Is it okay to trash the MXF files once they are unwrapped?

J

Jake Hensberry

New member
So this seems to be a pretty standard question around here that dosen't seem to get a clear response.

I'm on FCP, I have all the footage "Imported" and a capture scratch filled with QT files. I also still have the initial MXF files from the drag and drop copy procedure from the P2 store.

Everything seems like its working fine and the files are working great. I know I'm never going to an AVID or native MXF program for this project.

So can I kill the huge MXF folders and know FOR SURE that the QT movies will sill be fine and don't refrence the MXF's in some weird way that disable them from playing once the MXF's are deleted?

Your assistance is appreciated!
 
I think you would be okay but there have been reports of the imported quicktime files sometimes having dropped frames or blockiness on some frames that were not there on the original mxf data files. So I'd be 150% sure that all the files are flawless before deleting the source mxfs. It's nice to have something to fall back on just "in case".
 
Jake,

I wouldn't dump the MXF files.... for the future FCP will be able to handle the MXF files natively.. atleast I hope. Also the MXF files have all of that wonderful metadata so I'd want to keep them. Just don't leave them on the harddrives.. back them up to DVDs. That is what I've been doing.. especially in light of my harddrive crash that happened and brought me to tears.. boo hoo. Currently I have about 100 DVDs of HVX footage backed up. In the future.. this will be more desirable than the quicktimes... Especially if you or someone else is editing on the PC.

Keep 'em as they will be more compatible in the future with FCP.. and already they are compatible with Mac/PC. Just my .02.
 
most people don't have 14x speed drives and discs plus wouldn't you want to verify your data here if anywhere? so at least 10 - 15 min. each
 
Pascal_Parvex said:
Right now, I will convert my footage to high quality WMV for achival. Will the extra color information be lost?
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WMV changes too much. You want to think at least 20 years ahead when it comes to archival. What you should do is simply keep the MXF files on a hard drive and watch technology. When it looks like computers will no longer support MXF (or for that matter, hard drives) then you'll have to make your decision at that time.
 
Jake Hensberry said:
So can I kill the huge MXF folders and know FOR SURE that the QT movies will sill be fine and don't refrence the MXF's in some weird way that disable them from playing once the MXF's are deleted?
Click to expand...

Yes. There's no referencing between the QT files and the original MXF. Though I'd prefer if there had been, so the QT re-wrapping would be a tiny file and get rid of this whole issue.

I'd say... as long as you assure yourself that the files are good, sure, trash the MXF. That's what I do. I've never had a problem with the conversion to quicktime; also, some peoiple complain of corrupted MXF file transfers (I've never seen one of these either). So, in my mind, you HAVE TO convert to QT if you want to view the things and make sure they're OK... so just do that. It's pretty much just as fast to just import QT directly from the card as it is to copy the MXF data... so that's what I do. Import P2 right off the card, check, and wipe the card.

I'm not contradicting the arguments about transfer to other systems, but here, as for me, they're irrelevant - it's FCP for the foreseeable future. And, QuickTime is a pretty solid standard that's more likely to last and be supported by conversion software than MXF...
 
For those who can play both Quicktime and MXF files can you see any difference at all between the original MXF and the converted MXF files at all? If not and you play back all the Quicktime clips and find they are all good, then why keep the MXF? It just takes up more space right? Is MXF supposed to be better for some reason?
 
There is no difference whatsoever in visual quality between the MXFs and the MOVs.

The only reason to keep the MXFs is if you plan on using the metadata or using the MXF files in the future on an MXF-aware system.
 
Jon Nelson said:
PKendall

I'd love to hear about your equipment set-up and workflow for archiving!

Thanks!
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I handwrite all the 1 & 0's onto notebook paper. j/k

seriously, I archive raw footage onto internal IDE harddrives. they are pretty cheap and stack up pretty well in the closet. you can buy enclosures to swap them in and out of... when i'm editing a project, I store the MXF files on one drive and the quicktime converted mxf file on another... On top of that, I actually do archive just the consolidated media and project on to DVDs... Not the raw footage... it usually fits on to one dvd-r... but i've had dvd-r's crack when they get old.. it's pretty scary... in the long term, I would either back up the raw footage on to DLT or onto dvc-pro hd tapes.. but I'll wait until it starts getting crazy with archiving..


-patrick
 
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