MXF sample files for testing [Archive]

Tommy Schell

January 21st, 2009, 06:23 PM

Hello,

We've posted evaluation MXF files generated on the Flash XDR, found here:

http://convergent-design.fileburst.com/mxf/sample_1080i50.MXF.zip
http://convergent-design.fileburst.com/mxf/sample_1080i5994.MXF.zip
http://convergent-design.fileburst.com/mxf/sample2_1080i50.MXF.zip
http://convergent-design.fileburst.com/mxf/sample2_1080i5994.MXF.zip

Each file is around 30 Mbytes.

We have tested the files in Vegas, the video appears to be fine, the audio is fine in 1080i50 but skips in 1080i5994.
We've not tried the files in any other NLE.

If you are inclined to do so, please download these files and try them in a pc based editing system such as Avid, Adobe Premiere (with Main Concept MPEG2 plugin), Vegas or Edius. These NLE's require recent updates to support the 50 Mbit files. We would greatly appreciate any feedback on this. At this point they may or may not be accepted into all NLE's.

The initial evaluation software release for MXF support is very close.

Tommy Schell

Bill Ravens

January 21st, 2009, 06:48 PM

Dan Keaton

January 21st, 2009, 07:41 PM

Dear Bill,

Thank you! We appreciate your efforts.

We are working with Avid and Sony and others.

Today we shipped a Flash XDR to Avid so they can create files and then text them.

We are working very closely with Sony. We are getting wonderful support from both companies.

We have an Adobe Premiere system that we are going to load on a computer, but we have been swamped working on the firmware.

We are also working with MainConcept and they have been very helpful also.

We may have been working with others also. Apple was a great help in getting our Quicktime to work.

Our engineers are still working to get the audio correct for all video formats.

Thanks again!

Bill Ravens

January 21st, 2009, 08:55 PM

You're welcome. I received my purchased Flash XDR, today. Quite excited to play with 100mbps footage, so I have a vested interest in doing whatever I can. Workmanship and quality is very satisfactory. As of right now, the only means of injesting footage to PC is via Cineform transcoding. Am looking forward to expanding when mxf is working.

Mike Schell

January 21st, 2009, 09:31 PM

D/L'ed the 1080i5994 and 1080i50.....attempted to import into Avid. Fails to import with exception error message relating to audio problem.
File will load into Tmpgenc4, but, video is white. Also fails to load in Procoder3.
Opens in Edius 5 without any problems whatsoever. Plays back beautifully, Edius reports 50 Mbps rate.

Hi Bill-
Thanks! I am not surprised that the file worked in Edius as these guys are real CODEC wizards. We'll work with the Avid engineers to get the audio debugged. Tommy suspects we have some flag set incorrectly in the MXF header. Hopefully we can get this sorted out quickly.

I will also ask Tommy to post some 100 Mbps footage, but I bet this also plays fine in Edius.

Best-

Mark Job

January 22nd, 2009, 12:56 AM

I tried importing both 1080i 59.94 MXF files, Avid MC refused to import either file with the same error. Please see the attached error print screen of the malfunction.

Dan Keaton

January 22nd, 2009, 04:37 AM

Dear Mark,

Good Morning!

Thanks for testing.

Tommy Schell

January 22nd, 2009, 10:53 AM

We're having a bit of trouble with audio skipping in 1080i5994.
Here is a longer 50 Mbit sample (the audio skips in Sony Vegas) :
Could someone perhaps try this file in Edius, particularly noting whether the audio
drops out a half second here and there?

http://convergent-design.fileburst.com/mxf/long_sample_1080i5994.MXF.zip
(160 Mbytes)

Here are 100 Mbit samples: (45 Mbytes each)

http://convergent-design.fileburst.com/mxf/sample_100mbit_i50.MXF.zip
http://convergent-design.fileburst.com/mxf/sample_100mbit_i5994.MXF.zip

Thanks a lot
Tommy Schell

Tommy Schell

January 22nd, 2009, 11:02 AM

Bill Ravens

January 22nd, 2009, 11:42 AM

I can confirm the audio dropout in Vegas.
I can also report that the long file plays back without audio dropout in Edius.
-Bill

Mark Job

January 22nd, 2009, 11:45 AM

Dan Keaton

January 22nd, 2009, 12:18 PM

Dear Mark,

Thank you.

I have relayed the error message to our engineers. This is a good clue.

Tommy Schell

January 23rd, 2009, 10:01 AM

Thanks Bill, that is good to know about Edius.

PS Mark, I believe a recent update to Media Composer is needed to support the 50 Mbit.
We have 3.1.1, (which incidentally gives the same kind of error).

Tommy

Mark Job

January 23rd, 2009, 10:05 AM

Mark Job

January 25th, 2009, 12:37 PM

Dear Mark,

Thank you.

I have relayed the error message to our engineers. This is a good clue.....How about some more files to test in Avid MC please ? I'll test anything :-)

Dan Keaton

January 25th, 2009, 02:30 PM

Dear Mark,

Bill Ravens has been seriously testing our firmware release 0.0.218, which includes MXF support.

He reports that both audio and video is working fine in Vegas 8.0(c) and Edius.

He also reports Avid could not read our files. We beleive this to be related to the audio.

Mark, we feel that he is getting the same error message that you have posted.

Here are our current theories:

Technically, codecs should be reading the main part of the audio/video files to set up the parameters to process the file.

However, certain processing routines could be reading information from the metadata to set up the parameters.

We are still working with Avid.

In addition, we will be running tests after we load certain metadata fields with data.

Technically, according to the standard, we should not have to do this.

But, we feel that this may be the most expedient way to get our files to work with Avid.

