XDCAM, MPEG IMX and the MXF container format

[harryad77]

Hi to everyone,

I have the following question. I'm trying to find a software-based solution to create MXF files compliant with Sony's XDCAM system.

So far i've managed to create Essense video files (streams) using MainConcept's MPEG Encoder (MPEG D10 @ 30 Mbps setting close to Sony's MPEG IMX) and audio files in PCM (.wav) format at 48 KHz. Since XDCAM MXF files support 8-channel audio streams when i use an MXF wrapper (MOG Solutions - Thescribe) i have to import a 2-channel wav file 4 times!

If I have an MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 encoded file and try to convert it to MPEG D 10 and eventually wrap it in an MFX file, it fails the proccess of MFX file creation.

Sources that can be encoded in MPEG D10 @ 30 Mbps are AVI container files based on DV codecs, MJPEG codecs, MPEG-4 based implementations (DivX and XviD) BUT NOT MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 files!

Quality is not a matter of concern. What i'm trying to find is a way to create MXF files that can be imported to XDCAM systems without complications and incompatibilities.

I've tried many different approaches like Snell & Willcox's MXF wrapper and FreeMXFlib. Using a specific platform (Linux or Windows or Mac) is also NOT a matter as long as i can create XDCAM compliant MFX files.

Any ideas are much appreciated,
Harry

[Mug Funky]

you might want to look here:

http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=109393

looks like D10 support is on at least 1 developer's agenda, and though it's likely his patch wont be included in ffmpeg (they're quite picky apparently), it'll still be something worth following.

in the meantime it may be possible to use DV25, or are you working in HDTV sizes?

[harryad77]

Thanks Mug Funky,

This is probably what i need...

...but i was unable to download the patch. Correct me if i'm wrong but if i eventually manage to download the patch, can I use the ffmpeg encoder to create MPEG D10 (4:2:2 Profile @ Main Level) video streams for MXF files compliant with the XDCAM system?

I use a size of 720x576 (PAL) and i presume that Sony's MPEG IMX files contain only I-frames since it is easier to edit and manipulate.

As you may already know the XDCAM platform has an IT flavor when it comes to distribution of media and organization. Sizes of the produced files are big enough and Sony uses Professional Discs (PDs) relevant to Blue-Ray Disc Technology (probably they are almost identical!). Each disc can store store about 23GBs and they are rewritable...

Another issue might be the correct settings to encode audio essences (streams) since i encode video and audio separately and wrap them together to create the MFX file.

Any ideas with audio?

[harryad77]

Are there any alternate MXF wrappers out there to create XDCAM complaint content?

[Mug Funky]

ah, so you're not using HD sizes. that might be handy.

it just occured to me that TMPGenc can make 4:2:2 high profile streams, and can make i-frame only stuff too. you might want to give that a shot, as it looks like ffmpeg isnt going to do what you want for a while...

it might also be possible to use bbmpeg - usually not something people would use as it's extremely old, but if you're doing only i-frames then encoders are on a much more even playing field, as there's no motion-search going on, and bit-allocation is much easier. of course, if you were to use bbmpeg you might as well stick with mainconcept, as that's almost the same but faster and newer ;)

as far as MXF muxers go, i haven't a clue. still using digibeta here (damn... using hard disks with huffyuv would be cheaper, better quality and more reliable. but you try convincing licensors to provide you with something like that...)

[addax]

Hello harryad77,
I stumbled apon your thread while looking for a different MXF sollution for myself. I am not sure if it is still relevant but if so you may want to try the Rhozet carbon coder
http://www.rhozet.com/
I have it at work and I know it has the option to produce D10 MXF files though I never used this feature.
it may even be availble with Procoder 2 but I am not sure about that.