problem loading OMF file from AVID

[c-post]

I struggled today with an OMF file from an AVID. When I tried to convert the file in Digitranslator (1.0), it asked me:

Where is "Surplus prA01.B86B8B86B8FD1.omf"
Where is "mikeA01.B86B9722_B7B86B9722.omf"
Where is "mikeA01.B86B982E_B7B86B982E.omf"
Where is "mikeA01.B86B98A3_B7B86B98A3.omf"

and 7 more cryptically named files, all of which I am unable to find on the supplied harddrive.

Should I just go ahead and blame the technician who supplied the files on the harddrive (I know him to be quite competent), or is there possibly some other issue involved?

Then when I try to load the session into protools, Protools says

"The original disk allocation for this session cannot be used. One or more drives could not be found or are invalid for this
session. As a result, disk allocation has been modified. Would you like to verify the new disk allocation?"

What happens then is that Protools loads a session with what appear to be empty sound files. All the edits made with the AVID appear to be there on multiple tracks, but there are no waveforms or sounds on the tracks.

Any suggestions as to how to avoid this problem in the future?

Thanks.

-John

[DigiTechSupt]

Hey John,

If you are using DigiTranslator version 1.0 you should download the latest update to that available here on the Digi website. That versions is 1.01 (or 1.0cs3 essentially the same thing, I'm not sure which is on the website but either one will do)

There were several updates that resolve issues when opening OMF exports from later versions of Avids.

Actually, all of the dialogues you listed are not necessarily errors but are typical when opening a session on a new system for the first time.

The first dialogues listed are asking for the location of files that came from the Avid. Normally, once you navigate to the first (assuming all the files are in one location), Pro Tools will find the rest without asking.

The disk allocation dialogue is simply telling you that Pro Tools is unable to locate the drives these files came from and is giving you the option to choose what drives it should record to. That's normal becuase these files came from drives on another system that are most likely not attached to this system.

The empty files, called "offline regions" are a result of you not locating the files when it asked for them earlier upon launch. If you close the session and re-open it, locate the files on your drive(s) and these offline regions will be online.

Hope this helps,
Jon Connolly
Digidesign Product Specialist

[c-post]

Thanks for the tips, Joe. Nevertheless, the files

"Surplus prA01.B86B8B86B8FD1.omf"
"mikeA01.B86B9722_B7B86B9722.omf"
"mikeA01.B86B982E_B7B86B982E.omf"
and "mikeA01.B86B98A3_B7B86B98A3.omf"
and 7 more cryptically named files

were not on the supplied harddrive and seem primarily responsible for the failed OMF load. The software version has nothing to do with this issue.

Best

-John

[c-post]

I am really getting frustrated, guys. Now I just had a new client come in with OMF files on another harddrive (from yet another AVID system), and again the session ended in total failure, with very similar symptoms.

Because the files were OMF version 1, the $500 Digitranslator couldn't handle them. However, OMFtool seemed to like the files on the drive. I assigned the first reel of dialogue for conversion, and OMF tool seemed to be handling everything beautifully.

Yet once it comes time to launch the Protools session that was created, Protools asks me for a whole series of very-long-named .omf files that don't exist on the client's drive. Granted the client has a whole series of .omf files in a special directory, but the asked-for files are not among the group. This is driving me insane. I will continue my tests. ANY help would be appreciated. Thank you very much.

-John [img]images/icons/confused.gif[/img]