Features

The nablet XAVC XDCAM Plug-in product installs two plug-ins which allow XAVC, XAVC-H, XDCAM or XDCAM-EX material to be linked to via AMA in Avid editing products.

The plug-in allows you to link, play, and edit XAVC and XAVC-H, XDCAM HD, IMX and DVCAM MXF clips recorded on the XDCAM Station (XDCAM Professional Media Station), SxS and XQD memory cards, Professional Discs, or stored on hard disks, inside supported Avid NLE products. The nablet XAVC XDCAM Plug-in also supports proxy editing workflows from certain media. Furthermore this plug-in allows to export XAVC Long GOP and XAVC Intra MXF files in HD, UHD and 4K format as well as XDCAM HD files

The nablet XDCAM-EX Plug-in allows you to link, play and edit XDCAM EX MPEG-2 or DV content recorded on SxS memory cards or stored on hard disks, inside the supported Avid NLE products.

The nablet XAVC XDCAM Plug-in is the successor of the former Sony PDZK-MA2 plug-in. The installation of the nablet plug-in guarantees a seamless transition* in your XAVC XDCAM editing workflow after the Sony plug-in had been uninstalled.

*Note that clips in an editing project which have previously been linked by the legacy Sony plug-in will show same plug-in name in the bins clip info although the nablet plug-in now handles them. This is because the initial information is stored persistently in the AAF file during linking.

Note: The nablet plug-ins and the legacy Sony plug-ins cannot coexist on the same system. Having them both installed will result in unpredictable behaviors of the editing application.

Supported Avid Products

       •     Avid Media Composer v8.6 to  latest releases

Supported Operating Systems

Windows

• Windows 11
• Windows 10 64-bit

Mac

minimum Version

• Apple Silicon CPU: macOS 11.00  (Big Sur)
• Intel CPU: macOS 10.15  (Catalina)

Note that this plug-in only supports Sony XDCAM, XAVC and XAVC H essence in MXF container. It does not support XAVC-S and XAVC-HS format in MP4 container. A separate XAVC-S plug-in is available from nablet here. For linking and editing XAVC HS H.265/HEVC footage please use the nablet HEVC AMA Plugin.

Version History

What's new in version 2026.4?

• Fixes failing XAVC Long GOP HD export and occasional artefacts on XAVC exports on Apple Silicon CPU.
• AMA Plugin Manager: Add control to disable hardware accelerated decoding on macOS. Hardware accelerated decoding may have issues on certain macOS versions.
• AMA Plugin Manager: Fix invisible panels and controls when macOS is set to dark mode.

What's new in version 2025.11?

• Global settings for image processing and license management can now be made via the nablet AMA Plugin Manager application.
• Hardware accelerated 4:2:2 video decoding on GPUs with Nvidia Blackwell architecture.
• New versioning scheme with first digits as YYYY.MM of the release date for better overview.

What's new in version 5.7.2?

• Fixed wrong frame layout in XAVC and XDCAM clips exported from an interlaced timeline.
• Fixed an issue where failed access to last audio samples in long clips could stop playback and transcoding.

What's new in version 5.7.0?

• Supports Apple Silicon (ARM) CPU on Mac.
• Updated components on Windows and Mac version in order to support Apple Silicon.

What's new in version 5.6.0?

• Processes application of embedded LUT and CineEI on a supported GPU (OpenCL, Metal) to reduce CPU load.

What's new in version 5.5.4?

• Improved XAVC Intra HD export quality.

What's new in version 5.5.3?

• Fix video sample loss or image distortion upon fast scrubbing on macOS.
• Fix possible decoder hangup on Intel GPU with latest drivers (v101.5522).

What's new in version 5.5.2?

• Adjust ANC Data Item Size of exported XAVC Intra 100 to match RDD-9 specification for compliance with XDCAM devices

What's new in version 5.5.1?

• Fix artifacts on interlaced XAVC 422 HD video.

What's new in version 5.5.0?

• Support for linking and playing Sony XAVC-H 4:2:2 8K Intra and LongGOP footage.
• If available uses hardware accelerated decoding for XAVC and XAVC-H.
• Extended ISO range for EI processing.
• Approved for macOS 14, Sonoma.

What's new in version 5.4.1?

• Corrected 'Fixed Channel Status Data' values in MXF AES-3 audio essence descriptor of exported clips.

What's new in version 5.4.0?

• Changed embedded LUT support in XAVC clips to a more user friendly and convenient workflow.
• Added control to modify exposure of XAVC clips in Source Settings to support the Sony Cine EI workflow.

Installation Procedure

Prerequisites

You cannot install the AMA Plug-ins while the editing application background services are running. Make sure you stop the services before installing the AMA Plug-Ins. The stop/start background services icon is on the Media Composer menu bar (Macintosh) or taskbar (Windows). Once you installed the new AMA plug-in, restart the services. See “Starting and Stopping Avid Background Services” in the Media Composer Help

Before installing the nablet XAVC XDCAM Plug-ins, you should first install any required drivers or software required by the Sony XDCAM and XDCAM EX devices you will be using. In order to use:

• Professional Discs inserted using an i.LINK connected device:
• Install the FAM Driver of the official release version.
• Professional Discs inserted using a USB connected XDCAM drive:
• Install the XDCAM Drive Software of the official release version.
• SxS memory cards in UDF and FAT32 format:
• Install the SxS Device Driver and the SxS UDF Driver of the official release version.
• Be sure to install the SxS Device Driver first.
• XQD memory cards  when used through Express Card adapter
• Install Sony XQD Driver of the official release version

Install Instructions Windows:

1. Uninstall any previous version of the nablet XAVC XDCAM plug-in and the Sony PDZK-MA2 plug-in (See “Uninstalling concurrent legacy Sony plug-ins” below if unsure).
2. Download the installer “nablet_XAVC_XDCAM_AMA_Plugin_Setup_Win_2025.11.0.exe”.
3. Double click “nablet_XAVC_XDCAM_AMA_Plugin_Setup_Win_2025.11.0.exe” to run the installation.
4. Follow the instructions provided by the installer. You must read and accept to the End User License.
5. During the installation any previous version of the nablet nablet XAVC XDCAM AMA Plugin  will be updated.
6. Additionally the nablet AMA Plugin Manager application will be installed or updated where you can configure global plugin settings and open the user manual.

Uninstall Instructions Windows:

1. Open Windows Control Panel and launch “Programs and Features”.
2. Select “nablet XAVC XDCAM AMA Plug-In” and then select Uninstall.
3. Next, select Yes to confirm the removal.
4. The nablet XAVC XDCAM Plug-in is now removed.

Do not uninstall the nablet AMA Plugin Manager as long as you have other nablet plugins installed.

