As I continue my desperate search for a good intermediate HD codec (besides Cineform), I'm hoping to build a list of the other options.

-Lagarith
-HuffyUV
-Alparysoft

I'm using Lagarith at the moment for archival and editing, but my computer cannot play back a single stream in realtime. So I am looking for something a little bit more efficient. Cineform is the obvious choice, but I'd like to stick to free tools, preferably open source.

What is everyone else using?

Good luck. There are no good intermediate codecs other than Cineform, or we would have heard of them. In fact, I have not even heard of any moderately decent ones.

The problem is not lossless archiving. Those codecs exist. The problem is the ability to play it back while editing without rendering first.

Cineform may eventually get competition, but I haven't seen it yet.

Edius HQ. Realtime Edius Pro editing.

Ron Evans

I will check out that Canopus solution. That is the one I haven't looked into yet, though it is also far from free.

What about Mainconcept's MPEG Pro?

Ah. Yes. I forget about Edius and Axio because I think of them as complete systems.

MainConcept is not an intermediate codec. It merely allows you a better native editing experience.

I use a two-stage editing process from run-and-gun shoots, so Mainconcept could come in handy for the first stage when quickly cutting up the raw footage into labeled pieces and rendering to the intermediate.

Maybe I will just cave in and buy cineform. Then again, the money I spend on cineform could be spent on hardware, which may be a more cost effective solution. I'm not sure I can depreciate software..


On another note, I think I posted this in the wrong forum. Sorry about that.

For the price of Cineform you can get Edius Pro4 including the HQ intermediate codec. All realtime. YOu can always upgrade to Broadcast if you want XDCAm and Panasonic support for the proffesional formats. I have DVRaptor RT2 hardware and this gives realtime output to DV tape from the timeline no rendering. Edius has its little issues but it is FAST. For careful keyframe control I would use Vegas but most of the time for me its Edius just for the speed.

Ron Evans

I downloaded the PIC MJPEG codec (from Pegasus Imaging) several years ago. It was free at the time, but I'm not sure if that still counts. It's really fast (realtime playback/capturing) and supports 4:2:2 colourspace but it's not lossless like huffy

QT Photo JPEG is the poor man's intermediate. 75% quality and above will give you 4:2:2 and 100% will give you 4:4:4 capability. The file sizes are small and playback is smooth. It's not an ideal solution but it's better than nothing, not much room for color work and adjustments.

Sheervideo by bitjazz. HQ, very fast and good compression size. Also can do 10 bit if you want to bring your work into AE.

Thanks for all the good suggestions. After reading more about Canopus, it appears to be superior to Cineform. I will check out SheerVideo.

On Windows, Blackmagic's full resolution (1920x1080) professional quality compressed HD codec can capture JPEG AVI files in real time

Yes try the Blackmagic jpeg codec. It is free and all you have to do is download the Intensity 1.3 drivers to get the codec. The quality is pretty good for normal footage and is realtime even on some of my slower systems.

Cineform of course will be slightly higher quality but then again it costs money. If you wait a little bit for Cineform Neo the HDV version only costs $250.00 so it isn't like you could buy a lot of hardware at that cost anyway.