Aspect HD on Mac OS
 

Hi guys,

I currently have Aspect HD 5 on Adobe Premiere Pro CS3 for the PC and I love how fast it is! However, I will be transitioning to a Mac very soon and I am wondering how else can I take advantage of Aspect HD's codec for the Mac?

I currently edit mostly HDV's and looking forward to an XDCAM format in the near future.

My choice of editing suite would depend on Cineform codec. So help me out here guys.

My questions...
1- Is Aspect HD limited to PC only?
2- If not, it would be wonderfull if I can somehow transfer my current license to a Mac compatible Cineform codec?
3- If I go with Final Cut, would I still need Cineform if it has Apple ProRes?
4- Is Cineform and Apple ProRes equivalent???

Thank you,
John

The real-time engine of Aspect HD is limited to Premiere Pro on Windows. The RT engine does not work on Mac, partly because FCP does not allow us to replace their engine as does Adobe. But we have a CineForm Mac codec that you can use with FCP and PPro/AE on Mac.

What you want is CineForm's Neo HD. If you want to keep your Aspect HD (Windows) license you can purchase Neo HD at a 50% discount ($299) on our Neo HD order page. If you want to eliminate Aspect HD we can work out an upgrade with you. It's not a standard upgrade. Send me an email at dtaylor (at) cineform (dot) com.

ProRes is a fine codec, but you should consider your workflow before making a final decision. Following are a few differences:

1. ProRes does not work on Windows, and (likely) never will. CineForm is cross-platform.
2. (So far) ProRes is only interpreted as 8 bit precision outside Apple products. This means AE (Mac) sees ProRes as only 8 bits even though it is 10 bits in FCP. Cineform is 10/12 bit in Mac apps that support extended precision.
3. ProRes has no RGB format.



Thank you,
John[/QUOTE]

Thank you for the quick response David! I sent you an email as well.

Does Neo HD offer thesame real-time engine as Aspect HD? What are the key differences between the two products?

Thanks!
John

Our real-time engine is for PPro only because Adobe publishes an SDK that lets us replace their engine. Unfortunately Apple does not give us this luxury so we are treated within FCP the same as other third-party codecs. But our codec itself has many features that accelerate performance so we get around certain limitations.

Our Aspect and Prospect familiies are "supersets" of our Neo family through the addition of the PPro RT engine. Otherwise the products are mostly the same.

What's the score on realtime playback of CineForm files on Mac? I can't seem to get 720p60 running in realtime on a 2.0GHz Core 2, which is obviously no problem at all on PC. I'm sure the docs mentioned something about a lot of threading upgrades that still need to be done on the Mac code.

Yes, some of our threading techniques are still not on the Mac.

So I will have real time playback when I use Adobe Premiere Pro CS3 on Mac OS X using Neo HD?

I'm guessing not right now as there is no Aspect/Prospect product available for Mac.