XF File Structure Questions

[Paul Winterton]

Hello Group,

I'm a new user and don't want to make assumptions that could come back and bite me.

I'm offloading clips into Edius and see that there are numerous files within each clip folder.

CIF, ew2, XML, MXF, MXF.ew2, and SIF.

I believe the MXF file is all I require in Edius, as it carries video, audio, tc, and clip info, but why all the other files?

Are they only for internal use in the camera?

I don't want to discard them in the logging process if they are important down the road.

Input please.

Thanks for reading.

Paul Winterton
Vancouver, Canada

[Erik Norgaard]

Hi:

Because of limitations on the file system on the CF cards, files cannot be more than 2GB, so longer clips is stored as a number of files. I suppose these extra files stores some meta-data to join files correctly.

If there is no canon plugin to your editing program I suggest you use the Canon XF utility. What this does is to join the files together in their respective clips. If you just copy the folder, or just the MXF files, of the card you have to join those by hand.

BR, Erik

[Roger Averdahl]

Originally Posted by Paul Winterton

I don't want to discard them in the logging process if they are important down the road.

When working with any camera that records to memory cards - Always keep the whole folder structure and all files within that folder structure.

As Erik points out, there is metadata in those files that are important for your NLE to have. Some NLE's even refuse to import footage if/when the folder structure is broken or nonexistent.

I save the cards on the HDD like this:
D:\Project name\Media\Card_01
D:\Project name\Media\Card_02
D:\Project name\Media\Card_03
etc, etc.

Drop the CONTENTS folder from the cards into each folder.

By doing this each card is separated from each other and all is good. Rename Card_01, Card_02, etc to whatever suites you best and make sure to drop each CONTENTS folder in there. Do not rename the CONTENTS folder. :)

/Roger

[Andrew Strugnell]

Originally Posted by Roger Averdahl

Some NLE's even refuse to import footage if/when the folder structure is broken or nonexistent.

Keep your folder structures intact. An example of this is in Final Cut Pro - one cannot import footage from the CONTENTS folder if it has some files missing. You can't import straight MXF files either.

[Steve Maller]

On my Mac, I've taken to copying cards to my Mac's Desktop using a simple "Rsync" command in Terminal:

rsync -av /Volumes/[name of card here] ~/Desktop/CARD-`date +%m%d%H%M`

This creates a folder on your desktop which is a duplicate of the card. The name of the folder becomes "CARD-05270944" (assuming the date and time I wrote this post) to avoid overwriting subsequent copies.

This folder then can be used as a source for the XF Utility or the Log and Transfer function in Final Cut Pro. Once you've imported the footage, the CARD folder can be deleted (or archived somewhere).

[Philip Lipetz]

Great idea, but be very careful when using terminal to issue root level unix commands, it is very easy to mistype and screw things up without recovery. Terminal is not user friendly. Odds are that any simple mistyping will simply not work, not do anything. But terminal is a dangerous environment for the uninitiated. None of the protection you are used to in OSX. There can be no recovery from an error.

Cut and paste Steve's command line instruction, and put in the proper name.

[Steve Maller]

Phillip,
It is true that one should be careful, but note that this command does not utilize "sudo", and by its design is non-destructive. In other words, it should not delete files, ever. At least in the perfect world that *I* live in. :D

[Nigel Barker]

Rather than using rsync I think that it's simpler & safer to use Log & Transfer to create a disk image of the card & then work with that disk image.

[Steve Maller]

Originally Posted by Nigel Barker

Rather than using rsync I think that it's simpler & safer to use Log & Transfer to create a disk image of the card & then work with that disk image.

That's funny; I didn't know you could do that from the L&T window. You learn something new every day. Thanks!

From the Final Cut Pro user manual:

Archiving to a Disk Image

The Archive to Disk Image command produces a readable, writable disk image that is easily stored on other hard disks or disc media and can be easily opened to access the archived content.
To create a disk image of a card

In the Browse area, make sure the Hierarchical List View button is selected.

Select the card whose contents you want to archive.

Do one of the following:

Control-click the card icon, then choose Archive to Disk Image from the shortcut menu.

Choose Archive to Disk Image from the Action pop-up menu in the upper-right corner of the Browse area.

Enter a name for the disk image file. By default, the name of the volume is used.

Important: The name you enter here is the name of the disk image (.dmg) file, not the name of the disk image contained within it.

[Ulf Laursen]

Originally Posted by Erik Norgaard

Hi:

Because of limitations on the file system on the CF cards, files cannot be more than 2GB, so longer clips is stored as a number of files. I suppose these extra files stores some meta-data to join files correctly.

If there is no canon plugin to your editing program I suggest you use the Canon XF utility. What this does is to join the files together in their respective clips. If you just copy the folder, or just the MXF files, of the card you have to join those by hand.

BR, Erik

Hmmm, which version of the XF utility do you have that can join clips together? I have 1.1, but cannot find any optin that joins files to f.ex. 1 1 hr. clip.

Thanks.

[Graham Bernard]

Erik, how have you joined 2gb sections together to form one continuos clip? Both Ulf and I are listening very carefully.

Grazie

[Roger Averdahl]

AFAIK, there is no way to join clips in XF Utility.

There is an option to export the .MXF files, but spanned clips are not joined.

[Graham Bernard]

OK, Roger, let's be absolutely clear here: Spanned, when Canon use it, means spanned across TWO CF cards. I'm guessing you are using the word to mean the clip that "spans" over the 2gb limitation?

In any Event, for Canon to produce a Utility that presents an hour long clip as a single clip and then NOT be able to deliver what is being view in the Clip Browser, for my purposes, is truly tragic.

And again, I call upon Canon to come here and educate me as to how this can be achieved.

Tragic . . . . .

Grazie

[Graham Bernard]

Ulf? In the instructional DVD you have, does it mention a way to do this? Really silly question of mine, as you WOULD not be asking here and "other" places too.

Grazie

[Roger Averdahl]

Originally Posted by Graham Bernard

I'm guessing you are using the word to mean the clip that "spans" over the 2gb limitation?

Yes, that's what i meant.