avoid duplicate clips in master bin

Hi everybody,

first of all let me thank you for joining this group.

I'm in the process of evaluating DAVINCI RESOLVE, before buying.
There are some questions I will ask in the near future.

I started a project and added some clips with CTRL-I. All clips are 4K, so I use "optimized media".

Question 1:
When adding new clips/footages, it seems, that DAVINCI RESOLVE does not recognize the existing clips in the master bin and adds the clips a second time.

How can I avoid this?
Or is there a way to find and remove duplicate clips?
Could not find an appropriate answer, so I'm asking.

Thanks in advance
Peter

How can I avoid this?

Pay attention to what you're doing and don't import the same clip twice.

Question 1:
When adding new clips/footages, it seems, that DAVINCI RESOLVE does not recognize the existing clips in the master bin and adds the clips a second time.

I believe your're mistaken. You cannot add the same clip to the same bin more than once. If you drag that clip from the media pool into another bin, you could, which is to be expected.

Also, you've supplied no information about your system or your footage, but you might not want to assume that you absolutely must create Optimized Media.

Thank you, Jim and John.

I have a bunch of clips, so it takes much effort to avoid adding duplicate clips.
The screenshot attached shows 3 extra clips I added just for demonstration purposes (CTRL-I)
DAVINCE does not refuse to add these clips.

best regards
Peter

Any ideas?
What can I do better?

Thank you all.

Peter

Im completely agree, I can’t understand this behavior in Davinci, it’s annoying

+1 for the OP

How can I avoid this?

Pay attention to what you're doing and don't import the same clip twice.

With that attitude, we would still be cutting celluloid by hand. Technology is supposed to make our lives as humans easier. We're not machines, we make mistakes. Just like you're probably not an Academy-Award-Winning director or colorist, I'm not someone who's *not* able to make small mistakes like these.

This problem is solvable with a few lines of code so why shouldn't it be done?

@ OP1
Which version of DVR are you using?
Using 18.1.1
Took note of specific clips in bin. With Bin selected; R click & select import media. From open window selected first 2 clips & last 2 clips again. No duplicates were added.

Carelessness does not come into it. DvR seems to be functioning correctly.

Fairly new user this end (12mnths) but it does seem to pay off taking a disk image before updating as it makes it easy to roll back if the newer version has a few quirks. Update prior to 18.1.1 caused my timeline icon to become grey scale & distort. Program was otherwise use able but did not inspire confidence. Looking at the forum my experience was shared by 1 other but fixed in next update.

this thread is 3 years old ;- )

+1 for the OP

How can I avoid this?

Pay attention to what you're doing and don't import the same clip twice.

With that attitude, we would still be cutting celluloid by hand. Technology is supposed to make our lives as humans easier. We're not machines, we make mistakes. Just like you're probably not an Academy-Award-Winning director or colorist, I'm not someone who's *not* able to make small mistakes like these.

This problem is solvable with a few lines of code so why shouldn't it be done?

completely agree!!!!!

Paying attention to what you are doing is also good advice. There are countless things that can go wrong if you aren't paying attention. This is why colonists and editors establish a series of workflow steps to help them remember to get everything setup correctly, etc. Anything Resolve can do to help is appreciated but there is no substitute for process (a systems approach).

2023 has arrived and our bins are still choke full of duplicates with no smart way to get rid of them. If you create a new bin and copy some videos there, then EVEN the smart bin that collects just "all video clips (with or without audio)" shows duplicate clips - apparently it collects them from 2-3-4 (as many bins with copies you created) and lists them all as separate clips, which is insane.
Please Davinci give us some way to organize Media - if you copy a clip to another bin it does not mean you create a fresh independent copy - you just copy a reference link to original file to one more bin.
Smart bins also should not list multiple instances of one and the same reference link.

Hopefully we can get more attention on this from the dev team.

Just ran into a situation today where the rushes had been mismanaged by the DIT and there were many duplicates in the import folders. Spent a good half hour sorting.

...if you copy a clip to another bin it does not mean you create a fresh independent copy - you just copy a reference link to original file to one more bin...

This is simply incorrect. Each clip copy is treated as independent metadata (as well it should). It just happens to point to the same source file on disk. This is by design. When starting out with Resolve, you need to be aware of this or else you may go down the wrong path organizing your clips, I would think.

if you use 1 folder for Gfx, lets say, and try to bring the same file in twice, DR wont add another file. only 1 can exist in a bin.
We do a lot of Graphics overlays, and there is no way to keep duplicates out otherwise. dated folders, named folders.. they all get confusing. 1 master GFX folder. actually works.. learn how to use the search function if needed. And let's hope that the Revisions are named correctly, so new versions aren't named the same a previous versions.

The Master Bin is intended to show ALL media in the project.
It is not intended to be a bin for editing purposes.

An example of the usefulness is:

I use bins to organise my media into logical groups. I also need the same clips in different bins so I can change clip attributes on one set of clips, such as audio channels, alpha channel settings etc.

During the edit I need access to both sets of clips for different purposes.

The Master Bin will reveal to me at a top level, all the duplicates side by side.

It's a design choice that allows more flexibility when editing.

You may not like it, but I use it's features on a daily basis and would hate any change to the way it works.

Paying attention to what you are doing is also good advice. There are countless things that can go wrong if you aren't paying attention. This is why colonists and editors establish a series of workflow steps to help them remember to get everything setup correctly, etc. Anything Resolve can do to help is appreciated but there is no substitute for process (a systems approach).

I think this is the right idea. We really, really stay on top of media during conforms (and/or color sessions), and we work hard to eliminate duplicate media and other conform trainwrecks. It does require paying close attention and being aware of everything. We trust nothing and check everything. This helps make later Media Management that much easier, and if a clip is missing, if it's well-organized and the structure is simple and logical, you can track down the clip that much easier.

Sometimes, there are duplicate clips that are not duplicate clips, because the client has re-rendered a clip with the same file name, only made a change in it. In a case like this, we determine a way to distinguish the original clip from the copy actually used in the project.

I mean, methodical workflow and care is always good to have in a production...but, like I said, sometimes you get client footage that isn't very well organized. With dublicate in multiple foders. And as a small time creator, it expends a big chunk of time doing something that could be automated. A duplicate avoidance system would need a checksum verification to avoid rejecting files with the same name but different content...yet it's not exactly top-secret technology!

So you are talking about duplicate media, correct? I thought we were talking about duplicate clips (where the clips themselves point to the same media file). In either case, a mechanism for duplication detection would be useful, I suppose.

So you are talking about duplicate media, correct? I thought we were talking about duplicate clips (where the clips themselves point to the same media file). In either case, a mechanism for duplication detection would be useful, I suppose.

Yes...In this case it is duplicate media. Although I have had the duplicate clip problem too. I just meant to say that it's sometimes difficult to have a nice ideal workflow if you're a freelancer or working with small teams...