Media Offline

1. Sourcebook is not mounted

Sourcebook might not be mounted. Hide Avid Media Composer and look at the desktop and check for the Sourcebook drive icon. If you do not see the Sourcebook icon, you should save your project, quit Avid Media Composer, connect to Sourcebook, the relaunch Avid Media Composer and open your project.

Here is the address for Sourcebook:

smb://bin.emerson.edu/courses/editing courses/sourcebook

(Please note: Avid Media Composer will not recognize Sourcebook if you've mounted smb://bin.emerson.edu/courses or smb://bin.emerson.edu/courses/editing courses. You must use the full address ending in "Sourcebook")

If your project/bins are saved elsewhere (i.e. the Shared Avid Projects folder), you still need to connect to Sourcebook since that is where the media files are saved.

2. Sourcebook was mounted after launching Avid Media Composer

When using Network Drives with Avid Media Composer, all drives must be mounted before launching the application. When you launch Avid Media Composer, it scans for all available drives. If Sourcebook was mounted after launching the software, save and quit your project, connect to Sourcebook, then relaunch Avid Media Composer.

3. All Drives command

By default, Avid Media Composer is set up to view network drives possible media storage. Sometimes, this setting gets turned off by mistake. To check this setting, open the console (Tools menu, Console) and type "AllDrives" in the console. 

You should see this window with a text box at the bottom. Type “AllDrives” (one word, case sensitive, without quotations)  

Hit Enter twice - you should see the following message: "All drives will be viewed as media drives. (Was previously set to having only true media drives act as media drives)"

If you see the exact message above, exit the console window and your media should be online.

If you received a different message ("Only media drives will act as media drives") then the setting was correct to begin with. Type "AllDrives" and hit enter again to return to the proper setting. 

4. Avid Media Composer permissions

The first time a user launches Avid Media Composer, a window will appear asking to give Avid Media Composer permissions to access files on a network volume. Users must select "OK."

If a user selected "Don't Allow," this will prevent the software from accessing files on Sourcebook. If you are unsure, check your settings.

Navigate to the Apple menu/System Settings. From the menu on the left, select "Privacy and Security." In that menu, navigate to "Full Disk Access." In that list, Avid Media Composer should have permissions indicated by a blue toggle switch. If the toggle switch is off (gray), switch it on. 

This will require an Administrator password to change, so you will need to get a Post Manager. 

5. Database files are corrupt

If this is the case, everyone accessing the project will have their media offline. This issue requires a post manager's assistance, since they will have write access to Sourcebook (students only have read access).

Managers: Have the students quit Avid Media Composer. Log into a different computer using your account. Connect to Sourcebook on Bin and locate the student's project in the Sourcebook Index spreadsheet.

Take note of the folder number listed in the first column labeled "MXF Folder." You may need to ask the student what project they are working on. 

Navigate to the Avid Mediafiles/MXF folder on Sourcebook and locate the corresponding folder number.

Inside the corresponding folder, locate the files with the extension ".pmr" and ".mdb" - Delete them both (Important: do not delete any other files).

Launch Avid Media Composer on your account. As the program launches, it will check all the folders in Sourcebook/Avid Mediafiles and rebuild any missing database files (this requires write access).

6. Media still offline?

Here are some things you can check to help us troubleshoot:

In your bin, there are several columns with information about each clip. Locate the "Drive" column - this is where Avid Media Composer is expecting to find the media. It should say "Sourcebook"

It is also useful to check if Avid Media Composer is recognizing Sourcebook at all. To do so, open the Source Browser window (File menu/Input/Source Browser). Is Sourcebook listed as one of the drives on the left? Also, select the "import" option at the bottom of the window - this will reveal a setting for available drives. Open the dropdown and check to see if Sourcebook is listed there. 

This information will be helpful for any staff troubleshooting the problem. 

Error Message During Export

Rendering your timeline may fix this, especially if your project uses effects or if your project settings do not exactly match the footage you are using. 

Set In (I) and Out (O) points at the beginning and end of your timeline.

At the top, open the Sequence menu, navigate to Render, and select 'Delete Renders' - don't worry, this will not erase any of your work. Renders are temporary files that can be easily replaced. Often times when exports fail, it is because there is something wrong with a render file.

Now go back to the top, open the Sequence menu again, navigate to Render, and select "Expert Render In to Out."

Can't Find Project

1. Project is saved on another computer

The "Shared Avid Project" folder is local to each computer. It is not saved to the cloud.

We recommend backing up your project folder to your Students drive at the end of every editing session so you can access it from any computer. Although the Shared Avid Projects folder is not regularly wiped, it can be wiped at any time without warning if the computer is experiencing issues. Always backup your work.

If you did not back up your project, you will need to log in to the computer where you last opened your project and copy your project from Shared Avid Projects to your Students drive.

2. The project folder has been renamed

Avid Media Composer will not recognize your project if you have renamed the project folder (which contains all of your bins). Change the name of the folder back to it's original name. If you can not remember the original name, open the folder and look at the .avp file - this file's name should match the original name of your project folder.