Adobe OnLocation & Avid

C

cmus

Active member
I have downloaded the trial version of OnLocation. I have been unable to get recordings from any of the 3 recording types to successfully import into Avid (AVI type I, AVI type II, and QTIME). Back when it was calld DVRack, there was a fourth setting - QTAVID - that I could use without a problem. Can anyone who has the non-trial version confirm that using OnLocation with Avid is not a viable option anymore. If this is true, it will make me sad, and Adobe will not be getting my business for this product. If anyone has gotten these two pieces of software to play nice together I would love to hear how it was done.

Aloha,
Cmus
 
I just cranked mine up and checked the menu . . . AVI T1, T2, and Quick TM. I'll hook the camera up in the morning and see if any of the above will import into XPress Pro (without issue).
 
cmus said:
great -
let me know what you discover.
Click to expand...

I just recorded AVI1, AV2, and Quick TM with ON LOCATION on my PC.

(Had to disable the second monitor in order to see clips both during recording and playback--has something to do with overlays).

Tried various combinaions: 720/24p (not PN), 720/60, and multiple flavors of 1080.

In a (two actually) word: NO SOAP!

Avid Xpress Pro 5.7 DOES NOT like these files. It appears to "try" to import them however NOTHING shows except a dull white (blank) screen when I try to edit or play them.

So, bottom line, Adobe's ON-LOCATION is not a viable option for capturing and import to XPress Pro. Kinda makes sense I guess . . . no problem importing any of these files into Premiere Pro (CS3 Production Premium). There may still be some retail copies of DV Rack 2.0 HD (VideoGuys?) around . . . I'm selling mine with/on my laptop (here) in the marketplace.

Best.
 
What a shame. They have lost me as a customer. The white screen you found is exactly the same thing I found in my testing. I guess they have a personal vendetta with Avid as they left the Quicktime format in there with specific instructions in the help menus on using that format with Final Cut Pro.


Thanks for looking into this for me.
Aloha,
cmus
 
Why can't Avid get their act together and work with established fiormats? I'm not happy with what Adobe did, but certainly Avid isn't blameless either.
 
THoff "Why can't Avid get their act together and work with established fiormats?"

You mean like QuickTime??? Avid won't run without QuickTime. I can't even begin to tell you how many times Apple has left Avid screwed because Apple decided to create a point releace without letting anyone but themselves know about it. On a PC, Avid also requires the installation of Windows Media Player. So there are a couple of examples for you as far as "established fiormats" are concerned.

Frequently, what happens with competeing products is that they do not releace their development code to each other until very late in the game, or even until after they have releaced their own "latest and greatest", giving their own product an edge in the market for awhile. This leaves the other company(s) scrambling to find a fix if it needs one (which it usually does).

This happens with Avid and Apple all the time because of FCP. Another case in point... I would love to know why the PC install for Avid Media Composer is 656 MB in size while the Mac installer is a bloated 1.02 GB in size. Seeing that Avid was born on a Mac its my theory that Apple has so many things layed into its OS that Avid is forced to work around it all, causing the programming code to get so big.

Anyway... thats my 2 cents.
 
Let me be more specific: why can't Avid work with the DVCProHD AVI files, or the DVCProHD QuickTime files. For some reason Serious Magic had to add a QuickTime Avid output option to DV Rack which contains the exact same video format as the DVCProHD QuickTime files, in the same container file format, but with different information in the header.

Remember, DV Rack doesn't handle the encoding of the video, it just writes it do disk.
 
cmus said:
What a shame. They have lost me as a customer. The white screen you found is exactly the same thing I found in my testing. I guess they have a personal vendetta with Avid as they left the Quicktime format in there with specific instructions in the help menus on using that format with Final Cut Pro.


Thanks for looking into this for me.
Aloha,
cmus
Click to expand...

No problem.

Yeah, it's a drag but, if you think about it, it's not a vendetta. They're just protecting their interests (remember, this stuff isn't shareware).
 
THoff said:
Let me be more specific: why can't Avid work with the DVCProHD AVI files, or the DVCProHD QuickTime files. For some reason Serious Magic had to add a QuickTime Avid output option to DV Rack which contains the exact same video format as the DVCProHD QuickTime files, in the same container file format, but with different information in the header.

Remember, DV Rack doesn't handle the encoding of the video, it just writes it do disk.
Click to expand...

My understanding of this is not perfect, but as far as I know this is not totally accurate.

The major problem for those wanting to do DVCProHD 1080 24P is that there is no such thing. Although the spec for DVCProHD has support for progressive 720, all 1080 is interlaced. Therefore to get to 1080 24P the files must be put into a different CODEC when the garbage frame is removed. I think DV Rack hacks the file by changing the timecode flag and removing the garbage frames is such a way that Avid will still import it. This is why they look terrible in Quicktime (which still shows it as a DV100 (DVCProHD) file). Technically it is stored in a non-spec CODEC (I think).

When they are imported into Avid you must select an Avid CODEC (DNxHD 115 or 175) that supports 1080 24P. That is how they are stored on disk and is essential to the Avid processing engine.

What is needed is a simple batch conversion utility that converts the DVCProHD MXF file directly to a DNxHD 175 MXF file, removing the advanced pulldown and preserving the audio. DVCProHD and DNxHD are open source specs, so I think anyone with the right programming skills could do it. Until someone does copies of DVRack are going to be gold to Avid users.

Bob
 
Bob Gruen said:
My understanding of this is not perfect, but as far as I know this is not totally accurate.

The major problem for those wanting to do DVCProHD 1080 24P is that there is no such thing. Although the spec for DVCProHD has support for progressive 720, all 1080 is interlaced. Therefore to get to 1080 24P the files must be put into a different CODEC when the garbage frame is removed. I think DV Rack hacks the file by changing the timecode flag and removing the garbage frames is such a way that Avid will still import it. This is why they look terrible in Quicktime (which still shows it as a DV100 (DVCProHD) file). Technically it is stored in a non-spec CODEC (I think).

When they are imported into Avid you must select an Avid CODEC (DNxHD 115 or 175) that supports 1080 24P. That is how they are stored on disk and is essential to the Avid processing engine.

What is needed is a simple batch conversion utility that converts the DVCProHD MXF file directly to a DNxHD 175 MXF file, removing the advanced pulldown and preserving the audio. DVCProHD and DNxHD are open source specs, so I think anyone with the right programming skills could do it. Until someone does copies of DVRack are going to be gold to Avid users.

Bob
Click to expand...
DVFilm Maker can already do this (take MXF, remove advanced pulldown, encode to Avid DNxHD Quicktime).

Also if you have HD AVI's already recorded with dvrack you can switch the codec flags to Raylight and then use Maker. If you search the dvfilm discussion board for DVRack you will find the free program that switches the flags.
 
I found another solution to this problem. Sorensen Squeeze can also convert the OnLocation avi files to Avid DNxHD files which then import fine into Avid.

Hope this helps someone....

Aloha,
Craig
 
sorenson

sorenson

Thanks Craig!

cmus said:
I found another solution to this problem. Sorensen Squeeze can also convert the OnLocation avi files to Avid DNxHD files which then import fine into Avid.

Hope this helps someone....

Aloha,
Craig
Click to expand...
 
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