Sorry for this 'noob' question but for the life of me, for the life of me, I can't figure out (other than dragging the pieces over) how to transfer MXF files over to my PC laptop.

When you look at the P2 card (under My Computer) there are the various folders; Audio, Clip, Icon, Proxy, Video, Voice. Obviously the various clips have been broken up into it's A/V pieces. Basically, is there software to convert or transfer a clip over as "one" clip?

I've tried dragging them over separately but even just importing a file into Avid doesn't work for some reason. I believe my version is Avid Xpress Pro 5.1. But ideally, I thought you could just transfer the shots, clip by clip, the various files locked together. Is there software that does this...? If so, where do I download that from because my CD doesn't seem to want to install, various error messages.

Also, is there a reason Avid doesn't recognize these clips (from dragging them straight over then importing)?

Thanks for any help!!

You should NOT move individual files from the P2 card across. You will break the "connections" if you do that. Copy everything from the P2 directory (including the small "text" file - that has the pointer to the last file on the P2 card) into a sub-directory of your notebook.

I use Canopus Edius Broadcast - no problems getting into my harddisk.

Thank you for the reply. I'm actually not familiar with Canopus. Do you import the files into your computer using that, then import them into Avid?

Also, Canopus might have it on there, but how do I transfer "master clips" that link the various A/V media. I can't find anything on Panasonic's website and we all know how their customer service is, haha.

My issue is that I want to preserve some shots at HD, instead of downcoverting. I have a shoot this weekend and need the card space. The way the Panasonic video makes it seems is that you can 'easily' just transfer your master clips over and bam, done. But it seems like everything is in pieces.

http://www.avid.com/resources/whitepapers/Q2_06_hdcameras.pdf?featureID=991&marketID=

Take a look at the PDF linked above...it talks about the P2 workflow within Avid.

James

Jason - the easiest way to do this is to use the P2 Viewer Panasonic software. You can view the P2 card while it is still in the camera with the camera in the USB mode, then transfer desired clips to virtual P2 cards on your computer by viewing the P2 card in the primary bin, setting the virtual card in the secondary bin, then dragging the desired clip or clips onto the virtual card. This sounds hard, but it is extremely easy. I'll watch for your posts here if you have any other questions after you download the P2 Viewer and play with it.

Cool, I'm giving this a shot right now (the virtual bins), I'm just figuring out the set-up of it. I feel like a real tool asking this but how do I set-up the virtual drive? I have the primary on top, with the various clips. On the bottom it says Virtual Drive but there's nothing specified and when I try to copy or drag clips there, it's blocked out.

In Avid, for the heck of it, I was able to record the clips on the fly, even though there are digital hits all over it (but not in-camera). Maybe my laptop isn't fast enough... I'm gonna try my desktop. Also, I'm still trying to import the individual clips and I'm still getting the error message of XDCAM format is not supported, or something like that. I tried a 60fps clip (30p) and then a regular 24pa clip, neither imported into the project.

I don't have this in front of me at the moment, Jason, but with the P2 Viewer program open, in the upper right there is a tools button. Click once and you should see four buttons. Allow your pointer to sit on each one until you see something like something like "Set P2 cards". Click on that, and select any empty folder on your computer (or make a new folder). Then click the confirm buttons and that should set your folder as a virtual P2 card. Under the View heading, set this folder as your secondary bin, with the P2 card in the camera as the primary bin. You can then drag clips from the primary bin to your virtual P2 card as you please. Sorry I didn't get back with you yesterday - I'm a physician and I've been on-call at the hospital this weekend. I'll check here again later today. Mark