Combining Xdcam . MXF files into One

[hanan@reshet.tv]

Hello.

Is there a way to watch for a folder, and to combine all the files into ONE file?

All the files would be the same: XDCAMHD50 .MXF FullHD.

and the time code of the new files should start with "00:00:00".

Thank You

[FranceBB]

If you need this for Sony SxS or XDCAM Disks folder structure, I'm pretty sure it can be implemented just like the P2 watch folder, which allows you to flag "combining all files into one". This because a P2 folder structure has .xml files and a LASTCLIP.txt file that contain metadata. SxS and XDCAM Disks have metadata as well, so I believe it could be implemented, but I'm not sure about a "normal" folder with "normal" files. Let me explain. If you have a normal watchfolder in which you copy several MPEG-2 .MXF files, FFAStrans wouldn't know when you copied all the clip you need to combine. In other words, once you copied the first clip, FFAStrans wouldn't be able to know how many files you still have to copy. The program knows when you are copying a file with "check for growing file size", but doesn't know how many files you have to copy if the copy hasn't started yet. You can use a timer, like "if no files are copied in the last x minutes, take all the ones that have already been copied into the watchfolder and encode combining them all together". Anyway, such approach would be far from being "safe".

This is just my opinion, though.
Steinar is far more skilled than me with AutoIt and perhaps knows a way to do it.

[admin]

Hi hanan, thank you for using FFAStrans and welcome to the forum!

FranceBB describes the problem quite well. It's all about predicting what will come next. This is how f.ex. the dedicated "Panasonic P2" works: Based on a very clear defined file/folder structure and sidecar files, the monitor can predict what files belongs to each other and their order. That would be very difficult if you just drop some MXF-files in a folder using the "Folder"-monitor. So the short answer NO if your source are just random MXF-files, and YES if your source is directly from a camcorders memory card (or a copy of it). Now, the latter would take some development but at least it's doable in an orderly fashion.

-steinar

[3pointedit]

I gather that as files are added to the ingest folder they are scheduled for transcoding, so that also prevents performing a Concatenation of files with same codecs?

Is there a way to front end the batch by grouping via thumbnails or some such?

Also this is an excellent tool! Thank you.

[admin]

Yes David, that's correct. The "Folder" and "FTP" monitors picks up single files and treats them as separate jobs. These monitors are generic and cannot be made to process media of any kind. That's why you have monitors for P2, CanonXF and GoPro.

Can you be a bit more specific on your second question?

-steinar

[carmos1975]

hello Steinar,
I can't chain the canonXF 105 CF card into a single file, containing mxf 50mbit 1920x1080 files and 2 audio tracks.
I copied the CONTENTS of the card to the folder where the CANONXF folder points, but no process starts.
what am I doing wrong?
Could you give me some help?
I'm attaching 2 screenshots to you.
the first s the workflow that should trigger the process.
the second is how the root of the CF card of CANON XF 105 is structured.

[carmos1975]

sorry....Steinar

[admin]

Hi carmos1975, thank you for using FFAStans and welcome to the forum!

Can you please supply a screenshot that shows the contents of one of your AA-folders? I just need to see structure inside to see if it differs from what FFAStrans expect to find.

Regaring chaining to one file; FFAStrans does not chain all XF-files, just the one that have spanned clips.

-steinar

[carmos1975]

Hi steinar,
Thank you for your reply.
here is the screenshot of the contents of the AA folder.
I tried also with a P2 card (obviously modifying the workflow) but even in this case the conversion process does not start.
I don't understand what I'm wrong

[admin]

Which version of FFAStrans are you running? Please check the versions under Help -> About. Also, can you please create a simple workflow where you use just a regular folder monitor and see if it picks up files?

-steinar