[FFmpeg-user] DNxHD / DNxHR conversions for Avid

[MediaMouth]

> On Apr 13, 2022, at 01:29, Phil Rhodes via ffmpeg-user <ffmpeg-user at ffmpeg.org> wrote:
> 
>  Apropos of nothing, and it might just be me, but it seems to me that MXF has not been entirely a success as a file format.
> P
>    On Wednesday, 13 April 2022, 09:10:34 BST, Bouke / Videotoolshed <bouke at videotoolshed.com> wrote:  
> 
> On 12 Apr 2022, at 21:24, Paul B Mahol <onemda at gmail.com> wrote:
>> 
>>> do cause an error on the Avid side if you drop them directly in an Avid
>>> MediaFiles/MXF folder
> 
> If you want to use the MXF/xxx folders, you need special wrapped Avid MXF.
> The BBC has made a tool for that, https://sourceforge.net/p/bmxlib/home/Home/ <https://sourceforge.net/p/bmxlib/home/Home/>
> 
> If you have a recent version of Avid MC, you can use normal Op1 MXF, but those have to go to
> Avid MediaFiles/UME/xxx
> 
> Both can work, I’ve done it before.
> 
> 
> Hth,
> Bouke
> 

Thanks Paul & Phil

Re
> If you have a recent version of Avid MC, you can use normal Op1 MXF, but those have to go tosst
> Avid MediaFiles/UME/xxx
Unfortunately we're on Media Composer 2018.12, so no UME folder, and there's no chance of an upgrade on this show.  This is because we are a hip young TV series on the top streaming platform, using nothing but cutting edge technology, including a 4-year-old Avid system on 9-year-old CPUs running Mojave. (Where, btw, FFmpeg is working surprisingly well) 



RE
> The BBC has made a tool for that
I didn't get into this in too much detail yet, in part because the whole goal of migrating from a workflow that centralizes all our transcoding in FFmpeg to create a tidy, efficient automation pipeline.  The moment we have to manually round-trip through a non-FFmpeg system, we might as well stick with Resolve, since generating Avid-ready MXFs that way is an established industry standard.

I take it from your suggestion that at this point in time FFmpeg doesn't have the ability to do whatever thing it needs to do to create (In Resolve, that "thing" seems to be that it creates "MXF OP-Atom" files as opposed to (or in addition to) "MXF OP1A".

I believe the distinction there is that MXF OP-Atom is designed to handle single essence packages only, which is what you need for Avid's MXF/xxx folders.

Any chance there's a settings option that tells FFmpeg to generate MXF OP-Atom?  Or is there more to it?



Hi Phil, re
> it seems to me that MXF has not been entirely a success as a file format.
I have no strong opinions on the subject, but am always curious: In what ways is MXF not a success?