I remember when HDV cameras came out everyone was saying how process intensive they are to edit because of the long GOP, etc.
So if you use neo and edit in vegas or after effects, does cineform video process faster than the original HDV video?

If the answer is yes, then the same would apply for Premiere right, even though I could get more speed by using Aspect, if I just use Neo I would still see an improvement correct? With the bonus of having better multi generational image quality and save some money, right?

If you trying to save money using NEO instead or Aspect or Prospect HD, this analysis doesn't apply. Vegas and AE are enhanced by CineForm through the codec alone, whereas Premiere is not so much (there are other issues, not just performance.) We do not recommend NEO for Premirre. You can try NEO and Aspect for yourself.

so are saying that editing with cineform codec in premiere is slower than native HDV if you are not using Aspect or Prospect? Can you give more precise numbers of the relative performance?
I guess I don't understand why NEO in After Effects would be faster than HDV, and also in Vegas, but in Premiere it would be slower.

I understand I get a huge bump in speed if I go with Aspect or Prospect.

Without Aspect HD Premiere makes any third party codec non-RT, so it not a performance issue. I have no idea what the difference is as I never use it that way.

So I can install Neo, try it, uninstall it, install Aspect and try it, and the same with Prospect? I was worried you only get one "shot" at the trial.

If I buy the windows version and sometime in the future I switch over to Apple, can I deactivate my windows version and activate it on the Mac?

You can try them all.

We don't do separate Mac and PC versions. For the products like NEO 4K, it comes with both Mac and PC licenses, this solves many cross platform issues (and prevents the need for cross platform license moves.)

I remember when HDV cameras came out everyone was saying how process intensive they are to edit because of the long GOP, etc.
So if you use neo and edit in vegas or after effects, does cineform video process faster than the original HDV video?

If the answer is yes, then the same would apply for Premiere right, even though I could get more speed by using Aspect, if I just use Neo I would still see an improvement correct? With the bonus of having better multi generational image quality and save some money, right?

i could be wrong, but i think using cineform lowers the vegas memory footprint more than if you used HDV (i read somewhere that vegas caches decompressed hdv in memory). that would be a real issue if you've got a multicam HD project.

for example, i have a few-hour-long 5-camera multicam 1080p xdcam/hdv project that crashes vegas 8b almost every time i load it on a 4gb 4core 3ghz machine, but plays fine once i convert everything to cineform.