ALE Problems

[Joe Ogburn]

Working with Red Rushes and Outputting DNXHD to go to a PC Avid running MC 3.5.

I have the latest codecs for the Mac and latest Red Rushes.

The footage was shot 4K for standard speed and 3K for overcrank. Generated an ALE for Avid import.

Most of the video came in just fine except for four clips that failed to batch import, each with an error that said something similar to it having problems getting a frame from the quicktime. I got no audio on any of the clips.

For the audio problem, I looked at the ALE, and only saw the video in the tracks column. I modified the tracks in the bin and re-imported and my audio was there. Is this a problem with Red Rushes ALE export?

Anyway, I got around that problem.

Now for the clips that failed to batch import (using the ALE). Nothing I tried would allow those clips to batch import......

HOWEVER, if I imported the clips - not using the ALE they came in just fine.....

Looking at the Bin - the reported duration for the ALE and the actual import is totally different........

I thought that maybe it was a shooting speed problem. The four clips that did not come in correctly were all 3K shot overcrank. But other clips that were shot 3K and overcrank came in just fine. I cannot seem to spot any common factor about those four clips that would set them apart....


Since Avid (thanks Avid) fixed the QT import TC problem in 3.5, it is not absolutely necessary to use the ALE for importing for edit. But it is nice to get all of the other metadata from the ALE for the imported clips...

So, while I would like to get some answers, I guess the biggest thing about this post is to maybe save somebody else some of the hours I spent troubleshooting the Audio and ALE issues.

 

[MichaelP]

The lack of audio tracks logging from REDrushes is a known issue and the workaround for this is outlined in the Step by Step guide on Avid ,com/red - (modify audio tracks).

I wonder if REDrushes is doing the proper timecode IN-OUT and duration when dealing with slow motion capture. Something I need to look into.

Michael

 

[francois]

Hello Michael,
In our feature we had a few shots done in slow motion and we did not have any problem with Red rush

 

[MichaelP]

Thanks Francois -

Joe - how far off are the durations when comparing a direct import versus what is indicated in the ALE?

Michael

 

[Joe Ogburn]

QT

QT

Micheal:

I do not have that data right in front of me at the moment. I will get it together tomorrow along with some more information about those shots. And yes, there were other overcrank shots that came in just fine. Frankly, I am scratching my head about why only those shots had a problem, there was nothing unique about them that I can tell.

As for the audio problem, I remembered reading somewhere that there was some problem with the ALE but could not remember what it was. I turns out that it was the audio issue. But this issue did not consume much of my time, I figured that one out fairly quickly.

It was those four clips that would not import that took the most time. I tried just about everything that I could think of trying to get those shots in before I tried importing them without the ALE. Why would I suspect the ALE, everything else (including other overcrank shots) were coming in fine with the ALE, I figured it had to be something about how those shots were transcoded. So, I checked the version of Red Rushes and re-installed it anyway. I downloaded and installed the latest version of the Avid Codec (although I am pretty sure it was current). I tried different types of DNX. I brought one of the shots into Final Cut and looked at it. I opened the DNX QT on the MAC and looked at it.

It was only as a last straw that I tried to directly import that I got any results.

I will get that information in the morning and send it along, I hope you can tell me what is up as I have no clue at this point. Of course, this is not going to stop the session tomorrow, we are good to go - I am just curious as to why this happened.

By the way, the 175X DnxHD looks great and fast imported (except those four clips) into the Avid pretty darn fast considering it was coming in from NAS via GigE. I was very happy.

Joe

 

[Joe Ogburn]

Micheal:

Here is an interesting thing:

All of the clips that did not come in when directly imported reported a duration of 1:37:10 ..........

While the ALE reported durations of 4:12:14, 2:14:14, 2:56:12, and 6:53:06

The first of those clips show files in the folder of:
_001 = 2,096,664
_002 = 1,298,540

The second:

One Single file of 1,731,091

The third:

One single file of 1,948,866

The fourth:

_001 = 2,096,673
_002 = 2,097,000
_003 = 705,555


Please let me know if you need more information

Thanks,

Joe Ogburn

 

[Joe Ogburn]

Micheal:

Here is the last piece in the puzzle.

I got some time to do some more trouble shooting:

There appears to be nothing wrong with the ALE.......

Here is the problem, except that I do not know why:


For some reason not readily apparent, Red Rushes is not writing a file larger than 2GB to my NAS.

If I write to local storage and then copy to the NAS there is no problem. But although Red Rushes is not throwing an error and appears to be writing past 2GB, nothing over 2GB seems to get actually written. The file appears in all aspects to be finished but the video stops at the 2GB barrier......

I am connected to the NAS via GigE. The NAS itself does not have a 2GB file limitation as evidenced by the copy (and the multitude of other over 2GB files over there). The Mac is connected to the NAS through a Windows NT domain.


Got any ideas why this is happening? I will probably call the NAS maker, however it is NAB week and I expect serious delays getting answers (just like it is during NAB week for any manufacturer).


Thanks,

Joe Ogburn