Moving one mxf file to new location

Shooter

Shooter

Veteran
I am wondering how you guys and gals would move one mxf file to a new location on the hard drive in my PC before I delete all the rest.

All the mxf rushes are in the original P2 Structure and I have a new location that is also a P2 structure (if I can use that)

What files do I need to copy and move and is there an easy way or even a utility to do this?
 
I usually do this at the Explorer level, but P2 Viewer can make it a little easier and more visual.

In P2 Viewer, go to Tool > Setting Virtual P2 Cards. Click the button that looks kind of like an index card with a star on it (I have no idea what it really is). Navigate to the containing folder of your first P2 structure (the one you want to copy from) and hit OK. Do the same for the second P2 structure (the one you want to copy to). Exit out of this dialog.

Back in the main P2 Viewer window, select View > Show the Primary BIN > *location_1*, where *location_1* is the location you want to copy from. You'll see the contents of the first P2 structure appear. Go back to the View menu, but select Show the Secondary BIN > *location_2*, where *location_2* is where you want to copy to. A new pane will open below the first structure, and show your destination P2 structure. Now, you can copy and paste, or even just drag-n-drop files from the source to the destination. This will copy all the requisite files from the original structure--clip information, icon, audio files, and video files--in one step. Kinda nifty.
 
Great. Thank you both.

Was also wondering if P2 Forge has any functionalty for this purpose. (Must check it out )
 
Shooter,

Yes P2 Forge will do this, but it's a little different than the way P2 Viewer works. Instead of creating virtual P2 cards and loading them into the two bins, you can load one, some, or all of your existing P2 structures into the "Reel Manager". From here, you can preview clips in the P2 Player, edit metadata, and make selects that are added to the "Clip Selection List". P2 Forge's Player also has some nice search features which will help you find specific clips.

Once you've got all your selects, you use the "Copy All To..." feature, which gives you the option of creating a brand new P2 structure containing all your selects in the destination of your choice.

Now, I believe the caveat of this is that you can't point it to an existing P2 structure--at least, I haven't found a way to do this. The author of the software has been very receptive to ideas for improvements, so that could be something that was added.

EDIT: Actually, I found this DOES work! Simply select the containing folder of your P2 structure (the level above the CONTENTS folder), uncheck the "Preserve Separate reels" option, and P2Forge will not create a new structure, but just drop the files in their correct folders. Sweet.

Don't really know the reason for the multiple file/folder structure, but would like to know myself. I'm not sure if that's an MXF convention, or a Panasonic implementation of MXF. I remember reading something here on DVXuser from Barry where he had talked to the engineers at Panasonic, and they described the intensive error correction that happens in P2 recording. I wonder if the reason for the multiple files is that it makes error correction possible, or just more efficient. If video, audio, metadata and more were interleaved like in a standard AVI or MOV container format, it might prevent error correction. I don't know that this is the case at all--hopefully someone more knowledgeable will weigh in.
 
Shooter said:
Barry - if you (or anyone knows)

Why was mxf designed as a multiple file structure?
Click to expand...

It just happens to be organized that way on P2 clips- mostly to keep spanned clips together I imagine and simplify ingest. But that's where P2CMS is helpful by resetting the directory structure from all clips on a card to individual clips.

Noah
 
P2CMS includes P2 Viewer in it. Yes it's separate, but you can summon P2 Viewer from within P2CMS.

P2CMS is available on both platforms, P2 Viewer is Windows-only.
 
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