Install Instructions Mac:

1. Download the installer image

“nablet_XAVC_XDCAM_AMA_Plugin_Setup_Mac_2025.11.0.dmg”.

1. Double-click “nablet_XAVC_XDCAM_AMA_Plugin_Setup_Mac_2025.11.0.dmg” to mount the image.
2. A folder with “nablet_XAVC_XDCAM_AMA_Plugin_Setup_Mac_2025.11.0.pkg” opens.
3. Launch “nablet_XAVC_XDCAM_AMA_Plugin_Setup_Mac_2025.11.0.pkg” to run the installation.
4. Follow the instructions provided by the Installer application. You must read and accept to the End User License.
5. During the installation any previous versions of the nablet XAVC XDCAM plug-ins will be updated. If any Sony PDZK-MA2 plug-ins exist, the installer will try to remove them. Confirm that they are no longer present by the instructions given in the “Uninstalling concurrent legacy Sony plug-ins”  chapter later.
6. Additionally the nablet AMA Plugin Manager application will be installed or updated where you can configure global plugin settings and open the user manual. It is located under “/Applications/nablet AMA Plugins”.

Uninstall Instructions Mac:

1. Locate the directory “Library/Application Support/Avid/AVX2_Plug-ins/AMA/nablet”.
2. Delete the nablet_MVP_MSP_XAVC_XDCAM.avx and MVP_MSP_XDCAM_EX.avx files.
3. Uninstall the nablet AMA Plugin Manager only if you have no other nablet AMA plugins installed. Locate “Applications/nablet AMA Plugin Manager” and delete the whole folder with all it's contents.
4. Empty the Trash to completely erase the files from the system.

Note:

After uninstalling/removing the nablet XAVC XDCAM plug-ins from the system, Avid Media Composer will no longer be able to access the Sony XAVC, Sony XDCAM and Sony XDCAM EX media imported via the (AMA) Link function.

Verifying the nablet Plug-in Version

After installation the “nablet XAVC XDCAM Plug-in” and “nablet XDCAM EX Plug-in” will be available to Avid Editing products. To verify the version follow the steps below:

1. In Avid open the Console window by selecting Tools->Console.
2. In the Console, type “Ama_ListPlugins” and press [Enter].
3. Confirm the version number listed for the “nablet XAVC XDCAM Plug-in” and the “nablet XDCAM EX Plug-in” is v 2025.11.0.

Uninstalling concurrent legacy Sony plug-ins

Reminder: The nablet plug-ins and the legacy Sony plug-ins cannot coexist on the same system. Having them both installed will result in unpredictable behaviors of the editing application.

1. Follow the steps 1. and 2. from above.
2. If any of “MVP_MSP_SonyXDCAM_64-bit” or  “MVP_MSP_SonyXDCAMEX_64-bit” is listed close the Avid application and uninstall Sony plug-ins.
   • Make sure you stop the Avid Background Services before uninstalling the Sony Plug-Ins. The stop/start background services icon is on the Media Composer menu bar (Macintosh) or taskbar (Windows). Once you uninstalled the plug-in, restart the services.
   • On Windows enter the Control Panel and launch “Programs and Features”.

Uninstall “Sony PDZK-MA2”. If you cannot uninstall from “Programs and Features” locate C:

\Program Files\Avid\AVX2_Plug-ins\AMA\ and manually delete the folder named XDSDeck.

• On Mac OS X locate the directory “Library/Application Support/Avid/AVX2_Plug-ins/AMA and remove any Sony PDZK-MA2 plug-ins by deleting SonyXDCAM.avx and

MVP_SonyXDCAMEX.avx. Empty the trash to completely erase the files from the system.

Link Operation Procedures

Linking to Sony XDCAM and XAVC files on Media Composer 8.6 and later

1. Select the desired destination bin in the project.
2. From the menu bar Select File->Input->Source Browser.
3. In the Source Browser navigate to the XDCAM or XAVC file(s) to be linked.
4. Right click the file and select “Link with -> Sony XAVC XDCAM”.
5. Hit Link button on the bottom right.

Linking to Sony XDCAM EX Files on Media Composer 8.6 and later

1. Select the desired destination bin in the project.
2. From the menu bar Select File>Input>Source Browser.
3. In the Source Browser navigate to the Sony XDCAM EX file(s) to be linked.
4. Right click the file and select “Link with → Sony XDCAM EX”.
5. Hit Link button on the bottom right.

Linking to Sony XDCAM and XAVC files on Media Composer 8.5 and earlier

1. Select the desired destination bin in the project. 
2. From the menu bar Select File> AMA Link… (“Link to Media…” if using Avid MC 8.4/8.5).
3. From the Files of Type pull down menu select “Sony XAVC XDCAM (*.mxf)”.
4. Select the XDCAM or XAVC file(s) to be linked.
5. Select Open.

Linking to Sony XDCAM EX files on Media Composer 8.5 and earlier

1. Select the desired destination bin in the project.
2. From the menu bar Select File> AMA Link… (“Link to Media…” if using Avid MC 8.4/8.5).
3. From the Files of Type pull down menu select “Sony XAVC EX (*.mp4 *.avi) ”.
4. Select the XDCAM EX file(s) to be linked.
5. Select Open.

Linking to XDCAM EX, XDCAM or XAVC AMA Volumes on Media Composer 8.6 and later

1. Select the desired destination bin in the project.
2. From the menu bar Select File>Input>Source Browser.
3. Inside the Source Browser navigate to the desired volume.
4. When linking to Professional Discs or SxS cards select the XDROOT folder of the mounted volume or the root of a volume. When linking to a virtual volume, such as when the contents of a media drive has been copied to another storage device while maintaining the folder structure, select the copied “XDROOT” directory or the “parent” directory that contains the XDCAM folder structure.

To link XDCAM-EX volumes select the folder directly above the BPAV folder of the mounted volume. The plug-in to link the volume will be automatically assigned by the Source Browser.

1. Hit Link button on the bottom right.

Linking  to XDCAM or XAVC AMA Volumes on Media Composer 8.5 and earlier

1. Select the desired destination bin in the project.
2. From the menu bar Select File> AMA Link… (“Link to Media…” if using Avid MC 8.4).
3. From the Files of Type pull down menu select “Sony XAVC XDCAM(Folder)”.
4. When linking to Professional Discs or SxS cards select the XDROOT folder of the mounted volume or the root of a volume. When linking to a virtual volume, such as when the contents of a media drive has been copied to another storage device while maintaining the folder structure, select the copied “XDROOT” directory or the “parent” directory that contains the XDCAM folder structure .
5. Select Open.

