AF100 & Avid Workflow

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Billygoat

Active member
Having just tried dealing with AVCHD from my new AF100 and Avid Media Composer 5.x, I am hoping there is a better, workable way to deal with footage from this camera's on board SD cards. It seems Media Composer 5 cannot directly access MTS files through Avid AMA? Is this correct? I then found transcoding them during import to Avid DNx115 took about 20 minutes for 8 minutes of 1080 24p. This is not a good ratio, particularly for work under deadline.

Is there a better way (without buying Nano?)

If I were to use the Nano, would the media generated by it be read directly, as mxf files are from my P2 gear without transcoding?

What's working for those few Avid guys left out there?
 
I've been using a panasonic consumer AVCHD cam for behind the scenes footage for the last year and your workflow is my workflow. I convert the contents of the SD card using the Panasonic AVCHD to P2 transcoder, then import into Avid MC. I'm still running MC 4. I was planning to upgrade to MC 5 once the AF100 arrives, but from what you're describing I'm not sure I see much of a reason to do so. I've been using DNx115 for pretty much everything as well, including 7D footage. I feel like my conversion times were closer to 1:1, but they typically run overnight so I'm not completely sure.
 
Owen said:
I've been using a panasonic consumer AVCHD cam for behind the scenes footage for the last year and your workflow is my workflow. I convert the contents of the SD card using the Panasonic AVCHD to P2 transcoder, then import into Avid MC. I'm still running MC 4. I was planning to upgrade to MC 5 once the AF100 arrives, but from what you're describing I'm not sure I see much of a reason to do so. I've been using DNx115 for pretty much everything as well, including 7D footage. I feel like my conversion times were closer to 1:1, but they typically run overnight so I'm not completely sure.
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Panasonic has ended allowing download of that Panasonic AVCHD to P2 transcoder as of November 26 2010. Why? Perhaps it was adding too much compression to already heavily compressed AVC?
 
That transcoder transcoded to DVCProHD, which is lower resolution and not square pixels. I don't see why anyone would want to do that. There's other codecs to transcode to that will retain the resolution of footage shot with the AF100.
 
Mike@AF said:
That transcoder transcoded to DVCProHD, which is lower resolution and not square pixels. I don't see why anyone would want to do that. There's other codecs to transcode to that will retain the resolution of footage shot with the AF100.
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Yeah that's what I'd heard, forgot about that. Man I was really spoiled with P2 and Avid. I had a feeling this was the monster hiding under the bed.
 
Billygoat said:
Having just tried dealing with AVCHD from my new AF100 and Avid Media Composer 5.x, I am hoping there is a better, workable way to deal with footage from this camera's on board SD cards. It seems Media Composer 5 cannot directly access MTS files through Avid AMA? Is this correct?
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Yes, this is correct. Avid 5.0.3.x might be able to do it. That's what I've heard, but those versions have introduced some instability and most people are staying well away from them.

Billygoat said:
I then found transcoding them during import to Avid DNx115 took about 20 minutes for 8 minutes of 1080 24p. This is not a good ratio, particularly for work under deadline.
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Yea, might be a problem.


Billygoat said:
Is there a better way (without buying Nano?)
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Better? Or do you mean faster? What kind of machine are you using?

Billygoat said:
If I were to use the Nano, would the media generated by it be read directly, as mxf files are from my P2 gear without transcoding?
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Yes, Nanoflash files are usable via AMA. If fast turnaround is your thing, then you need to find a way to use AMA.

Billygoat said:
What's working for those few Avid guys left out there?
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Importing / transcoding to DNxHD works fine for me.
 
Billygoat said:
Yeah that's what I'd heard, forgot about that. Man I was really spoiled with P2 and Avid. I had a feeling this was the monster hiding under the bed.
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There are a few monsters under the bed in my opinion.

eg. The Still Lens Monster, The SD Card Reliabilty Monster, The Noise Monster, The Transcode Monster .....


BTW: DVCPRO HD has more than adequate resolution for Broadcast purposes and an excessive amount as is required for Computer display, streaming and Web purposes.

Yes ... P2 mxf did spoil us. Makes you wonder why it was dropped.

The issue is called 'Feature Creep'.
 
Shooter said:
BTW: DVCPRO HD has more than adequate resolution for Broadcast purposes and an excessive amount as is required for Computer display, streaming and Web purposes.

Yes ... P2 mxf did spoil us. Makes you wonder why it was dropped.
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That doesn't change the fact that you're losing resolution by transcoding to DVCProHD. SD is fine for broadcast purposes too, but rarely is anyone shooting SD anymore. DVCProHD is an old, outdated codec and if you use it for editing AF100 footage you're compromising the quality of your image. It's not true HD. It's 1280x1080 with non-square pixels. There's newer codecs that are better suited for AF100 post workflow.
 
Mike@AF said:
That transcoder transcoded to DVCProHD, which is lower resolution and not square pixels. I don't see why anyone would want to do that. There's other codecs to transcode to that will retain the resolution of footage shot with the AF100.
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:( I knew there'd be a catch. I never analyze the behind-the-scenes footage very much... but there's no way I'd subject my main feature footage to this. Oh well. I did wonder why the application was no longer showing up on the Panny web site as a download. It's super-handy for low-level stuff that's just getting down-converted to SD anyway.
 
Billygoat said:
Yeah that's what I'd heard, forgot about that. Man I was really spoiled with P2 and Avid. I had a feeling this was the monster hiding under the bed.
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AMA reads practically ANY .MOV file. Batch convert to one of those if you want, then edit in Avid with AMA. But this is a mojor reason I Suggest to people they look at the ENTIRE workflow before locking themselves into a purchase.
 
Barry_Green said:
It wasn't. It moved upmarket. The brand-new HPX3100 is a P2/MXF camcorder.
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Yeah I know it is still being used by Panasonic . They obviously dont have any issue with it at a high level ( as I dont)

... but , I was kind of really saying... I wonder why it was dropped for this camera.

It sort of leaves this camera at the bottom end of pro acquisition and at the high end of amateur acqusition.
 
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