Friday, January 15, 2016

[Avid-L2] Re: Finally a User Setting Issue I can't get around?

 

So this must be my week in the barrel.  Once again on my home system two days ago my normal avid user settings would hang on initializing.  I went through the same drill I went through a few months back but didn't bother to reinstall Avid this time.  I pulled the user settings from a back up start up disk but no go.  I went to a backup flash drive copy and still no go.  I opted to use a new user I had created the last time this happened and that worked.  I did restart a few times but nothing got my normal settings working.

Last night I was back at it and booted up to the new user fine.  I then switched to the normal settings that would hang the night before and last night they booted up fine as did my flash drive version and the backup startup drive version.  WTF?  If the settings are corrupt I get it but the settings are intermittent.  It's almost like when the system gets stupid it doesn't like any version of my normal user settings and at the time even rebooting doesn't make it work.  The first time this happened after working with the new user settings for an hour or so I went back to the normal settings and they worked. 

I'm beginning to wonder if there is some strange underpinning to my PCI E SSD drives from OWC or SSDs in general that somehow gets wonky about a particular file name.  Given I deleted the normal setting and reimported from a backup and they still didn't work two days ago but yesterday they did it's a very peculiar problem.  I've not seen this behavior with my settings on any other system so I wonder what could be special on my home system.  Could there be a Ram issue?  If it was Ram wouldn't reimporting or even just dragging a backup version of my settings into the avid user folder put the data in a different area of Ram.

When the user settings get wonky the user setting progress bar runs to the end then spinning beach ball and I have to force quit avid.  I do let it sit spinning for a couple minutes to see if it will straighten out but no such luck.  It's almost like Avid goes to load the user settings but doesn't quite finish. 

At least I have a new user setting to fall back on when this happens but It's not quite where my normal settings are and the way my system is Fing with me it's becoming personal.  I might have to start brandishing my solder iron in front of the chassis to let this system know who's in charge.  I'll be calm assertive just like the Dog Whisperer.  Come to think of it Rubin doesn't listen to me either so why should my MacPro?  ;-)



---In avid-l2@yahoogroups.com, <bigfish@...> wrote :

In thinking about this further I wonder if one of the mc state etc... files was causing the issue.  I would think those culprits would have been rewritten by and Avid reinstall.  Wondering what running the Avid for a while under the new user and then switching back to the restored old user would make it suddenly start working.  Very peculiar to me.


---In Avid-L2@yahoogroups.com, <bigfish@...> wrote :

And now after Fing around for an hour and making the new user settings so I could export my current project I toggle back to my normal settings and they work without issue or stall as they are reading.  Man the cyber Gods are after me today.


---In Avid-L2@yahoogroups.com, <bigfish@...> wrote :

I will start by saying I know it's best practices to always rebuild your user settings with point releases etc...  I've often posted I never do that and with the exception of the safe title grid I've never had any issues with importing my old settings into new builds.  Well now on my home system with no updates to anything all of a sudden launching avid stalls at reading my user setting.  I had a few startup hiccups first getting my computer to boot up but once booted I could launch Avid but not with my normal user settings.  Oh well I figure they got corrupted so I went to a back up copy on another startup drive and still the same stall.  I even went to my backup usb flash drive that I've loaded all over town and it does the same stall.  I've tried both trashing and reimporting the backups and just dragging them into the Avid Users folder where the normal one resides.

I then uninstalled and reinstalled Avid but still the stall.  I can open with the admin user but as soon as I try to switch to my normal and or reimported backups of my user I still get a stall.  I then went to my startup drive backups and pulled the user setting from 2 months ago that worked then when I carbon copy cloned the drive I'm using now and that has worked fine with this user setting for the past two month.

So what gives?  I reinstalled Avid and I re imported several different backups of my user settings but it still hangs.  I ultimately created a new user and imported my keyboard settings from the old user that stalls.  Those imported settings all work.  I know I've lived on the Wild side not rebuilding from scratch all this time but I can't explain why if the settings that worked last night are corrupt how restoring them from a backup made two months ago would not work.