Linking to XDCAM EX AMA Volume on Media Composer 8.5 and earlier

1. Select the desired destination bin in the project.
2. From the menu bar select File> AMA Link… (“Link to Media…” if using Avid MC 8.4).
3. From the Files of Type pull down menu select “Sony XDCAM EX (Folder)”.
4. Select the folder directly above the BPAV folder of the mounted volume.
5. Select Open.

Linking growing files

For an edit 'while ingest' or 'frame chase' workflow, the XAVC XDCAM Plug-in is able to link growing files from a Sony XDS device (XDCAM Station) as well as files exported in growing style by means of the plug-in's XAVC export feature. See the AMA File Export chapter about how to export XAVC files in 'growing' style' for edit while ingest.

Growing files from third party source may be able to be linked as well, if they conform to the Sony specifications.

1. Link the growing XAVC or XDCAM file in the same way as described earlier for your version of Media Composer.
2. To update the linked clips while it is still growing hit Clip → Refresh In-Progresses linked Clips. ( you can also link an XDS volume as described. A growing file will be linked too )

Note:

In some versions of Media Composer the Source Browser has issues with linking growing files. It may react extremely slow or even hangup on the attempt to link a growing file or an XDS volume with a growing file.

To overcome that, you need to use the legacy link methods as described for Media Composer 8.5 and earlier.

The legacy Link Dialog is still available under MC 8.6 and later, but it is hidden. To make it available persistently select Tools → Console and in the consoles command line type ToggleHideLinkMenus and hit Enter. (To hide the dialog again repeat the command).

Proceed as described for Media Composer 8.5 to link the growing files.

Source Settings, Color Transformations and Embedded LUTs

In order to view the Source Settings window, you must right click a clip in a bin and select Source settings… There are three tabs in this window, Linked Plug-in, Color Encoding and FrameFlex that affect the image appearance.

The Color Encoding tab allows you to add and remove LUT tables, which will change the visual look of the image an which can transform the clips color space to the project color space.

The Frameflex tab allows you to change the dimension and framing of the image.

The Linked-Plugin tab allows to change the exposure of the clip. Application of an embedded LUT, which is explained later, can be enabled here as well.

Note that exposure control is only available for XAVC and XAVC-H Clips shot with Slog3 capture gamma. Initially the value for Exposure (EI) that was found in the clips meta data is used. The Exposure can be adjusted in range from ISO 80 to ISO 10000 in steps of 1/3 of a stop.

To reset the custom exposure setting to the value at recording time choose Clip Meta Data settings above. To reset them to generic defaults choose the Default settings above.

Note:

On some versions of Media Composer the first attempt to change a value does not take effect. To overcome this, toggle a setting one time, e.g. switch between Clip Meta Data and Default and back. After that any further changes will take effect.

The image preview on the Linked Plug-in tab shows the image in the format before any Color

Transformation LUTs and Look LUTs have been applied on the Color Encoding tab. Switch to the Color Encoding tab to view the final effect of your custom settings after the LUTs have been applied and thus how the image will appear in further processing, or, if the clip is opened in the Source Monitor, use full screen display on a secondary monitor to view the final image while you change settings.

Managing Color Adapters

When you link footage whose Capture-Gamma or Transfer-Characteristic does not match the project color space, for example a clip with S-Log3.Cine into an BT.709 project, a color transformation is needed to correctly display the pictures.

Media Composer ships with a variety of LUTs for color transformations, including those for Sony S-Log color spaces. Automatic insertion of a matching color transformation upon linking can be enabled in the Color Management Settings. They can be reached either via File->Settings->User tab or at the Color Encoding tab in the Source Settings dialog.

Open the Source Settings dialog of the linked clip to see the current color transformation.

If automatic insertion of a color transformation is disabled in the Color Management Settings, or if the clip color space matches the project color space, the Color transformations list will be empty. If color spaces don't match, you can now insert a color transformation manually in two ways:

Under Color Adapters hit the Auto button which will cause Media Composer  to insert the required transformation automatically now.

Or select the desired Color Adapter from either the Generic or User installed LUTs type.

Look LUTs and custom Color Transformation LUTs

f you have a Look LUT, a LUT that gives the recorded video a creative look, or a custom color space transformation LUT that you want to insert, first you need to install that LUT via the Color Management Settings dialog.

For details please see the Media Composer user manual. A user installed LUT can be inserted in the same way than manually inserting a color adapter. Select it from the User Installed LUTs Color Adapter type. 

Make sure to position a Look LUT before any color transformation. If you added a Look LUT after a color transformation was added automatically or manually, you can easily drag the Look LUT upwards to the top position.

Sony XAVC and XAVC-H Embedded LUTs

Some clips may carry an embedded LUT. This can be a creative LUT to apply a specific look to the recorded footage or a color transformation LUT for example for conversion from Slog3.Cine to BT.709 or they can even be a combination of both. When an embedded LUT is available you will find the additional checkbox on the Linked Plug-in tab.

Hover with the mouse over the checkbox to get information about the name of the LUT.  To use this LUT enable it's application with this checkbox. Also for this, on some Media Composer versions you may need to toggle the setting once to see the application of the LUT taking effect on the display window.

You can also check the availability of an embedded LUT in the bin's Monitoring Descriptions column.

The name prefix “EMB1” indicates that it is an embedded LUT.

If the LUT is a pure creative LUT, after you enabled the application of it the color transformations on the Color Encoding tab can be kept as they are. However, if the LUT contains a color space transformation, the color transformation on the Color Encoding tab must be deleted. Otherwise you will get a duplicate color transformation which results in a bad image with wrong colors. Switch to the Color Encoding tab, select the items in the Color transformations list and delete them.

If you know in advance that the footage has an embedded color transformation LUT and that you want to use it, disable the automatic insertion of color transformation in the Color Management Settings before you start linking.

Of course the color transformation of the embedded LUT must match the color space of your editing project. For example you must not use a LUT with a target transformation to BT.709 in a project with Slog3 or HLG color space to avoid wrong colors.

Unlike the settings on the other Source Settings tabs, unfortunately Media Composer does not support to apply the settings on the Linked Plug-in tab to multiple selected clips. So you must enable and disable the application of an embedded LUT for each clip individually.

Hardware accelerated Decoding

If an editing system is equipped with a powerful GPU in some workflows the plugin may be able use fast hardware accelerated decoding on the GPU for playback of XAVC and XAVC-H, leaving more CPU power for other tasks in the editing application.

On a Windows OS system that GPU may be a discrete AMD, Intel or NVIDIA graphics adapter or be a graphics unit integrated in the CPU. The plugin will detect available GPUs and will automatically decide which one it uses for decoding or whether decoding is being processed on the CPU only. Whether a GPU can decode certain media essence depends on its features. You can change the preferences via the nablet AMA Plugin Manager which is described below.

