New AMA-feature changes XDCAM EX workflow dramatically
 

In the newly released Avid Media Composer 3.5 there is a new feature called AMA. The idea of it is to be able to link P2 and XDCAM EX media directly to a bin without importing or copying the actual media.

I have tried this now for a couple of days and it will probably change my workflow dramatiacally.

Before the AMA-feature my workflow was this.

1. Offload cards using Clip Browser to HD.

2. Make backup of BPAV folder to second HD.

3. Convert clips to MXF into a temporary directory on a third HD.

4. Import MXF clips into Media Composer.

This meant copying to media 4 times before starting to edit. It also meant using at least three times the drive space of the original media. (After throwing away the MXF-files).

Now - with AMA I can remove almost all of these steps! I can actually get away with no file copying at all.

One workflow is this.

1. Put SxS-card into laptop.

2. Use AMA feature to browse to SxS card ant point to it. Wait 5-10 sekonds and voila - the clips show up in a bin and you can start editing straight from the card.

Of course you will need to consolidate your edit when you are finished if you don't want the card to remain permanently in the reader. This would be great for news. Absolutely NO off load time.

The workflow I will be using will be very differnt from my old workflow.

1. Offload clips to HD. (My fast Avid Media drive)

2. Make backup to another HD.

3. Use AMA to point to the media on the fast Avid Media drive. And start editing.

The great thing about this, apart from only having to copy the media twice instead of four times (With shotput you can do this in one go) is that I actually don't create Avid media files ever. The media remains in it's original BPAV-format forever. This means that if my media drives crash I don't even have to relink the media from a backup. All I have to do is plug in my backup drive and point to the media on my backup and I'm of again. A couple of minutes of lost editing time.

AMA has also meant that all of my archived footage since I bought my EX1 now is online instead of requiring at least two file copies to be available in the Avid. All I have to do is use AMA to point to it on whatever drive it is on. I've even managed to point to media on our backup NAS over the Gigabit LAN and use it for editing.

I find AMA revolutionary and I truly hope that there will not be any flaws or bugs in the feature that show up with time.

Of course! There were flaws. Serious ones!
In the last couple of days I have discovered two serious audio problems that are probably related.

1. When applying an audiosuite effect onto an AMA-linked clip the MC freezes. After downmixing the audio this works well. I have not had this confirmed from other users. Please report back!

2. This is the serious and almost unbelievable one! When editing with AMA-media from XDCAM EX it is not possible to move or edit the audio into other tracks than track 1 and 2. If the media ends up on other tracks than 1,2 it is MUTE! The wave forms show but playback is muted. This was pointed out to me by another user in this forum and I just confirmed it. More confirmations would be interesting. How about P2?

I'd be very interested in confirmations on these two problems and especially would like to hear Avids view on this. How is it possible that you have released this feature without finding these problems?! When will they be fixed. As of now AMA is a useless feature.

old work flow
 

how did you convert your files to MFX and can i do it without the clip browser?
i am having problems capturing my files recorded onto a MxR reader.
see this thread please
http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/sony-xdca...clips-mxf.html
aloha
tito

AMA and Audio Suite
 

Media Composer Readme 3.5 page 23...

AMA (Avid Media Access)

➤ If you apply an AudioSuite Plug-in to an XDCAM EX clip linked through AMA, the
system freezes when you attempt to render.

Workaround: Consoldiate the media before you render, or do not install AudioSuite
Plug-ins if you plan to link to XDCAM EX media.

More AMA info is there. Good luck.