CineForm and Sony XDCAM EX

David Newman · December 1st, 2007, 10:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by John Hewat

And is the intention still to have these converted to avi in HDLink prior to editing?

Yes of course, the issues of native MPEG2 editing have not gone away, so the CineForm workflow is to convert to very high quality editing format.

Paul Curtis · December 6th, 2007, 10:01 AM

Do we have a rough release date for this? (for Prospect)

many thanks
paul

Travis Reese · December 6th, 2007, 01:29 PM

I've just finished reading through this entire thread. Doesn't look like there have been any posts in a while. I just got my XDCAM EX camera and a new workstation running CS3. I'm very interested in editing footage from this camera on the workstation and so I've started looking at Prospect HD.

I've never had any dealing with Cineform before. Let me say, as a new, prospective customer of their product how frustrating it is to try to ask them a simple question. I went to their web site. There is no phone number to contact them. The only method by which to ask them any presales questions is to submit a support incident. To do this you have to fill out a lengthy form with drop downs for things such as cpu type which (in the instance of cpu's) doesn't even give the option to list a quad core xeon. When you then try to submit your sales question after disguising it as a tech support question it won't let you because it wants you to "list the steps to reproduce the problem."

All I can say is they must have a miracle product to offer such limited options for asking questions by a potential new customer.

My question, having already been asked here but not answered anytime recently, is this...

Can Prospect HD take the .mp4 files of the XDCAM EX directly from the SxS cards and spit out the Cineform .avi's? I read here that it can take the .mfx files that are exported from the Sony clip browser software however as another user pointed out those are reduced to 1440x1080 and so I'm losing my nice, native 1920x1080 files. That alone is a deal breaker.

David Newman · December 6th, 2007, 01:45 PM

Travis, you just haven't looked hard enough at our crazy web site. We don't have the time to fix the web-site, but we will happily offer software in exchange for some web work. :)

The telephone number is under the "About CineForm" tab on the left, here is the direct link: http://www.cineform.com/about/default.htm. We are not hiding it, but all the pages contain too much information so people can miss it.

To you question: yes we will support .mp4 directly and enable conversion to .avi within the HDLink utility (included in all our products), with fingers crossed, this could be released by the end of next week.

Travis Reese · December 6th, 2007, 01:49 PM

Thanks, I should have known to look there but just didn't see it. I assume that when it is released that a trial will be available for download just as trials of existing cineform products are? Would you be so kind as to post here when it is released so I can take a look at it?

David Newman · December 6th, 2007, 01:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Travis Reese

Thanks, I should have known to look there but just didn't see it. I assume that when it is released that a trial will be available for download just as trials of existing cineform products are? Would you be so kind as to post here when it is released so I can take a look at it?

The DVInfo.net CineForm forum we typically post for every new version. But I would also recommend subscribing to the CineForm News RSS feed here: http://www.cineform.com/CineFormNews.xml

Steven Thomas · December 8th, 2007, 08:48 AM

Any news on Cineform for the Sony PMW-EX1 support with NEO HDLINK?

David Newman · December 8th, 2007, 11:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steven Thomas

Any news on Cineform for the Sony PMW-EX1 support with NEO HDLINK?

EX1 support will be in all versions of CineForm's HDLink.

Steven Thomas · December 9th, 2007, 09:34 AM

Sorry David, I meant to ask if you had an idea when it might be available?

David Newman · December 9th, 2007, 10:13 AM

Read a page back on this thread. We are close.

David Newman · December 14th, 2007, 07:57 PM

It is another weekend, and time to try out a new version of CineForm's tools.

Here are some of the key changes in verion 3.2.2:

Added: Sony XDCAM-EX *.mp4 support to HDLink. This will support all the new cameras shooting modes. i.e. support for all the 1920x1080 35mbs, and all the audio modes.
Added: Count offset for HDLink split scene naming
Added: Improved cross-platform decoder threading.
Added: global controls over RAW metadata.
Fixed: Support on quad core systems for some old clips was broken.
Changed: "Force YUV" now defaults to on as too many cards couldn't support RGB overlays.

Only Prospect HD and NEO HD for now, as these where to first two off the build system. Also these level products are most suitable for testing for EX users.