On Mac computers it depends on the processor type and macOS version whether hardware accelerated decoding is available and features of the OS decide whether CPU or GPU are used for decoding of XAVC and XAVC-H.

Configuring Plugin Features at the nablet AMA Plugin Manager

The nablet AMA Plugin Manager app which has been installed along with this plugin allows to configure some global plugin settings which cannot be done on the limited Source Settings->LinkedPlugin user interface under the Avid host. Run the nablet AMA Plugin Manager and choose the XAVC XDCAM tab.

Usually the plugin automatically decides which decoder it uses for AVC or HEVC in certain workflows.  On Windows OS you will find buttons to raise dialogs where you can change the preference.

Shown above is the choice for HEVC decoding. For AVC decoding it looks similar. Usually you can leave it at Auto. But if you are facing image distortion or other playback problems which may be caused by the GPU or its drivers switch to an other GPU or to software decoding here to see whether it solves the issues. Not many GPUs support 4:2:2 subsampled AVC or HEVC video currently. At the state of the detection of hardware accelerated decoders it is not known yet whether the footage you are going to link later is 4:2:0 or 4:2:2. Thus, even when the preference is set to use a GPU, the plugin later will automatically switch to CPU if the GPU does not support the properties of a clip.

On macOS the decoder is chosen automatically. For best performance by default hardware accelerated decoding will be used. However there are known issues with hardware accelerated decoding on some versions of macOS. If you are facing playback problems you can disable hardware accelerated decoding by un-checking the option Use hardware accelerated video decoding.

Under Image Processing there are two important settings

In order to be able to apply an embedded LUT or process Cine EI (typically on Slog3 shots), video frames need to be decoded inside the plugin rather than by the Avid host. The Avid host wants to know at a very early stage of linking whether the plugin wants to decode. At that time it is not known whether LUT application or Cine EI processing is required. Therefore, by default the plugin will decode all Slog3 clips by itself to be able to post-process the frames later. This means that you cannot consolidate Slog3 clips by just rewrapping the video stream to Avid Op1a container. The host will transcode to clips again which is slow.

Uncheck Allow to decode video in-place when you need fast consolidation and when you are sure LUT application and Cine EI processing are not required in your workflow.

Note: Only when Allow to decode video in-place is checked, the system can benefit from hardware accelerated decoding of Slog3 Clips. Any other footage is decoded on the Avid host side.

Note: This is a global setting which affects all Slog3 XAVC and XAVC-H clips linked in future. Already linked clips are not affected. Remove already linked clips from the project and link them again after changing this setting.

By default the plugin will use the GPU for fast LUT and Cine EI processing. If you face any issue with uncheck the Use GPU for LUT and Cine EI processing option.

Avid Playback Settings

The playback quality in the Avid applications can be configured using the Video Quality Menu in the Timeline window. When the Avid Video Quality menu is set to Full Quality the full 8K, 6K, 4K or 2K image is being decoded. At a Draft Quality setting an image of 1/2 resolution is being decoded and at the Best Performance option an image of 1/4 resolution is decoded.

For a fluent playback it is recommended to choose Draft or Best Performance mode. To view images in best Quality choose Full Quality mode.

Proxy editing workflow

XAVC devices can record AVC or MPEG-2 proxy clips besides the high resolution clips. XDCAM devices allow to record MPEG-4 proxy clips. The workflow for editing with low resolution proxy files is different for each type.

Working with XAVC high resolution clips and AVC or MPEG-2 proxies

XAVC cameras can simultaneously record low resolution AVC or MPEG-2 (XDCAM HD) proxy files besides the high resolution main AV stream to the same recording media in the “Sub” folder or to a separate media.

AVC proxy files are wrapped in MP4 container in same style as XAVC S clips. They may reside on the same recording media as the high resolution clips in the “Sub” folder or on a separate media. When the proxies are stored on a separate media this media has a similar folder structure as XAVC S, but the root folder is named PXROOT rather than M4ROOT, indicating that the recorded footage is of low resolution.

MPEG-2 proxy files are MXF wrapped and are XDCAM HD 422 compliant. They may as well reside in the reside in the “Sub” folder of the high resolution media or on a separate media.

For linking AVC proxy files in MP4 container the nablet XAVC S AMA Plug-in v2.1.0 or later needs to be installed. Follow the instructions in the manual of the XAVC S plugin about how to link volumes and clips.

Linking of MPEG-2 proxy clips is supported by this XAVC XDCAM plugin.

Linking XAVC high resolution and proxy footage

To work with the proxy files for editing you must link the high resolution footage as well as the low res proxy files. Proceed as described below to link and to become able to switch between high resolution and proxy editing.

1. Link the XAVC (MXF) high resolution footage by means of the methods described earlier in this document. Either link the whole volume or link selected clips from the “Clip” folder.
2. If the proxy clips reside on a separate media, link the whole media by selecting the parent folder of the media structure.  If you do not want to link the whole media, link selected clips by Right Click->Link with->nablet XAVC S if these are AVC proxy clips in MP4 container, or by Right Click->Link with->Sony XAVC XDCAM if these are MPEG-2 proxy clips in MXF container.

If the proxy clips were recorded to the same media as the high resolution clips, navigate to the “Sub” folder and link all or selected clips by Right Click->Link with->nablet XAVC S if these are AVC proxy clips in MP4 container, or by Right Click->Link with->Sony XAVC XDCAM if these are MPEG-2 proxy clips in MXF container.

Editing with AVC proxy clips

Important! Sometimes the AVC proxy clips have less audio tracks than the high resolution clips. Special care has to be taken to be able to edit with all audio tracks. If you would fill and edit your timeline directly with the linked proxy clips, you may work for example with 2 audio tracks only while the high resolution clips have 4 or 8 audio tracks. Relinking the sequence to high resolution later will not add the missing audio tracks!

Beginning with version 2.1.1 of the nablet XAVC S plugin, that plugin will detect the number of high resolution audio tracks and will add silent dummy tracks for the linked proxy clips to match the number of high resolution audio tracks, so that your workflow becomes easier.

This detection will happen always when high resolution and proxy clips reside on the same media volume.

When high resolution and proxy clips were recorded on separate media it depends on the proxy volumes metadata version whether the number of high resolution is signaled in the clips companion XML file. If it is signaled, this will let the XAVC S plugin know the number of high resolution audio tracks and thus how many dummy tracks it will have to add. If it is not there the XAVC S plugin cannot add dummy tracks upon linking and you have to choose a bit more complex workflow.

You can see the number of audio tracks after linking when the 'Tracks' column on the bin to where you linked the clips is enabled.