This is not to bash Avid, I am just attempting to give a progress report.

We feel that many other codec developers are using the metadata to setup the parameters.

Also, we will be sending some files to Cineform for their testing.

Bill Raven's testing has been extensive, but this does not mean that we are golden in working with Edius and Sony Vegas 8.0(c). It just means that our limited tests worked.

Mark Job

January 26th, 2009, 01:06 AM

Hi Dan:
I believe your theory might well be proven, because I too, after watching very carefully what Avid does during the import process (Especially "when" the process fails) after several times, began to suspect a header data placement error, or quite possibly, where the header data is pointing to in the MXF file regarding where the audio sample chunk is placed could be incorrect. My Avid Media Composer begins to load the audio stream and only then fails. Hmmmm, how's Avid coding the header info ? I think the audio & video data is perfectly good for Media Composer, but the header data isn't. Here's a clue for you: Since the data error resides with the audio portion of the decoding process, then look for where the header data tells the application (MC) where to get the "sample" information for the codec. I suspect the data header tells Avid MC to look for the audio sample in a place in the MXF file it is not at. (??) This is just a theory on my part. You would know better being a software engineer yourself.

Perrone Ford

January 26th, 2009, 01:25 AM

Samples dropped into Vegas 8.1 just fine with audio.

No awards for cinematography though!! Keep the engineers in the lab!!

Dan Keaton

January 26th, 2009, 04:57 AM

Dear Mark,

We agree, thanks for your confirmation.

We will be examining our MXF header data, including all MXF fields, comparing it to a file that works in Avid.

Then we will be modifying our code to include this information in the appropriate metadata fields.

I feel that we are close.

We are getting confirmations that our MXF files are working perfectly in both Edius and Vegas 8.0(c). This is encouraging.

Thank you for posting.

Dan Keaton

January 26th, 2009, 05:07 AM

Dear Perrone,

In our lab, we have a large picture window from which one can easily see I-25 going through Colorado Springs. The view overlooks the "Garden of the Gods", an amazing place, and Pikes Peak.

However, we are looking though a plate glass window. At times we turn off the lights in the lab to reduce the reflections.

We have an XH G1, XL H1, and XL H1s allow pointing through the window. These are connected to typically four Flash XDR's for our testing.

At times, when we leave at night, we load up the Flash XDR's with CompactFlash Cards and then let them record all night. Then we check each and every file in the morning.

We could easily improve the images by rigging up a small box against the window to prevent the glare. A polarizer would help also.

Steven Lyons

January 26th, 2009, 05:57 AM

adobe premier cs3 with matrox axio.
Have tested all matrox presets for 1080i and while the mxf test files do import ok
they wont display a picture and when trying to load onto timeline system locks up.

Dan Keaton

January 26th, 2009, 07:11 AM

Dear Steve,

Adobe Premiere, including CS3, does not include a codec for XDCam 4:2:2 HL type files.

Regretfully, the necesary codec has to be purchased separately.

Here is a link to a MainConcept codec:

MainConcept: Information (http://www.mainconcept.com/site/prosumer-products-4/mpeg-pro-hd-7850/information-7862.html)

A free demo version is available from MainConcept.

Perrone Ford

January 26th, 2009, 08:21 AM

Dan, I was only kidding, but it's hilarious how close I was! Keep up the good wok guys.

Tommy Schell

January 27th, 2009, 01:57 PM

Mark Job

January 27th, 2009, 04:24 PM

We've got another file to try, found here:

(80 Mbytes)
http://convergent-design.fileburst.com/mxf/sample3_1080i5994.MXF.zip

We were able to load this file into Media Composer 3.1.1 .
(No awards for cinematography here, either, I'm afraid.)

More files coming and another release soon.

Tommy....Perfection ! This file imports beautifully as an Avid DNxHD 220 10 bit file ! This is the most exciting Colorado gas station I have ever seen ! The sight was wonderful against the beautiful Colorado Mountains ;-) Your local overpass looks well built too :-) - Better than our local overpasses in Montreal, Quebec, which fall down ! My version of Avid Media Composer is 3.0.0

EDIT: Uhh, I hope you got I was tongue in cheek about the Gas station & underpass comments ? ;-) I was serious about our road structures in Quebec ;-) Nudege, nudge, wink, wink.

Dan Keaton

January 27th, 2009, 04:37 PM

Dear Mark,

Thank you for the feedback.

We are trying.

We expect to post a new firmware release tonight. At this time we are doing more testing, specifically various video formats.

Mark Job

January 27th, 2009, 04:53 PM

Dear Mark,

Thank you for the feedback.

We are trying.

We expect to post a new firmware release tonight. At this time we are doing more testing, specifically various video formats....I imported this into a 1920 x 1080 project, which imports and plays perfectly-even in full screen mode at the highest resolution. I also switched project formats down to HDV (As it said on the video screen) @ 1440 x 1080 and it plays equally well in Media Composer in full Screen Playback mode. I was able to drop it onto the timeline and play it. Audio quality was good.

Steven Lyons

January 27th, 2009, 05:02 PM

adobe cs3 with Matrox axio le is supposed to support XDCam 4:2:2 type files.
I was excited by this initially because using the matrox hardware should give me realtime using these files, I have posted my findings on the Matrox forum and hope they can shed some light.
maybe it is the bit rate of the files, are they 50mbs or 100mbs?
or are HL type files in some way different?

Steven Lyons

February 11th, 2009, 05:03 PM

I have been talking to matrox axio about lack of compatibility of these mxf files with their 3.6 drivers with premier pro cs3.
I directed them to the posted mxf files and they did some tests with their new 4.0 drivers with premier pro cs4 and all files loaded and played back fine, this is indeed good news.