the video says you can only do it with AMA'd files, but not with avid mxf files. is there any way to accomplish that, maybe by consolidating (and losing links to original files)?

I'm baffled — why would anyone "upgrade" to MC8 if it doesn't have anything new or improved?

the first thing to do is to copy everything onto a hard drive, keeping the card file structure, and the 2nd thing is to copy all that onto a backup drive. the producer can then start looking at the video and making notes about where the good stuff is. she can watch with QT player or VLC or some other media player. you need to do some planning on what

Atomos tech support writes: "The DNxHD codecs do not need to be transcoded, and will be seen by Avid automatically. The files do have a .MOV suffix, which in older versions of Media Composer required a (very fast) automatic rewrapping of the file." diesele and others, is this not your experience?

the free CD Burner XP is completely reliable for burning images made by Encore and other programs, and I use it for copying discs as well.

if you have Premiere, it reads VOB directly and you can export to mxf or whatever

I'm happy with the Motu HD Express

I always line them up and then make inpoints by using matchframe for each one. select them in a bin and group clips by in point. if you have lots of small clips and it's hairy, you could do a video mixdown for each camera, and then only have 2 long clips to deal with.

I have an MXO2 and on another system a Motu HD Express, which I like a lot. works predictably for monitoring and also good for importing SD footage.

how long is the intended edit on the timeline? try marking the clip (IN and OUT 6:00 or less) and dragging it to the timeline - does that work?