So, different workflows are required depending on whether you have to work with a different number of audio tracks or an equal one. Please see the instructions on the following pages

Note:

When you have proxy or high resolution clips with varying number of audio tracks, e.g. some clips have 4 channels, some clips have 8 channels, and the first clip you add to new sequence has less channels than others, then Media Composer will only automatically create this number of audio tracks. When you place a clip with higher number of channel later on the sequence, no additional audio tracks will be created and not all audio tracks of that new clip will be present.

Make sure your sequence has enough audio tracks and manually add additional audio tracks to the sequence before you place clips with higher number of tracks.

If the number of high resolution audio tracks is equal to the number of audio tracks shown for the linked proxy clips in the bin columns:

Fill and edit the timeline with the proxy clips. When you are done with editing select the sequence in it's bin and raise the Relink dialog by Right Click->Relink...to relink the sequence back to high resolution:

All high resolution and proxy clips shall have been linked already so that they can be located in the media database by the Relink process.

High resolution and proxy files typically carry the same Source File ID. This is used by the host to identify the matching source clips for relinking.

As the format and image dimensions of high resolution and proxy clips are different by nature make sure to allow Relink to: Any Video Format. Then Select Highest Quality as Relink method.

In some cases the high resolution clips and the proxies have different frame rates. Make sure to enable Allow relink across rates, otherwise only clips with the same frame rate get relinked.

Check Create new sequence if you want the selected sequence to be relinked into a copy.

To switch a sequence back to proxy resolution proceed as above but select Relink Method: Most Compressed. 

If the number of high resolution audio tracks is higher than the number of audio tracks shown for the linked proxy clips in the bin columns:

You need to relink the high resolution clips to low resolution once before you start editing. But only the video track!

1. Select all high resolution clips in their bin and do Right Click->Relink... to raise the Relink dialog and configure the relink process:

As said earlier all high resolution and proxy clips shall have been linked already so that they can be located in the media database.

High resolution and proxy files typically carry the same Source File ID. This is used by the host to identify the matching source clips for relinking.

As the format and image dimensions of high resolution and proxy clips are different by nature make sure to allow Relink to: Any Video Format. Select Most compressed as Relink method.

It is important to select only the Video track to be relinked and keep the audio tracks as high resolution! This way the relinked clips will still refer to all high resolution audio tracks.

In some cases the high resolution clips and the proxies have different frame rates. Make sure to enable Allow relink across rates, otherwise only clips with the same frame rate get relinked.

2. Now you may create the sequence and start editing by filling the timeline with the relinked clips from the high resolution bins. You will see that the video track appears as low resolution but all high resolution audio tracks are available on the timeline.
3. To relink a sequence with low resolution video source back to high resolution for export, high quality rendering and preview, select the sequence in it's bin and raise the Relink dialog by Right Click->Relink...to relink the sequence:

To switch a sequence back to proxy resolution proceed as above but select Relink Method: Most Compressed.

On some macOS versions relinking the sequence might not work as shown above. The video track on the timeline may stay at the low resolution.

Instead select the high resolution clips in their bin again and proceed as above but select Relink method: Highest Quality. Again only relink the Video track!

To relink a high resolution sequence back to proxy format, proceed as above but select Relink method: Most Compressed.

Note:

If you had linked the AVC proxy clips before with a version earlier than nablet XAVC S plugin 2.1.0 or with Media Composers builtin plugins, the clips will not be detected by the Relink process. You must clean the media data base first and then link the AVC proxy clips with the nablet XAVC S plugin v2.1.0 or later and link the high resolution XAVC clips with the nablet XAVC XDCAM plugin.

Editing with MPEG-2 proxy clips

Fill and edit the timeline with the proxy clips. When you are done with editing select the sequence in it's bin and raise the Relink dialog by Right Click->Relink...to relink the sequence back to high resolution:

Again all high resolution and proxy clips shall have been linked already so that they can be located in the media database.

High resolution and proxy files typically carry the same Source File ID. This is used by the host to identify the matching source clips for relinking.

As the format and image dimensions of high resolution and proxy clips are different by nature make sure to allow Relink to: Any Video Format. Then Select Highest Quality as Relink method.

In some cases the high resolution clips and the proxies have different frame rates. Make sure to enable Allow relink across rates, otherwise only clips with the same frame rate get relinked.

Check Create new sequence if you want the selected sequence to be relinked into a copy.

To switch a sequence back to proxy resolution proceed as above but select Relink Method: Most Compressed.

Working with XDCAM high resolution clips and MPEG-4 Proxy

The workflow to edit with legacy XDCAM high resolution clips and MPEG-4 proxies is much different than the for the above types. The MPEG-4 proxy files always reside on the same media as the high resolution clips in the “Sub” folder.

You must always link the whole media volume(s). When you link individual clips directly from the “Clip” folder, a proxy workflow is not supported.

Before you link the media specify whether the volume is linked with high resolution or proxy video by setting the quality parameter in the Link Settings. To start editing with low resolution proxy clips set the Link Preference to Most Compressed as below:

Hit OK and now link the volume(s). All clips will appear in the bin as low resolution MPEG-4 proxy clips, except those which have a different framerate than the high resolution clips, which is typically the case for 720p XDCAM clips. For clips with different rates this procedure will link the highres clips instead. So, if you only have 720p XDCAM footage on the media you should link and edit with Highest Quality and skip proxy editing.

After having linked with proxy resolution, start editing and fill the sequence. When done with editing, raise the Link Settings again and now select  Highest Quality as Link Preference.

After that link each volume that is in use again and magically all low resolution video tracks on the timeline will be replaced with high resolution video.

You can always switch back and forth between low and high resolution by changing the Link Preference in the Link Settings and linking the volumes again.

Note, that the complete folder structure of the XDCAM Professional Disc volume including the PROAV sub-folder is required to play the proxy clips with audio. If the PROAV folder is missing in your copy of the volume, the audio tracks cannot be detected for proxy playback. To overcome this, first link the volume with Link Preference set to Highest Quality, then link it again with Link Preference set to Most Compressed. That way Media Composer collects information for both types and becomes able to play the audio from the highres clip in combination with the proxy video.

AMA File Export of XAVC and XDCAM HD Files ^*

The “AMA File Export” feature allows the export of XAVC and XDCAM HD compatible files from Avid.

Exports can be performed with all Avid media including linked AMA files.

XAVC and XDCAM HD AMA File Export supports following operating points:

XAVC Video:

*AMA File export is not available on Media Composer | First

XDCAM HD Video:

The choice of operation points on the export settings dialog varies depending on the project's raster dimensions and frame rate

* Due to a bug in Media Composer all versions up to v2019.10 force the user to change the project's raster dimension to 1920x1080 before allowing an export to file. Please check on later Media Composer versions whether this limitation is gone and 1440x1080 can be exported as a native resolution.

