HDLink -- various questions
 

Just bought Z1N and downloaded the ConnectHD 1.6 trial, strange things happened during capture using HDLink....

it could not dectect scene changes despite of the split file on scence changes was checked! it only works for some occasions in daytime footage and totally fails in sunset footage

so up to 5 minutes video(containing multiple separate clips) was captured into a single huge m2t, it's very bothering....

I hope the function and ability of easy-to-use of HDLink would much more like the ScLive for the DV capture

The currently scene detection feature is only used for the automatic capture converison option. We are intending to offer scene detection for all capture modes in a free update soon. Scene detection doesn't use information from the image (so it will not matter if it is sunset footage), it use breaks in the timestamps to determine a scene change.

Thanks for quick reply, Dave

It seems that the HDLink does not recognize the breaks in timestamps or it's not sensitive enough ?

BTW, will the "Quick REc" option set to "on" in Z1 or different TimeCode setting affect the recognition of timestamps change in HDLink ?

Is it possible in the future, the HDLink could have a image preview feature in file browser mode just like ScLive ?
It would be great in quick identify, preview ,selection and deletion of certain clips .

HDLink issues - attn David Newman, Thad
 

1. Crashes. Selected a couple of m2t files to Convert into AHD at Medium Quality, Progressive. HDLink processed some of them, then Win XP reported that HDLink crashed - but HDLink itself did not close or report anything. Had to close, then re-open HDLink. Since it does *not* remember the list of selected files for conversion, I have to select the ones that have not been processed again, starting with the file that "caused" the crash. Then HDLink processes the same offending file and others just fine. This problem occured at least 2 times on different sets of files. So the issue is random crashes of HDLink in Convert mode. Do you have a cause/solution?

2. Progress report wrong. When converting files, HDLink sometimes reports conversion progress by showing the growing file size, and sometimes it does not. When it does not, I used to think that the application is hanging - but Windows reports 100% processor utilization so now I know it works. Can you fix HDLink so it always shows progress reliably?

3. Interface glitch. While Converting m2t's to AHD avi's, HDLink sometimes logs "No input device connected" warning repeatedly. What do I care if I'm only Converting files, not Capturing? Worse: when this happens, Stop button disappears, and Select/Start buttons re-appear. But the original Conversion process is still ongoing! There's no way to gracefully Stop it now if I wanted to.

4. Question. While Converting, HDLink logs "Starting Thread", then "Starting Hyper Thread" messages. What do they signify?

Thanks!

The bugs will be put into the database. The threading log messages indicate the type of encoder used which depends on your systems abilities. A multi-CPU system (or hyperthreaded CPU) will create more threads for encoding (more speed.) The log messages are to help in bug reporting.

Hi Alex, sorry about the crash. Can you tell me more about the m2t files? Did they come from a Sony or JVC? Did you capture them with HDLink? Were they shot with a mode like CineFrame 24/25/30?

Also, if it happens again, can you post the information Windows shows you in the crash dialog?

Thanks,
Jeff

Jeff, no prob. Overall, I'm happy with the software. Are you working for Cineform support?

m2t files were captured to PC by CapDVHS. I find this way the most stable as it never gives me any grief. HDLink is not very reliable right now. Since the files are 1 hr long each, I have no time to mingle with HDLink's episodes when they occur at the ingestion stage.

All footage was taped on Sony FX1 using Cineframe 30 mode.

When crash occurs, HDLink window is still showing as nothing happened (which is good - it lets me see which files were completely converted and which ones Ihave to re-try). Windows displays the standard small window in the middle of the screen with the usual "application crashed - report this to Microsoft yes/no" option button.

Thanks for the info. I am a developer at CineForm, so I'll try to get to the bottom of the crash.

The CapDHVS path should work; I've used it with CineFrame 30 material. Is there a "details" link on the crash dialog? I'm hoping to learn what module crashed.

Thanks,
Jeff

I'm sure Windows error screen gave a Details button option - but I never clicked on that.

Next time I see HDLink crash, I'll make sure to try and gather all the details and post them here (or would you like me to email you directly? then please submit your contact from www.fancyflix.com)

Also, tomorrow I'm to start editing 15 hrs of the HDV footage (already converted by HDLink) into a 45-min project. If there's any issues at the editing stage, I'll be sure to tell you.

Thanks!

