Importing Video into Pro Tools

For more information, see the following topics:

Importing Video into Pro Tools Using the Import Video Command

Importing Video into Pro Tools with Drag and Drop

Importing Video into Pro Tools Using Import Session Data

Dragging Video Files from the Clip List to the Timeline

Pro Tools provides the following methods of importing video files into the Timeline, Clip List, and new or existing video tracks:

Using the Import Video command (File > Import > Video)

Dragging from the Clip List to the Timeline (Pro Tools HD, Pro Tools with Complete Production Toolkit, or Pro Tools with an Avid video peripheral only)

Dragging from a DigiBase browser or from Windows Explorer or Mac Finder

Using the Import Session Data command (File > Import > Session Data)—this lets you import video from another Pro Tools session, or from and AAF or OMF file, but not individual video files

The video frame rate of the first video file added to a session determines the session’s video engine rate. Video files subsequently added to the session must have the same video frame rate as the video engine rate.

In general, audio and video media should be stored on separate dedicated drives. When importing audio and video at the same time by linking to media, however, Pro Tools may copy both to the same drive. To avoid performance problems, move the video to a video playback drive before importing the audio and video into your session.

When you import MPEG-2 video into Pro Tools, only the video portion of the file is imported and the resulting video clips cannot be edited.

In a DigiBase browser, you can designate your audio drives to play or record audio but only transfer video, or vice versa. You may use these settings to ensure that your audio and video are on the correct volumes. For detailed instructions, see Audio and Video Volume Designators.