I've been using the Odyssey 7Q+ as an external recorder for quite some time and with much success. The reasons for using it are a separate conversation for another time.
One of the things though that has always bothered me that the 7Q+ has menu options to record a variety of meta data for each take, such as Reel #, Scene, good/bad take, etc. But none of these data get stored into the ProRes files the recorder produces. Instead these data get saved into an FCP 7 XML file on a per clip basis in a subfolder on the SSD. That's allo good if you use an NLE where you can import these XML files. I don't have FCP itself. I do work with Resolve, Avid, and Premiere in that order. The only one of these that can interpret the XML files from the recorder is Premeiere. Resolve complains that the files do not contain a timeline (as they're per clip files). And Avid doesn't read them at all, since Avid has standardized around the ALE file format.
After a bit of coding I came up with a Python script that can ingest a folder of Odyssey 7Q+ XML files and translate them into a single ALE file that Avid consumes happily.
I've successfully used the script with the latest version of the 7Q+ firmware, the 3.0 version of the transfer utility, and MC 8.9.x. I've only tested this on a small set of files, so further refinement for special cases and debugging may be in order. But for anyone willing to give it a try and report back any success or issues, there's a link for the Python script at the end of the article. This is written for Phyton 3 which is readily available for Mac or Windows.
To use the script, run the script and point it at the FCP 7 XML folder after the media has been transferred with the CD utility:
cd /Volumes/Jobs/TestJob/Camera\ Files/Card\ 001
/usr/local/bin/python3 /Volumes/Workspace/ALE/fcp_to_ale.py -d fcp\ 7\ xml/
This should process all the XML files for each clip and then producer one CD.ALE file. The syntax for ale files is described in the MC documentation.
It will translate the following fields:
- In and Out mark if set in the Odyssey Play mode for the clip
- Good/Bad flag for the clip
- Description (derived from the Project field)
- Camera
- Reel #
- Scene #
- Take #
- Shoot Day
- LUT Name
Then on the Avid side, first import all the .mov files through the usual means (linking them to a bin in the source browser).
In a second step, select all the clips in the bin, go back to the source browser, select 'import' rather than 'link', and in the import options, go to the 'Shot Log' tab and select 'Merge events with known master clips'. Then select the newly create ALE file and import. This will read the ALE file and merge any new meta data with the selected clips that where just imported previously.
Here is my test ALE file:
Heading
FIELD_DELIM TABS
VIDEO_FORMAT 1080
AUDIO_FORMAT 48khz
FPS 23.98
Column
Name Tracks Start End Tape ID Source File Source Path Description Comments Camera Reel Scene Take Shoot Day LUT Mark IN Mark OUT Good
Data
CLIP0000001 VA1A2 00:00:00:01 00:00:07:23 CLIP0000001.mov /Volumes/Workspace/ALE/Test Data 1674 A R001 S1 008 001 View-SONY_EE_SL3C_L709A-1
CLIP0000002 VA1A2 00:00:07:19 00:00:31:16 CLIP0000002.mov /Volumes/Workspace/ALE/Test Data 1674 A R001 S1 009 001 View-SONY_EE_SL3C_L709A-1
CLIP0000003 VA1A2 00:00:31:12 00:04:43:09 CLIP0000003.mov /Volumes/Workspace/ALE/Test Data 1674 A R001 S1 010 001 View-SONY_EE_SL3C_L709A-1
CLIP0000004 VA1A2 00:04:43:05 00:09:43:22 CLIP0000004.mov /Volumes/Workspace/ALE/Test Data 1674 A R001 S1 011 001 View-SONY_EE_SL3C_L709A-1
CLIP0000005 VA1A2 00:09:43:18 00:10:07:03 CLIP0000005.mov /Volumes/Workspace/ALE/Test Data 1674 A R001 S1 012 001 View-SONY_EE_SL3C_L709A-1
CLIP0000006 VA1A2 00:10:06:23 00:11:08:11 CLIP0000006.mov /Volumes/Workspace/ALE/Test Data 1674 A R001 S1 013 001 View-SONY_EE_SL3C_L709A-1
CLIP0000007 VA1A2 00:11:08:07 00:12:10:00 CLIP0000007.mov /Volumes/Workspace/ALE/Test Data 1674 A R001 S1 014 001 View-SONY_EE_SL3C_L709A-1
CLIP0000008 VA1A2 00:12:09:21 00:12:33:13 CLIP0000008.mov /Volumes/Workspace/ALE/Test Data 1674 A R001 S1 015 001 View-SONY_EE_SL3C_L709A-1
CLIP0000009 VA1A2 00:12:33:09 00:13:28:02 CLIP0000009.mov /Volumes/Workspace/ALE/Test Data 1674 A R001 S1 016 001 View-SONY_EE_SL3C_L709A-1
CLIP0000010 VA1A2 00:13:27:22 00:14:18:06 CLIP0000010.mov /Volumes/Workspace/ALE/Test Data 1674 A R001 S1 017 001 View-SONY_EE_SL3C_L709A-1 00:13:43:00 00:13:54:02
CLIP0000011 VA1A2 00:14:18:03 00:15:09:14 CLIP0000011.mov /Volumes/Workspace/ALE/Test Data 1674 FEATURE A R001 S1 018 001 View-SONY_EE_SL3C_L709A-1 yes
CLIP0000012 VA1A2 00:15:09:10 00:17:15:06 CLIP0000012.mov /Volumes/Workspace/ALE/Test Data 1674 A R001 S1 019 001 View-SONY_EE_SL3C_L709A-1
CLIP0000013 VA1A2 00:17:15:02 00:18:10:16 CLIP0000013.mov /Volumes/Workspace/ALE/Test Data 1674 A R001 S1 020 001 View-SONY_EE_SL3C_L709A-1
And this is how the bin looks after a successful meta data import of this file:
Link to the Python script: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1h95nnBZ_RquNODVa54o8u_z8TZjtpG-Z