I signed up so you can email me directly. Thanks for your help.

Jeff

Jeff and all:

No more crashes after I switched the hard drive from SCSI system to the PCI 3Ware Escalade-driven Raid0 with regular IDE drives.

I guess there was something not clicking with the SCSI/Huge Systems Raid.

So with the "internal" Raid0, no more glitches/crashes/sound sync issues. HDLink behaves solidly.

Just wanted to report this so others interested in Cineform software would be aware that it's good.

I'm also most pleased with the real-time playback in PPro 151 with Aspect HD, as well as with the image quality of AHD even in Medium setting.

Note that issues ## 2 & 3 still exist. They are not life threatening, but it'd be nice if Cineform addressed them soon.

Thanks.

Thanks for the update. #3 will be fixed in the next release.

HDLink Error
 

Starting HDLink with Aspect HD 3.1 Trial and trying to Convert any m2t file results in this Error:

http://fancyflix.com/ahderr.gif

Why? I use Registered copy of Moonlight Elecard player. On my other desktop, with the same Moonlight player and same video apps setup, no such problems.

Oh, and what's up with C:\Brisco folder reference in the error message?? No such thing on my PC...

Aspect HD includes some licensed Elecard components but it should not be using any you have previously installed. The folders are paths into the code we can more easily remotely debug to problem. I don't know this error so you will need to file a trouble ticket. Make sure you haven't moved HDLink.exe from installation directory as it needs to find the Elecard component mlcom.ax and mpgdec.ax within the same path. Default install is within C:\Program Files\CineForm\AspectHD.

Nothing was moved... HDLink.exe and both .ax files you mentioned sit in your default directory.

The trouble ticket was filed with Cineform yesterday, but no resolution yet.

Any chance to get it resolved faster?

I know it's weekend, so maybe this makes the response slower - but I do need to convert tons of m2t files into AHD avi's, and I currently can't due to this error.

Also, is it possible that the behavior is because of Trial version used?

And... on the old PC, I installed AHD 3.0 first; then 3.1, and it worked fine.

On the new PC, 3.1 was installed alone. Could this be a problem?

I have just fixed the problem.

I guessed that if I installed 3.0 first, then maybe it'd fix the problem I was having.

Sure enough... uninstall 3.1... install 3.0... install 3.1 that automatically uninstalled 3.0 first, then installed 3.1... and no more errors!

Note to Cineform: *please* have a better installer for AHD v 3.1. It should either require 3.0 installed first; OR contain all the necessary components so 3.0 would not be needed to be installed first, one or the other.

Also: better error debugging would be nice. While experimenting, I just discovered that exactly same error (see GIF in the 1st post) can be seen on a different, "good" PC, under totally different circumstances. Namely, when trying to convert m2t file that resides not on local but on a mapped network drive. Sigh.

On the plus side:

1. Cineform engineer Jeff is great in his response speed and willingness to help. Kudos!

2. Once correctly installed, HDLink 3.1 seems to work well. I like scene detection - a new feature in this release.

Happy HDVing.

Alex,

I glad things are now working, and we will be looking in the conversion across a network, issue. We don't currently know of any requirement to install 3.0 first, with the hundreds of recent Aspect HD 3.1 downloads no one has reported this. We have determined that the error is un-related to an installer issue. The 3.1 installer is actually brand new, and is a major upgrade over the older 3.0 installer -- we are finding far fewer installation issues, none to date, and it is much faster.

Bogus error message
 

I get this same bogus error message when HDLink hiccups. Misleading and useless; don't inspire much confidence in the product.

HDLink 3.2 big problem please help
 

Guys

I've been trying to get help on this issue for 3 days,it is as follows:

I had the usual rubbish after 10 seconds capture issue in premiere 1.5.1 so i downloaded HDLink 3.2 Everything was then fine, capturing and editing until I decided to speed up a clip. When I sped it up the resultant preview render was horizontal lines in different colours. When I tried to view it in a number of media players it was the same, I then tried to view my captured clips in the media players and realised that they were the same ie.

1. everything captured using HDLink worked fine in premiere but would not play properly in other external players (wmp,vlc,wmc) ie. with multicoloured stripes.
2. videos previewed from the working premiere timeline either with effects or rendered out also had the multicoloured stripes when brought back into premiere and in external players.