Having read in the recent thread about the applications manager possibly causing updating Avid issues when I reinstalled Avid I did it from a .dmg I download from the download center for Ver. 8.3.1.347 ish IIRC.  I will have to go back to another startup drive and see if my old settings work there.  I can't see why they wouldn't but that has an earlier version of Avid.
 
John Moore Barking Trout Productions Studio City, CA bigfish@...

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Posted by: bigfish@pacbell.net
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this is the Avid-L2

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Posted by Video Geek Squad at 12:02 PM 0 comments

[Avid-L2] video quality limits

 

It was the Edit Timebase function.  Set to 29.97.  Media is 59.94.   When I switched it to 59.94 I got back the higher res ability but with a warning.
That has never happened to me before and I've received 59.94 media before and worked without dealing with this.  Is this a change in the upgrade?

Lou


More oddness with 8.4.5.  Why would the video quality button below my timeline only go from yellow to half yellow.  I've lost full green and HQ quality.  What could cause this?  Using a Mojo DX.  

Lou
Lou Wirth
Lou Wirth Productions
500 Tamal Plaza, Ste. 522
Corte Madera CA  94925
415.924.9411




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Posted by: Lou <loutv@mindspring.com>
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this is the Avid-L2

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Posted by Video Geek Squad at 10:32 AM 0 comments

[Avid-L2] video quality limits

 

More oddness with 8.4.5.  Why would the video quality button below my timeline only go from yellow to half yellow.  I've lost full green and HQ quality.  What could cause this?  Using a Mojo DX.  


Lou
Lou Wirth
Lou Wirth Productions
500 Tamal Plaza, Ste. 522
Corte Madera CA  94925
415.924.9411




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Posted by: Lou <loutv@mindspring.com>
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this is the Avid-L2

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Posted by Video Geek Squad at 10:26 AM 0 comments

[Avid-L2] Re: Working with HDR @ next Editors' Lounge 1.29.16

 

It depends upon the presenters. We are checking it out.



---In Avid-L2@yahoogroups.com, <blafarm@...> wrote :

Any chance this will be available as a recorded stream?

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Posted by: tcurren@aol.com
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this is the Avid-L2

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Posted by Video Geek Squad at 9:09 AM 0 comments

[Avid-L2] Re: Working with HDR @ next Editors' Lounge 1.29.16

 

Any chance this will be available as a recorded stream?




---In Avid-L2@yahoogroups.com, <tcurren@...> wrote :

The Future Is Here: Working With HDR


The What, Why and How of High Dynamic Range in Post Production


Join the Editors' Lounge at 6:30 PM on Friday, January 29 at AlphaDogs in Burbank for a night dedicated to High Dynamic Range: what is it, why is it important, how is it handled? Some of the leading post production hardware and software companies will present their solutions on how to successfully manage and finish an HDR project.


Details on participating presentations will be posted shortly. Sign up now to reserve your spot!


Sneak peak: So far Dolby, Adobe & Filmlight will be presenting.

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Posted by: blafarm@yahoo.com
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this is the Avid-L2

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Posted by Video Geek Squad at 8:40 AM 0 comments

[Avid-L2] Re: File transfers?

 

I've been using Hightail (formerly YouSendIt) for around six years.  Good product with a friendly workflow for those clients who might be less technically savvy.


However, use cases where media needs to be kept completely 'out-of-band' -- and/or server- or client-side encrypted -- S3 might be a better solution. 

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this is the Avid-L2

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Posted by Video Geek Squad at 8:24 AM 0 comments

Re: [Avid-L2] Re: What is the current Avid Export to XDCam Optical Disk for Avid 6.5.4.7?

