P2 from data DVD Not recognized ??

Eric Papa

Eric Papa

Well-known member
I did a commercial a year ago on HVX, now the client wants a new commercial and wanted to use existing footage from the previous one. I copied the P2 which was burned onto DVD back to the Hard Drive, but Avid doesn't recognize any of it. First, it would freeze up upon scanning drive F during startup. I started copying a few clips at a time and have most all of the files in a folder under MXF, but the media tool doesnt see anything...? It sees the new files recently shot no problem, which are now in the same folder..Has anyone experienced this or know any workarounds?
 
Avid doesn't support P2 media stored on an optical drive; I found that out the other day. We archive our MXF files directly from P2 or the FS to an Iomega Rev disk. Easy and elegant, thought I, until I tried the other day to use the P2 Import feature in Avid, and it would only grab the first file. I was having a major panic attack, because that was the only source for the media (Firestore was long since reformatted). I tried copying off all the CONTENTS folders to a local hard drive, and then attempted the import, and it worked just fine. I would suggest copy your DVDs to a temp drive, and importing using the Import P2 command. After that you can delete them from your hard drive, as you'll still have the "masters" on DVD.

I believe it has something to do with the file format used on optical disks, and on the Rev disks, for that matter. I think it's UDF, which is what enables discs to be read on both PCs and Macs and so forth. However, the files are written a little bit differently (I think some extra bits are appended or something) and that makes them not readable to the Avid. I don't know if it's an issue with other NLEs or not--never tried. A bit of a pain at first, but for a small amount of media, it's not a big deal.

Hope that works for you.
 
cbrougham - I actually copied them off of the DVD onto a Drive before I imported. I tried to upgrade to 5.7.2 but it doesnt agree with my audio card so I have to finish up a few projects before I try again.

So right now I am still doing mxf/1 and copying and pasting the audio and video files into the desired folder. I narrowed it down to a few clips that might have been the problem and deleted them but Avid still wont recognize any of the old clips, even though it scans and initializes them...? Maybe I need to try to take the footage of the DVD to the drive again...
 
I'd try creating a new folder in your MXF folder, like:

X:\Avid MediaFiles\MXF\2\

Then dump just your video and audio MXFs in it (just like the good ol' days), and restart the Avid. It SHOULD index that folder and create the database files properly. You could also try trashing the database files (they're MSM*.* something or other--I always forget) in your MXF\1 folder, too, and see if that works first.

Coincidentally, are you bringing an old project back online, or are you starting a new project and bringing the existing media back into it?

colin
 
Yeah i actually had 6 folders that I was dropping a few clips in at a time, and then starting a new folder so I would know the other folders are ok. Once i start up Avid, and it locks up upon scanning a drive, the only solution is to power off the computer manually. so i did that for a while until i narrowed it down to about 10 files - one of them was causing the problem. so i thought that was good enough, but when avid scanned and indexed, still nothing showed up in the media tool, not even one clip.

yes i am just bringing old p2 into a new project. first time i have tried so its kinda giving me an uneasy feeling about the other 100 dvd backups i have...
 
Try replicating a P2 card's folder structure on the root of a local hard drive, if you can. Maybe copy one DVD's worth of media into this:

X:\CONTENTS\alltheotherfoldersthatgoinsidehere

Try restarting the Avid then, and see if it will index that folder. The Avid will recognize a hard drive as a P2 card if the folder structure is correct. Then see if you can use the media tool to import those clips.

Baby steps :)
 
OMG ive been so slammed wih projects I never got around to deleting the original clips off of :C/Avid MediaFiles/MXF/1

This was my first project I did with the HVX lol Its too late to start the project, but at least I can sleep now. Thanks for the help, Im gonna try re-copying the DVD to the drive tomorrow and see what happens. peace
 
Hehe. Been there. Done that.

One reason they might not be showing up in the media tool though, is because you may not have checked the "show media from all projects" option. Because the files that you're dragging into the folder aren't yet associated with the project you're working on, they won't show up if you only have that project selected. Checking that option will show you EVERYTHING at which point you should be able to bring in the ones you want.

Good luck!
 
Just so you know guys, I've filled a page in my notebook with all the tips I've picked up in this little dialogue so far... just in case you were getting exasperated thinking it was all to no avail. I'm loving the resources on these forums more and more every day!
 