Links:
Prospect HD http://www.cineform.com/downloads/Pr...147-071214.zip
NEO HD http://www.cineform.com/downloads/NE...147-071214.zip

Update--more Links:
Prospect 2K: http://www.cineform.com/downloads/Pr...147-071214.zip
Prospect 4K: http://www.cineform.com/downloads/Pr...147-071214.zip
NEO 2K: http://www.cineform.com/downloads/NE...147-071214.zip
NEO 4K: http://www.cineform.com/downloads/NE...147-071214.zip
Aspect HD: http://www.cineform.com/downloads/As...100-071214.zip
NEO HDV: http://www.cineform.com/downloads/NE...147-071214.zip

P.S. If other products are completed this weekend, I will try and post them.

Steven Thomas · December 14th, 2007, 08:39 PM

Thank you David !

Can NEO HD be used within Sony Vegas 8 ( using Sony EX1 1920x1080 35mb files), or is NEO HDV only supported?

David Newman · December 14th, 2007, 11:19 PM

At 9pm PST I uploaded these again, if you got them earlier, please download again as the first upload was missing a component.

David Taylor · December 14th, 2007, 11:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steven Thomas

Thank you David !

Can NEO HD be used within Sony Vegas 8 ( using Sony EX1 1920x1080 35mb files), or is NEO HDV only supported?

Yes Steven - no problem.

Bill Heslip · December 14th, 2007, 11:56 PM

Hi David,

Forgive me if my question is inappropriate for this forum or has been answered previously (I did a search but came up empty handed and, well, 41 pages of posts can be a bit daunting). The EX1 represents my first foray into HD, so consider me a novice in this regard (although I've been doing SD for over 25 years). My system is a fairly recent HP xw8400 running Adobe CS3.

After pouring over your website many times, I still don't grasp a real-world differentiation between Prospect HD and Neo HD. Is Neo HD generally real-time with only one stream? And "CineForm AVI/MOV render output" and "32-bit floating-point processing" with Prospect HD...as opposed to what with Neo HD? I could go on, but I think you get the idea :). Yes, I see the comparison checklist on your website, but what does it all mean to me as an editor?

Thanks for your help. I'm looking forward to working with 21st century technology!

Bill

December 6th, 2007, 01:45 PM	#94
David Newman CTO, CineForm Inc. Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Cardiff-by-the-Sea, California Posts: 8,095	Travis, you just haven't looked hard enough at our crazy web site. We don't have the time to fix the web-site, but we will happily offer software in exchange for some web work. :) The telephone number is under the "About CineForm" tab on the left, here is the direct link: http://www.cineform.com/about/default.htm. We are not hiding it, but all the pages contain too much information so people can miss it. To you question: yes we will support .mp4 directly and enable conversion to .avi within the HDLink utility (included in all our products), with fingers crossed, this could be released by the end of next week. __________________ David Newman -- web: www.gopro.com blog: cineform.blogspot.com -- twitter: twitter.com/David_Newman

December 9th, 2007, 10:13 AM	#100
David Newman CTO, CineForm Inc. Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Cardiff-by-the-Sea, California Posts: 8,095	Read a page back on this thread. We are close. __________________ David Newman -- web: www.gopro.com blog: cineform.blogspot.com -- twitter: twitter.com/David_Newman

December 14th, 2007, 07:57 PM	#101
David Newman CTO, CineForm Inc. Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Cardiff-by-the-Sea, California Posts: 8,095	Sony XCDAM-EX support in beta (v3.2.2) It is another weekend, and time to try out a new version of CineForm's tools. Here are some of the key changes in verion 3.2.2: Added: Sony XDCAM-EX .mp4 support to HDLink. This will support all the new cameras shooting modes. i.e. support for all the 1920x1080 35mbs, and all the audio modes. Added: Count offset for HDLink split scene naming Added: Improved cross-platform decoder threading. Added: global controls over RAW metadata. Fixed: Support on quad core systems for some old clips was broken. Changed: "Force YUV" now defaults to on as too many cards couldn't support RGB overlays. Only Prospect HD and NEO HD for now, as these where to first two off the build system. Also these level products are most suitable for testing for EX users. Links: Prospect HD http://www.cineform.com/downloads/Pr...147-071214.zip NEO HD http://www.cineform.com/downloads/NE...147-071214.zip Update--more Links: Prospect 2K: http://www.cineform.com/downloads/Pr...147-071214.zip Prospect 4K: http://www.cineform.com/downloads/Pr...147-071214.zip NEO 2K: http://www.cineform.com/downloads/NE...147-071214.zip NEO 4K: http://www.cineform.com/downloads/NE...147-071214.zip Aspect HD: http://www.cineform.com/downloads/As...100-071214.zip NEO HDV: http://www.cineform.com/downloads/NE...147-071214.zip P.S. If other products are completed this weekend, I will try and post them. __________________ David Newman -- web: www.gopro.com blog: cineform.blogspot.com -- twitter: twitter.com/David_Newman Last edited by David Newman; December 15th, 2007 at 06:51 PM.*