 

Yes, you can drag and drop multiple files, and they will retain their export names. The naming form is a setting on the XDCAM Drive Utility software--just make sure it's set to Free Naming instead of C****. And be warned that when you drag and drop directly to the disc the files may not land in alphanumeric order. This could pose a problem with clip order on the deck end. That's been my experience, anyway. To ensure proper ordering, you may need to use the Sony software. I use the legacy PDZ-1, but I imagine the current Content Browser will do the trick.

As for proxies, my understanding is that the U1 is generating the files. And the limitations on mixed recording have to do with frequency groups. So you can do 60i/30p, but not 60i/23.976. That's how the file structure is set up. So if you try to transfer mixed material it will give a permissions error.

On Thu, Jan 14, 2016 at 1:30 PM, bigfish@pacbell.net [Avid-L2] <Avid-L2@yahoogroups.com> wrote:
 

Can I do the file export drag and drop onto the XDCam with multiple files?  If I exported a bunch of short segments rather than a stringout of the segments would the clip names on the XDCam disk be segment names I had on the XDCam mxf files exported from Avid?

When you drag a file into the clip folder what software is actually generating the proxy?  Is that part of installing the XDCam driver software?

What happens if I were to drag clips of differing frame rates or resolutions onto the same disc?  From my test it wouldn't let me export from Avid directly to the XDCam disc when my project was 23.976 1080 and the existing clip on the disc was 1080i 60,



---In avid-l2@yahoogroups.com, <oklaroman@...> wrote :

MC to Professional Disc (XD) is a regular part of my workflow, so I assure you it works very smoothly. My method of choice is to do a standard export of the XDCAM MXF file straight out of Avid to a local drive, then transfer the file to the U1. Simply drop the MXF file into the "Clip" folder on the Professional Disc, and it will automatically generate the proxy file as part of the process. Keep in mind the U1 is a USB2 device, so don't expect fast transfer rates. That's why it's nice to export the file, then transfer in the background, and keep working in Avid. I'm on 8.4, but this should work fine in 6.5.

On Wed, Jan 13, 2016 at 10:44 PM, bigfish@... [Avid-L2] <Avid-L2@yahoogroups.com> wrote:
 

I was able to get our U1 deck to test and it does seem to allow me to export to XDCam under the output menu.  I was given what I was told was a blank disk but it turned out to have one clip on it.  Apparently the clip was 1080 60i so in my current 23.976 project it would not allow me to export to the disk due to the format being different.  I used the Sony disk utility to reformat the disk and then it is allowing me to export.  I only have 4 audio tracks and I checked use marks and enabled tracks so I will be curious what the export ends up with.  I know when I export an XDCam50 file it always ends up with 8 tracks regardless.

I found a page in the Sony disk utility under user settings that allow setting drop or non drop in part of the menu but all the choices were greyed out.  I assume that's because I had just reformatted the disk but I'm curious what the setting is for.  It's not like I'm black and coding a tape for an insert edit so what is that choice about? 




---In Avid-L2@yahoogroups.com, <bigfish@...> wrote :

I remember there use to be ways of creating a XDCam file structure to fool Avid into making an XDCam file exported from Avid.  I never had a need to do that.  I believe there is an example XDCam file structure disk in the L2 files section.  I have one on my desktop but i see there are 3 clips in it so I'm not sure if that's the proper one to use. 

I've delivered just XDCam50 mxf files with the export option that now exists and those have worked fine but I may be tasked with actually exporting to an XDCam device.  We have the Sony U1 drive that we use for capture and uprez of our XDCam material.  Will that device allow me to export to an XDCam Optical disk?  I seem to recall there being different capabilities in this regard between the full tilt XDCam decks and the U1 drives.

Bottom line if I have to make an XDCam optical disk exported from my Avid Symphony 6.5.4.7 can I do this by inserting a blank XDCam into a U1 drive or do I have to somehow create an XDCam file structure on the blank disk before I can export to it from Avid.

