Hello, I am unable to import any video files into avid, my operating system is Monterey 13.1 working on an Apple M1 Pro.  Iv'e logged a case about this issue, apparently it's a well known problem, the represantative wrote this about it: "Please know that since MC 2020.x you can no longer import MOV and other types of media, because of changes that started in Catalina OS. The workflow for such clip/s is to link and then transcode them instead (still within MC). Here is a list of what you can or cannot do with specific types of media starting in Catalina OS: https://avid.secure.force.com/pkb/articles/en_US/compatibility/Media-Composer-File-Type-Support-on-macOS-Catalina"

My first question is - Has anyone found a way to solve this issue or is using link+trascode the only option at this time? My second question is - if the project resolution is similar to the video resolution does that mean no qaulity loss in transcoding bascially? I am new to Avid so I wasn't sure. Thanks, Liran

+1 on this.

Not new to Avid... but new to post-2018 Avid.

So the import feature is 80% broken and it just is? Just about anything useful - DNxHD, DNxHR, ProRes and H.264 - is gone? What's the point of leaving the feature in Avid, then?

Conversely, why was it not recoded to "AMA-and-transcode" behind the scenes? 

 

And what replaces the Batch Re-import workflow? Can you revert from transcoded media back to Linked media?

Hi Liran,

Liran Shoshan:

Has anyone found a way to solve this issue or is using link+trascode the only option at this time?

Link & transcode is the only way. If it makes you feel any better, link & transcode takes advantage of newer processer architecture in a way that import doesn't, so it should be faster than importing, and the resulting Avid media is no different.

Liran Shoshan:

if the project resolution is similar to the video resolution does that mean no qaulity loss in transcoding bascially?

Quality loss is dependent on what target video resolution you choose when you transcode. As you pick different options in the drop-down menu you can see how much space the resulting files will take up.

binba:

So the import feature is 80% broken and it just is?

Import of some file types/codecs required Quicktime, made by Apple. Quicktime is a 32-bit app that hasn't been supported by Apple for several years. Apple discontinued support for 32-bit apps in OS Catalina, so import of some files became impossible. Since Avid can't do anything about Apple's support for Quicktime or 32-bit apps, the solution is to link & transcode.

binba:

Just about anything useful - DNxHD, DNxHR, ProRes and H.264 - is gone?

No. Link & transcode works for all of those.

binba:

What's the point of leaving the feature in Avid, then?

32-bit apps still work in Windows.

binba:

why was it not recoded to "AMA-and-transcode" behind the scenes?

Some people want to use the AMA/linked footage without transcoding. Alternatively, you can link the footage and then start it transcoding in the background. While transcoding is happening in the background you can work with the linked clips, and they'll update as they transcode.

Hi Carl,

Thanks for the detailed response, it has cleared up some things I wasn't sure about.

"Import of some file types/codecs required Quicktime, made by Apple. Quicktime is a 32-bit app that hasn't been supported by Apple for several years. Apple discontinued support for 32-bit apps in OS Catalina, so import of some files became impossible. Since Avid can't do anything about Apple's support for Quicktime or 32-bit apps, the solution is to link & transcode."

I'ts true that the problem stems from Apple, but since importing is such basic feature of Avid, from a costumer service angle - I believe that the minimal for Avid to have done was issue an error message that explains the issue, plus a link to an article guiding users on alternative workflow paths. Unfortunately users get no message at all (I couldn't even find anything that pops up in the console log).

 

binba:

Conversely, why was it not recoded to "AMA-and-transcode" behind the scenes? 

Agree with this. For the Mac platform, it could have been a process change that was transparent to the user, so that import, batch re-import, etc. all worked as it did before. Instead, it was a hard transition when all of the "normally" imported graphics from older project suddenly could not be reimported, and everything had to be redone manually. I still run into that with older projects that get restored for a revision of some sort.

binba:

And what replaces the Batch Re-import workflow? Can you revert from transcoded media back to Linked media?

 

Metadata as the container - different versions of video essence swappable as a backbone for the AVID Media Composer Sequence?

AVID SEQUENCE COMMANDS:

'Batch Re-Import' versus "'Sequence Relink...':

- The "Batch Re-Import" command is an AVID Sequence Selection where the User first selects the Sequence and then navigates to the files on the storage device in question and then waits for the import to finish. (Batch Re-Import/Batch Import remembers metadata from last time file was imported)

Versus

- The Sequence Command "Relink..." Another option in AVID for Sequences, is to select the master clips and the sequence in a bin and then use the relink command. The user instantly has the footage linked with no waiting.

As if we now live with a virtual vault that first needs to know what name of a tape or the source file on the virtual vault shelf and then once that virtual tape is pulled, what timecode to be used to address each frame of video. The name of the virtual tape is the metadata I populate in the "LINK" column. And I like to use "Aux TC2" for the timecode because so far from my tests there is something special about AVID’s column titled "Aux TC2".

 

------->Technically, you can also skip metadata populated in custom columns and use the relink second option down setting titled "Tape Name or Source File Name" to pull a metadata match with a Sequence. This Sequence Relink Command also uses metadata populated in Bin Columns for the relink conform of metadata matching for picture.<-------

 

AVID Sequence metadata (Metadata Compositions), filled with edited Media Objects (MOBS), they can be Master Clips, even if cut with subclips or groups or multi-groups. Mattes and titles can have V1 and V2 (Two Picture Tracks but still one object)

to note - exception of some auto sequences that were used to make a group seen in an online sequence from offline sequence with a subclip that someone change fps to group using the auto sequence method with the said subclip.

