HQ 35Mbit to Avid fast import
 

I got this from someone called Brad.

I made an ffmpeg wrapper so it's just point and click. I figure other people might be interested so I'll temporarily post it here:

http://www.entitynine.com/xdcamex/XD...o_Avid_0.5.zip

If you set your import settings in Avid properly (maintain, square pixels and 709 color space), Avid will Fast Import your quicktime with no additional transcoding (besides the mp4 to quicktime translation). This isn't an Avid product and it's the first version, so use at your own risk. That said, it's worked successfully for me for getting footage into MCSoft on both PC & Mac and also into a Nitris.

Brad

This is a windows application (.exe) so don't post questions about how to get it working in mac because I don't know at the moment. I have asked for Brads email so I can ask him myself about the application. I haven't had time to try it on my own yet either since its Christmas and I'm nowhere near a NLE.

/Andy

Very interesting! I'll try it out as soon as I have watched Disney cartoons (yes, we do that here in Sweden for x-mas), stuffed myself with ham and herring and watched my 2 year old open up all of her presents...
That might mean late tonight or maybe tomorrrow.

Anyway, good news for us Avid users. Andreas, do you know if it handles the audio as well?

Andreas,

Sorry to cross post (I asked over on the Avid forum as well) -- how does one use this? IOW, how do I run the 35MB HQ files through the app? Or, is it that once you click on the ffmpeg.exe file, it is resident on your system, and no need to run files through an intermediate step? Appreciate the info.

Keith

There's an .exe that you run that allows you to input .mp4 files and output DNxHD. I'm running under Parallels. Now I've got to download some .mp4 files to try it. It looks very nice!

Thanks, Steve -- there are x3 .exe files, but I see now that the one named "XDCAM EX to Avid" is the hero.

Keith

I actually don't know anything about it yet since I don't have any windows machine to try over the holiday.

I guess it will do audio as well since it's based on the ffmpeg scripts that I got from the ffmpeg devs.

There is a readme file in there to saying it will only do 1080 at the moment. I guess that has to do with the ffmpeg version used since they have 720p support in ffmpeg now but I haven't seen it yet.

It works but it´s slow
 

Ok - I have tested it now. It works very well and is userfriendly BUT it is sloooow! I have a slow computer at the moment 3.2 P4 and it took almost 12 hours to transcode 15 minutes of material. I imagine a modern Dual core computer being 3-5 times quicker but it is still not a very smooth workflow.
However - it works. Audio comes with it and the import into the Avid is reasonably fast.
It is a wonderful feeling to edit 1080p in Media Composer. I am amazed at how much better the 35 Mbit-compression looks compared to 25 Mbit. The 25 Mbit-shots I have taken are often full of macroblocking but the 35 mbit is very clean and looks fantastic!

Thanks for this app. I was able to transcode at about 1.5x realtime using a dual 3.0 intel on 1333 bus. My main question is, why only the 3 resolutions and why only 115 or 175? The Xpress has to retranscode on import because it only has 145 and 220 capabilities. Or am I missing something.

But it does work and looks good. Thanks again.

Chris

115
 

115 and 175 is for 23.98. 145 and 220 is for 60i and 30p.

If and when you output to disc, you can squeeze more 23.98 material onto it... or a longer program onto the same HDCAM tape.

Can we get access to the other DNxHD resolutions for 30p 60i projects?

Chris

Here is a link showing DNxHD and what bitrates there are for different resolutions and frames per second.

Ffmpeg has been updated so that 720p works and now there are more bitrates available (36Mb, 60Mb, 90Mb, 120Mb, 185Mb)


http://www.itbroadcastanddigitalcine...#Encoding_VC-3

So does "Brads" wrapper work with 720p now? Or does he need to change his program as well? I can only get it to work with 1080p25.
And where did you get the software from? Is Brad active on this list? It would be nice to hear if he has got plans to support other resolutions as well.

This only works with Media Composer right, not Xpress Pro? Right?

It should work with xpress pro. As I remember it Xpress Pro has the same DNxHD-resolutions.

As I said before I haven't been able to try this out yet since I don't have any Windows PC nearby. I will try it when I get back to work Jan 7.

I don't know who brad is since he only posted this as a comment om my site. I have asked for his email address.

Brads wrapper is 1080 only as stated in his readme. It is depending on ffmpeg.exe and the version he uses is not the latest since he took it from a precompiled version available on the net.

If you like to you can complile ffmpeg from source. But that is a bit tricky for win32 versions. I only compile ffmpeg on linux since its easier.

Or you can monitor these two sites for win32 binary files (.exe) precompiled and ready to go. In time there will be a 720p ready version released there too.

http://ffdshow.faireal.net/mirror/ffmpeg/

http://arrozcru.no-ip.org/ffmpeg_builds/

Brad will probably update his wrapper to work with 720p also when he has time.

As far as i know Brad is Brad Kean who is a student at University of Southern California working on a thesis film called Entity:Nine.

http://www.entitynine.com/

I think its kinda funny since we visited USC when we were doing our NAB trip to look at HDTV cameras and thats when we first saw the EX1 and now USC students visit my site about EX1 :)