Avid Media Composer Transcoding Instructions
These are instructions to transcode in Avid Media Composer for a professional network workflow. It’s been used for television programs on HBO, PBS, and other networks.
For cheaper cameras like the SONY AS7, CANON 5D series or often most cameras that shoot in the H.264 codec, you need to relabel the linked clips before you import them. This is just to ensure that each clip has a unique and individual name to help later on with the Onlining process. Add the Disk Label with an underscore to the very beginning of each clip. An example is as follows: Original Name: C001 changed to the Modified Name: AxS01_20180918_NEG01_1of1_C001.
In a new bin, right click. In the drop down menu choose Input > Source Browser.
In the pop-up window, navigate to the desired camera card. Click on the root of the camera card. Double check that the target bin at the bottom right of the window is the bin you want to populate with the clips in and press the link button.
Check to take out the data tracks and any blank audio tracks that come in with the clip. This is common extra data that is imported into Avid that are annoying to edit with from SONY cameras like the FS7 as well as other brands of cameras. Do your research and know your camera and what was recorded by talking to the camera operators or reading the camera reports.
Once the clips have populated in your bin, highlight all of the clips and right click. In the drop down menu select Modify > Unlink Media. (The clips need to be Offline/The AMA link broken in order to modify the clip)
Select all the clips again, right click and select Modify > Modify Clip.
At the top of the new pop up window, click the drop down menu and Set Tracks. Uncheck the D (Data) Track at the bottom and deselect any blank audio tracks (TBD which are blank).
Once you’ve disabled the Data track and blank audio tracks, click OK.
Right click inside the bin and select Import > Source Browser again from the drop down menu. Navigate back to the card folder and click the link. The clips should appear online in the bin now, but without the Data track and any audio tracks you also disabled.
Once all of the linked clips are brought in with proper names and data tracks have been disabled, you can assign a Disk Label to each clip to assist in final online relinking. To do this copy the designated Disk Label and paste it clip by clip in the Disk Label column.
