The IFFFS Wiretap EDL stream syntax follows the CMX 3600 format, augmented to include Autodesk’s own edit codes. These are indicated by the keyword DLEDL, and are considered comments in the CMX 3600 format. They are used to indicate information necessary for EDL completeness, but that is not part of the original CMX 3600 standard.
The overall form of the Wiretap EDL stream is similar to the Autodesk EDL file generated by performing a flatten publish in a Visual Effects and Finishing application. It is also similar to the EDL file you can generate using the Export EDL menu by selecting the CMX 3600 format. Before extracting EDLs programmatically, it can be helpful to view one or two within the application.
This section examines the syntax of the Wiretap EDL stream through a series of sample outputs. Its purpose is to explain the Autodesk edit codes (the comment lines prefaced by DLEDL). However, not all Autodesk edit codes appearing in the Wiretap EDL stream are documented. In addition, some information is provided on the CMX 3600 format as background information.
In the sample outputs presented in this section, lines have been numbered for ease of reference in the explanatory discussions. The clip node EDL metadata stream is not itself numbered. Also, in some cases spacing has been altered and line breaks inserted for clarity.
The following sample output shows the EDL stream for a simplified timeline containing a single segment.
1. TITLE: BASIC_CASE 2. FCM: NON-DROP FRAME 3. TITLE: ASSEMBLY RESOLUTION: 720:486:32:3:0.899998:1399696:BE:P:29.97 4. FCM: NON-DROP FRAME 5. 001 PBS7890 V C 00:00:00:00 00:00:00:08 00:00:00:00 00:00:00:08 6. DLEDL: SOURCEID: H_279746176_S_1210191224_U_166040 7. DLEDL: SEGMENTID: H_279746176_S_1210191248_U_10962 8. Sepia Tone Waterfall 9. FROM CLIP NAME: BASIC_CASE 10. DLEDL: EDIT:0 RESOLUTION: 720:486:32:3:0.899998:1399696:BE:P:29.97 11. DLEDL: EDIT:0 FRAME: 0x258193a806c28855 12. DLEDL: EDIT:0 FRAME: 0x258193a906c28855 13. DLEDL: EDIT:0 FRAME: 0x258193aa06c28855 14. DLEDL: EDIT:0 FRAME: 0x258193ab06c28855 15. DLEDL: EDIT:0 FRAME: 0x258193ac06c28855 16. DLEDL: EDIT:0 FRAME: 0x258193ad06c28855 17. DLEDL: EDIT:0 FRAME: 0x258193ae06c28855 18. DLEDL: EDIT:0 FRAME: 0x258193af06c28855 19. DLEDL: START TC: 00:00:00:00 20. DLEDL: REEL:PBS7890 PBS1234567890
| Line # | Element | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Title: BASIC_CASE | Name of the clip represented by the timeline. |
| 2 | FCM: NON-DROP FRAME | Timeline frame timecode mode (DROP FRAME or NON-DROP FRAME) |
| 3 | TITLE: ASSEMBLY RESOLUTION
720:486:
32: 3: 0.899998: 1399696: BE: P: 29.97 |
Timeline resolution and other basic information, in the following format (line-breaks have been added for clarity): width:height: bits/pixel: number of channels: pixel ratio: frame buffer size: byte order: scan mode: frames per second |
| 4 | FCM: NON-DROP FRAME | Clip frame timecode mode (DROP FRAME or NON-DROP FRAME) |
| 5 | 001 PBS7890 V C
00:00:00:00 00:00:00:08 00:00:00:00 00:00:00:08 |