I've googled and keep coming up with relatively outdated tutorials so I'm not sure where to go with this.  I had thought once Avid added the ability to export to XDCam 50 files I wouldn't have to do this but there is a project we have to supply roll in material for the production truck and I'm told they have no decks and want the packages delivered on XDCam.  I'm trying to find out if that really means an optical disk or would an XDCam 50 file work but the Post Super told me the truck can't accept files.  We're still researching that and trying to get hold of the TD for more clarification.  In the mean time I'm trying to figure out if I'm like Dorthy in the Wizard of Oz.  Perhaps I have had the power to make and optical XDCam disk all this time and didn't know it.  I'm clicking my heals but nothing is happening.  Perhaps because I don't have a drive to practice with yet.  Any tips or suggestions would be appreciated.
 
John Moore Barking Trout Productions Studio City, CA bigfish@...



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Posted by: OklaRoman <oklaroman@gmail.com>
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this is the Avid-L2

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Posted by Video Geek Squad at 6:18 AM 0 comments

[Avid-L2] Re: File transfers?

 

A friend uses Hightail. He sent me close to 6 GBs recently, and it downloaded in about 20 minutes. (That was using my laptop with a wi-fi connection and Verizon FiOS 75/75).




 

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this is the Avid-L2

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Posted by Video Geek Squad at 4:49 AM 0 comments

Thursday, January 14, 2016

[Avid-L2] Working with HDR @ next Editors' Lounge 1.29.16

 

The Future Is Here: Working With HDR


The What, Why and How of High Dynamic Range in Post Production


Join the Editors' Lounge at 6:30 PM on Friday, January 29 at AlphaDogs in Burbank for a night dedicated to High Dynamic Range: what is it, why is it important, how is it handled? Some of the leading post production hardware and software companies will present their solutions on how to successfully manage and finish an HDR project.


Details on participating presentations will be posted shortly. Sign up now to reserve your spot!


Sneak peak: So far Dolby, Adobe & Filmlight will be presenting.

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Posted by: tcurren@aol.com
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this is the Avid-L2

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Posted by Video Geek Squad at 11:12 PM 0 comments

Re: [Avid-L2] File transfers?

 

Tim,


I have used Digital Pigeon for several years now and it has been by far the best file transfer service that I have experienced.  You might try it to see how it works with large volumes of large files - they have a 14 day trial.

Plus it has the best name.  And they are Aussies :-).

See you next week.

- Rich

Rich Ford
Hot Sprocket Films


On Jan 15, 2016, at 9:21 AM, Tim Selander selander@tkf.att.ne.jp [Avid-L2] <Avid-L2@yahoogroups.com> wrote:

Lots of good suggestions; thanks everyone.

We're going to test FTP and Google Drive today with 7GB and 33GB files, and see what happens. I'll report back.

I wondered why Aspera, etc., were so costly compared to others... Pete's explanation helped with that. Very interesting. 

FWIW I have 2gbps fiber here, and get over 100Mbps up and down. Don't know what the Australia side gets. I have another client that has 2GB files stored on Akamai. FTP downloads take about 1 hour per file. But interestingly, Filezilla ftp client will download six 2GB files at the same time, all at about the same speed. So within an hour, I've downloaded 12GB of data. 

Tim Selander
Tokyo, Japan



On 1/15/16, 4:07, 'Pete Opotowsky' popix@cfl.rr.com [Avid-L2] wrote:

Been spending a lot of time on this lately. Have experience with Aspera, not so much with Signiant (though there's some ex-Avid folks there)

The public internet and most of the suggestions below are TCP/IP. It breaks everything up into pretty small packets. It's OK for text, but gets bogged down with big files which need to be a long string of packets. This in turn increases the overall size of the data stream, because each packet has data connecting it to the next.. If data is missed along the way the process is further bogged down by relatively slow and inefficient error checking/resend. And TCP/IP is effectively throttled by any number of bottlenecks in the path from A to B, both intentional and not.