Taking notes is a good idea.

OK so I recopied the Data DVD to a different Hard drive, cut and paste files into mxf/1 Open Avid, it scans and initializes files, but still nothing shows up in media tool???
Anyone?
 
In the Media Tool, select ALL of your projects, and be sure precomputes and media files are deselected. Select only the media drive that contains the clips you want.

Post back once you try that...
 
I tried the all projects, Ive also been working on the Avid Forums too. They said this:

"When you copy files from a DVD to your hard drive they retain the Read Only permission settings.

Just select all the files you copied, right click, go to Properties, uncheck the Read Only box, then hit OK. It will change the permissions of everything you selected so you now have Read/Write access to them.

Delete your database files, launch Avid, watch it rebuild them and try to view the files in the Media Tool again. Hopefully this will solve your problem."

--

I did that and it still does not show up in the media tool. is there somewhere to make sure I have full control or something like that, I remeber having a problem like this when i first started with P2
 
Check that your Media Creation settings are set to MXF. I think prior to 5.7.x, the media creation setting default to OMF, and since you said you had started a new project, more than likely you're set to OMF. Not sure it'll matter, but see what happens.
 
Can you copy one of your CONTENTS folders (and everything in it) to the root of a hard drive, and then try restarting the Avid? It should index that drive as a P2 device and not a media drive. Then, you can use Media Tool to look at the temporary P2 "device", select master clips, and then drag them into your projects bin. I still contend that that's the reason they're not showing up--they're not associated with any project. See what happens then....
 
what do you mean by the root of the drive, i copied the contents to F, then made a copy of the contents and cut/pasted them into MXF/1 - still nothing
 
Well, here's an example of what my hard drive setup looks like:

C:\ <-- windows system drive
D:\ <-- my "Projects" drive, where exports and graphics and that stuff lies
E:\ <-- my "Avid_1" media drive (contains Avid MediaFiles\MXF\1 folder)
F:\ <-- my "Avid_2" media drive (contains Avid MediaFiles\MXF\1 folder)
G:\ <-- my "Avid_3" media drive (contains Avid MediaFiles\MXF\1 folder)

I've never had much luck copying MXF files directly into any of my Avid MediaFiles\MXF\1 folders. Yes, it works (most of the time) but I think it's clunky.

So, what I do is at the ROOT (which just means at the top-most level) of my D: drive, I copy in my P2 card's (or FS-100, usually) CONTENTS drive and LASTCLIP.TXT file. My D: drive would then look like this:

D:\CONTENTS\

Inside the CONTENTS folder are the AUDIO, VIDEO, CLIP and other folders. What this does is cause the Avid to look at that drive AS IF IT WERE A P2 CARD. Then, when I launch the Avid, that drive gets indexed as a P2 card and NOT as a media drive. When you go into the media tool, that drive will show up. You then select it in the Media Tool and select masterclips--in theory, your masterclips will then pop up in the bin display. You then drag those masterclips into your project's bin, and consolidate them. That will copy them from your temporary fake P2 card onto your media drive.

Head spinning yet? :)
 
Have you tried another DVD of media to see if this happens with all your clips, or to see if it's maybe just this DVD? If it's just this DVD, then you've got a corrupted disc or corrupted files on your hands, and there's pretty much nothing you can do at that point--except maybe take up a monastic lifestyle and move into the forest. If it happens with ALL your media, then your files and DVDs are likely good, and there's just some switch along the way that we're forgetting to throw.

I ain't givin' up on you yet...
 
Yeah I just tried a DVD of 720/24pn a different project, same thing.

I was on the phone with Avid today and got a new 5.7.2 installer and got things up and running. The import P2 works great with the footage directly from the P2 card. With the footage transfered from DVD it still doesn't show. I choose Import P2>clips to bin, its scans the files just like its about to throw them all in the bin, then says "No files were found! Are you sure you imported from a P2 media"

So at this point non of my archived material is working. Im not sure what step Im missing, if I don't get it working with Avid tomorrow I will be posting a video clip on here of the whole process to see if Im missing something..

Also, no matter how many times I tell the contents folder NOT to be read only, it is still read only when I right click it, the folders inside the contents folder are not read only.
 
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