SermiDigital × Ation Flow
Many sources, one right folder
How SermiDigital brought broadcast, drone and action-cam content into Avid Media Composer — without stopping to decide how to transcode any of it.
When every source needs its own decision
Every SermiDigital production brings together very different sources: broadcast cameras in AVC-Intra 100 (1920×1080) and AVC-Intra 300 (3840×2160), DJI drones in 4K H.265, ProRes footage, the native formats of Sony, Canon and Blackmagic, plus a growing volume of GoPro, action-cam and Insta360 files.
Different formats, codecs and resolutions — each with its own encoding logic and its own requirements in the edit. All of this material has to reach Avid Media Composer quickly, with Nexis storage, ready for production.
The problem wasn’t shooting with so many different sources. It was that, every time, someone had to stop and decide which treatment that specific file needed — before it could even be put to work.
With so many different sources, the real bottleneck wasn’t the volume of files — it was the time spent figuring out which treatment to apply to each one before it could go into the edit.
A dedicated folder for every profile
The solution designed with SermiDigital starts from a simple principle: whoever handles ingest shouldn’t have to think about transcoding — they only need to know which folder to drop the file into.
On a dedicated Linux server, a watch folder was built for each type of source, linked to a purpose-built transcoding profile in Ation Flow — broadcast AVC-Intra 100, AVC-Intra 300 4K, H.265 drone, ProRes, native Sony/Canon/Blackmagic formats, action cams and Insta360. They all converge toward a native DNxHD master for Media Composer, with dedicated re-encodes for the AVC-Intra sources designed to avoid the audio-sync problems typical of this codec.
For 4K sources — drone, AVC-Intra 300, action cams — Ation Flow automatically enables FrameFlex: the file keeps its relationship to the original resolution even in a 1920×1080 master project, so the editor can still push into zooms and reframes with no perceptible loss of quality.
Behind this simplicity is a fully autonomous orchestration: as soon as a file is detected in a watch folder, the server starts transcoding on its own, applies the correct profile, enables FrameFlex where needed, populates the AvidMediaFiles folder of the Nexis workspace and generates an AAF ready to import into Media Composer. The operator is left with a single action: open the AAF in the designated project.
The real paradigm shift was taking the responsibility of choosing away from ingest. It no longer has to decide how to transcode a file: it only needs to know which folder to sort it into, and from there the system does everything on its own.
From folder to finished master
Each watch folder maps to a profile. The operator sorts the file into the right folder; everything else is the server’s job.
Broadcast · AVC-Intra 100 · 1920×1080
Native DNxHD master for Media Composer, with a dedicated re-encode to avoid the audio-sync problems typical of AVC-Intra
Broadcast 4K · AVC-Intra 300 · 3840×2160
Native DNxHD master with FrameFlex enabled and the same dedicated audio re-encode, to preserve the extra resolution in post
Drone · H.265 · 4K
Native DNxHD master with FrameFlex enabled: zoom and reframing remain possible in a 1080p project
ProRes · native Sony, Canon, Blackmagic
Native DNxHD master, aligned to the same editing standard as every other source
GoPro · action cam · Insta360
Native DNxHD master, aligned to the same editing standard as every other source
Any source, once transcoded
Automatically populated into the AvidMediaFiles folder of the Nexis workspace, with an AAF ready to import into Media Composer
It is a seemingly small but decisive intervention: multiplied across dozens of files a day and across increasingly heterogeneous sources, it removes a repetitive manual task and turns a potential bottleneck into an invisible step in the workflow.
What SermiDigital gained
Adopting Ation Flow’s automatic profiles produced a concrete change in how shot material reaches the edit — not just more speed, but fewer technical decisions left to the operator, and more consistency across projects.
Sort, don’t decide
Bringing material into Media Composer used to mean knowing which treatment each source needed — broadcast, 4K, drone or action cam, each with its own transcoding logic. Today the ingest team only has to sort each file into the right watch folder: that choice is already built into the folder itself.
Work that starts on its own
The server running Ation Flow doesn’t wait for a command: the moment it detects a new file in a watch folder, it begins transcoding on its own, using the machine’s full computing power. The technical work can move ahead without anyone watching it in real time — the material is ready when it’s needed, not when someone finds the time to deal with it.
A consistent master, whatever the source
Every asset is aligned to the same editing standard — native DNxHD for Media Composer — regardless of its starting format: AVC-Intra 100, AVC-Intra 300 4K, drone H.265, ProRes, the native Sony/Canon/Blackmagic formats, or GoPro, action-cam and Insta360 files. For AVC-Intra sources, the dedicated re-encode also avoids the audio-sync problems most common with this codec. The quality of the master no longer depends on who happened to handle ingest that day.
The potential of 4K isn’t lost
With FrameFlex enabled automatically on 4K sources, the advantage of the higher resolution isn’t sacrificed to match a 1080p project: it stays available in the edit for zooms and reframes.
The most concrete benefit is that the ingest team no longer has to think ‘how do I treat this file’. They just sort it into the right folder: from there the server works on its own, and it comes out right.
The principle behind it
The SermiDigital case demonstrates the principle behind Ation Flow: move repetitive technical decisions from people to the system, leaving the operator the creative choices that truly matter.
An editor shouldn’t have to wonder which profile a drone clip needs, or whether a broadcast file is already timeline-ready. They should focus on what creates value: telling the story.
Ation Flow makes it possible to build custom watch folders and profiles around highly heterogeneous sources — with no dedicated integrations to develop — leveraging the native features of the Avid ecosystem (Nexis, Media Composer, FrameFlex). It removes operational complexity from ingest, turning content from different sources into consistent masters, ready for the edit.