P: Duplicate Clips when reimporting footages (Syncaila)

This stuff can be so freaking complicated at times. Which is a real pain.

As someone who 'hangs' with pro colorists a lot, boy, do they want (preferably) an entirely new, powerfully capable way of transferring data between video post apps. I don't see anything coming, but it would be nice ...

Hi @R Neil Haugen 
Thank you, and Yes I am familiar with the same type of Color round trip work flow that benefits when the XML brings in the new colored media.
There are duplicate clips being created when importing an XML and this also occurs when using an AAF. However neither import  creates a new physical file on the hard drive but rather a new media link in the project. Both media links/clips in the project will point to only one original source file. It would be beneficial in some cases to choose what the XML does and to ignore bringing in any media I could agree with that.
You are correct you can delete the media links that get brought in with the XML and the sequence will reflect it is linked to the clips already in the project. I am definitely keeping an eye on this to help where I can.

Ian

Ian,

Thanks for helping on this. The process I'm more familiar with is where you have media from the colorist or fx people, and need to use that to replace the original clips in the sequence to move to finishing.

This is really quite a different process, and will need some puzzling to sort, perhaps.

I'm still wondering if deleting the duplicated file references, then Locate selecting the original clips might work. In my understanding, it's not a duplicated file situation, as Premiere shouldn't be doing that, just duplicating the reference to the file in the bin, right?

Hey @TyleratTheCrossing 
Yes the third party app being used by both is quite the coincidence, but it was more about the creating duplicate clips linked to the XML. Please do not take the merge as insult but rather a key opportunity to gather more information about the XML issue you are having. Gathering users experiences all in one place helps us all solve the issue faster. Your detailed bug report and notes are extremely helpful and we do appreciate all the provided information. 
That being said the proper way you expect the XML to work is to bring it into Premiere Pro without bringing in the media that is attached to that XML correct?
You want to bring the XML ino the project and relink to the clips already in the project correct? Or at least be able to ignore duplicates so you do not see that media in the project am I correct? I can reproduce what you are seeing on my end and would like to bring this to the team.
I do know of other Non Linear Editing tools that have an option to ignore the XML's attached media and it will not bring it into the project. In some cases the XML has some offline media and you will still need to relink it. Still most media will link to the files that are already in the project that match the XML's file naming convention . Is that more of how you would expect it to work in Premiere Pro  as well? 
We are here to help.

Ian

Stan and et al ...

I've been through many an hour of tutorials, in-person classes, and discussions by pro teaching colorists on the joys of conforming into/out of an app via XML files.

XMLs are a nearly ancient (in computer time scale) method that uses a minimalist set of 'standards' for how to write a sequence data to text ... listing each clip by whatever name is assigned, the timecode of in/out for the clip on the timecode of the sequence. With the clips in order.

That's about it. And note, I said clip name as assigned? This might be the filename, the reel name, or something else, depending on the app creating the XML. That's one place where mishaps occur.

Another ... between the two main OSs, and the various apps, sequence  timecode probably gets correctly listed in the XML and read. 

However, clip in/out timecode can often be off, sometimes 'always' 1 frame early or late, or some other number, sometimes ... puzzling in what is in the XML.

And sometimes you even get information about a scaling operation ... but the likelihood that is given correctly out of one app as seen by the other is, realistically, only somewhat higher than my chance of getting up to bat in a Yankees game.

So colorists always want an H.264 of the sequence, so they can check those in/out points both in the sequence and matching frames of the clips at the changes ... and to see any scaling things as-is, and of course, time ramps.

Sadly, XMLs are not rocket science. As if they were there'd be a ton more data passing through the process.

Yes, we can reproduce the behavior without Syncaila; this does not imply that the problem has an easy fix. 🙂

Hey @IanB_360 @bbb_999 - first off - thank you so much for all of your help with this.  Maybe we can squash this confirmed/unresolved bug promptly!

Second - why did we merge my (older, but clearer) bug post with another users?  I can see why you thought it was a Syncalia-only issue, but this is a fundamental bug outside of the scope of a different program, considering we can reproduce said bug without it.  Again - it could lead to an answer regardless, but it feels less visible/thorough/clear.

Third - have you guys been able to reproduce the bug (again, ignoring Syncaila)?  Is this something that could easily be fixed?

@bbb_999,

> disabling "Allow Duplicate Media During Project Import".

This setting is available in Media Browser and also in Edit -> Preferences -> Media.

I did a few tests. Simple one clip, one sequence project. Export to FCP XML. Import back to PR via Media Encoder. Duplicates of the sequence and the media are created.

If I import the .prproj (back to itself), it creates duplicate sequences, but not duplicate media.

PR does not appear to treat the XML as "a project" for this purpose. The XML uses references to masterclipid, but does not seem to relate these back to the original clips in the project.

Regarding some of the comments (e.g. @R Neil Haugen's "make offline, and relink"), it suggests to me the XML import has always had this issue of duplicate media creation. Or has something changed?

Stan

@IanB_360 

You may want to test it and see if you're able to make it work from your end; it seems to come from the Premiere XML Export.

I tested it with the Premiere generated XML only, and it also duplicates the footage, and the Consolidate Duplicates doesn't work for the footage.

Project > Export to FCP XML
Open the exported XML in Premiere
Copy the Sequences from the XML to the original Project
Premiere will duplicate the footage.