I realize that the yellow highlight is to indicate that the files are not native in the Avid Media Files folder, but has anyone found a way to turn that off or change the color? I'm working with a few editors who find the yellow highlights in their bins distracting and hard to search through. Has anyone found a workaround for this? Thanks!

Checking around for you hellobowser....  it isnt that intuative to me so I am checkign with the engineering group to see if a. you could change the color to say blue or pink and b. if it can be turned off. 

I'll report back.

marianna

Hi again....

Unfortunately...........  yellow is it, and it can't be changed for now.

marianna

Ah too bad, but thanks for your help Marianna!

It is yellow because it needs to be transcoded.  Once the clip is transcoded it will not be yellow any longer.  You just need to transcode it to the DNxHD codec.  Right click the clip and follow the stetps.

Hope this helps.

I am new to the AMA process, so this is as much a question as anything, but can't you also just consolidate the files to any "Avid" hard dirve and continue to work with native XDCAM files? Or do the files have to be in a DNxHD code?

bobcat:

I am new to the AMA process, so this is as much a question as anything, but can't you also just consolidate the files to any "Avid" hard dirve and continue to work with native XDCAM files? Or do the files have to be in a DNxHD code?

 

It's my understanding that any hard drive containing P2 or EX material can be an AMA volume and would show up as highlighted.  So, if you simply move the file structure over then you're still using AMA.  If you truly do a "Consolidate" or Transcode, then the files will be converted to an Avid media type/codec. 

bobcat:

I am new to the AMA process, so this is as much a question as anything, but can't you also just consolidate the files to any "Avid" hard dirve and continue to work with native XDCAM files? Or do the files have to be in a DNxHD code?

 

Yes, you can continue work with the native XDCAM file.  I was letting him know that if he transcodes to DNxHD that it will not be highlighted yellow.

Are there any disadvantages to just leaving them in their original folder?  I am doing a job right now where some of the material is AMA (therefor yellow), and it seems to work just fine as is.  Am I setting myself up for something to go wrong by just leaving it?  I can consolidate if I need to, but I'm not sure if that's necessary.

FWIW, we're dealing with relatively large batches of tapeless media - sometimes combining P2 and XDCam - and have come close to reaching capacity of our 4.8 TB Sonnet eSATA array with a single combination project when consolidating/transcoding to DNXHD. While it's not recommended by Avid, we have taken to just using AMA and working off the source camera files stored on the eSATA array throughout the duration of the project. OTher than potential stability isses, which we haven't seen, the only significant challenge we've seen is losing the ability to export a QT Reference because of long-GOP video. It takes longer to export full QT files, but until things improve in the market and we can spend into the mid-four figures on more media storage, this seems to work for us.

I think it might be a different story if you're working from USB 2.0 or FW drives, SCSI or eSATA seems to have enough throughput to support working this way. We're also pretty backup-happy around here, so it's a lot less time-consuming to backup those camera files to a separate drive set (in our case, a DROBO) than it is to archive the Avid Media Files folder, sifted by media mover, to another storage location.

I'd be interested in hearing the concerns Avid has with working long-term with AMA-enabled media...

bobcat:

I am new to the AMA process, so this is as much a question as anything, but can't you also just consolidate the files to any "Avid" hard dirve and continue to work with native XDCAM files? Or do the files have to be in a DNxHD code?

 

if you consolidate AMA P2 or EX/XDCAM footage then they stay in their native codec - Avid can read them now, just has to re-wrap them in some cases as mxf files and pop them into the Avid Media Files folder. Once they have been consolidated to that folder then they stop being yellow. But they will still be in their native format.

I've heard that using lots of AMA volumes eats up memory, so that might be a reason to consolidate. I always figure that consolidating means the original copy becomes a backup, so after a shoot I copy the cards folder/files onto an external drive, then open in Avid and consolidate to an internal media drive. The advantage of AMA is that I can start editing immediately if necessary for quick turnaround. Or just go through and make selects for consolidating.

cheers

Campbell

gumbycat99:

bobcat:

I am new to the AMA process, so this is as much a question as anything, but can't you also just consolidate the files to any "Avid" hard dirve and continue to work with native XDCAM files? Or do the files have to be in a DNxHD code?

 

if you consolidate AMA P2 or EX/XDCAM footage then they stay in their native codec - Avid can read them now, just has to re-wrap them in some cases as mxf files and pop them into the Avid Media Files folder. Once they have been consolidated to that folder then they stop being yellow. But they will still be in their native format.

I've heard that using lots of AMA volumes eats up memory, so that might be a reason to consolidate. I always figure that consolidating means the original copy becomes a backup, so after a shoot I copy the cards folder/files onto an external drive, then open in Avid and consolidate to an internal media drive. The advantage of AMA is that I can start editing immediately if necessary for quick turnaround. Or just go through and make selects for consolidating.

cheers

Campbell

 

Thank you very much.  Extremely helpful!

Sincerely,

Todd