Clipbrowser 2.0 and Avid MC 3.0 - drag and drop?

[Ola Christoffersson]

I have just installed the new Clip Browser and am trying to figure out the new workflow for Avid Media Composer 3.0.

If I am not completely wrong I am supposed to be able to drag a clip from the Clip Browser to an Avid bin and - voila - the transfer should be complete. I cannot get this to work! Has anyone been successful doing this??

What happens instead is that I get an error message saying: "The file format of "my clipname.XML" is not supported for import."

I have been successful using Export to Avid AAF-format though, but find it a bit messy: When I export a clip it automatically creates a Media file on my Avid media disk. It also creates an .aaf-file in a folder of my choice. When I use the Avid Media tool I can find the clip on the media disk but it has a new name: "Sony Voyager".
When I drag the .aaf-file to an Avid Bin it not only creates a Master clip with the correct name referencing the "Sony Voyager" clip in media tool but also a Sequence containing the same clip (?!!!).

Is this really how it is supposed to work? Why does it create a Sequence for each imported clip? And will all my clips from now on have the identical name "Sony Voyager" in media tool instead of their original clip names?

I am posting this after just an hour of trying so forgive me if I have misunderstood it all. I'd be very interested to hear other Avid users experiences with the new Clip Browser.

[Bill Ravens]

yes, according to the user manual, this works only with AAF pre-exported files. So, all you really save is the transcoding time when you import from mxf into a bin.

[Ola Christoffersson]

Originally Posted by Bill Ravens

yes, according to the user manual, this works only with AAF pre-exported files. So, all you really save is the transcoding time when you import from mxf into a bin.

Thanks Bill. I realise that the Clip Browser manual does not promise any more than this but I have heard that Avid officials have claimed that drag and drop should work. That is why I am wondering if I am doing something wrong or if they have promised to much.

If anybody has had more success than I doing this please post. Also - what are the implications that all clips have the same clip name if I need to rebatch import my material? Will this still work?

[Ola Christoffersson]

Okay - I can live with that workflow. It saves me one stage of copying the media. HOWEVER - I have run into another complication that I cannot get my head around. Here it goes:

If I export using the Avid AAF-format and then drag and drop the AAF-files into my project I get the media into my Avid in one step but if I then for some reason loose my media files, through a disk crash most likely, I cannot figure out how to get the media back into my sequence. I have tried reimporting the clips and relinking but it does not work. I cannot batch import either since the master clips only reference the AAF-file and not the media.

I cannot find a solution to this. Can Avid/Sony really have ignored the need of rescuing a project/timeline after a disk-crash?

Using the MXF-work flow batch importing works absolutely fine - even if I have renamed my master clips.

Any ideas?

[Bill Ravens]

two possible solutions:
1-you'd need to go back to the SxS BPAV file and re-export the AAF.
2-I'm beginning to doubt the wisdom of exporting the AAF. I think it's better to stick to the mxf export, then do an import when in avid. save the original mxf export as a library media file in case you ever need to re-import.

if the truth be known, I'm not seeing the value on purchasing ANY of the mainconcept transcoding software, especially considering the $500+ purchase price to remove the watermark. Export to mxf, as the only viable( and free) choice. there are lots of alternatives, for example, one can also export using cineform to avi, which is a virtual lossless, 4:2:2 10 bit format, and it's considerably cheaper than the HDCAM 422 transcode available from mainconcept.

[Ola Christoffersson]

Originally Posted by Bill Ravens

two possible solutions:
1-you'd need to go back to the SxS BPAV file and re-export the AAF.
2-I'm beginning to doubt the wisdom of exporting the AAF. I think it's better to stick to the mxf export, then do an import when in avid. save the original mxf export as a library media file in case you ever need to re-import.

if the truth be known, I'm not seeing the value on purchasing ANY of the mainconcept transcoding software, especially considering the $500+ purchase price to remove the watermark. Export to mxf, as the only viable( and free) choice. there are lots of alternatives, for example, one can also export using cineform to avi, which is a virtual lossless, 4:2:2 10 bit format, and it's considerably cheaper than the HDCAM 422 transcode available from mainconcept.

I have tried number 1, maybe I was not clear about this in my previous post, and I cannot find a way to relink the media into my sequence. I am back to using "no. 2" for now. I'll confront Avid with the problem and let you know if they have a solution. Seems increadible that they would accept this loss of security in a project.