BWF files... Argh!!

ScoobySounds

ScoobySounds

Well-known member
Is there some kind of program available anywhere (preferably for free) that can display easily all the BWF timecode stamps next to the filename or something?

when there's so many damn files, I'm opening each one up in ProTools to see what the timecode is, there has to be an easier way!



ALSO! each program has its way of using these BWF files, like I know that in Final Cut Pro you have to use a free bit of software called Sebsky Tools. What is the method or program to import BWF's into Adobe Premiere Pro?

Cheers guys!
 
I second the BWG Widget recommendation if you're running Windows. Courtney (the author) is a great resource when you have questions, too.

Phil
 
nice one thanks for that -- easily sorted problem

it looks to be just the thing!

Shame its not totally free, the pro version seems much better.. i'll see how much i need those extra features.


Anyone Know about importing into Adobe Premiere Pro?


Cheers, again!
 
Dude, BWF widget PRO is on of the coolest little apps out there for this sort of thing. Courtney is a really bright dude who actually works in the industry. When I demo'ed the beta version before he released it I was VERY impressed. My only complaint is that it's PC only because it uses windows media player in the background, and for some reasons there are issues with getting it to work on the Mac. Plus, Courtney isn't the biggest fan of Macs anyway. I've had long discussions with him about this. However...if I had a job that paid the right amount of money, and the need was there, I'd gladly get a cheap PC laptop just to run BWF widget pro. It's amazing the things it can do. It really is one of a kind. Courtney put a lot of thought into it.

-Dave
 
Oh...there is a program out there called BWF reader that's free, but it's still a little buggy. not nearly as nice as BWF widget pro.
 
Thanks Dave! well i've got 15 days of widget-normal to test out, one annoying thing i've found so far is that you can only display one folder at a time, each folder is for a separate slate, so there are loads of folders, it would be nice to see them all at once.. does pro do this?

Hmm.. if so.. what else does pro do?

I don't want to spend too much on anything because of PMS .......(Precurement of Microphones by Schoeps!! :) )
 
Just found out from the Premiere forum that BWFs can't be imported into Premiere? Seems ridiculous, but hey.

SO, does anyone know of a batch converting method for converting many bwf's into wav's to save me doing each one by hand?

Perhaps this can be done in Audition?

Thanks!
 
Scooby,

I believe BWF Widget Pro can do this for you...you may want to check this out. It can also apply pull ups and pull downs at the same time (I think...it's been a while since I checked it out.)

Phil
 
All you really need to do is rename the BWF files to WAV files. You lose the metadata but the audio should be fine.

Good luck
 
wabbit said:
All you really need to do is rename the BWF files to WAV files. You lose the metadata but the audio should be fine.

Good luck
Click to expand...

Some apps will choke using that techniques (although some may not).
 
.... Did not know that. I have done that with a Avid Media Composer that wouldn't accept BWF. Also did it on FCP while working out an issue with importing BWF. No choking in either case. Premiere and other programs might be another deal. I know at some point I will have to deal with Premiere and BWF.

Good to know though, thanks.
 
BWF files are just wave files with an extra "chunk" in them. Any program that is coded to read wave files properly should have no problem playing a BWF file, though they won't be able to read the metadata.

.wav is a perfectly valid extension for BWF files - in fact I think it is the official extension.
 
I'm definately up for trying that! seems like the best idea for now, before I shell out for Widget.

however even that will be an extensive excercise with so many files. ok, so how do I "batch re-name" a thousand plus files at a time, there HAS to be a program that does that! don't fancy spending a day right clicking and file renaming all day :)

*grumble*moan* bloody premiere. *grumble*moan*


Cheers fellas.
 
Shoot, the Internet crapped out at work before my post went up. Oh well, here it is again:

To rename a batch of files (this only works on Windows...sorry Mac guys and gals...)

You go to a command window (Start/Run/cmd.exe). Navigate to the folder your bwf files are in. At the c:> type:

ren *.bwf *.wav

And there you go!

(If you copied the files from a CD or DVD, they are probably read-only, and this won't work. You first have to use the attrib command to make them all read-write.)

Okay, see, DOS is still good for something. ;-)

Phil
 
Phil, Thanks so much!


Had to do a wee bit of brushing up on my DOS commands, navigating to a folder in DOS is like hacking into a bank or something.. but got it eventually!

I tried it myself before I called the Director, guided her through it and she's happy now!

does that method work if I wanted to convert all files in a folder to a shorter common prefix too? say changing all files in a folder which all have a prefix of "SCENE-01-T", to just having "T" as the common prefix. i've been trying to do this with quotation marks etc but can only make the filenames longer (or the same length) for some reason.

ren "SCENE-01-T*.*" T*.*

I thought this might do it, but it just changes the S to a T
 
DOS rules and all, but if you're doing a lot of complicated renaming -- or want to -- there are a TON of free open source batch renaming utilities out there that allow you to do all sorts of cool stuff on the renaming front (like serializing files with sequence numbers, etc.).
 
Good grief lads!

For renaming and file managing power, try Total Commander. Its multirenaming tool is just exellent. Using that together with its filesearch is brilliant. I'd rename all your files in less than 10 seconds that way.

Find it at http://www.ghisler.com

I've been a user of that for about five years now.
 
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