Audio:

Audio will be exported as PCM at a sampling rate of 48Khz with a quantization of 24 bits for XAVC and XDCAM HD 50 4:2:2 and 16 bits for XDCAM HD 4:2:0 profiles. The plug-in supports export of up to 16 audio channels. If there are more than 16 audio channels on the timeline the plug-in will refuse to export. Deselect some of the audio tracks on the timeline to meet the limit of 16 channels. On the export dialog check 'Use Selected Tracks' to make sure only the selected tracks are passed down to the plug-in.

Supported Audio Mixdown modes are Direct Out, Mono, Stereo, 5.1 and 7.1. Direct Out exports separate audio tracks as they appear on the timeline without any down mixing. Direct Out is the default mode and should be used to maintain full XAVC and XDCAM compliance.

The audio will not be mixed down into a single multichannel track but each channel of the mixdown is stored as a separate track on the output file.

For more details on audio mixing and the 5.1 or 7.1 channel assignments, please refer to the Avid user manuals.

Note that down mixed audio may not be supported by certain Sony hardware and software.

In Direct Out audio mixing mode, the minimum number of exported channels is 8 for XAVC and XDCAM HD 50 4:2:2 and 4 for XDCAM HD 4:2:0 profiles. If the source timeline has less than 8 or 4 channels respectively, muted missing channels will be added. If more channels are exported it is mandatory to select an even number of channels.

Note that certain Sony hardware and software may not support more than 8 channels.

MXF Container:

There are two possible styles for the essence location in XAVC files:

Single Essence Location is the default XAVC style, usually recorded by Sony hardware. All essence is placed in a single partition. The index table is stored ahead of the essence. This style is the only option for export of XAVC Intra CBG type.

In Multiple Essence Location style files essence of about 10 seconds worth is placed into separate body partitions. Each body partition, except the first one, contains the index table of the previous body partition, ahead of the essence. The last body partition does not contain essence but only the index table for the previous partition. The footer partition repeats all index table segments. This style can be chosen for export of any XAVC Long GOP and and XAVC Intra VBR types and is the only option for XDCAM HD types.

Note that not all Sony hardware might support reading of XAVC Multiple Essence Location style files.

For more information about these Essence Location styles, please refer to SMPTE RDD 32 and RDD-9.

ANC Data Track:

By default the export process will always create an ANC data track on the target file. 

If the exported timeline does contains a data track the plug-in will add RDD-18 metadata with the actual timelines color information (Transfer Characteristic, Color Primaries, Coding Equations) for XAVC to the existing ANC data packets. Any RDD-18 metadata in the data track's ANC data packets that was probably inherited from source clips will be replaced.

If the exported timeline does not contain a data track, the plug-in will create a data track which only contains ANC packets with the RDD-18 color information for XAVC or empty ANC packets for XDCAM.

If the exported timeline does not contain a data track and for some reason you want the plug-in to omit the creation of a empty data track for XDCAM or a data track with RDD-18 color information only for XAVC, set the “Add ANC Data track” in the export settings dialog to Disabled.  If this option is disabled, the plug-in will not create a data track when the source timeline has no data track. However, it is recommended to keep the ANC data track with color information on XAVC exports as some software may prefer to gather color space information from it rather than from the MXF header meta data.

Color Space:

The color space signaled in the meta data and ANC data of an exported XAVC file will be the actual color space of the editing project. Make sure to choose the desired color space when the project is created. You can also change the color space of a project in it's Settings dialog.

When you shot in Slog you might want to edit in Slog and export Slog to deliver for further post production. Otherwise, if you export directly for broadcast the best project color space choices are BT.709 or BT.2020 HLG. See also the chapter about the Sony Instant HDR workflow later.

Note:

For XDCAM HD no color space information is stored in the ANC data track and the Transfer Characteristic in the MXF header meta data is set to BT.709.

The following steps will provide basic instructions for the use of  XAVC and XDCAM AMA File Export:

1. Right click the desired sequence or media file for export to reveal the context menu.

2. On Media Composer prior to v8.6 select “AMA File Export” to open the AMA File Export dialog. On Media Composer v8.6 up to v2018.9 select “Output → AMA File Export”.  Then Proceed to step 3.
   From Media Composer 2018.10 onward intermediate steps are required:
   On the Menu select File->Output->Export to File.
   A dialog to specify the target file name and location and the settings will appear:
   

   Specify a target file name and location and hit “Options” to raise the AMA File Export dialog.

3. From the “Export As” pull-down menu select “Sony XAVC & XDCAM (nablet)”.
4. On Media Composer prior to v2018.10 specify the target file name and location.
5. From the “Format” pull-down menu select the desired XAVC profile. The format options that become available depend on the project dimension and frame rate. The example below is the choice for an HD project with up to 29.97fps.
   
6. When an XCDAM format was chosen an option to force a constant GOP size will become available
   
   By default for best quality and bitrate management the MPEG-2 video encoder will use scene detection and place an I-Frame on a scene change. This may leave GOPs shorter than the typical length for the specific frame rate at such scene changes. To force the encoder not to use scene detection and to generate constant GOP size check “Force constant GOP Size”.
7. If the frame rate of the sequence to export is 50 fps or 59.94 fps an option to allow an odd sequence duration will be available.
   
   For compliance with the Sony format specifications clips at these frame rates need to have an even frame number. If the sequence consists of an odd number of frames, by default the plugin will truncate the sequence by one frame and export an even number of frames. You may force the plugin to ignore that rule and export all frames by checking “Accept odd sequence duration”, but be aware that the resulting output violates the specification and may not be accepted by certain Sony hardware and software.

8. If the chosen format is of an XAVC Long GOP or an XAVC Intra VBR type, select the desired MXF Essence Location Style from the “MXF Container Format” pull-down menu.

   A dialog to specify the target file name and location and the settings will appear:
   
   The Single Essence Location Style is the default style for XAVC Long GOP and XAVC Intra VBR. For XAVC Intra VBR the MXF Container Format is fixed to Single Essence Location style, for XDCAM HD it is fixed to Multiple Essence Location style.

9. If the file is to be ingested and edited on an other workplace while it is being exported, set the “Enable Growing File Style” option to Enabled. Files exported in this style can be linked by the nablet XAVC XDCAM plug-in in Avid products and probably also on other NLE's.
   
   Note that the MXF Container Format selection has no effect in this mode. By nature growing Long GOP files always are of Multiple Essence Location style.

10. If needed,  suppress the generation of an ANC track by setting the “Create ANC Data track” option to Disabled.
    

11. Select the desired Audio Mixdown mode
    
    Direct Out is the default mixdown mode an should be chosen to maintain full XAVC or XDCAM compliance.

