Windows Premiere Pro CS4 Importer Beta

Hans von Sonntag · April 8th, 2009, 04:13 AM

Hi, this is my first post on this board.

We bought CS4 and CF Prospect4K as an online finishing solution, collaborating with Iridas SpeedGrade. Most editing ist done with FCP, due to a much wider freelancing editor base and the ability to sync sound files via TC. We were happy when the second build came out supporting MOV - another step to make a meaningful workflow happen.

We started a project in PP CS4 and imported 2 Express CF MOVs 1024 x 512 which we previously encoded with ReMaster on the Mac. They worked as expected. We tried to import more files. But they were not able to be played back in the canvas window; pulling them into the timeline caused Premiere Pro to freeze.

After restarting PP the files worked. The work-around now is: Importing a file, quiting Premier Pro and restarting Premiere Pro. This is pretty tedious.

Of course this was not a payed job. We gave up and work in FCP for now. There are too many other bugs in CS4 to call it prime time ready. Hopefully in the summer Prospect is fully working in CS4 plus all the other shortcomings are ironded out. The intended workflow in CS4 is great - just not working currently.

Kind Regards,

Hans

Tim Veal · April 8th, 2009, 02:25 PM

For anyone else who is getting audio only avis, install one of Cineform's products. You need the decoder with the importer. My video imports correctly now, but is jerky on playback.

David Newman · April 8th, 2009, 03:04 PM

That means you are not using the importer, instead you are using the VFW codec (which is slower.) When setup correctly (default excution paths can be an issue), the importer works without any other CineForm install.

Matt Vanecek · April 11th, 2009, 04:56 PM

How can I be sure the CFHDDecoder.dll is being used to decode the CFHD AVIs I import into CS4? Is there some tell-tale sign? Right-clicking on the resource in CS4 doesn't seem to provide any clue.

Tim Veal · April 11th, 2009, 11:16 PM

David, that was what support told me when I submitted a ticket on it. I have the dll in the suggested execution path. I assume it is the correct one since I did a fresh install of CS4 using all defalt settins.

David Newman · April 11th, 2009, 11:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Matt Vanecek

How can I be sure the CFHDDecoder.dll is being used to decode the CFHD AVIs I import into CS4? Is there some tell-tale sign? Right-clicking on the resource in CS4 doesn't seem to provide any clue.

In the properties pop-up you will only see metadata if you are using the new importer. Time and Date info and Fingerprint, etc.

Matt Vanecek · April 15th, 2009, 07:05 PM

I may be doing this all wrong, or something. Here's my setup:

Premiere Pro 1.5.1, Prospect HD 3.4.6
Premiere Pro CS4 (Production Premium)
Vista Ultimate 64 (xp 32 died)

Things I've tried, plus results, with this beta decoder. I think I may have confused results, and it took me a while to sort things out. Getting old, I guess...

Place CFHDDecoder.dll in Windows\system32. CFHD AVI plays fine in CS4. Not sure which codec it's using.
Place CFHDDecoder.dll in Windows\SysWOW63. CFHD AVI won't play--preview screen is white, mostly, some black. PPro CS4 locks up for extended periods.
Remove CFHDDecoder.dll completely. Reboot. CFHD AVI plays fine in CS4--even in multi-camera.

I'm not sure, but I'm suspecting that the CFHDDecoder.dll really doesn't play on my system, or just doesn't work. Plus, CFHD AVIs won't play in Windows Media Player 11 at all, due to a decoder error. I figured maybe my Prospect needs updating, but since I have both CS4 and PPro 1.5, that upgrading Prospect is pretty much a useless venture--the Prospect installer would consider CS4 to be the current PPro in install for that.

My system is i7, Asus P6T, 12GB RAM, video on a SiL 4726 RAID0. Installed OS, PPro 1.5.1 + Prospect HD, and the Production Premium. Using default settings to install. I'm thinking that CFHD was playing as VFW, when it played nicely, and my new system is just fast enough to handle it. I'm thinking the CFHDDecoder.dll really doesn't work correctly. I really didn't (don't, yet) know enough about Vista 64, so thought putting the DLL in system32 resulted in the dll being used, but after seeing the behavior of putting the dll in SysWOW64, and then removing it again, I have to say the DLL doesn't work.

Just my observations, with some miniscule interpretation. Maybe the PHD 3.4.6 is providing some decoding? I don't see how it could, though....

