Notes
An EDL can store notes, indicated by a line starting with an asterisk (*), between event lines. Notes can be used to clarify events for the editor receiving the EDL, and can include information that the EDL cannot store directly. For example, an EDL can’t directly store audio levels of a clip, but the audio level can be stored in the EDL as a note. In the EDL Export dialog, you can choose to export one of the Master Comments 1–4 or Comments A–B.
001 002 AA/V C 02:10:42:13 02:11:16:18 01:00:00:00 01:00:34:05
FROM CLIP NAME:DEBRA ENTERS CAFE WS
OPACITY LEVEL AT 02:10:45:20 IS 0.00%(REEL 002)
OPACITY LEVEL AT 02:10:49:12 IS 100.00%(REEL 002)
CLIP FILTER: COLOR CORRECTOR 3-WAY
AUDIO LEVEL AT 02:10:43:07 IS -INF DB(REEL 002 A1)
AUDIO LEVEL AT 02:10:51:16 IS +0.00 DB(REEL 002 A1)
So the usual hack of adding metadata as comments. Ugh.
It is interesting to see that there actually is at least one “standard” for an EDL format. I wonder how many there are in total. One of the reasons I never looked into it was the strong impression that the phrase “EDL” described a concept rather than a specific format. It is also interesting that AAF exists (and OMF before it), supporting the idea that for many (many) things, EDL format is just insufficient/inadequate.
I’m still not really 100% clear what Ardour users would gain by being able to import/export via EDL.
Adding EDL support has been on my Ardour ToDo list since about 2008. Mainly for automatically importing and cutting and aligning audio (dialog) from edited video. No meta-data (level, x-fade etc) just 4 point edits. So far it never never got beyond some quick perl scripts to generate Ardour Sessions to get a job done. No direct integration into Ardour.
Time to raise the priority a bit, I suppose
@42 Thank you for taking it into consideration. I’m trying to help out with the Shotcut and the Flowblade implementations, so let me know if I can help out, provide EDLs, info to understand the format or do tests.
@ x42
I looked at your Sodankyla EDL code and it looks like you’ve on top of the EDL stuff back then.
Btw. now Flowblade(from next release) will export EDL: https://github.com/jliljebl/flowblade/issues/252
Unfortunately we found out that there are bugs in the Blender EDL import code, so the way of importing an EDL in Blender and then use Blendervelvets script to export to a Ardour session will result in inaccurate timings.
Added by paul:-
" I’m still not really 100% clear what Ardour users would gain by being able to import/export via EDL. "
I must admit, I’m puzzled by this too. I’ve spent most of my life working in the television industry but it’s well over 20 years since I last saw anyone using an EDL.
From what I can remember about EDL’s they essentially describe the relationship between linear (longitudinal) formats (usually tape). But does anybody still use tape for video recording? It certainly doesn’t get used by the high end broadcasters any more - and even at domestic level, it’s rare to find anyone who still owns a VTR (e.g. VHS a recorder).
So assuming you were given an EDL nowadays… how would you access the actual video?
For 16mm and 35mm film EDL is still the standard. You [usually] get a one-light scan which has a matching timecode burnt in. I did a couple of short films like that (soundtrack in ardour)
…but hardly anyone works with real film anymore.
EDL is the lowest hanging fruit, when it comes to exporting from video editors(most of them export edl) and importing the edited project in Ardour. As mentioned above AAF and OMF are also options, but probably to complex for anyone to bother implementing in Ardour. Of course stems could be exported/imported, but those very limiting.
If you don’t agree on EDL as a valid path, my question is what workflow would you guys recommend if people video editing in Shotcut or Flowblade wants to edit their audio in Ardour?
I do semi big film projects completely in kdenlive and having a chance to interchange the sound with ardour would be fantastic (stems do work for some projects, but for most they dont…). the only linux way i know to import / export from NLE to DAW would be from lightworks export aaf to mixbus… but with that you run into other problems (lightworks being picky about drivers etc…), so not really an option…
The other problem I remember with EDL conforming was that it was a hugely time consuming process. At the time I was working for the BBC (so typically I’d be working with TV programmes of about 55 mins duration), To conform that lot from DAT cassettes would usually take us the best part of a day. Is it a quicker process these days ('cos presumably you now conform from files somehow - rather than from tape?)
In C++ anything can be done, since Ardour is written in C++ and you can modify the source code. Many things are possible from lua, but not all. As people try to do things in lua, we tend to add new functionality/access from lua to make it possible for them to finish.
I also don’t know why this comment is attached to this thread … which is about EDL, not scripting/extending/working with Ardour.
I’m currently in the process of adding a feature to Flowblade (Linux video editor) that will do something similar to what is requested here. We’re building an Ardour project export feature into the Flowblade video editor. Essentially, once you’ve hit picture lock in Flowblade, it will be able to export a brand new Ardour project complete with transcoded WAV files, an Ardour project file that references the clips, etc.
Not exactly an EDL, and not exactly built into Ardour. And it only works with Flowblade. But it is a way to get a structure NLE timeline into Ardour for post-production sound editing using open source tools.
The current status, as of this writing, is that I have created a standalone Python 3 script that will convert an exported Flowblade MLT XML file (kind of like an EDL but with more information) into a brand new Ardour project. A new Ardour project directory and project file are created, and the audio from all of the audio and video assets inside of Flowblade is transcoded into WAV files and placed in the Ardour project. Eventually we want to move this functionality from the standalone script into Flowblade itself.
Very interesting project. Though, if I understand correctly, MLT is used in quite a few video editors (https://www.mltframework.org/projects/). If the script was integrated into Flowblade, the users from e.g. Shotcut or Kdenlive wouldn’t be able to use it. Maybe it should be its own project, and have its own repository to make it available for all the editors - and maybe be contributed to by all these users ?
Regards
Edouard, you are correct, MLT is used by a number of Linux video editors. If anyone wants to use the work that was done in Flowblade as a starting point for an independent project or integration into other video editors, I’m all for it!
However, when editing these days I only use Flowblade, and don’t really have the time available to commit to testing on all of the other programs or start a new independent project like that. Additionally, the script as it currently exists makes a few assumptions about the MLT XML structure that hold true for Flowblade, but may or may not hold true for other editors. It might work with other editors, but I haven’t tested it.
Since starting this effort, Robin Gareus also mentioned on the Github thread that Ardour is planning on supporting the Pixar OpenTimelineIO format in the medium to long term. That looks very promising, because it is open source, has a simple JSON format, Pixar is involved, and looks like it will eventually be able to do audio/video/3D project timeline interchange between all sorts of formats.