I have tried reinstalling HDLink and premiere pro (and the 1.5.1plugin),I have also used graph edit and gspot to check the codecs and they both seem to thin that they canrender the video even though to the eye they obviously aren't working. And I have tried two different systems.

This is really annoying as until this (massive) problem I was pleased with how the cineform stuff improved premiere, and I don't want to have wasted the last week and have to recut the video at the last minute in SD.

I have raised a ticket with cineform, but being in the uk the time delay is infuriating.

thanks

Ben

We have found this to happen on a some AMD systems and we have a patch that will be available in a couple of days, along with a new release of Aspect HD and Connect HD with enhanced JVC 100U support. Your access to this download will be granted shortly.

David

I have now tried a clean install of Premiere Pro 1.5.1 and AspectHD trial on a Pentium 4 and am having the same problem still. The only thing that has been constant in the three tests I have carried out is the monitor.
Please have one of your guys contact me ASAP this is the third day I have spent on this issue.

thanks

Ben

ok i've done some tests and found a work around it seems that

1. anything captured on the AMD works in premiere but will not render or export
2. anything captured on the AMD will also work in premiere but not render or export when transferred to a pentium
3.anything captured on the pentium will work and render and export from the pentium.

This means that I now need to recapture my entire project onto a pentium.

Ben

No more workarounds needed. Aspect HD 3.3 will address this issue for AMD captures plus add a range of features and enhancements. Download it from www.cineform.com.

Re
 

So, does this mean that everything captured with Aspect HD 3.2 on an AMD machine that has this problem (for example mine) will not work once upgrade to 3.3 and it will be necesary to recapture?

Thanks.

Unfortunately yes. This effected AMD users with 3.2 only. The error is in the captured file so Aspect HD 3.3 can't repair the capture error, it can only prevent it happening again. If you have a lot of work that needs re-capturing I do have at least one thing to try that may work (if you haven't combined 3.3 captured footage in the same project.) It is hack that works on the theory two wrongs might make a right, unfortunately none of our systems had the issue, so nothing to test this on. Email me if you wanting to try this (click on my name to the left.)

Re
 

I have emailed you... I really can't believe it. You don't know how many problems I had previously trying to import the footage because of the incompatibility between Sony Z1 and windows... and now another one.

Well, let see if this fix can do something on my work.
Thanks a lot.

HDLink: Exporting to m2t for archiving
 

After a month of shooting HDV file footage it's time for me to archive and backup tapes.

Using Connect HD, I can capture in HDV video in HDLink, convert the m2t to Cineform AVI, then import the AVI into Premiere. After trimming, titling and assembling raw clips into packages for archiving, I can export to a Cineform AVI, then use HDLink to convert back to m2t for writing to tape.

The end product looks fine, but I'm concerned about the number of generations needed to get from start to finish. Is there a way to export to m2t directly from Premiere? Before I bought Connect HD I had the trial of Aspect HD installed. Aspect resulted in Premiere having a 'Cineform HDV Export' option as well as 'Cineform HDV AVI' option. Is there a big difference between the two?

The only work I'm doing with HDV now is shooting and archiving alongside SD work I'm already doing. I could just capture bits of video in m2t then sequentially (batch) export them back out without involving Premiere, but I need to organize the clips into packages, and log timecodes and scene information (starting at 00:00:00) for each package. I could do that using HDlink, but it would be a little tedious - and I also wouldn't be able to trim down the individual m2t files and add title screens.

Connect HD is not designed to work with Premiere, you really should consider upgrading to Aspect HD if you intend to edit the footage. HDLink doesn't convert AVI back to M2T, for that you should use CineForm M2T option under Export Movie (only with Aspect HD.) Premiere 1.5.1 only has the export to tape option, which has interlacing issues for some transitions in HDV. Also 'Cineform HD Export' is significantly better that the free 'Cineform HDV AVI' option -- everything has been upgraded, quality controls, scaling algorithms, and many things I have now forgotten.

However, as it seems your are only chopping up M2T data, Connect HD will work fine for you capture to M2T data, but you might consider Womble or similar for making your packages. This is only if you intend to change nothing, not color correction, no overlay'd titles (which all benefit for Aspect HD), then a tool for just triming MPEG might work out for your workflow.