The first edit event uses source material from tape PBS7890. In edit events, long tape names are reduced to 7 characters. The full tape name is presented at the end of the edit. See the description for line 20. It is of type V (video). A (audio) is the other possibility. The dissolve is of type C (cut). D (dissolve) is the other possibility, which is followed by a three digit number indicating the length of the dissolve, in frames. The final four numbers indicate the source material start and end times and the placement of the clip in the timeline. |
| 6 & 7 | DLEDL: SOURCEID:
H_279746176_S_ 1210191224_U_166040 DLEDL: SEGMENTID: H_279746176_S_ 1210191248_U_10962 |
Source clips and timeline segments are given unique identifiers for the purposes of tracking media and media history. Each source clip, whether captured, imported, or rendered is assigned a unique identifier. Similarly, each segment or span of a segment within the timeline is assigned a unique segment identifier. The combination of source ID and segment ID allows third-party applications to reference clips when timecodes and/or tape names are unavailable, unreliable, or not unique. More simply, the source ID can be used to distinguish between source clips with the same name. Neither the source ID nor the segment ID must be considered globally unique identifiers (GUIDs). Neither the source nor segment ID persist when copied to another system or project, nor when restored from archive. In addition, segment IDs change each time work is performed on the segment. If the same source clip is used in different places, it will have a different source ID with each use. |
| 8 | Sepia Tone Waterfall | This line is a comment associated with the clip |
| 9 | FROM CLIP NAME: BASIC_CASE | Name of the segment |
| 10 | DLEDL: EDIT:0
RESOLUTION: 720:486:32:3:0.899998: 1399696:BE:P:29.97 |
Segment resolution and other basic information See description of line 3 for details |
| 11–18 | DLEDL EDIT:0 FRAME
0x1f03ad2006b01d99 |
The frame IDs associated with the clip |
| 20 | DLEDL REEL:PBS7890
PBS1234567890 |
The tape/reel name in both its abbreviated form as used on line 5, and its full form as used in the timeline. This full form of the tape/reel name is helpful when creating a new clip based on the EDL, since it enables you to assemble the timeline from its constituent parts automatically. The full forms of all tape/reel names that have been abbreviated are always provided at the end of the EDL. |
The following sample output shows the EDL stream for a timeline containing two segments, BEACH and WATERFALL with a dissolve over four frames between them.
1. TITLE: SIMPLE_TRANSITION 2. FCM: NON-DROP FRAME 3. TITLE: ASSEMBLY RESOLUTION: 640:480:24:3:1.000000:921616:BE:F1:29.97 4. FCM: NON-DROP FRAME 5. 001 BBC1 V C 00:00:00:17 00:00:00:23 00:00:00:00 00:00:00:06 6. DLEDL: SOURCEID: H_279746176_S_1210195077_U_621587 7. DLEDL: SEGMENTID: H_279746176_S_1210252986_U_7794 8. FROM CLIP NAME: BEACH 9. DLEDL: EDIT:0 RESOLUTION: 640:480:24:3:1.000000:921616:BE:F1:29.97 10. DLEDL: EDIT:0 FRAME: 0x258195de06c2bc6e 11. DLEDL: EDIT:0 FRAME: 0x258195df06c2bc6e 12. DLEDL: EDIT:0 FRAME: 0x258195e006c2bc6e 13. : 14. DLEDL: EDIT:0 FRAME: 0x258195fb06c2bc6e 15. DLEDL: START TC: 00:00:00:00 16. 002 BBC1 V C 00:00:00:23 00:00:00:23 00:00:00:06 00:00:00:06 17. 002 PBS7890 V D 004 00:00:00:02 00:00:00:08 00:00:00:06 00:00:00:12 18. DLEDL: SOURCEID: H_279746176_S_1210254513_U_730359 19. DLEDL: SEGMENTID: H_279746176_S_1210254513_U_730374 20. Sepia Tone Waterfall 21. FROM CLIP NAME: BEACH 22. TO CLIP NAME: WATERFALL 23. DLEDL: EDIT:0 RESOLUTION: 640:480:24:3:1.000000:921616:BE:F1:29.97 24. DLEDL: EDIT:0 FRAME: 0x258195de06c2bc6e 25. DLEDL: EDIT:0 FRAME: 0x258195df06c2bc6e 26. DLEDL: EDIT:0 FRAME: 0x258195fb06c2bc6e 27. : 28. DLEDL: EDIT:1 FRAME: 0x2581966b06c39c34 29. DLEDL: START TC: 00:00:00:02 30. DLEDL: FOCUS_DESCR CENTERED 31. DLEDL: REEL:PBS7890 PBS1234567890