 

 

 

This Sequence relinking metadata technique with custom columns is now possible (Since Second Version Time Around Media Composer 6.5.x, I think from 2013) no matter how the source file/tape was ingested and turned into an AVID Master Clip from what I have seen so far. (A note, A master clip lives in an AVID Bin. In the AVID Graphic User Interface (GUI) the bin lives in the Project Window. In the Operating System Graphic User Interface the Bin lives on a storage device. We can rename bins in the AVID by clicking the name of the bin in the Project Window.)

---> prep-work-for-relinking a ‘Sequence with ‘Master Clips’ in an AVID Bin using a custom column <---

Two user definable AVID Media Composer Bin columns populated with metadata can be used to relink different versions of video essence like swapping desired master clips essence. 

...if master clips have two matching columns (1)"AUX TC2" metadata (usually populated with start timecode metadata) and a custom column like (2)"LINK" (usually populated with original clip file name as metadata), the AVID Media Composer can use those two columns of populated metadata for master clips in the edited sequence as the relinking locking gear for metadata to relink to different versions of video essence.

 

Extra details for "Master Clips" metadata to (re)link to other "Master Clips" in the "Seqeuence" that are pointing to different versions of video essence:

- duration

- frames per second - with frames per second we get the timecode metadata calculation

- start timecode - where we start our frame timecode count

- Container Name (this is where I am using the "LINK" column) - this is like the name of a tape, or the name of a file

AVID Media Composer relinking troubleshooting tech tip:

It seems that AVID Media Objects can have some linking preference, so sometimes the user needs to clear the media objects, and this is why the Avid needs to refresh for relinking (custom column (re)linking tech tip...).

Media Composer sometimes to get this relinking gear activation after the editing of metadata for master clips, takes clearing the AVID bin memory with the "Clear Bin Memory” button. Or closing all the Avid Media Composer bins and quiting the Avid Application and then restarting the Media Composer Application. Then after a restart with all bins closed, and then opening the needes bins, the relinking command can function.

 

I hope this is helpful!!!

Thank you for your time

Scott Freeman

I either link and edit, or transcode footage to low res in Resolve and bring that footage to Avid via a database import.  It is a well documented workflow, and the transcode time in Resolve is way way way faster than transcoding in Avid.

Once done the edit, link to camera raw in Avid, and relink your sequence to camera raw to send to Color.

Again, a well documented workflow.

You could also transcode in Resolve to high res footage, if that is what your project requires, and skip the relink process at the end of the edit.

 

Thanks for your sharing. I appreciate that.

Hi Carl,

Reviewing the responses, I may have slightly piggybacked on this thread. I'm well aware of AMA-and-transcode (or Link-and-transcode), I remember introducing it to the editors at my old company when the feature came out in MC 5.5. It was a leap forward in allowing multithreaded processing, and paved the path to move past the dependence on QT32. (Apple started to deprecate QT32 that far back...) But it's good to have it explained here in full, for people who visit this thread.

 

What me and Spectro referred to was issues with design choices, rather than inability to bring footage in.*

camoscato:

binba:

Just about anything useful - DNxHD, DNxHR, ProRes and H.264 - is gone?

No. Link & transcode works for all of those.

I meant, all of those are gone from the Import feature. It's the import feature that (for the reasons you mentioned) got 80% gutted.

camoscato:

binba:

What's the point of leaving the feature in Avid, then?

32-bit apps still work in Windows.

Some people want to use the AMA/linked footage without transcoding. Alternatively, you can link the footage and then start it transcoding in the background. While transcoding is happening in the background you can work with the linked clips, and they'll update as they transcode.

I know people use MC with diverse needs and workflows, and many feel that "you can pry MC 2018 from my cold, dead hands!" so Avid opts to not touch what it can leave undisturbed. But it's a valid question, if QT32 got deprecated 14 years ago and fully discontinued 7 years ago... even if it still runs on Windows, do we keep "Import" there for another decade, for better and worse? 

And even if we do, users deserve to know that a significant workflow is/isn't possible depending on whether you go for MC for Windows or Mac. 

 

Ultimately what we're suggesting is that:

 

1. As of 2022.12, there's definitely not enough user feedback when trying to Import (as Liran mentioned). Usually no error whatsoever comes up, or an unhelpful error message.

2. With this drastic change already happening, Avid should've considered rolling the Import feature into the Link/Transcode workflow. There are many ways that can be designed, UX-wise.

* One significant snag our AE's hit, with the "80% discontinuation" of Import on MC/Mac, is losing the ability to use Batch Re-Import for versions of GFX. Michael Krulik also looked into this and couldn't find a good solution. Using Relink can work, it's just more steps and more error-prone, so the UX did take a step backwards when it comes to conforming GFX.

 

2. With this drastic change already happening, Avid should've considered rolling the Import feature into the Link/Transcode workflow. There are many ways that can be designed, UX-wise.

That was my point on this forum when the change happened. All of this could have been seamless if they just programmed it different.

If you choose Import within the Source Browser on a file that is not supported, it ask says "The file XXXXX cannot be imported. do you want to link and consolidate/transcode it?".

Why not just make Import in the File menu work the same as choosing Import in the Source Browser? Seems like a no-brainer.