12. To insert XML metadata into the exported MXF file check “Write Metadata to File”
    
    Check “Write Sidecar XML File” to also export an XML file next to the MXF file.

    The generated XML metadata will contain file and format information. If you fill in Title, Creator, and Description text boxes, this information will be added to the metadata. Note that the Avid host will store these entries persistent. You need to update it for each export and if you do not want all or some of that user information, please clear the corresponding text boxes.

13. On Media Composer prior to v2018.10 select the “Save” Button to start the export.

    On Media Composer v2018.10  and later hit “Save As” to save the setting as a preset.

    Then hit save to return to the “Export as ..” dialog. Hit the “Save” Button to start the export.

    Saved export settings can be selected from the “Export Settings” drop down menu for further exports without the need to raise the the AMA File Export dialog again.

Exporting XDCAM HD 4:2:0 and XDCAM HD 4:2:2 to an optical disc:

It is possible to export an XDCAM HD file directly to an optical disc, e.g. on an Sony PDW-U1 or PDWU2 device. When specifying the target name and location navigate to the device and select the “Clip” folder on the mounted optical disc as the target folder. Depending on the settings made at the Sony XDCAM Drive Utility software, the filename you specified will be used for naming on the disc or the drive will change it to the typical XDCAM naming form like e.g. C0003.MXF. Before exporting make sure the disc's system frequency matches the frame rate of the exported timeline. You cannot mix clips with PAL frame rates and NTSC frame rates on the same disc.

Unfortunately some versions of Media Composer inhibit a direct export to an optical disc, because they access the drive in some illegal way prior to starting the export throughout the plug-in, which causes an IO error and terminates the export.

One workaround is to export to a local storage first and copy the resulting MXF file to the Clip folder on the mounted disc manually.

An other optional workaround is to use the Export to Device feature for native XDCAM HD export by Avid Media Composer.

1. Select File → Output → Export to Device → XDCAM
2. The format options that become available vary depending on the project settings.
3. Select the mounted Target XDCAM disc and hit OK to start the export.

But please note that in this case the Avid's internal XDCAM HD encoder is utilized rather than the one of the nablet XAVC XDCAM plug-in and no additional meta data can be set.

Instant HDR Workflow

What is the Sony Instant HDR Workflow?

Instant HDR means you shoot footage in HDR and Hybrid Log Gamma (with Picture Profile for HLG/BT.2020), edit it in the same color space and deliver the final video in HLG HDR without the need of additional color grading.

A variety of Sony cameras now support shooting in BT.2020 HLG HDR, professional XAVC cameras as well as low cost XAVC S recording models. 

Avid Media Composer allows to edit in BT.2020 Hybrid Log Gamma color space. In Media Composer versions before v8.7 this is called AribB-67. Not all versions of Media Composer support an HDR workflow in BT.2020 HLG. Please refer to the specification of the version you use.

While you link XAVC (MXF) HDR footage by means of this nablet XAVC XDCAM plug-in, you can link XAVC S (MP4) HDR footage by means of the nablet XAVC S AMA Plug-in.

The editing project shall be configured for Hybrid Log Gamma color space. When you export the timeline to XAVC by means of this plug-in the output MXF file will signal the HLG color space in it's meta data.

Prepare to edit UHD in BT.2020 Hybrid Log Gamma HDR

In Avid Media Composer create a new Project with UHD resolution and the desired frame rate and select a BT.2020 HLG color space. This is a available for RGB as well as for YCbCr. While YCbCr requires less memory RGB guarantees best rendering quality.

You may also change the color space in an already existing project. Select the project windows Format tab and at the Color Space selector choose the 2020 Hybrid Log Gamma. After this make sure to update the Color Transformations for you source clips in the Source Settings dialog to match the new project color space. On the Color Encoding tab usually hitting the Auto button will generate the proper transformations. This works for multiple selected clips.

For source clips that were shot in BT2020 Hybrid Log Gamma there shall not be any transformation afterwards in a project with the same color space. For more information about the Source Settings and Color Encoding please refer to the Media Composer manual.

The actual color space of the project will become the color space of the exported video. There is no option to specify an different color space only for the export.

Known Issues and Limitations

General

• The user must uninstall any versions of the Sony PDZK-MA2 plug-in from programs and Features on Windows before installing this plug-in.
• Linking spanned clips does not work with Avid Media Composer 8.6.4. Upgrade to a later version of Media Composer.
• The Audio Bit Depth and other columns may display incorrect information when a spanned clip is imported.
• The “CFPS” column in Avid will populate with the standard frame rate, and not the capture frame rate. In other words, if a clip was shot at 120 FPS over a 23.98 timebase, the CFPS column will report 23.98. Please refer to the custom “Capture FPS” column instead.
• If there are DNxHD, ProRes, or SR clips in an XDROOT folder structure that contains XAVC/XDCAM clips, using link to AMA volume with the XAVC/XDCAM plug-in will not link to the DNxHD, ProRes, or SR clips in that structure. DNxHD and ProRes can be linked to by file using the Quicktime plug-in, and SR clips can be linked to by file using the nablet HDCAM-SR plug-in.
• For Media with a PRIVATE root folder and an AVCHD folder besides the XDROOT folder the Avid application may not access the nablet XAVC XDCAM plug-in to link this media. A workaround is to remove the AVCHD folder if it doesn't contain clips, or rename it to e.g. to “AVCHD_”.
• On some versions of Media Composer the attempt to link clips results in an erratic behavior of the Source Browser. It may react extremely slow or even hangup.

A workaround is to use the legacy link methods as described for Media Composer 8.5 and earlier. The legacy Link Dialog is still available under MC 8.6 and later, but it is hidden. To make it available persistently select Tools → Console and in the consoles command line type ToggleHideLinkMenus and hit Enter. (To hide the dialog again repeat the command). Then proceed as described for Media Composer 8.5.

• Hardware accelerated is available only for Slog3 footage when in place decoding is enabled.

Since most XAVC and all XAVC-H footage uses 4:2:2 sub-sampling, the GPU must support that. Recommended is an Nvidia GPU with Broadwell chip or later. 4:2:0 is supported by most GPU.

XAVC

• Single stream playback of XAVC HD files are supported on machines with 4 core processors or more.
• The source timecode will not be present on XAVC 4K clips when performing a link to the 4K folder and then a link to the same individual MXF files inside the 4K image that a link to folder was performed with.
• XAVC QFHD and 4K may not be played back in real-time with the Video Quality Menu option set to Full Quality.
• After transcoding a clip or after performing a video mix down, some versions of Media

Composer will not set a desired lower Video Quality when playing back the source file.

Toggle the Video Quality setting once when you encounter a performance loss during playback.