| Line # | Element | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| 1–4 | Title, FCM, ASSEMBLY RESOLUTION | Name of the clip represented by the timeline, frame timecode mode, resolution, and other information. |
| 5 | 001 BBC1 V C
00:00:00:17 00:00:00:23 00:00:00:00 00:00:00:06 |
The first edit event uses source material from tape BBC1, V (video), C (cut), source material start and end timecode, placement in timeline start and end timecodes. |
| 10–14 | DLEDL: EDIT:0 FRAME:
0x258195de06c2bc6e |
Frame IDs. The colon (:) indicates material omitted from the example. |
| 16–17 | 002 BBC1 V C
00:00:00:23 00:00:00:23 00:00:00:06 00:00:00:06 002 PBS7890 V D 00400:00:00:02 00:00:00:08 00:00:00:06 00:00:00:12 |
Transitions are indicated by two sequential lines with the same edit event numbers. In this case, the transition is between the source material from tape BBC1 to the source material from tape PBS7890. The second line indicates the transition is of type D (dissolve), taking place over four frames. |
| 21–22 | FROM CLIP NAME: BEACH
TO CLIP NAME: WATERFALL |
The names of the clips involved in the dissolve. |
| 30 | DLEDL:
FOCUS_DESCR CENTERED |
The dissolve is centred with respect to the cut. |
| 31 | DLEDL: REEL:PBS7890 PBS1234567890 | The tape/reel name in both its abbreviated form as used on line 17, and its full form as used in the timeline. Since, the other tape/reel name (BBC1) is not abbreviated, it goes unreported in this area of the EDL. |
Colour sources are virtual sources that contain frames generated within the application. The following sample output shows the EDL stream for a timeline containing four colour source segments: colour noise, a solid colour, SMPTE colour bars, and PAL colour bars. Its purpose is to present the virtual tape names automatically assigned to colour sources.
1. TITLE: VIRTUAL_TAPE NAMES 2. FCM: NON-DROP FRAME 3. TITLE: ASSEMBLY RESOLUTION: 720:486:24:3:0.899998:1049776:BE:F1:29.97 4. FCM: NON-DROP FRAME 5. 001 COLOUR V C 00:00:00:00 00:00:00:04 00:00:00:00 00:00:00:04 6. DLEDL: SOURCEID: H_279746176_S_1210260387_U_813790 7. DLEDL: SEGMENTID: H_279746176_S_1210260388_U_97758 8. FROM CLIP NAME: COL_NOISE 9. DLEDL: EDIT:0 RESOLUTION: 720:486:24:3:0.899998:1049776:BE:F1:29.97 10. DLEDL: EDIT:0 FRAME: 0x258190bf06bfdbd1 11. DLEDL: EDIT:0 FRAME: 0x258190c006bfdbd1 12. DLEDL: EDIT:0 FRAME: 0x258190c106bfdbd1 13. DLEDL: EDIT:0 FRAME: 0x258190c206bfdbd1 14. DLEDL: START TC: 00:00:00:00 15. 002 GREEN V C 00:00:00:01 00:00:00:03 00:00:00:04 00:00:00:06 16. DLEDL: SOURCEID: H_279746176_S_1210260459_U_265566 17. DLEDL: SEGMENTID: H_279746176_S_1210260579_U_1346 18. FROM CLIP NAME: GREEN 19. DLEDL: EDIT:0 RESOLUTION: 720:486:24:3:0.899998:1049776:BE:F1:29.97 20. DLEDL: EDIT:0 FRAME: 0x2581977406c3b91a 21. DLEDL: EDIT:0 FRAME: 0x2581977406c3b91a 22. DLEDL: START TC: 00:00:00:00 23. M2 GREEN 000.0 MSTR I +00:00:00:02 24. 