Consolidating is Avid Media Composer's method of making copies of media files.
Note
Consolidating (copying) is a process done by using the Media Composer software. It is not done by simply copying the files at the desktop level.
The Consolidation
process specified in this recipe can be used either before you have begun to edit or at any stage during editing. What you'll be doing is making copies of your AMA files in their entirety. When completed, your Master Clips will link to the copied media (in the Avid MediaFiles folder) and Media Composer will create new clips that will link to the AMA media files. (For the clips that link to the AMA media, Media Composer will put an extension on them that says .old.) If you've already begun to edit, the sequence will link to the copied media rather than the AMA media.
Note
Before consolidating all of your files, it is highly recommended that you perform a small-scale test of the process to familiarize yourself with additional options and results. The steps below focus on only one specific result. Ideally, you would be able to perform your small-scale test prior to receiving the mission-critical files and prior to the intensity of working under a deadline.
The AMA linking feature can be very processor intensive, and Avid recommends that users Consolidate the media into what they refer to as the Managed Media environment (which means the Avid MediaFiles folder) as soon as is practical, in order to take advantage of faster processing and a linking architecture that is more mature and robust than AMA.
Some formats cannot be Consolidated (copied) using their original Codec, and Media Composer will alert you that they will also need to have their Codec changed during the copy process. This is referred to as Transcoding. Ideally, you would transcode your Master Clips prior to doing any editing, though there is a process available in case you have already started to edit. Information on this is available in the Transcoding AMA Master Clips before beginning to edit and Transcoding AMA Master Clips after editing has begun recipes.
If you want to Consolidate only the shorter portions of media that are being used by a sequence or subclips, rather than the entire Master Clip media, see the recipe titled Consolidating an AMA sequence or subclips.
If your media type provides you with versions of the files at different resolutions, you may want to switch linking from one resolution to another. For example, you've initially linked to the low-resolution version of the media for editing and now you'd like to change the link to the high-resolution version for Consolidating. If this applies to you, then follow the next set of steps; otherwise, proceed to the How to do it… section:
Select the clips in your bin.
Right-click on the selected clips.
Choose Modify AMA Resolutions... from the menu.
The AMA Resolutions Quality window opens.
Select the video quality that you want for your video.
Click on OK.
The following are the steps for consolidating the media clips:
Select the clips in the bin.
From the Clip menu select Consolidate/Transcode.
In the top-left of the Consolidate/Transcode window, select Consolidate.
In the Video/Data region of the window, select the drive (also known as the target drive) that you want the copied files to be stored on.
Do not enable the selection that says Delete media files when done. In the case of AMA linked media files, they will not be deleted even if this is selected. Further, Media Composer will not create a Master Clip that links to the AMA media as it should.
Click on the Consolidate button.
The Copying Media Files dialog window opens.
Select the second option that reads Relink Master Clips to media on target drive. This option also includes some helpful text that reads Selected Master Clips will be relinked to the new media on the target drive. Master Clips with a .old extension will be created and linked to the original media. In this case, the original media refers to the AMA linked files.