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Problem renaming Deva files


Izen Ears

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  So as it goes, every so often I hit roll with the wrong metadata.  It's an easy fix.  But, post wants the files named by scene/take rather than segments.  Wave Agent does this as a batch process.  But Wav Agent doesn't recognize any files with renamed metadata.  So now all if a sudden I look like a fool on the dailies notes which say that I mis-named the files.  

  The Deva sound report CSV file has everything correct, it's just the metadata.  Is this a Deva fail?  Does the Deva not actually change the metadata?

  Any ideas?  Help!

  Dan Izen

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Jeff Wexler has (correctly) pointed out to me several times that the camera files are not named by scene and take. When you think about it, the file name is completely immaterial. The only thing that really matters is the metadata, assuming the file creation date and time are correct. Somebody in post is being way, way too OCD about this.

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  Yes of course you're totally right, doh!  I actually just got home and cogitated and realized that once the mirror file is written, its metadata is also written.  That any changes to the metadata would only affect the on board Deva files.  So the solution is to save the mirroring until the metadata is straight.  Oopsies!

  

  I totally mis-named this thread but I'm going to leave it because 1) I have no idea how to change it, and 2) because maybe someone will learn something.  So Wav Agent read the metadata correctly, I was just silly to think I was changing files on the CF card...  (sigh)  Onward!

  Dan Izen

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If you want to continuously mirror files while shooting, make a note of any changed files and re-mirror just those when the time is right.

 

In an ideal world this would be totally automated, that your machine would be clever enough to tag the changed metadata and very helpfully remirror it for you, when it got a chance.

SD manages to change metadata across all media. It must be difficult for Zaxcom to do the same, otherwise it would have been done long ago.

Edited by pindrop
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In an ideal world this would be totally automated, that your machine would be clever enough to tag the changed metadata and very helpfully remirror it for you, when it got a chance.

SD manages to change metadata across all media. It must be difficult for Zaxcom to do the same, otherwise it would have been done long ago.

The problem here is that this is a thread aimed at helping another user, and the worn out "us-vs-them" tripe is off-topic and detracts from that help.  If you wish to do yet another manufacturer bashing session, please start your own thread and vent until your little heart feels glee.

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The problem here is that this is a thread aimed at helping another user, and the worn out "us-vs-them" tripe is off-topic and detracts from that help.  If you wish to do yet another manufacturer bashing session, please start your own thread and vent until your little heart feels glee.

Not so, a user was caught out by metadata change not being reflected as one might expect in translated files. There is no "us-vs-them",  it's not off-topic, and there's no bashing involved, just a reminder, and an observation, in a gently prodding kind of way, that something that would be very convenient, simply save a lot of faff, and has caught many people out, could perhaps be given higher priority and addressed, nothing more.
Not sure why this has elicited such an overblown response from you?  "little heart feels glee" indeed.

Edited by pindrop
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i remember i saw somewhere (facebook) = aka: hearsay (cheers Senator!) that if you choose the Z0xx file naming on the Nomad (the default one, not renaming files to scene and take numbers) the metadata gets written to the mirror while in continous as long as the take is recording, which would imply you _could_ adjust the metadata while rolling, and have the mirror files reflect that at the end of the take. Maybe it works the same with Deva? Again, just a hint - needs testing

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Not so, a user was caught out by metadata change not being reflected as one might expect in translated files. There is no "us-vs-them",  it's not off-topic, and there's no bashing involved, just a reminder, and an observation, in a gently prodding kind of way, that something that would be very convenient, simply save a lot of faff, and has caught many people out, could perhaps be given higher priority and addressed, nothing more.Not sure why this has elicited such an overblown response from you?  "little heart feels glee" indeed.

Because after a long day of shooting followed by a full evening of prep for the next day, I offer a potentially helpful suggestion and your "contribution" was to stomp on mine with an overworked comment about how a manufacturer should, in your mind, redesign their equipment, which does nothing, repeat NOTHING, to help the OP in his circumstance.  

 

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No stomping whatsoever intended on your helpful and accurate contribution.

I personally often find it quite a nuisance to have to manually remirror so I'm keen to have this automated if at all possible.

It's not a redesign, but whether it's possible like myriad other modifications that have been implemented in firmware often following user requests, to have this implemented as well, it's been requested many times.

But it seems it must be difficult (or maybe impossible?) to implement because as I've already observed it would probably have been done long ago if it was easy, it's such an obvious improvement.

In addition my contribution was simply taking an opportunity for another gentle nudge to Zaxcom to perhaps implement it eventually. In which case it would benefit the OP, myself, and many others, not immediately, but in the long run.

At present on my Nomad the procedure is -

1. Menu,

2. Card/Mirror,

3. Mirror Settings,

4. Mirror Off,

5. Start Segment, setting

6. Stop Segment, setting where you have to scroll down from 999

7. Mirror Mode back on.

This is pretty cumbersome, and often the time is not right, as it's going home time.

The alternative is to use the relatively high speed Zaxconvert after the event, but this obviously means a laptop.

Edited by pindrop
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  I didn't know that SD decks change the mirrored files also!  That is certainly something I wish the Deva did.  Oh well...

  Dan Izen

Well SD don't use the same internal work flow and don't 'mirror' as such, because there's no translation from one format to another involved, as you probably know Zaxcom use the proprietary MARF format to record the primary audio and translate that, after the fact, to BWAV, called mirroring. (which it isn't strictly speaking because it's a translation, not a reflection, but never mind that)

Whereas SD record on all media directly, in the requested sound format, and modify those files directly.

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