QuickTime support for Waifian?
 

We're slated to start shooting our feature film in early April. We are eager to use our XLH1 cameras with two WAFIAN recorders.

However, we can't seem to get a straight answer from anyone regarding Final Cut Pro or Quicktime support. The Wafian guys say no problem. The Cineform guys keep saying "we're working on it."

I'm kinda losing confidence that this Quicktime decoder for Mac actually exists or will exist by the time we start shooting.

I'm beginning to think I'm going to have to buy a Windows box just to convert the Cineform files to an "offline" codec like DV100 and work that way. But that sorta defeats the whole purpose behind the beauty of Cineform.

Wafian has a beta of the CineForm Decoder for Final Cut Pro -- that is why they say no problem. We say we are still working on it as we are, striving for higher performance (a little more optimization) and working on license issues. All the hard stuff has been done. We should be in full beta in 3-4 weeks.

Can't get much of a more direct answer on here than that :)

How can we get on that beta program?

While I'm not thrilled to be using beta versions of software for an entire feature film, Cineform is the only codec out there that delivers lossless quality at low bit-rates.

Fortunately the codec core is not beta -- just the wrapping FCP elements -- which means the quality will be there but some of the performance will not be. We have confirmed that rendering can be performed with high precision (10bit+) so you will be fine. The beta is hopeful open to get many hands on it as possible, but the details of the beta program are not final.

David,

I would be more than thrilled to beta. I'm currently using the V1U with FCP (and I understand that cineform properly removes pulldown for this camera and it also features flip/flop when importing footage from a 35mm adapter such as the M2).

I'm so looking forward to using your product. I've always been jelous of the PC users ONLY because of cineform.

Thank you.

Todd

Todd and others,

Initially the CineForm tools on the Mac will be codec only, this will enable Wafian users and SI-2K customers to freely select their NLE platform and still have a CineForm online workflow. This is also enable cross platform media sharing, particular for large feature projects. However, some for our neat tools like pull-down removal for the Sony cameras and image flipping, etc, will be PC only for some time. Full migration of CineForm tools to Macintel will take time, so we are focusing on the codec today.

David,

If I captured via PC and the cineform codec is available for the Mac (codec only), will I be able to import the PC captured cineform footage and edit with FCP? I guess what I'm asking is will FCP recognize the PC captured footage.

I'm getting a MacIntel in the near future, and since it can boot to windows I might as well invest in the right tools so I can capture with cineform.

Thanks for your response David.

Todd

If you capture to MOV on the PC then yes your footage will work within FCP. Although MOV capture is currently not in the shipping versions of our tools, it will be in time for the full release FCP/Mac support.

Good news!

Thanks David.