I am two days off starting cutting on a feature and after the post company assured me that they could provide me the Genesis dailies @ DNxHD36 23.976 in MXF, they have now told notified me to say that they can only give me quicktimes in the DNxHD36 codec - I assume out of FCP...

What I need to know is what the problems are that will arise from quicktime dailies, other than the obvious having to import as opposed to simple copying mxf to media drives. I believe that if the quicktimes are in the correct codec, it should be able to do a fast import, is this correct or is there any special import settings that I need to be aware of? Also how will timecode convert into Avid from the QT, will I need to use metacheater or other software to get T.C info or am I better off getting BITC and manually setting source and T.C info? Also is there any traps that I need to be aware of with dailies being provided in this manner? Unfortunately I cannot get hold of a HD SR deck to digitize in, so for now the only option is for hard disk dailies.

Would really appreciate some help on this one,

Thanks

Matt

Your biggest problem, I would assume, would be the lack of metadata support on import into the Avid. No TC, no Edge code or Key code. You;ll have to enter that by hand...wouldn't you?

The film is shot mostly on Genesis cameras, with a few film shots for high frame rate stuff so hopefully keycode and edge code shouldn't be a problem but timecode will obviously be a big issue.

Have you heard of a program called metacheater: http://www.staticpictures.com/metacheater             It's a program designed for Red Camera workflow into Avid and basically takes the metadata from QT's and creates ALE files. I'm away from the Avid at the moment so will try it tomorrow and let you know. Any pointers for importing DNxHD Quictimes BLKDOG?

Thanks for your help,

Matt

Yes, Meta Cheater is definitely the way to go. If you were gonna tell me that you'd choke without TC, I was gonna point you there next.

What sort of pointers Matt? They import very well. 

I've tried the workflow with metacheater and it all seems to work fairly well so far. I've contacted production with my issues regarding QT dailies and it looks like they will now provide with a HDCAM deck with dubbed 4:2:2 dailies which will be much safer. 

In regards to working DNxHD36 what version of MC can you recommend as being the most stable, should I goto 2.7.7 or up to 2.8? I got stitched up by the hire company providing me with the very old 2.2.7 (which doesn't even support 36) so luckily I brought a couple of my own spare dongles that can go up to 2.8.

Thanks again for your wisdom,

Matt