[FFmpeg-user] Not able to convert from AVID MXF XDCAM HD

[Robert Krüger]

Hi,

On Wed, Oct 30, 2013 at 8:53 AM, Rienk Leendertse <subscribe at lasserij.nl> wrote:
> Hi Carl Eugen
>
> Thanks for the quick reply.
> I will try to put a sample on an FTP server later today.
>
> Meanwhile can you please explain whether it should work natively, with XDCAMHD MXF files?

I can confirm that it generally works with XDCAMHD MXF files, although
it depends on how they were created. Until very recently files created
using XDCAM transfer tool combined with FCP7 were not handled properly
(decoding worked somewhat but at least seeking was broken) but that is
fixed now.

There are different flavours of MXF and the Avid flavour "Op-Atom" is
not supported by ffmpeg. Once you have uploaded the file I can have a
look at it, if it is such a beast.

> Is installing AVID codecs necessary for this?
> I have avid LE codecs installed. Not AVID PE Codecs. Which seem to be necessary for XDCam footage?
> Or is it necessary to install Sony codec packages like XDCam transfer? Which I have.
> Or should ffmpeg be able to play (and decode) it natively.

No ffmpeg does not interact with these things on your system. It's
MPEG2 decoder is perfectly capable of playing/decoding all XDCAM
variants I have seen.

>
> I'll check te files today. Because I found out that Assimilate scratch does play the video and audio file, but adobe media encoder CS6 chokes in the video files (without a descriptive log, just "could not export"). AME does convert the audio file, though.
> XDCam transfer doesn't take either of the files. So I suspect a problem with the files.
>
> In the previous post I said the video and audio MXF were exported from Avid MC 6. That is not really true.
> They were video and audio mixdowns, which I thought should not make a difference, but perhaps it does?
>
> Hope you can answer the general questions above. Meanwhile I'll check the MXF files on an avid system today....
>

Cheers,

Robert