Importing assets from tapeless formats – Adobe Premiere Pro CS6 User Manual
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Importing assets from tapeless formats
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Import assets from file-based sources with Media Browser
About spanned clips
File-based camcorders from various manufacturers record video and audio into files of specific formats organized within specific directory
structures. These formats include Panasonic P2 camcorders, Sony XDCAM HD and XDCAM EX camcorders, Sony CF-based HDV camcorders,
and AVCHD camcorders.
Camcorders recording in any of these formats typically record to hard disks, optical media, or flash memory media, not to videotape. These
camcorders and formats are therefore called file-based, or tapeless, rather than tape-based.
The video and audio from a file-based camcorder are already contained in digital files. No capture or digitizing step is necessary to bring them into
Premiere Pro. Reading the data from the recording media and converting it to a format that can be used in a project is instead called ingest.
Premiere Pro ingests files in any of these file-based formats from any of their media.
Adobe provides workflow guides for P2, RED, XDCAM, AVCCAM, and DSLR cameras and footage on the
.
XDCAM and AVCHD formats
You can find the video files from XDCAM HD camcorders in the CLIP folder, written in the MXF format. XDCAM EX camcorders write MP4 files
into a folder named BPAV.
For information about the XDCAM format, see
on the Sony website.
AVCHD video files are in the STREAM folder. For more information about the AVCHD format, see the
The Panasonic P2 format
A P2 card is a solid-state memory device that plugs into the PCMCIA slot of a Panasonic P2 video camera, such as the AG-HVX200. The digital
video and audio data from the video camera is recorded onto the card in a structured, codec-independent format known as MXF (Media eXchange
Format). Specifically, Premiere Pro supports the Panasonic Op-Atom variant of MXF, with video in DV, DVCPRO, DVCPRO 50, DVCPRO HD, or
AVC-I formats. A clip is in the P2 format if its audio and video are contained in Panasonic Op-Atom MXF files. These files are located in a specific
file structure.
The root of the P2 file structure is a CONTENTS folder. Each essence item (an item of video or audio) is contained in a separate MXF wrapper
file. The video MXF files are in the VIDEO subfolder, and the audio MXF files are in the AUDIO subfolder. XML files in the CLIP subfolder contain
the associations between essence files and the metadata associated with them.
Premiere Pro does not support proxies recorded by some Panasonic P2 camcorders in P2 card PROXY folders.
For your computer to read P2 cards, it needs the appropriate driver, which you can download from the Panasonic website. Panasonic also
provides the P2 Viewer application, with which you can browse and play media stored on a P2 card.
To use certain features with P2 files, you first change the file properties from read only to read and write. For example, to change the
timecode metadata of a clip using the Timecode dialog box, you first set the file properties to read and write. Use the operating system file explorer
to change file properties.
Avid capture format
Avid editing systems capture footage to MXF files, generally into a folder called Avid Media files, with audio captured into discreet files separate
from the video files. When you import Avid video files, Premiere Pro automatically imports their associated audio files. However, it is simpler to
import Avid project files, in Advanced Authoring Format (AAF), than to identify and import individual Avid MXF video files.
DVD format
DVD camcorders and DVD recorders capture video and audio into MPEG-encoded VOB files. VOB files are written into a VIDEO_TS folder.
Optionally, ancillary audio files may be written into an AUDIO_TS folder.
Premiere Pro and Premiere Elements, do not import or decrypt encrypted DVD files.
Import assets from file-based sources with Media Browser
You can import assets into Premiere Pro directly from tapeless media. However, it is more efficient to transfer tapeless media contents to a hard
disk before importing. Also, playback performance is much better from a dedicated internal hard drive or RAID than from a camera or memory card
reader. In Premiere Pro CS6, larger icons are available to preview clips in the Media Browser. You can scrub, and hover scrub to preview your
footage more easily before importing it. For details, see Working in Icon view (CS6).
Use the Media Browser, instead of File > Import, to import files from tapeless sources. The Media Browser assembles the relevant files into
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