So, just posting for everyone's reference. I had a client that could see an XDCAM XAVC file properly. Weird part is that you could doubleclick on the file and it would load in the source monitor, but nothing else would work, couldn't link it or edit to a timeline. Eventually it would go offline...

Thanks and I appreciate your comments, however I've been cutting XDCAM footage on Avid for at least three years for CBS so it looks like the problem is a fundemental flaw with Avid's newer releases including 8.x To put it in perspective professionally, I've been cutting on Media Composer...