Am I wrong that DNxHD is supposed to be native in Premiere Pro CS5+?

Correct; DNxHD is not native--meaning that Premiere Pro does not ship with encoders or decoders for it. Since DNxHD uses QuickTime for containering, however, it's a simple (and free) add-on: Avid QuickTime Codecs LE 2.3.4

Once installed, any Avid-encoded QuickTimes will import into PPro without issue, and you can even encode back to an Avid codec (DNxHD and many others) when you select QuickTime as your export Format. Pick the codec you like from the Video tab, and you can configure the encoder as necessary.

Sure, you're using the 32-bit QuickTime bridge when using some QuickTime files--DNxHD files included--but I wouldn't get all worked up about it. Despite all the boogity-boogity that goes on around here regarding QuickTime, DNxHD and other QuickTime codecs (ProRes, for example) work just fine in Premiere Pro, on both Windows and Mac.

So PP uses the QT DNxHD codec even when the files are wrapped in MXF?

Oh--I see. In that case, no. Premiere Pro supports some Avid OMF and MXF files, but I don't believe that DNxHD MXFs are included in that. You'd have to export (rewrap, really) the files from MC to MOVs, which PPro would then import.

That said, I might be able to help you with another rewrapping workflow. Would it be possible to upload a teeny-tiny sample MXF somewhere for testing purposes?

Hi Justin,

I don't think you're wrong in assuming this should work--all signs point to "yes" based on the information you've found. There really don't seem to be any really conclusive, "this is how you do it" types of resources, though. Maybe I'll download a demo of MC and see if I can make some files to tinker around with

In the meantime, if you're feeling savvy, you might want to check out ffmbc - FFMedia Broadcast. FFmbc is basically a derivative of FFmpeg that has some considerations for professional/broadcast media. One of those functions, as noted on the website, is the ability to "Create AVID DNxHD files in .mov." Now, that's not totally what you're after, but you might be able to losslessly rewrap these MXFs into MOV containers which WILL import into Premiere Pro, for certain. Granted, that is not the exact solution you're after, but if you're in a situation where you have to get something done, it may be able to get you moving again.

If you should happen to discover anything more conclusive about this supposed functionality, do post back--others will likely find the information useful.

Good luck!

I wouldn't be surprised if REDCineX was using FFmpeg under the hood for that! Definitely use FFmbc for such things, however--it's got more functionality built-in for professional media. It's MXF support is waaay better than FFmpeg's.

BTW: The Premiere Pro docs are rather tight-lipped and inconclusive about the whole matter...

From File formats supported for import:

MXF (Media eXchange Format; P2 Movie: Panasonic Op-Atom variant of MXF, with video in DV, DVCPRO, DVCPRO 50, DVCPRO HD, AVC-Intra; XDCAM HD Movie, Sony XDCAM HD 50 (4:2:2), Avid MXF Movie), and native Canon XF (new in Premiere Pro CS5.5)

From Importing assets from tapeless formats:

Hmm... yeah. A veritable cornucopia of information.

Ruh roh:

DNxHD
Unfortunately, at this time, DNxHD via MXF is an unsupported codec in Adobe Premiere Pro.

Rewrapping, it is.

I agree that adobe really should support these files. We just purchased a Cinedeck recorder system that captures 1080i SDI video in MXF files. They are the same DNxHD formatted MXF and premiere can't load them. Now we wasted thousands of dollars on a device based on adobe's claim of MXF file support. We obviously assumed it was all encompassing, but it is not. It would not think it would be too difficult for adobe to add this into premiere.

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JBBarham wrote:

 

The Cinedeck should be able to do ProRes as well.

It does but that is not what we want, we subscribe to the apple/quicktime is evil theory. We want to avoid them.  We use Windows 7 Machines with 8 cores and 64bit OS, quicktime cripples our systems.

It can't be that hard to implement these files into premiere.

Now that BlackMagic has added DNxHD MXF comperssion to the HyperDeck Shuttle 2, this codec is going to be a useful aquisition format. That means all NLEs will benefit from being able to use it.

Just use ffmbc to rewrap the DNxHD MXF to MOV

Blackmagic Design just relased version 2.5 (beta 1) for the Hyperdeck Studio and Shuttle 2, which adds an option for DNxHD in a MOV wrapper. I just checked it out and PPro CS 5.5 reads the files from my Shuttle 2 fine.

Only 220 Mb/s at 1080, but it might be slightly lower in PAL land (probably 185 Mb/s).

I would guess that you haven't installed the free DNxHD QuickTime codec. You can get the most recent version (2.3.7) at:

http://avid.custkb.com/avid/app/selfservice/search.jsp?DocId=423319

I also noticed that you are using PPro 5.03, which gets confused by the way the 16 audio tracks are interleaved in the MOV file. You'll either have to upgrade to CS 5.5 or you'll have to use some freeware like ffmbc to demux the video and audio.

icy100 wrote:

 

Thanks for the info. I did download version 2.3.7 but I still get the error message "unsupported format". Do I have to upgrade to 5.5 for this codec to work?

Yes. PPro 5.0x is getting hung up on the format of the MOV file's audio tracks. It is a known QuickTime problem, which was fixed in 5.5.