Thanks,
Matt

April 8th, 2009, 04:13 AM	#91
Hans von Sonntag New Boot Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Mülheim, Germany Posts: 7	PP CS4 Does Not Play Back CF Express MOV Hi, this is my first post on this board. We bought CS4 and CF Prospect4K as an online finishing solution, collaborating with Iridas SpeedGrade. Most editing ist done with FCP, due to a much wider freelancing editor base and the ability to sync sound files via TC. We were happy when the second build came out supporting MOV - another step to make a meaningful workflow happen. We started a project in PP CS4 and imported 2 Express CF MOVs 1024 x 512 which we previously encoded with ReMaster on the Mac. They worked as expected. We tried to import more files. But they were not able to be played back in the canvas window; pulling them into the timeline caused Premiere Pro to freeze. After restarting PP the files worked. The work-around now is: Importing a file, quiting Premier Pro and restarting Premiere Pro. This is pretty tedious. Of course this was not a payed job. We gave up and work in FCP for now. There are too many other bugs in CS4 to call it prime time ready. Hopefully in the summer Prospect is fully working in CS4 plus all the other shortcomings are ironded out. The intended workflow in CS4 is great - just not working currently. Kind Regards, Hans

April 8th, 2009, 02:25 PM	#92
Tim Veal Regular Crew Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Chicago, IL Posts: 70	Audio problem fixed For anyone else who is getting audio only avis, install one of Cineform's products. You need the decoder with the importer. My video imports correctly now, but is jerky on playback.

April 8th, 2009, 03:04 PM	#93
David Newman CTO, CineForm Inc. Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Cardiff-by-the-Sea, California Posts: 8,095	That means you are not using the importer, instead you are using the VFW codec (which is slower.) When setup correctly (default excution paths can be an issue), the importer works without any other CineForm install. __________________ David Newman -- web: www.gopro.com blog: cineform.blogspot.com -- twitter: twitter.com/David_Newman

April 15th, 2009, 07:05 PM	#97
Matt Vanecek Major Player Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Denton, TX Posts: 334	I may be doing this all wrong, or something. Here's my setup: Premiere Pro 1.5.1, Prospect HD 3.4.6 Premiere Pro CS4 (Production Premium) Vista Ultimate 64 (xp 32 died) Things I've tried, plus results, with this beta decoder. I think I may have confused results, and it took me a while to sort things out. Getting old, I guess... Place CFHDDecoder.dll in Windows\system32. CFHD AVI plays fine in CS4. Not sure which codec it's using. Place CFHDDecoder.dll in Windows\SysWOW63. CFHD AVI won't play--preview screen is white, mostly, some black. PPro CS4 locks up for extended periods. Remove CFHDDecoder.dll completely. Reboot. CFHD AVI plays fine in CS4--even in multi-camera. I'm not sure, but I'm suspecting that the CFHDDecoder.dll really doesn't play on my system, or just doesn't work. Plus, CFHD AVIs won't play in Windows Media Player 11 at all, due to a decoder error. I figured maybe my Prospect needs updating, but since I have both CS4 and PPro 1.5, that upgrading Prospect is pretty much a useless venture--the Prospect installer would consider CS4 to be the current PPro in install for that. My system is i7, Asus P6T, 12GB RAM, video on a SiL 4726 RAID0. Installed OS, PPro 1.5.1 + Prospect HD, and the Production Premium. Using default settings to install. I'm thinking that CFHD was playing as VFW, when it played nicely, and my new system is just fast enough to handle it. I'm thinking the CFHDDecoder.dll really doesn't work correctly. I really didn't (don't, yet) know enough about Vista 64, so thought putting the DLL in system32 resulted in the dll being used, but after seeing the behavior of putting the dll in SysWOW64, and then removing it again, I have to say the DLL doesn't work. Just my observations, with some miniscule interpretation. Maybe the PHD 3.4.6 is providing some decoding? I don't see how it could, though.... Thanks, Matt

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April 11th, 2009, 04:56 PM	#94
Matt Vanecek Major Player Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Denton, TX Posts: 334	How can I be sure the CFHDDecoder.dll is being used to decode the CFHD AVIs I import into CS4? Is there some tell-tale sign? Right-clicking on the resource in CS4 doesn't seem to provide any clue.

April 11th, 2009, 11:16 PM	#95
Tim Veal Regular Crew Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Chicago, IL Posts: 70	David, that was what support told me when I submitted a ticket on it. I have the dll in the suggested execution path. I assume it is the correct one since I did a fresh install of CS4 using all defalt settins.