003 SMPE_75 V C 00:00:00:00 00:00:00:02 00:00:00:06 00:00:00:08 25. DLEDL: SOURCEID: H_279746176_S_1210260492_U_164759 26. DLEDL: SEGMENTID: H_279746176_S_1210260584_U_1749 27. FROM CLIP NAME: SMPTE_75 28. DLEDL: EDIT:0 RESOLUTION: 720:486:24:3:0.899998:1049776:BE:F1:29.97 29. DLEDL: EDIT:0 FRAME: 0x2581977506c3b93b 30. DLEDL: EDIT:0 FRAME: 0x2581977506c3b93b 31. DLEDL: START TC: 00:00:00:00 32. M2 SMPE_75 000.0 MSTR I +00:00:00:02 33. 004 PAL_75 V C 00:00:00:00 00:00:00:02 00:00:00:08 00:00:00:10 34. DLEDL: SOURCEID: H_279746176_S_1210260509_U_942020 35. DLEDL: SEGMENTID: H_279746176_S_1210260587_U_924 36. FROM CLIP NAME: PAL_75 37. DLEDL: EDIT:0 RESOLUTION: 720:486:24:3:0.899998:1049776:BE:F1:29.97 38. DLEDL: EDIT:0 FRAME: 0x2581977606c3b94c 39. DLEDL: EDIT:0 FRAME: 0x2581977606c3b94c 40. DLEDL: START TC: 00:00:00:00 41. DLEDL: REEL:SMPE_75 SMPTE_75 42. M2 PAL_75 000.0 MSTR I +00:00:00:02
| Line # | Element | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| 1–4 | Title, FCM, ASSEMBLY RESOLUTION | Name of the clip represented by the timeline, frame timecode mode, resolution and other information. |
| 5 | 001 COLOUR V C
00:00:00:00 00:00:00:04 00:00:00:00 00:00:00:04 |
The first edit event represents a colour noise segment of four frames duration. It is automatically assigned a source clip from virtual tape COLOUR, of type V (video), with a dissolve of type C (cut). |
| 8 | FROM CLIP NAME:
COL_NOISE |
Name of the segment |
| 10–13 | DLEDL: EDIT:0 FRAME:
0x258190bf06bfdbd1etc. |
Frame IDs for the colour noise segment. Each ID is different because the colour noise frames are distinct. |
| 15 | 002 GREEN V C
00:00:00:01 00:00:00:03 00:00:00:04 00:00:00:06 |
The second edit event represents a solid colour segment of two frames duration. It is automatically assigned the virtual tape name GREEN. |
| 18 | FROM CLIP NAME: GREEN | Name of the segment |
|
23 32 42 |
M2 GREEN 000.0 MSTR I +00:00:00:02 M2 SMPE_75 000.0 MSTR I +00:00:00:02 M2 PAL_75 000.0 MSTR I +00:00:00:02 |
Some virtual sources such as colour bars and solid colours contain repeated frames, hence have motion events associated with them. The colour noise segment (line 5) does not have a motion event, since each frame in colour noise is distinct. Motion events are also used to report timewarps. |
| 24 | 003 SMPE_75 V C
00:00:00:00 00:00:00:02 00:00:00:06 00:00:00:08 |
Event for the SMPTE colour bars, reported as coming from virtual tape SMPE_75. Even virtual tape names can be abbreviated. In this case, the full virtual tape name is SMPTE_75. See line 41. |
| 27 | FROM CLIP NAME:
SMPTE_75 |
Name of the segment |
| 29–30 | DLEDL: EDIT:0 FRAME:
0x2581977506c3b93b |
Frame IDs for the SMPTE colour bars Both IDs are identical because the colour bar frames do not change. |
| 33 | PAL_75 V C 00:00:00:00 00:00:00:02 00:00:00:08 00:00:00:10 | PAL colour bars event |
| 41 | DLEDL: REEL:SMPE_75
SMPTE_75 |
The tape/reel name in both its abbreviated form as used on line 24, and its full form as used in the timeline. |
The following sample output shows the EDL stream for a timeline containing two segments, with a dissolve between them. Because the clips were imported but not cached, the EDL reports the path to the original (full resolution) media.