Thanks David,

I think the Womble software along with Connect will take care of the archiving tasks, I'll give that a try. I actually like that option better as there is no re-rendering and it should save time. For titling, I think I can just keep making titles in Premiere, string them together, export to tape, then re-capture with HDLink. That way I'll have m2t titles that Womble can attach to the captured clips. That should be easy enough since I'm only doing this once every month or so.

For now, I'm at least able to import Connect's HDLink AVIs into Premiere to get frame grabs and export edited AVIs for WMV HD encoding, which I might have occasion to do every now and then for web display. Otherwise Premiere can stay out of the picture for now since I have no immediate plans to produce anything in-house with HDV. If and when I get to that point, an upgrade to Aspect looks like a sure bet.

Thanks again for the info!
Dan

HDlink Question (convert default location)
 

I noticed today when I go to take an existing m2t file and convert it, it does not allow me to choose the destination, it defaults to the same location as the m2t file, can that be changed? Did not notice if that was possible in Aspect 4.0.

Thanks
Mike

HDLink and Premiere failed to capture from sony FX1
 

Hi, I usually capture inside of premeire but today decided to try HDLink. I set my Prefs file to ouput to my video drive and tried capture 2 ways. One by pressing the play button and then the Start button, the other by just pressing the Start button. Both ways I received errors right away and the capture stopped.

Error: CreateAndAddFilter(CLSID_CFTSSink, L "CineForm TSSink",&m_tsSink) (0x80040154-Class not registered) in (C:\Brisco\Apps\Capture\RTCaptureConvert.cpp at 165)

Error: m_rtCapture.BuildGraph(m_rtConvert.m_aviName) (0x80040154-Class not registered) in (C:\Brisco\Apps\Capture\RTCaptureConvert.cpp at 165)

Wha???

I then started Prem Pro and catured thu that interface:
I received the error: Can't Activate Recorder. Try Resetting Camera.

So I turned it off and back on and got a box that said "Driver error".

uh-oh... Do I need to re-install cineform?

HDlink Convert Issue in 3.x 4.x
 

I try to convert captured m2t footage from to AVI.
Upto 4 files at onces works. If I select more files to convert, after 4 files.
The software then seems to be locked, at least the 'start' button.
Does anybody else has this problem?

I sure do! Had to disable all system services and startup tasks (via msconfig) in order for it to work. Cineform told me that they've always advised all "background tasks" be shut off before doing video editing. I say, okay, but HDLink conversion is NOT a real-time task and well-written software doesn't just stop.

I've submitted a half-dozen "Not Responding" dumps to Microsoft. I don't know if Cineform gets them and/or looks at them. I DO know that they insist there is nothing wrong!

Wayne

Scene Detection not working with HDLink
 

Any reason why the scene detection does not work in HDLink when capturing .m2t files only? It works fine when you capture with the auto convert to avi set. But it will not work when capturing just the .m2t files.

Any thoughts?

Seems to be the problem in Vegas capture, and in Premiere Pro 2.0 also, even when not using Cineform capture utilities. I think it has to do with the hdv files themselves and the fact that each frame relies on the prior for some information.

HDSplit does scene detect, and it is a free application, but I have had drop outs on it that don't occur on PPro 2.0.

It seems to be a problem in HDLink with Aspect HD also. It sometimes works, but usually not. The scene detect then works when converting to AVI.

I have the answer!
 

I sent in a request to Cineform asking this question, the following is a response:

"Brian,

This is because the scene detection is actually a function of the our conversion process, therefore not functioning when only the .m2t is captured.

CineForm Support"

Hope this helps clear up any questions anyone may have.....

Well, that sucks. I like to capture entire tapes and then convert. That way I can archive the M2T files and work with the AVI files. Not only that, but I can share the M2T files easier than the CFHD AVI files.

But now to share unedited M2T files, with the original quality, I need to manually capture the scenes. Sigh. That is a serious step backward. Especially since it used to work.

I seem to remember it working also and wish it would now for reasons like Steven's and some more or my own, including the inability of HDLink to convert a full 60 minutes of M2T without hanging (on my system only, according to Cineform).

I'd like to revisit this issue. Cineform's response to my trouble ticket was that I was the only experiencing this problem and "Do not reopen this ticket"! I've asked Cineform several times and ways whether Microsoft forwards the dumps to them. They've never answered me, nor asked me to narrow down what system services might be causing the problem.

Even if it is just the two of us, which I doubt, I would hope for better support for such an expensive batch utility (HDLink).