MXF from P2 throws error in Adobe Premiere

[jukeboxjim]

Hi,
I get the following error when trying to import an MXF file created with the Panasonic P2 processor into Adobe Premiere: Unsupported format or damaged file. Curiously, it works fine when I set it as an .MOV. I'm on FFAStrans 1.3.0.2.

Thank you!

[FranceBB]

Hold on a second, you mean when you use the P2 Watchfolder / Monitor to collect and encode files inside a P2?
Which encoding node are you using to re-encode them?
Given that changing the container from .mxf to .mov solves the issue, I suspect this is yet another flaw in the less than perfect ffmpeg mxf muxer; please choose "MXF (BMX)" instead of "MXF" in the drop down menu of the encoding node you're using so that it's gonna use the latest version of BBC BMX Transwrap rather than the FFMpeg MXF muxer. Hopefully this should solve your issue.
Personally, I never ever use the FFMpeg MXF muxer any longer and I rely entirely on BBC BMX Transwrap for literally anything (except for SD files which I mux with the paid Omneon muxer provided by Harmonic, but I'm trying to get SD files supported in BMX Transwrap too ).

[jukeboxjim]

Thanks for the reply! Sorry - I thought I would get an email when someone replied. Anyway, I'm not re-encoding to anything, just using the P2 processor to ingest (mux) the files and output to a folder. The P2 processor doesn't have a third option for MXF (BMX). It's just: "mux all essence to" MXF or MOV.

[emcodem]

hm, i don't look for email notifications, maybe you get one if i explicitely mention you @jukeboxjim? Usually you can count on someone replying here within a day at least.
Anyway, could you maybe try if a rewrap with bmx helps? It should be relatively simple using the AVCI encoder set to "transwrap if possible"...

Thanks!

[jukeboxjim]

Ok so I tried a rewrap with the AVCI encoder. I set it to "transwrap if possible" and I ended up with clips that were all exactly 491kb. Then I tried a full transcode and, 20 minutes later, that worked. Of course, re-encoding to the same format is not going to be a good solution for me. I also tried a two-step process: P2 watch folder (set to MXF) and outputting to a folder (like I did originally). Then step two: I tried a transwrap of those files with the AVCI encoder and again, I ended up with clips that were all 491kb in file size. It's not a total dead-end because, like I said, muxing to MOV does work.

Thank you for your ideas though!

[emcodem]

okay, so let us know if for whatever reason you need to switch back to mxf, in that case we can go on and do more investigations with you!

[FranceBB]

Ok, so, you use the P2 watch with the append function to append all files together and then deliver it as one file, so essentially it's a watch + concat in ffmpeg and this fails in Adobe. The good thing is that the appended file is going to be set as the result of the last node, so it becomes your %s_source% and we can work on that.
In this case what I can do is send you a small workflow which makes use of the command executor to call bmxtranswrap separately and then deliver to the destination. If the final file is a few KB, it means that bmxtranswrap failed.
In that case, I'll ask you to send us the logs of the workflow.

If you're happy with mov instead, never mind, I'll leave it as is.

P.s can you upload a small sample?

[jukeboxjim]

Yes - I think we're on the same wavelength! I was able to run bmxtranswrap independently after I made an MXF with FFAStrans and that file works with Adobe Premiere. What I can't figure out with bmxtranswrap is whether I can forward the output to a folder node. It seems to need an absolute path to function. But I'm open to ideas. Also, regarding the P2 watch folder, I'm leaving the box "Combine all clips into one" unchecked. I prefer to keep my clips independent of each other.

[admin]

Hi jukeboxjim,

I can now confirm that we have fixed the issue with transwrapped P2 files. We've introduced BMX as an option (in addition to MXF and MOV) and BMX works with Premiere. The fix will be in the next release. Thanks for reporting!

-steinar

[jukeboxjim]

Excellent - thank you!