Aspera/Faspex and Signiant are UDP (and its variants), which can handle much larger file sizes in bigger chunks. They were designed for point to point transmission , though Aspera can handle distribution of a feature to a fairly large number of theaters. Both companies have implemented various checksums which decrease the chance of missing bits (=corrupt file). And the error correction is generally much faster than TCP/IP  But be warned, these services generally ain't  cheap. If you're delivering to an enterprise scale company they may have invested in this already and can give you an account. Worth asking. 

 

Keep in mind that you are always limited by the connection to your ISP. IP over cable is asynchronous, meaning the download speed doesn't match the upload speed, sometimes by a factor of 10. 

 

There a few good podcasts out there. 

 

HTH

 

Pete O

 

POP Pictures Inc.

Orlando

 

From: Avid-L2@yahoogroups.com [mailto:Avid-L2@yahoogroups.com] 
Sent: Thursday, January 14, 2016 12:57 PM
To: Avid-L2@yahoogroups.com [Avid-L2]; Jim Feeley
Subject: Re: [Avid-L2] File transfers?

 

  

See, THAT's the real question. All these suggestions of free services mean nothing if they're not fast enough to transfer VAST amounts of data quickly. Any solution that relies on FTP is going to be too slow. Signiant and Aspera and some others use a different method of checking the packets as they are sent that VASTLY speeds up delivery times. Avid had a product by Digidesign (ProServe LT) that allowed for super-fast deliveries of files over the internet. I think that's the same basic technology that Aspera uses.  

 

For example, Avid had to send me a 3gig file recently and did it using one of those services and the thing was DONE on my HOME cable connection in about 15 minutes… maybe less. You can't get those speeds with FTP no matter HOW fast your connection is.

 

 

On Jan 14, 2016, at 11:41 AM, Jim Feeley jfeeley@gmail.com [Avid-L2] <Avid-L2@yahoogroups.com> wrote:

 

Any thoughts on how S3 transfer speed compares to Signiant, Aspera, etc?

 

Jim

 

 

On Jan 14, 2016, at 8:04 AM, blafarm@yahoo.com [Avid-L2] <Avid-L2@yahoogroups.com> wrote:

 

Speaking only of the cheapest option, having virtually no learning curve, no setup time, and no software subscription obligation -- you might consider creating an Amazon S3 account.  

 

There are a number of good S3 browsers, but you might consider buying two instances of CloudBerry S3 Explorer Pro ($39.99 USD each) for Japan and Australia, and syncing them to the same Amazon S3 account.

 

Then either party can upload files that the other party can access.  You and your team could also then take advantage of Amazon Glacier for ultra cheap long-term, offline backup.

 

Amazon S3 Storage Rates:  http://goo.gl/10aP9L

 

Amazon Glacier Storage Rates:  https://goo.gl/CYsJPV

 

CloudBerry S3 Explorer Pro:  http://goo.gl/oEwhtJ

 

 

 

 




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Posted by: RRF Avid <rrfavid@HotSprocketFilms.com>
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this is the Avid-L2

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Posted by Video Geek Squad at 8:56 PM 0 comments

Re: [Avid-L2] Save an EDL

 

not surprising at all, as you seem to be running a completely unsupported configuration.

cheers,
BG




From: "Rainer Standke lists@standke.com [Avid-L2]" <Avid-L2@yahoogroups.com>
To: "Avid-L2@yahoogroups.com L2" <Avid-L2@yahoogroups.com>; Rainer Standke <lists@standke.com>
Sent: Thursday, January 14, 2016 3:51 PM
Subject: Re: [Avid-L2] Save an EDL

 
Turns out, after crashing a few times, it now displays the file selector dialog as expected - go figure!

Rainer



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Posted by: Bogdan Grigorescu <bogdan_grigorescu@yahoo.com>
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this is the Avid-L2

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Posted by Video Geek Squad at 8:22 PM 0 comments
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