December 14th, 2007, 08:39 PM	#102
Steven Thomas Trustee Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Gilbert, AZ Posts: 1,896	Thank you David ! Can NEO HD be used within Sony Vegas 8 ( using Sony EX1 1920x1080 35mb files), or is NEO HDV only supported? Last edited by Steven Thomas; December 14th, 2007 at 10:16 PM.

December 14th, 2007, 11:19 PM	#103
David Newman CTO, CineForm Inc. Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Cardiff-by-the-Sea, California Posts: 8,095	At 9pm PST I uploaded these again, if you got them earlier, please download again as the first upload was missing a component. __________________ David Newman -- web: www.gopro.com blog: cineform.blogspot.com -- twitter: twitter.com/David_Newman

December 6th, 2007, 10:01 AM	#92
Paul Curtis Major Player Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: canterbury Posts: 411	Do we have a rough release date for this? (for Prospect) many thanks paul

December 6th, 2007, 01:29 PM	#93
Travis Reese Regular Crew Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Houston, TX Posts: 25	I've just finished reading through this entire thread. Doesn't look like there have been any posts in a while. I just got my XDCAM EX camera and a new workstation running CS3. I'm very interested in editing footage from this camera on the workstation and so I've started looking at Prospect HD. I've never had any dealing with Cineform before. Let me say, as a new, prospective customer of their product how frustrating it is to try to ask them a simple question. I went to their web site. There is no phone number to contact them. The only method by which to ask them any presales questions is to submit a support incident. To do this you have to fill out a lengthy form with drop downs for things such as cpu type which (in the instance of cpu's) doesn't even give the option to list a quad core xeon. When you then try to submit your sales question after disguising it as a tech support question it won't let you because it wants you to "list the steps to reproduce the problem." All I can say is they must have a miracle product to offer such limited options for asking questions by a potential new customer. My question, having already been asked here but not answered anytime recently, is this... Can Prospect HD take the .mp4 files of the XDCAM EX directly from the SxS cards and spit out the Cineform .avi's? I read here that it can take the .mfx files that are exported from the Sony clip browser software however as another user pointed out those are reduced to 1440x1080 and so I'm losing my nice, native 1920x1080 files. That alone is a deal breaker.

December 6th, 2007, 01:49 PM	#95
Travis Reese Regular Crew Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Houston, TX Posts: 25	Thanks, I should have known to look there but just didn't see it. I assume that when it is released that a trial will be available for download just as trials of existing cineform products are? Would you be so kind as to post here when it is released so I can take a look at it?

December 8th, 2007, 08:48 AM	#97
Steven Thomas Trustee Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Gilbert, AZ Posts: 1,896	Any news on Cineform for the Sony PMW-EX1 support with NEO HDLINK?

December 9th, 2007, 09:34 AM	#99
Steven Thomas Trustee Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Gilbert, AZ Posts: 1,896	Sorry David, I meant to ask if you had an idea when it might be available?

December 14th, 2007, 11:56 PM	#105
Bill Heslip Regular Crew Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Southeast USA Posts: 129	Hi David, Forgive me if my question is inappropriate for this forum or has been answered previously (I did a search but came up empty handed and, well, 41 pages of posts can be a bit daunting). The EX1 represents my first foray into HD, so consider me a novice in this regard (although I've been doing SD for over 25 years). My system is a fairly recent HP xw8400 running Adobe CS3. After pouring over your website many times, I still don't grasp a real-world differentiation between Prospect HD and Neo HD. Is Neo HD generally real-time with only one stream? And "CineForm AVI/MOV render output" and "32-bit floating-point processing" with Prospect HD...as opposed to what with Neo HD? I could go on, but I think you get the idea :). Yes, I see the comparison checklist on your website, but what does it all mean to me as an editor? Thanks for your help. I'm looking forward to working with 21st century technology! Bill