I just want to import the hirez footage skipping the proxy stage.

I'm editing the .mxf files in the "clip" folder.

The footage appears to import but video is stuttering and audio drifts out of sync.

It's like it's playing off a CDROM or slow disk but it's my regular Avid drive array. Or the fields might be flipped, but changing the field order under Import doesn't seem to change anything.

What's the secret?

Hold on.

At the end of my wits I tried transcoding a clip I dropped on an empty timeline ... and the transcoded video worked just fine.

Do I have to transcode a finished timeline, and do I have to work with this stuttery video in the mean time? What exactly is going on when I import the XDCAM .mxf files and it seems to be rendering?

I guess does XDCAM HD work out of the gate on SN?

The Symphony Nitris only works in full raster (1920X1080) with the DNxHD codec. To play the thin raster XDCAM (1440X1080) it must resize the raster to a full raster and transcode the Long-GOP codec to DNxHD.

You should have seen a red line in the sequence indicating it was dropping frames. In a Symphony the XDCAM HD must be transcoded to DNxHD to play without dropping frames.

Bob

Symphony and Media Composer support the XDCAM HD 35Mc codec. This is a 1440X1080 VBR Codec. The 35Mb MP4 files rewrapped as MXF files from the EX1 are currently not supported. This is completely different codec and has a raster of 1920X1080.

Support for this codec should be in the next release.

Bob

If you want to watch a video on Avid XDCAM workflows, check out:

http://www.editorslounge.com/previously.html

click on the XDCAM presentation and click on the Avid workflows link.

Is this the case even with proxy files?  We have an editor working on a Symphony using just proxy files and he gets stutters and stops while playing back the media on his timeline.  His audio will continue, but the video will just stop and he will have to go back a few frames before the stop and start playing again to get it to work.  Rendering any effects helps somewhat but the issue still arises.

Is there any way to work with the proxy files on a Symphony or do those even need to be transcoded to DNxHD?

 Proxy footage should play back smooth. It's low rez and doesn't use up much juice.

Okay, so is there anything I can try to test and see why we would be getting these issues?  It is basically making XDCam unusable for us other than capturing through HD-SDI which defeats the purpose of the XDCam workflow.

The proxies play fine and then suddenly the video output will freeze up while the audio continues playing.

You are correct -- not even the proxies will play out w/out transcoding in SN. In MC the proxies do play w/out transcoding...so we use the HD-SDI exclusively on the SN side of things. Still, gotta love the zero pre-roll from the XDCAM HD!

Avid is consistently last in supporting the file-based formats, and it worsens the higher up their hierarchy you climb. We have both the XDCAM HD & EX cameras, and 4 months after the EX1 introduction Avid still does not support the 35Mb files from the EX1. Every other NLE under the sun does, however, which is why our next upgrade (we run SN 1.8 and a couple of MCs) will be to FCP.

The XDCAM HD proxy files are the identical to the proxy files created by the XDCAM SD cameras. So they are technically standard definition. What format are you working in? If you can, change the format to an SD project and see if the performance improves.

What version of the Symphony software and nVidia driver are you using? Having the correct version of the nVidia driver is very important.

How are you turning the Symphony on? The Nitris box should be off until the computer reaches the desktop. Turn the Nitris on at this point and let it run through the POST. If the Nitris is on, when the computer is started, there will be a drastic drop in performance.

Bob

BobRusso:

If the Nitris is on, when the computer is started, there will be a drastic drop in performance.

The Adrenaline and Mojo should be powered on and the POST finished before the computer is turned on.

So the order is opposite for the Mojo/Adrenaline and the Nitris. The thing with the Nitris is that it can be on when the computer is booted and it will work, just with poor performance.

Bob

BobRusso:

So the order is opposite for the Mojo/Adrenaline and the Nitris

 Holy smokes Bob,

I did not know that. I am fairly new to Symphony Nitris and have always been booting the Nitris BEFORE the PC....will now try reversing the order....

Thanks for pointing that out...guess I should have read the manual :-)

Mark