My experience with Avid? It was PLAGUED WITH BUGS YEARS AGO AND IT'S STILL PLAGUED WITH BUGS.

Today is Day 2 trying out Avid Media Composer 8. I open the software and I get this error:  Alert "Segmentation fault" in thread "MainThread", at address      0x0

What does that even mean? I haven't used Avid in years mind you, but when I used it a few years ago, i remember getting the same error. Ok so this error appeared when I opened avid tonight. i forced quit, came back in a second time, the error was still there. I forced quit again, came into the software a third time and the error wasn't there this tiem so I have no idea what i did to make the error go away, or what caused it. ridiculous. 

Then I clicked on a DSLR clip to play it and a pop up/error window showed up that said: Exception: ADM_COREAUDIO_UNDERRUN, Detected:377.   (What does that mean? I had a thread error opening the software and now another random error for just trying to play my clips and it doesnt stop there). 

Then I try to import footage from the Sony PMW-EX3 via AMA, and there is text over my clip now that says "wrong format"
in big white letters. So I choose "import" as DNX and it says the file format is not supported for import? Are you kidding me? That seems really archaic!! adobe premiere lets me put any type of footage into it's software, without issue, and without transcode too. Blows my mind that Avid can't handle this. ridiculous!!!!!!!! So I started reading the forums and didn't find any immediate (and reasonable) solutions.  I installed the sony AMA plugin and it didnt work. It didnt fix my problem. I even quit and came back in and that plugin doesn't seem to let me play those mp4 clips. 

I'm on a brand new iMac 10.9.4. ANYONE HAVE ANY SOLUTIONS????

rachinc:

It was PLAGUED WITH BUGS YEARS AGO AND IT'S STILL PLAGUED WITH BUGS.

Different users different experiences.

rachinc:

Exception: ADM_COREAUDIO_UNDERRUN, Detected:377

A Quick search offered this as an explanation

rachinc:

Then I try to import footage from the Sony PMW-EX3 via AMA, and there is text over my clip now that says "wrong format"

Have you downloaded and installed the correct Sony AMA Plug in? AMA to EX footage works here with MC 8 an a Mac Pro with OS 10.9.2. for me

rachinc:

I'm on a brand new iMac 10.9.4

MC 8 was not qualified with 10.9.4. (only 10.9.2). MC 8.1 released today is qualified with 10.9.4

 

Andrew, your message says "Have you downloaded and installed the correct Sony AMA Plug in? AMA to EX footage works here with MC 8 an a Mac Pro with OS 10.9.2. for me"... You said the word "here", but where is here? Please provide a link as I have no idea if I've downloaded the right one or not. I downloaded THE ONLY ONE I SAW AVAILABLE FOR SONY FROM YOUR WEBSITE. Please post a link.

When Andrew says "here" he just means it works for him.

I will agree with you that SONY doesn't make it exactly easy to figure out what to download or where to download it from. Actually, I find Panasonic's site to be even worse. If you look here: http://avid.force.com/pkb/articles/en_US/download/en394827 you can find Avid's Support document on which SONY plug-ins are needed for each version of Avid Media Composer along with links to SONY's website. The version matrix at the bottom of the Support document will tell you which version to download from SONY website for your Avid installation.

 

Then on this Support page: http://avid.force.com/pkb/articles/en_US/compatibility/en267087?popup=true&NewLang=en&DocType=1083&q=version%20matrix&site=&filter=0&subfilters=, you can find a version matrix for the video drivers, QuickTime software and Operating System for each version of Avid.

rachinc:

I open the software and I get this error:  Alert "Segmentation fault" in thread "MainThread", at address      0x0

This could have been caused by a faulty clip or a bin being opened, when loading a project hold option (I think) to stop avid loading everything.

 

rachinc:

 I installed the sony AMA plugin and it didnt work. It didnt fix my problem. I even quit and came back in and that plugin doesn't seem to let me play those mp4 clips. 

