Experience with Cinema Craft?
 

Anyone have any experience using the Cinema Craft Encoder to transcode Cineform files into DVD mpeg-2 files for authoring? I'm trying to convert my Cineform Master 720 x 480 avi files to mpeg2 files, but it stops about a third of the way through. Doesn't give any errors, just stops.

Bill

Hi William,

I have the Cinema Craft Mac encoder and I've had issues encoding Cineform files. Plain white text on black backgrounds are the only files I've compressed successfully. Color footage ends up with an overall magenta duo-tone look. It looks like a bw image with a magenta filter applied.

I've contacted Cinema Craft but it seems to be an issue with Cineform (according to them) as any other codec (including ProRes) works fine. It's a shame as I had to bypass Cinema Craft (expensive to boot) and use Compressor (though I've gotten pretty good results with Compressor).

Todd

Figured this one out. The trial version only encodes the first three minutes.

William,

How do those encodes look? As I stated, my encodes (regardless on how long the clip is) end up duo-tone magenta.

My process was going from DVCPRO HD (converted with Raylight) edited in FCP, export to Cineform (1280x720). In Compressor I applied the Cinema Craft encoder = weird color encodes.

Todd

Todd...
What software are you playing back your .M2V files on?? Check the settings of the playback software..

William....
Cinemacraft used to give a watermark for a trial version...I can't believe they only allow for three minutes of encode??
Many people used to do a first pass, and not output a .VAF file..Cinemacraft would hang up, looking for this file for multiple passes...

This sounds like an earlier problem with smaller decodes in YUV (4:2:2) formats. The scaling would mix up the luma and chroma values. Check your version, you may find the more recent release fixes the problem.

According to the website, the trial version only gives 3 minute max encodes AND adds a watermark. I went ahead and bought it and did the encoding.

The first one I did was anamorphic (had a wrong setting), but the colors looked fine. My process is as follows--

1. Edit in Premiere (Win), output master CFHD.avi (720 x 480) files.
2. Transcode with Cinema Craft using VBR (2 pass) w/ 2, 6, 9 bitrates.
3. Import into Encore and burn to DVD.

Still testing the results out. So far no color issues. Initial transcode/burn--even though it was anamorphic--looked good.

I have updated all of the software (the last Cinema Craft version was last year). The problem still is present. If I compressed just the ending credits (white text over black) the encodes are fine. I'll do a few other test and see if I can figure this out.

Even now, I'm getting extremely great encodes with Compressor and Cineform. No complaints (other than I dropped $$$ on the Cinema Craft Encoder (hopefully I need a use for it in the future).

Todd