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Petrula
Inspiring
July 17, 2010
Question

Understanding “Write XMP ID to Files on Import”

  • July 17, 2010
  • 1 reply
  • 32133 views

In PPro CS5,

Edit | Preferences | Media

There is the check box “Write XMP ID to Files on Import”

These are discussed in the CS5 help at

Rendering and previewing sequences

Adobe Media Encoder - Export and thin XMP metadata

Adobe Media Encoder may add metadata to source video files

The help says “Adobe video applications can automatically insert a unique document ID into each imported file.”

In which files does it insert the ID?

For example,

Does it insert it in the Preview files?

Does it insert it in the CFA files?

Does it modify the original source file such as the original AVI file?

(I don’t want my original AVI file modified in any way just as RAW photo files are never modified.)

Etc, Etc

Some of the threads like

   Premiere Creates New .CFA files every time I open the project

   See the comment by Adobe employee Wil Renczes

indicate that you should uncheck (disable) writing the XMP ID since every time you reopen PPro, it may regenerate the audio CPA files.

Is this a good idea?

What are the trade offs?

Adobe Media Encoder may add metadata to source video files

vaguely discusses some of the trade offs, but I am still unclear.

The other check box is

“Enable Clip and XMP Metadata Linking”

It is unclear which specific files are effected and what are the trade offs between enabling and disabling this.

Thanks in advance.

    This topic has been closed for replies.

    1 reply

    Todd_Kopriva
    Todd_Kopriva
    Inspiring
    July 17, 2010

    The Write XMP ID To Files On Import option tells Premiere Pro to add a single piece of XMP metadata to the source file itself. This is basically a unique identifying number that can then be used by the various applications that understand XMP metadata to tell which file is being used where. So, yes, it does modify the source file. If you don't want that to happen, then make sure that this checkbox is unchecked.

    You refer to a post in which you say that Wil Renczes says that you should turn this option off to avoid regenerating media cache files. Wil was referring to a small number of cases in which a bug/misbehavior could be worked around. In general, having the XMP metadata ID in the file prevents redundant operations because---simply put---the applications know that this is the same file that they've seen and dealt with already.

    Regarding linking of clip and XMP metadata: Premiere Pro has had various kinds of metadata for a long time---long before we intriduced the XMP metadata platform acrosss several applications. Linking the clip and XMP metadata means that the clip metadata gets added to the XMP metadata, so these things are no longer separate.

    To put it a little differently, here's a quote from "Link clip data to XMP metadata":

    "In the Metadata panel, the Clip property value fields are internal. They reside in the Premiere Pro project file, and are readable by Premiere Pro alone. However, some of the property value fields in the Clip section have a link option box next to them. After you select the link option, Premiere Pro automatically enters the information that you enter into the Clip value field into a corresponding XMP field."

    Huntrex
    Huntrex
    Participating Frequently
    July 18, 2010

    Todd, In my HDV projects Premiere will create separate .xmp files beside each one of the clips. Now on a large project, this really makes going through clips more difficult and time consuming. Is there a way to avoid this inconvenience, even if it means disabling xmp altogether? Thanks!

    E
    excited_Genie16B8
    Legend
    July 25, 2010

    I'm trying to resolve some of the same inconsistencies, and

    have a couple of questions

    • There appear to be two or three conflicting settings governing the placement of audio preview or .CFA files.  The first is under Project Settings>Scratch Disks>Audio Previews.  This one appears to have little or no effect.  The second is under Edit>Preferences>Media>, which also purports to let us control the placement of Media Cache files.  The there's the check-box that lets us put the CFA files "beside" the clip files, "when possible".  My question is this:  What is the intended relationship between these controls?  How are they meant to work with each other.
    • Regarding the issue of repeatedly making CFA files for the same clip:  I'm using CS4 and find that if I'm using the media encoder to process a batch of output from the same project, Premiere (or the "headless" version) will recreate another complete set of CFA and PEK files for each item being encoded.  On large projects, this can add an hour or more to each item in the encoding queue.  It appears that there is a similar problem with CS3 and CS5, so upgrading will not solve the problem.  This looks like a case of advanced features that worked well in the Development environment, but breakdown under the weight of real conditions.  My question is this:  Is there a way to completely disable this feature, and essentially roll back to the ignorant, feature-deprived CFA system that actually worked with version 2?

    Thanks in advance for any guidance.


    Audio previews are those created when you render a sequence.

    CFA files are those created by Premiere when you import an audio file (or the audio portion of an A/V file) that requires conversion to a 32 bit floating point format for editing.  PEK files are waveform drawings for display within Premiere, and are also generated upon import or rendering.

    The Media Cache Database is something different, though I'm not sure what specifically it's used for.

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