated as I am up against a deadline with this project!

Thanks

Daniel

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 13th, 2011 at 6:47 am and is filed under Video Editing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.