Unable to multigroup secondary audio w AMA footage (PluralEyes unable to read also)

[James_Mills]

some strange stuff is happening here that I was hoping someone could help me out with:

1. I link my footage to ama and transcode it to smaller mxf

2. I line up my footage in a sequence with the secondary audio underneath

3. When i export to AAf and run through pluraleyes and bring it back in, the files never sinc up. I've never had problems with other camera's footage like this before, can pluraleyes just not read red footage or does it have something to do with my audio? I tried everything from adding locators and all but no luck.

4. Soooo when I sinc'd them all up manually by myself, I made subclips to group and all. But strangely, only a few of the clips were allowed to group! It's so strange, some of them group perfectly normal, and others read this error:

"No timecode found for clip "A001_etc""

and when I click on "more" it reads:

"No timecode found for clip "A001_etc"
Exception: CM_NO_SOURCE"

I realize the obvious solution is to just transcode out of of RedCine like everyone else, but I've grown partial to transcoding ama footage over my years with DSLR footage and find it faster so I'd like to stick with this if possible. Anyone know if there's a solution to this? And about my troubles with pluraleyes? Thanks a bunch, all.

 

[MichaelP]

On your subclips, I am going to assume they are are VA with whatever number of audio tracks you have. Also, do all the subclips have a value in the START timecode column? And when making groups, what are you using as timecode? Start, AuxTC1, etc.? Are there values in those columns? When PluralEyes returns the AAF, what timecodes are are on the source clips? If you want to send me an AAF as output by PluralEyes I can take a look. As far as it not syncing, once you transcode to MXF and send to PluralEyes via AAF, it is no longer RED footage but DNxHD. I still prefer to make my DNxHD out of Redcine X as there is full control over all color parameters as well as not adding that annoying _001 to the end of the file name as seen in Source File.

Michael

 

[James_Mills]

Michael to the rescue as always, thanks so much, man.

1. Yes, they are VA (if I understand this as asking if it is a video track that is being subclipped and then both stereo files of the secondary audio)

2. Yes, all files have a timecode under the START column, however I'm using "Aux1" as my reference when grouping them (so I copy and past the mark in numbers off the sequence and on to the Aux1 for each file. The actual grouping itself isn't the problem, I've grouped many files on various projects before, something is just wrong with these ones. If it helps, only one worked and the other two i tried gave the errors I listed above, and after looking through each column to see what the differences are between them, the only discernable difference was that the file that allowed me to group read "rec.709" under the color space column whereas the other two didn't have anything listed)

3. When PluralEyes returns the sinc'd aaf, the secondary audio always immediately follows the video track and native audio I originally put it under to match with (so at the end of the native file the secondary audio will start and push back the next clip until after it)

Yes, can I send you an aaf? You sure you wouldn't mind? How would I go about doing that even, do you need the native files too? It might just be because I had my audio set up on my red to record as only one track and not stereo, so the video files only have one (EXTREMELY quiet) audio track. Still, even though they're quiet, I still had my talent clap to double as a slate and you can certainly hear that on the file's audio...

 

[James_Mills]

I still prefer to make my DNxHD out of Redcine X as there is full control over all color parameters as well as not adding that annoying _001 to the end of the file name as seen in Source File.

Michael

Also, what do you mean by color paramaters exactly? I thought reading the file natively would give me the best control of its native color, or do you mean going through RedCine just allows you to change the settings you want first?

I still don't fully understand how to operate in RedCine to be honestly, so I think that's what's dissuading me from using it...

 

[MichaelP]

What I mean by color parameters is that the "source settings" in Media Composer only expose a subset of all the parameters that be controlled. One could always open their sources in Redcine X, set their parameters, ensure that the RMD is updated, then go to Media Composer as it will use the RMD. You should spend some time with Redcine X - quite powerful for manipulation and management of R3D files.

I think the CM_NO_SOURCE is the issue. What happens if you play back the timeline after the return of the AAF file (before the grouping)? Does it complain on those clips?



Michael

 

[James_Mills]

No, it plays the clips normally, they're just not in sinc...

 

[MichaelP]

Well I would think if the AAF cam back from Pluraleyes they would be in sync, or at least some of them... regardless, you are not getting the error message. I need to check and find out what causes the CM_No_Source is caused by.

Michael

 

[James_Mills]

You are a machine, MichaelP. I've never met anyone so knowledgable and (seemingly) legitimately fascinated with an editorial workflow as yourself. I tell yout his all the time, but you really are a godsend for us rare Avid folk around here...