The video and audio from a file-based camcorder are contained in digital files. Ingest is the process of transferring data from the recording media and optionally transcoding to other formats.
You create a project before you ingest movie clips into Prelude. Prelude creates a project (.plproj) file for every project that you create.
A project file stores only references to the source files that you ingest. For this reason, project files remain fairly small.
Prelude supports only video files; it doesn’t support audio-only files or stills.
Prelude can play any media that Adobe Premiere Pro supports, but only clips with XMP support can be logged. For example, RED and ARRIRAW files do not have XMP support and cannot be logged within Prelude. You can however, during ingest, transcode them to another format that supports logging.
If you ingest RED or ARRIRAW files without transcoding them, you can still add them to rough cuts. You cannot, however, save any markers or metadata associated with such media.
The Panasonic P2 format
Prelude supports the Panasonic Op-Atom variant of MXF, with video in DV, DVCPRO, DVCPRO 50, DVCPRO HD, or AVC-I formats.
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.
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.
Note:
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.
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.
When using AVCHD files, ensure that you maintain the folder structure. Raw MTS files cannot be logged in Prelude.
Use the options on the Welcome screen to create a project, or open an existing project.
If your project is already open in Prelude, choose from the following options:
- To create a project, select File > New Project. Alternatively, press Ctrl+Alt+N (Windows), or Cmd+Opt+N (Mac OS). Specify a name and location for the project file.
- To open an existing project, select File > Open Project. Alternatively, press Ctrl+Shift+O (Windows) or Cmd+Shift+O (Mac OS). Navigate to the location of the project file, and open it.
You can ingest entire movie clips or a selected portion of the movie clips (partial ingest). You can also transcode the selected movie clips using more than one encoding option.
Do the following based on your requirements:
- To view content as Thumbnails, click the Icon View
button. - To view content as a list, click the List View
button. - To quickly preview the contents of a movie clip, drag the cursor across the thumbnail. You can also click the thumbnail and use the playhead to scrub the movie. Alternatively, use the JKL keys to control playback of the selected thumbnail.
- To change the thumbnail size of movie clips in the panel, use the Zoom
slide bar. - To view files of a specific file type, select an option from the Files Of Type menu. Repeat the procedure to choose more than one option. By default, all file types that Prelude supports are displayed.
- To view files from a specific source, select an option from the View As menu. If ingesting from a device, ensure that it is connected to your computer.
- To select clips for ingest, click the corresponding check box. Click Check All to select all clips for ingest.
- To view content as Thumbnails, click the Icon View
To ingest a specific portion of a clip (partial ingest), click its thumbnail. Use the JKL keyboard shortcuts, or drag the playhead to navigate through the clip. Press I and O at the desired positions to set the In and Out points.
When using this feature, ensure that you enable the Transcode option. Transcoding is required for partial ingest.
To specify a location for the ingested files, select Transfer Clips to Destination, and do the following:
- To change the folder for the transferred files, select Browse For Location in the Primary Destination menu, and select a destination folder.
- (Optional) To create a subfolder for the transferred files in the selected folder, click Add Subfolder. Specify a name for the subfolder. Creating a subfolder helps accidental overwriting of files with the same name.
To ensure that the copied files match the original, select Verify. This option is available only for the Primary Destination, and when the Transcode option is disabled.
File Size: Checks whether the file size of the ingested file is the same as the size of the original movie clip.
File Content: Does a CRC check and verifies whether the checksum of the source file is the same as the ingested file. If the files are different, the checksums don't match, and the test fails.
To specify transcoding settings for the ingested files, select Transcode. Use the submenus to specify presets for transcoding the files. To specify additional presets, add presets in Adobe Media Encoder. The presets are reflected in Prelude.
If you have Adobe Premiere Pro installed on your computer, select Concatenate to combine several selected clips into a single movie clip. Specify a name for the movie clip. After ingest, the concatenated clip is displayed in the Project panel.
Files are transcoded using Adobe Media Encoder. The transcoded files are displayed in the destination folder after the transcoding process is complete.
To pause or cancel transcoding, use the corresponding buttons in the progress bar.
The project file contains references to the location of ingested files. If you move these files to a different location on your computer, they are no longer available to your project. To continue using the moved files in your project, relink them using the options in Prelude.
When you open a project containing files that you moved since you last opened the project, a list of such files is displayed. Click Yes to relink the files by specifying their current location. If you choose to not relink the files, you can manually relink the files later.
- In the Project panel, right-click the file with the offline icon
, and select Relink. To select multiple files that exist at the same location, use Ctrl-click/Cmd-click or Shift-click.
- Navigate to the folder containing the files and select a file. Prelude uses this location to relink all the other files in your selection.
- Click Open.
Note:
Prelude supports relinking of Rough Cut (.arcut) files. However, Prelude does not support relinking contents of rough cuts.
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