Hi there,

I need to double check whether Avid Media Composer will be able to handle files that come from the mini video cameras - like the Flip Mino, Flip Mino HD or the Kodak Zi6, as I have Avid on order, and am deciding which camera to buy.

Here are the formats Flip and Kodak say it records in:

Flip Mino HD
H.264 video compression, AAC audio compression, MP4 file format

Flip Mino
Advanced Profile MPEG-4 AVI

Kodak Zi6
H.264 (MOV), AAC LC

Has anyone ever tried importing and editing files from these cameras before? Can anyone see that I might have any problems doing this?

My Avid Media Composer is on order and arrives next week... the guy setting it up says if I can find some files that have been recorded by these cameras he will try importing them to see if it works. Does anyone have a Flip or Kodak - do you know where I can find some test files?

Haven't tried any of these specifically, but Avid will open any QT movie that will play on your system, provided that it does not have a variable bitrate.

So, I would guess (but you'd want to test) that you could use QT Pro or some other software to convert the MP4 files to an Avid-codec file.

I have not used these specific cameras.  Chances are it won't be a direct import.  I have used Adobe Media Encoder, but as Kevin suggested, Quicktime Pro would be the way to go.  It will add quite a bit of time to your workflow depending on how large your files are.

Kevin Klimek:

...Avid will open any QT movie that will play on your system, provided that it does not have a variable bitrate.

That's not been my experience at all. I create MP4 (H264/AVC) files often and they are always of the variable-bitrate flavour. My Xpress Pro 5.8.4 has not had any issues importing these file types.

I have also been able to import Apple movie trailers (which are also variable bitrate and varying H264 Profile levels) without any hassle too.

Hi Irene and welcome to the Avid forums... Avid Media Composer comes with Sorenson Squeeze, a codec program which will convert media to/from a wide variety of formats...providing you can capture it onto your hard drive. Avid likes Quicktime files, btw...

i have used that camera(flip) as a pov and we had to import the files with windows movie maker and save as dv compliant avi and then import them into avid and all worked well

If Quicktime player can open and play it, Avid should be able to import it.

I wasn't 100% sure, but I have found I have had to convert QTs from some stock houses because while they would play in QT, they would not import into MC.

So, maybe you will have to convert, maybe you won't.

Dom Q. Silverio:

If Quicktime player can open and play it, Avid should be able to import it.

Recently I was testing some workflow options for exporting to Final Cut.  The file sizes using uncompressed and Animation codecs were too large to transfer to the FTP so I was experimenting with MPEG4 and H.264 QT files.  I actually exported some QT files from Avid MC 3.05 and then wasn't able to import them back into my bin.  I was able to view them with QuickTime player, but they wouldn't import into Avid.  These same files, however, did import into FCP.

Thanks for all your advice - much appreciated! I think it may be a case of waiting until Avid is set up and seeing if it works... I'm sure there'll be a way round it even if it doesn't import straight away. Keep your fingers crossed :)