• Sony cameras that utilize the XAVC folder structure with the capability of recording AVCHD will not auto mount in Avid Media Composer. The user must link to them manually.
• XAVC clips beyond HD in resolution will show up as “Generic AVCI” in the format column in Avid Media Composer v8.3.1.
• On Media Composer from v8.9.2 to 2018.1 certain XAVC Intra 4K CBG clips cannot be played back, regardless whether the clips were linked with the nablet plug-in or the Avid own MXF plug-in. Hitting the Play button results in an error message. Workaround is to transcode the linked clip to DNxHR.
• AMA File Exporting 1080p50/60 XAVC media on Media Composer v8.7.2 and v8.8.0 fails with a message about unsupported compression format. Upgrade to v 8.8.1 or later.
• AMA File Exporting 720p50/60 XAVC media may result in invalid media in downstream operations in Avid Media Composer v8.3.1.
• 720p50/60 XAVC Intra and Long GOP is not supported on Avid Media Composer v8.3.1, or NewsCutter v11.0.4. To use 720p50/60p XAVC, Avid Media Composer v8.4 or later, or NewsCutter v11.0.4.4 must be used.
• XAVC Intra HD performance from deck devices such as the PMW-1000 and XDS-2000 is depending on hardware spec and connection speed to the deck. Full quality playback may not be sustainable in some cases.

XDCAM Memory

• The CreationDate may display the time the subsequent spanned files were created for a clip, instead of the time the first file of the spanned clip was created.
• When one image of a span is not linked to and displays Media Offline in the viewers, the time code for the Media Offline section is not displayed. When the missing image is linked to, then the time code will show up.

XDCAM Disc

• There is no support for 720p (PD-Proxy) MPEG-4 proxy clips.
• When using the Sony PDW-U1, if an XDCAM Disc is ejected and then the same disc is reinserted during the same Avid session, the clips might not come back online in Avid. To work around this issue, manually link to the XDCAM Disc using the File >Link AMA… (“Link to Media…” if using Avid MC 8.4) feature or restart the Avid application.
• The Video column for XDCAM HD 1440x1080 18Mb/25Mb 29.97p media displays the frame rate as 60 and the Format column will display the frame rate as 59.94 in the bin .
• The Video column for XDCAM HD 1280x720 25Mb 50p/60p media displays as MPEG2-MP@HL (HD720P) in the bin.
• The Video column for XDCAM HD 1280x720 35Mb 50p/60 media displays as XDCAM EX 35Mbits (720p50) in the bin.
• If an XDCAM image has been modified by XDCAM Browser and saved the most compressed proxy material may not be able to display in Avid. Only the highest quality will display in Avid for these images.
• Export of XDCAM HD directly to the Clip folder on a mounted optical disc is inhibited on some versions of Media Composer due to an internal bug.

XDCAM EX

• The Video column for XDCAM EX 1440x1080 35Mbps media displays as XDCAM HD 1440x1080 35Mbps in the bin.
• The Video column for XDCAM EX 1440x1080 25Mbps media displays as HDV 1440x1080 in the bin.
• The Video column for XDCAM EX 1440x1080 35Mbps 29.97p media displays as 59.94i in the bin.
• All XDCAM EX AMA media must be mounted and online when rendering or consolidating a sequence.

Voice-over

• Voice-over audio clips maybe offline if an image is linked over a network. In the console enter “alldrives 1” for Avid to view all drives as media drives.
• Consolidate or Transcode voice-over clips will fail either in a sequence or in the bin.
• Voice-over audio file will not display the full path to an image linked over the network.

XMPilot

•    Some of the category names will have a PM in front of them to avoid conflicts. The list of category names that will have a PM in front of them are: Project, Assign ID, Creator, Title 1 (ASCII), and Title 2 (Multi Language).

XDCAM Station

• The supported firmware version of XDCAM Station is v2.01 or higher.
• The Source Browser of Media Composer 8.6 and later may slow down linking of clips and folders on XDCAM Station due to it's various auto-detection features.

It is possible to use the legacy Link dialog, which is hidden by default. To make the Link dialog available open Tools->Console. In the Console command line type “ToggleHideLinkMenus” and hit Enter. You will be prompted with a message dialog which informs that the Link Menu pick will be visible now. This setting stays persistent on your system until you hide the Link Menu by entering the same command again.

• It is recommended to perform a folder link to the XDCAM Station devices “INTERNAL” folder as opposed to the root folder of the XDCAM Station device. Linking to the root folder of the XDCAM Station will work, but a “Bin Selection” window will be displayed which may cause inconvenience.
• Linking growing files or streamchase clips is not sufficient with Media Composers Source

Browser. Follow the instructions earlier in this document about how to link growing files.

• A copy of a streamchase clip is created once it finishes growing. This occurs when performing a Refresh In-Progress AMA Clips operation with clips on the internal XDS that are being created by a copy from the PD or SxS drives. This occurs if the XDS Transcode menu option is set to “On”.
• Realtime playback is not supported when accessing XAVC HD files on the XDCAM Station directly.
• Streamchase is not supported with Avid NewsCutter.
• AMA File Export of XAVC requires 8 channels of audio if intending to copy this to the XDCAM Station device.
• AMA File Export to the XDS Professional Disc slot is not supported.

Stereoscopic 3D

•    When performing the function “Populate S3D Group Names automatically” in Avid products on a Stereoscopic 3D linked clip, the existing S3D Group Names will be replaced and creating a Stereoscopic clip will not be possible. If this does occur please perform another folder link on the affected clip(s).

XDCAM Professional Disc User Data folder

• When performing a file transfer from SxS cards to an XDCAM Professional Disc using a device such as the PDW-HR1 some clips will be copied to the UserData folder of the XDCAM

Professional Disc. Some of the clips will not import into Avid products when the user performs an AMA Link to Folder to the UserData folder. To correct this, the UserData folder must be opened in XDCAM Browser. XDCAM Browser will modify the image to allow it to be imported into the Avid products. The user must perform another AMA Link to Folder function to import the clips into Avid.

• AMA Link to folder is not supported for XDROOT that is under the UserData folder on an XDCAM Professional Disc. The image must be copied off to the system storage and then the AMA Link to folder will work, or the AMA Link to file will work as well.
• Consolidating/Transcoding of XDCAM Professional Discs will fail if run as a background task.

AMA File Export

• AMA File Export of XAVC Long GOP HD to Sony Professional Discs is not supported.
• Using the XAVC & XDCAM File Type for AMA File Export is not supported for audio clips, Titles, Motion Effects, Sub-clips, and Group clips.
• Export of XDCAM HD directly to the Clip folder on a mounted optical disc is inhibited on some versions of Media Composer due to an internal bug.
• Export of XAVC Intra Class 50 and XDCAM HD with 1440x1080 dimension is inhibited by some versions of Media Composer.