1. TITLE: Soft Imports 2. FCM: NON-DROP FRAME 3. TITLE: ASSEMBLY RESOLUTION: 720:486:24:3:0.899998:0:BE:F1:29.97 4. FCM: NON-DROP FRAME 5. 001 PBS15 V C 00:00:00:00 00:00:00:06 00:00:00:02 00:00:00:08 6. DLEDL: SOURCEID: H_279746176_S_1210108314_U_403593 7. DLEDL: SEGMENTID: H_279746176_S_1210108466_U_3126 8. FROM CLIP NAME: Wally's_material_parachute 9. DLEDL: PATH: /magma/people/sl/MEDIA_SERVER/images/TIF/parachute/ 10. DLEDL: EDIT:0 FILENAME: Wally's_material_parachute.(0001@0010).tif 11. DLEDL: START TC: 00:00:00:00 12. 002 PBS15 V C 00:00:00:06 00:00:00:06 00:00:00:08 00:00:00:08 13. 002 1237890 V D 004 00:00:00:00 00:00:00:10 00:00:00:08 00:00:00:18 14. DLEDL: SOURCEID: H_279746176_S_1210108372_U_88045 15. DLEDL: SEGMENTID: H_279746176_S_1210108466_U_3127 16. FROM CLIP NAME: Wally's_material_parachute TO CLIP NAME: HAND3 17. DLEDL: PATH: /magma/people/sl/MEDIA_SERVER/images/TIF/parachute/ 18. DLEDL: EDIT:0 FILENAME: Wally's_material_parachute.(0001@0010).tif 19. DLEDL: PATH: /magma/people/sl/MEDIA_SERVER/images/TIF/ 20. DLEDL: EDIT:1 FILENAME: HAND3.(0001@0010).tga 21. DLEDL: START TC: 00:00:00:00 22. DLEDL: FOCUS_DESCR CENTERED 23. DLEDL: REEL:1237890 1234567890
| Line # | Element | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| 1–4 | Title, FCM, ASSEMBLY RESOLUTION | Name of the clip represented by the timeline, frame timecode mode, resolution and other information. |
| 5 | 001 PBS15 V C
00:00:00:00 00:00:00:06 00:00:00:02 00:00:00:08 |
The first edit event uses a source clip from tape PBS15, of type V (video), with a dissolve of type C (cut). |
| 9 | DLEDL: PATH: /magma/people/sl/MEDIA_SERVER/images/TIF/parachute/ | Path to the original, full-resolution material |
| 10 | DLEDL: EDIT:0 FILENAME:
Wally's_material_parachute.(0001@0010).tif |
Frame IDs of the full-resolution material The <start_frame>@<end_frame> means of referring to frames that are sequentially numbered. |
| 12 | 002 PBS15 V C
00:00:00:06 00:00:00:06 00:00:00:08 00:00:00:08 |
These two lines indicate a dissolve between two segments, from a clip on tape PBS15 to a clip on tape 1237890. |
| 13 | 002 1237890 V D 004
00:00:00:00 00:00:00:10 00:00:00:08 00:00:00:18 |
In particular, line 13 indicates the presence of a segment of type V (video) with an edit of type D (dissolve). |
| 16 | FROM CLIP NAME:
Wally's_material_parachute TO CLIP NAME: HAND3 |
Details on the dissolve from clip Wally's_material_parachute to clip HAND3. |
| 22 | DLEDL: FOCUS_DESCR CENTERED | The dissolve is centred with respect to the cut. |
| 23 | DLEDL: REEL:1237890 1234567890 | When a tape name is abbreviated, the abbreviation and full name are presented at the end of the EDL stream. |