I understand that decompose creates new offline media for capture, but are there any other differences between the 2?

Consolidate isn't designed to create offline media.  It is used to move/copy media.  Similar to Decompose, it can move/copy only the segments of clips required to support a sequence.

The consolidation function is also useful for creating duplicate sets of clips and media that are linked to a different project than the one they were originally created in.

So consolidate and decompose are similar in the fact that they both seperate the unused media from a sequence - right?

Decompose I would use when finishing a tape based offline and preparing for tape capture to hi res media-right?

I could also use consolidate for an offline to online capture if I don't want the low res media taken offline-right?

Consolidate a sequence: make a dupe of all media that is being used in the sequence (with handles if you want).

Consolidate master clips: make a dupe of the clip on a new destination drive.

Consolidate subclips: make a dupe of this part of the media on a new destination drive.

Decompose a sequence: generate offline clips for all media that is being used in the sequence (with handles if you want).

You can't decompose master clips.

Nnata:

Decompose I would use when finishing a tape based offline and preparing for tape capture to hi res media-right?

Absolutely. Performing a Batch Capture would sort of have the same result, except Decomposer gives you more control over the batch process (as you can select which clips, etc).

Nnata:

I could also use consolidate for an offline to online capture if I don't want the low res media taken offline-right?

I don't get the question. The low res media is not taken offline by itself. If you first consolidate, then delete the media, it would still be offline.

Job ter Burg:

Consolidate a sequence: make a dupe of all media that is being used in the sequence (with handles if you want).

 

Consolidate master clips: make a dupe of the clip on a new destination drive.

 

Consolidate subclips: make a dupe of this part of the media on a new destination drive.

 

Decompose a sequence: generate offline clips for all media that is being used in the sequence (with handles if you want).

 

You can't decompose master clips.

 

Nnata:

Decompose I would use when finishing a tape based offline and preparing for tape capture to hi res media-right?

Absolutely. Performing a Batch Capture would sort of have the same result, except Decomposer gives you more control over the batch process (as you can select which clips, etc).

 

Nnata:

I could also use consolidate for an offline to online capture if I don't want the low res media taken offline-right?

I don't get the question. The low res media is not taken offline by itself. If you first consolidate, then delete the media, it would still be offline.

Thanks for these great explanations. A lot clearer now. In regards to my last question: What I meant was if I consolidate a low res sequence, I am removing the unwanted media that does not reside in the sequence. So then I would be in a position to select the newly created media (with not unwanted media) and batch capture at a higher res....rather than capture full source tapes.

Nnata:

What I meant was if I consolidate a low res sequence, I am removing the unwanted media that does not reside in the sequence.

Consolidating will not necessarily delete any unused media. And if you do select the option to delete originals, you still may have a lot of unused clips on board (that are completely unreferenced in the sequuence.

I personally don't consolidate that much anymore, as drive space is so cheap. If you do, I'd recommend consolidating onto an empty drive/partition, then hide/delete/remove the originals on your other media drives.

Nnata:

I could also use consolidate for an offline to online capture if I don't want the low res media taken offline-right?

That would be decomposing, not consolidating.

hbrock:

Nnata:

I could also use consolidate for an offline to online capture if I don't want the low res media taken offline-right?

That would be decomposing, not consolidating.

Well, you COULD use consolidate, but part of your offline media would be duplicated.

Decompose is useful in that you create a new sequence and new master clips with whatever handles you set.

You can the decide how to re-capture/re-import those clips rather than with just batch capturing/batch importing the sequence which will just prompt for the required tapes/files.

Consolidate is normally used to create a new sequence and subset of Avid Media files for media management (so you can blow away the rest) or moving to a different system.

Take care that not all media can be consolidated (re AMA and "foreign types") This skips those clips that link to media that can't be made into Avid media files and your consolidated sequence will still be linked to the original AMA'd media.

So with AMA media and a mixture of sources you may need to consolidate and then transcode to get a complete set of media. (I've made a feature request to have this as a single function)