Hi Everyone,

I've tried many times to use the XAVC-s with Avid, like most to no avail.

I have been shooting in AVCHD on my A7S and AMA linking into AVID, which is OK but I really want to use the better quailty of XAVC-s.

There must be a way to work this out.

Help please,

Andrew.

Avid doesn't support XAVC-S because Sony hasn't provided a AMA plugin that works with XAVC-S.  You'll need to use another program to convert the XAVC-S into a compatible codec that Media Composer can use.  Here are some choices:

Edit Ready.  Cheap, fast and it works.  Use the Custom settings for greater than HD codecs.

Sony Catalyst Browse: Free, slow and limited.

Sony Catalyst Prep: $199 (might be free if you can provide the A7S serial number), slow but does batches.

DaVinci Resolve: Free, fast, but chances are the audio won't be read.

I have been using Adobe Media Encoder with good success. I bought Catalyst Prepare and it worked for a while, but now it doesn't seem to work. I upgraded so that I wouldn't need to "import" the clips before "exporting" them, but now the Export button is always grayed out. Plus, it is extremely slow. It took me a while to figure out how to find the right settings in Media Encoder, but I have a preset now so it is reasonably fast and smooth, plus you can do a version of batch processing. Hope this helps!

I'll second the EditReady method.  But really, Sony needs to address this.

Richard

Doesnt appear that this will be a reality until sometime in 2016.....

Marianna

Marianna:

Richard

Doesnt appear that this will be a reality until sometime in 2016.....

Marianna

I respectfully surmise as a manufactured scheduled.

I use cliptoolz-v2 (now free) to rewrap the files(no transcoding) to mov container. Then ama linking works flawlessly.

Thanks for the tip!

Which cameras encode to XAVC-S, and what is the extension?

I have experience only with Sony A7s which records files with mp4 extension. 

In addition to the a7s / a7s ii, the Sony ax100 and rx10 ii also record to XAVC-S as only option in UHD.

Hunna:

Hi Everyone,

I've tried many times to use the XAVC-s with Avid, like most to no avail.

I have been shooting in AVCHD on my A7S and AMA linking into AVID, which is OK but I really want to use the better quailty of XAVC-s.

There must be a way to work this out.

Help please,

Andrew.

RAO rule #1,  Start in Resolve.

I found some XAVC-S UHD (Which is NOT 4K!) clips on the Internet.  I tested with the UHD/23.98 clip by bringing it into Resolve12 with audio and making sure the Resolve timeline played.  I rendered(exported) from Resolve using the Avid AAF Round-Trip preset but with DNxHR HQ instead of the preselected DNxHR 444.   The resulting mxfs where then copied to an Avid MediaFiles/MXF/somenumber folder.

Upon launching Avid MC/w Symphony 8.4.2 I created a new UHD/23.98 project and imported the AAF from Resolve.  The timeline populated with the clip from Resolve and the video/audio plays correctly.

People spend so much time trying to get AMA to work when they could use Resolve and be editing.  And if one sends the completed edit back to Resolve then one can reconnect to the original footage to color correct/grade in one of the best tools available.

I tried this in Resolve Studio but the free version should work as it is able to handle UHD exports.  My step by step outline for using Resolve to prepare media for Avid is at http://www.infohou.com/Opinion.html .

I am no one's employee and am not compensated by any vendor.

Y'all take care,

Robert

DOM!  Mustafa here.  

We just got a project in with about 60horus of sony av7 footage.  all shot as mp4.  needless to say having majoy issues trying to get this stuff in the system.  

gonna be multicam and grouped.  i have tried the mediareactor plug in and its SO close.  links to ama to the MP4 files...i can see them in the sourece.  but avid will not transcode and consolidate just spits out WRONG FORMAT clips.

any ideas?  i think they want to keep it in 4k for some reason.  

argh.  hope you are well man!

EditReady on OS X can rewrap the MP4 to MOV. This will AMA link in Avid. No transcode, very fast.

On Windows, you can use for free ClipToolz to do the same thing. However, the software is EOL and a bit buggy.

Another way is to transcode via Sony Catalyst software.

Rewrap is impossible to edit. I think it is better to transcode to DNxHR SQ.

Exactly - you rewrap it (fast) in EditReady, then AMA/link it into Avid.

From there, you can do whatever transcode workflow you want.  You can transcode ALL of it, or some of it, or transcode to a proxy for later relink-retranscode, whatever you want.  But a rewrap in EditReady is almost certainly the best way to begin.