Summary: This post is written for people who are looking for a Sony PMW-EX3 and Avid workflow guide. It displays an easy way to convert Sony PMW-EX3 MP4 footage to DNxHD .MOV for editing in Avid MC 8 with optimum performance.
I can’t import Sony PMW-EX3 MP4 footage to Avid MC8, please help
“I’ve spent all day long to figure out how to get my Sony PMW-EX3 footage working in Avid MC8. I have untouched original structure and have downloaded and installed the correct Sony AMA Plug-in on my iMac 10.9.4. I’m trying to AMA to the “BPAV” folder. So I hold down option and drag the BPAV folder into Avid Media Composer 8. It tells me ‘Unable to link to any clips at/Volumes’……. Am I doing something wrong? Does anyone know how to fix this? Appreciate any and all feedback/help. Thanks.”
Sony PMW-EX3 records XDCAM EX footage packed in an MP4 wrapper, which is not a file type suitable for editing. If for some reason the Sony AMA Plug-in didn’t work for you even though you have an intact folder structure, we’re afraid you will have to encode Sony EX HD MP4 footage to DNxHD .mov format, which is natively supported by Avid. Through this way, you will be able to ingest Sony PMW-EX3 MP4 files into Avid MC for editing fast and fluidly. This requires third party software like HD Video Converter.
You can download a demo version (for both, Mac and PC) to have a try. They are not free but it is totally worth it.
Sony PMW-EX3 MP4 workflow with Avid – transcode Sony PMW-EX3 MP4 to DNxHD MOV for Avid editing
Follow these steps:
Step 1: Start up HD Video Converter as a Sony PMW-EX3 MP4 Converter for Avid. When its main interface pops up, click ‘Add File’ to input your source media.
Step 2: Choose output format for Avid MC
From ‘Format’ bar, select ‘Avid DNxHD (*.mov)’ as output format under ‘Avid Media Composer’ column.
Important: If you’ve loaded a number of video clips to do batch conversion, please do remember ticking off ‘Apply to All’ option before you start.
Step 3: Custom video and audio settings
If necessary, you can click ‘Settings’ button and go to ‘Profiles Settings’ panel to modify video and audio settings like video encoder, resolution, video bit rate, frame rate, aspect ratio, audio encoder, sample rate, audio bit rate, and audio channels. 3D settings are also available.
Step 4: Start Sony PMW-EX3 MP4 to MOV Conversion with DNxHD codec
When ready, click ‘Convert’ to start format conversion. As soon as the conversion is complete, you can click ‘Open Folder’ button to get the exported DNxHD MOV files for use with Avid apps.
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