I'm guessing the original folder structure of the EX is gone you need to ama from the BPAV folder not direct to the mp4 files.
also one in avid to convert from ama file to DNX is probabley best to transcode to a fast drive, a mistake oftem made is trying to edit camera files off usb and that can be nasty.

Original structure is there. Untouched. I'm trying to AMA to the "BPAV" folder. So I hold down option and drag the BPAV folder into Avid Media Composer 8. It tells me "Unable to link to any clips at /Volumes".......

I just downloaded the Media Composer 8.1 update, restarted my computer, went back into media composer, held down option and dragged in my BPAV folder and got this error: Exception: std::exception, what:"Segmentation fault" in thread "MVP_Host_Processing", at address   0x0

what is with this program and these constant errors?!?!?!??! I havent even done anything real or remotely anything to even warrant any errors at all. This is ridiculous. 

So I quit out of the program, came back into MC. Held down option and dragged in BPAV. And all the clips say "WRONG FORMAT". STILL?!?!?!? even after I went to ck123's link this evening and downloaded yet ANOTHER sony media ama plugin.  Yes I downloaded a different Sony ama plugin from the official avid website a night or two ago, and now I downloaded the one from CK123's link and that didnt work either. 

Now that my all my clips have been brought in and ALL say "WRONG FORMAT" an error just came up that says "unable to like 4 clip(s). Check console window or log file for more information"

So I just straight up dragged the clips in (import style, not AMA).... "The File format of 116-2339_01.mp4" is not supported for import". 

This is possibly the 2nd or 3rd night im trying to trouble shooting bringing in footage. Why is this so hard?!?!?!??!? This is ridiculous!!!!!!!!!!!!! Can someone please help me find a solution asap?!!??!?!??!

The holding down option i was talking about was only to prevent avid from opening bins while loading a project, just incase you come across the segment fault again and the problem was a funky clip.

 

The only time I've ever had problem with EX3 footage and Avid was due to corrupt folder structure, so try opening console (Command+6) then right click in your bin and choose ama link and select the folder of the footage your trying to import, see what console is saying.

 

Andrew

***Sorry I ment the folder ABOVE the Bpav folder not the Bpav folder

Wow you solved it. (I'm not even getting "wrong format" any more). I right clicked like you said to bring up the AMA window, I chose the folder "monica and sunil rec hd". Thank you soooo much. 

Random note....for some reason there is a red marker at the beginning of every single clip that was imported, shrug. but that's okay. Weird, but okay.

rachinc:

Random note....for some reason there is a red marker at the beginning of every single clip that was imported, shrug. but that's okay. Weird, but okay.

 

Yes that red marker is created by the camera itself, Pretty sure the camerman/woman could add markers for things of interest to the editor, but they never do.

 

Andrew

 

Sony XDCAM EX camcorders usually record MPEG-2 codec MP4 format video, this codec is not good for editing in Media Composer, and you will encounter importing and codec problems when you try to handle Sony EX3 XDCAM EX videos with Avid. In order to ingest Sony PMW-EX3 MP4 files into Avis MC for editing smoothly, the easy workaround is to encode Sony EX HD MP4 footage to DNxHD, which is natively supported by Avid. 

chrisking - not sure why you're resurfacing an old thread for your first post, but XDCamEX video IS natively supported by MC.  You need only AMA Link to it, and you can even CONSOLIDATE it to Avid MXF media.  That is definitively the best workflow.  If you want it as DNxHD, then instead of consolidating, you TRANSCODE it.  All of this is done within MC, and by doing it all within MC, without any third-party encoders, you maintain easy ways to relink and manage media.

Using MC 7.0.3, I am unable to AMA link to EX files. I must rewrap these files with an mxf wrapper using Sony's Content Browser program. Then I can import the resulting mxf files into Avid. Has this workflow changed after 7.0.4?