What is the best workflow now to capture from EX1 to Prospect HD live (before camera's mpeg compression)?

Bill, rarely are Q's inappropriate. If we suffer from one characteristic on our site it is too much information. For those new to what we do it is sometimes hard to find simple answers. We have to work on that.

The answer to your basic question is simple. Neo HD and Prospect HD are identical with one difference. Prospect HD includes the real-time video engine for Premiere Pro. If Premiere Pro is part of your workflow (Windows) then you want Prospect HD. For all other Windows apps (Vegas, AE (without PPro), Combustion, etc) you want Neo HD. Hopefully that tidbit is helpful....

Wow, that was simple. That one significant little tidbit somehow escaped me. Thanks!

Bill

More beta testing please.

Here are the beta versions for more of our products

Prospect 2K: http://www.cineform.com/downloads/Pr...147-071214.zip
Prospect 4K: http://www.cineform.com/downloads/Pr...147-071214.zip
NEO 2K: http://www.cineform.com/downloads/NE...147-071214.zip
NEO 4K: http://www.cineform.com/downloads/NE...147-071214.zip
Aspect HD: http://www.cineform.com/downloads/As...100-071214.zip

NEO HDV is still building.

NEO HDV 3.2.2. is up.

NEO HDV: http://www.cineform.com/downloads/NE...147-071214.zip

No Prospect HD beta? (((((( sorryyyyyyyyyy...didn't see the links below....))))))

Thought I'd post my feedback about how Prospect HD is handling the footage.

Pros:
1. The conversion from mp4 to avi is lightning fast - extremely impressive.
2. HD Link is a fantastic little program - way, way better than the software provided with the EX1.

Cons:
1. The clip thumbnail (which is generally the first frame of footage) looks extremely weird. I've attached a thumbnail of what it looks like because it's too hard to explain.
2. This weird effect also appears in the preview window of the timeline. Scrubbing and even playing the footage in CS3 is extremely slow and delayed, with interruptions of the footage appearing as per the attached screenshot when the cursor isn't moving.
3. Using the footage in Magic Bullet is no good because the screenshot it takes to manipulate in the standalone application is the strange reversed weird version as per the screenshot.
4. Rendering out the effect from Magic Bullet results in the entire footage being rendered out weirdly and looking like this screenshot.

INFO: I've tested this on my desktop with CS3 in XP Pro 32bit and on my sister's laptop with Vista Home Premium 32bit and got the same results.

I can confirm that Magic Bullet is not doing this to any footage other than the Cineform footage.

Hope this helps,

-- John.

David,
There's still conficting info regarding whether the Sony PMW-EX1 is utilizing 10 bit via SDI, or it may be 8 bit in the 10 bit word. I believe you've stated it was 8 bit.

The latest info states it's using the full 10 bit word.
Having said that, using Sony Vegas 8 with NEO HD, will this combo be able to make use of the 10-bit I/O?
If it does, expect an immediate update from my NEO HDV to NEO HD.

Sony EX1 and NEO HD
 

There's still conficting info regarding whether the Sony PMW-EX1 is utilizing 10 bit via SDI, or it may be 8 bit in the 10 bit word. I believe you've stated it was 8 bit.

The latest info states it's using the full 10 bit word.
Having said that, using Sony Vegas 8 with NEO HD, will this combo be able to make use of the 10-bit I/O?

IF the EX1 was outputing true 10bit via SDI, and you captured LIVE via SDI through BMD or AJA, THEN you should have true 10bit color. I doubt the EX1 has true ten bit color at all, but it is possible, and would be a very nice feature, if someone could confirm that.

If anyone is in San Diego with an EX, it will only take 5 minutes to confirm. For those more remote, all we need an AJA or Blackmagic user to capture a live short 'v210' sequence, i.e. 10-bit YUV clip. If the bottom two bits of each component are zeros (or unchanging), it is 8-bit. Send me a file, I only need a few frames.

Good to see that the MP4 conversion for the EX1 is working. Was HDLink ever able to convert the MXF conversions from Sony's utility? I only get a green frame when attempting that, and the resolution is reset to 1440.

Both errors have been fixed and a new version of Prospect HD and NEO HD should be completed within an hour. I'll post new links when they are ready.

Prospect HD and NEO HD build are up with fixes for 1920 MXFs files and weird thumbnail and exports for progressively encoded frames.

Prospect HD: http://www.cineform.com/downloads/Pr...148-071217.zip
NEO HD: http://www.cineform.com/downloads/NE...148-071217.zip

I have just updated and the weird thumbnail thingy is gone.

Now I'm noticing a distinct difference in brightness in my preview between what it looks like when paused and when I press play.

It's as if the footage brightens considerably as soon as I press play, then, after pressing stop, it reverts to its original colour (playback quality settings are always set to high, though I tested it on Draft as well and the issue still occurs). There is also an approximately one second pause between when I press play and when the timeline starts to play.

Also, the more I play with Prospect, the more I wish I'd had this earlier! I guess I now know what all the fuss is about!