Can't Create AAF...

X2Pro version 3 (with uncompressed audio in an MP4 file support) has just been released in the app store as a free upgrade

I've not tried it, but you may be able to force the MP4 clips offline then re-link them to the M4V files. This might save you from having to manually replace all the
clips in your sequence.

Thanks for the help!!!! I've got a 2 minute mini doc so not a ton of clips. Definitely workable.

Hey there.

Just so you know, we did a test using the rename strategy BUT we reimported all the footage and replaced each and every shot on the timeline with the new imports. We then did the x2Pro test and it worked. So, if you have the time and reimport the renamed files and replace them in your timeline, that will work. I know that sucks but it's at least one way of fixing your issue. At least until the x2Pro dudes update the software to deal with the Sony A7S.

Loving that camera, by the way.

James.

Graeme,
I'm actually going through the same problem with the A7s and X2Pro. So I have an edit that is done and went to go use X2Pro got those same error messages listed below. Now I tried to change the extension to every clip in my "Original Media" folder in my FCPBUNDLE and after this I'm still having trouble with X2Pro (it's coming up with the same error messages). So my question is this: What would your workflow be in a situation like mine?

James,

I just found out that changing the file extension from MP4 to M4V was enough to allow X2Pro and QuickTime Player 7 to handle the clip. MP4 and M4V files are basically the same, but apparently QTKit can cope with PCM audio (and a few other things) in a file with an M4V extension.

This means that you don't need to use any software to rewrap your files, you can just rename them (e.g. rename "C0013.MP4" to "C0013.M4V").

If you are happy with the support that you are getting, we would appreciate it very much if you could rate X2Pro on the app store and leave a quick review.

Once again, I must say this is first rate customer service. Your help is very much appreciated.

I am familiar with the concept of clip wrapping and had to do that with a project a couple of years ago. I don't remember the specifics but I'm sure I can figure it out. Can you recommend any specific clip wrap program that you feel works particularly well? No worries if you don't, but thought I'd take advantage of your technical knowledge.

Many thanks,

James.

Yes; we are looking into how we can work with this type of MP4 file, but don't have a timescale yet as we haven't found a satisfactory solution.

The idea with editing the xml file would have been to do a find/replace to find any mp4 file references and change the file extension to mov and the path to the original media folder. I was going to use a regular expression find/replace to do this so that I only changed the paths of MP4 files and left the paths to any other file types (mov/wav/etc) untouched. TextWrangler is a free tool that supports regex find/replace.

An alternative workaround if you use A7S clips a lot would be to rewrap the MP4 files to MOVs before using them in FCP X. The rewrap operation would involve no loss in quality and would be very fast (about the speed of a normal file copy) because no transcoding would be required. Once the video and audio is in a MOV file, X2Pro would have no problem extracting the audio because it can cope with PCM audio in a MOV file just fine.

We have no way of processing refunds because we didn't sell the app directly. Your partner would have to contact Apple if he wants a refund because that's who he bought the software from.

Thanks so much for your prompt reply and offer to help. That is very good customer support and service. Project/deadline stuff dictated that we had to move on to another solution that didn't involve using x2pro on this project. However, I'm a bit concerned about your app's current inability to deal with the a7s. Sony's camera has become an important part of my kit and is exploding in popularity across the dslr filmmaking community. Please tell me you have plans to offer an update that can deal with this current log jam. I'm pretty sure you'll start having more complaints about this specific problem as we get into 2015 and more people start using the camera.

In regards to your offer to alter my xml file. As I said, there's no need to do that at this point. But maybe you could give me an idea of how you would have accomplished that. Would you have had to replace a single line? Or would you have done a search and replace text for a whole bunch of references to the original media folder?

Look forward to hearing from you,
Thanks!

James

PS. A partner of mine purchased x2pro last night to help me with this project. As we are out of luck at this point for this project, is he able to get a refund if he decides he wants to? He might keep the program for other projects anyway. But I thought I'd ask. I own the program myself and have used it to great success on multiple occasions until this situation.

Hi James,

Sorry that you are having trouble converting your project. You are the second person to report this problem (See www.x2pro.net/forum/4-media-and-formats/766-sony-xavc.html ) and we are looking into it.

Basically the problem is that the Sony A7S is putting Linear PCM audio in an MP4 wrapper (an unusual thing to do) and X2Pro is unable to extract the audio from that wrapper/codec combination. X2Pro does support extraction of audio from MP4 files, just not PCM audio.

X2Pro uses Apple's QTKit framework under the hood to extract the audio, and it is actually QTKit that is unable to precess the audio. QuickTime Player 7 and FCP 7 also use QTKit and are both also unable to play the audio from the file.



X2Pro does not officially support using audio from optimised/proxy media because the FCPXML only points to the original media and X2Pro has no way of knowing where optimised/proxy media is, but it may be possible to manually edit the fcpxml to point to the optimised/proxy media instead of the original MP4 files.

If you are able to attach your FCPXML, and tell me where the Optimised clips are located on your system, I may be able to edit it for you so that you can perform a conversion and work around the issue.

Something just occurred to me regarding my issue. All of the media has been transcoded into prores by FCPX. Why is x2pro trying to convert from the original media? Can't it use the transcoded media?

Hi there. I'm getting this problem.

Writing AAF file
Adding assets to AAF file
Adding essence for asset [C0032] to AAF file
Opening audio extractor for portion 0 of asset [C0032]
Failed to open audio extractor
Error Opening asset (/Volumes/RaidSquid_2/Movies/FC-Proggex.fcpbundle/Proggex-shoot/Original Media/C0032.mp4) with QuickTime (An invalid sample description was found in the movie.) [-2041] []

Suggestion: Please ensure that:
- the media file has not been moved or deleted;
- you have added its location to the Media Locations in preferences;
- the media file can be played using QuickTime player.

No AAF file has been generated.

I wonder if it's because the file it's trying to reference is an mp4 it cannot handle. It's from a Sony A7S and is in the following format - AVC Coding, 1920x1080
Linear PCM, 16 bit Big-endian signe...
data rate is 51.02 MB

Can you figure out this issue for me?

Thanks very much,

James