New CineForm release now available.
 

Got to www.cineform.com click on support/downloads.

There where a couple minor change since the last beta, so worth the update for all PC users.

NeoScene is now v1.6
Everything else is now v4.3

David, why is the "Timecode base" in FL,, in the CineForm Passive Metadata always set to 24?
I've tried using converted I-frame only material (30), but it only reads 24.

Also, the timecode was taken from the source output's "Source Time", right? So why is camera original material (converted HDV from V1) zeroed out, yet mastered CF output from Premiere using the current local system time? Is that a design decision?

I'm just trying to understand what's going on here.

Nothing new here.. It has nothing to do with FirstLight, rather HDlink, is it placing a new timecode in you converted files. For HDV sources direct from tape, HDlink does not support timecode. There is better support for timecode from file based sources within HDlink. Have you been discussing this with support or only here? Always best to report to support to get the bug logged.

Just confirming that they are bugs before I report them, in case I wasn't understanding something about them. But if they are, I'll report them as such.

Either way, file-based output or HDV tape converts, they are showing incorrectly in FL, so I guess that would quality them as "bugs"? If the tool can't interpret or show them correctly, they're certainly in that category.

I haven't heard back from support and yes, I did report it to them.

But don't confuse support claiming it is First Light bug, as it isn't. Simply timecode is not supported from you camera and the guessed timecode has the wrong frame rate -- two separate HDLink issues of only the second can be fix (and the first is a feature request.)

Now I'm back to confused. I somehow understood from your previous posts, that converting older CF AVI's to "new" CF AVI's via HDLink (as I-frame only), would fix the TC as interpreted by FL, so that it would properly read it. So now it's actually the lack of CF support (in a tiny area) for Sony V1 cams?

Does that also include any new CF AVI's output from PP, (or is that only if it is set to "recompress" on output)? Guess my understanding of the processes involved is just too vague. Since we also generate CF output via AE, it would seem it would also fall under the same category, yet none of the above is interpreted as timecode base 30, or as 30 fps in FL.

Please help my denseness, but is the problem then in the inability of the CF codec itself to outputs video from either HDLink, AE or PP (from V1 cameras) in a format FL properly interprets (and so has to guess)?

Don't just bash me, David, educate me and I'll stop pestering you on this! Lay it out clearly. We're retiring our tired old V1's, but I am truly trying to understand what is actually happening in FL. I am trying to take advantage of a small feature there, that could be a real help in some situations, but it simply doesn't work with anything we've tried...and the real reasons why are just not clear to me.

Work with support. HDLink doesn't support HDV timecode, it never did, yet it should generate new timecode at the correct frame rate for PAL sources, that is the only bug, it is not more complex than that.

Is it me or does 1.60 not seem to be converting anything.

I had 1.52 installed before (pre-release due to some other issue) which converted 7D 25p files fine along with converting my m2t files from my FX1 OK. But just installed 1.60 and I hit start and nothing happens, freezes. Same happens to a demo version installed in a virtual machine.

I did try the new update but it crashes DVLink.exe every time when trying to convert.
Time to go back to old version...

Report all failures to support, we need to know if there is a small install error, or a missing system component etc.

I had that as well - Uninstalled and reinstalled and it worked.

I have gone to the downloads page for the last few days and requested an update link four different times, no email has arrived (and it's not in my spam folder.) I'm certain that I put in the correct information.

EDIT: Nevermind, my web hosting "service" has screwed up my e-mail server and completely lost two days worth of my business e-mail. Don't EVER host a web site with Namesecure.com

I had to uninstall and reinstall as well.

Thanks David,
that helped me too. Now program is working again.

-Hannu

I shall give the re-install a go.

I Frames?/update PDF manual
 

With latest update:I tried to convert a file thru HDLink from a XH A1 Canon 24F. the resulting file had a longer audio and than video track. I then used converter and it worked fine. Then I checked the undocumented (in the accompaning PDF manual) 'I- frames' only and it worked fine. The manual does reference 'smart rendering' which is no longer there. Please update the manual and tell me the proper way to convert a Canon 24F file thru HDLink.
Thanks.

Roy,

Sorry I don't understand what issue(s) you are having, or you are report just an observation (some clips have extra audio.) Please file a trouble ticket is something isn't working.

No Sound
 

I downloaded the latest. Install failed

I re-installed and conversions worked but I have no audio. What's up? Anyone else have the same problem?

same...no audio after conversion...

I need help
 

I've submitted a trouble ticket but no response. Can anyone help? I ran a conversion on pre 2.0.3/4 FW. This is killing me. Every time I run an update the system stops working and I seem to need to ask for help. Anyone have a resolution to this?

I'm running conversions on my laptop running Vista 64 with latest patches and 8 GB of RAM. Thanks.

George

This is from Cineform's techblog - might help ....

NOTE about Audio: If you are not properly converting audio, you may not have an AC3 decoder installed. Many software packages install an AC3 decoder, but if not, you can get a free AC3 decoder here: Free-Codecs.com :: Download AC3 Filter 1.63b : AC3 Filter is a DirectShow filter for AC3 decoding.

Thanks Graham. Would seem odd though as it used to work fine with audio and all of a sudden with the last update it stopped working. I find it a bit odd.

YES. Same here too. No audio with the latest version of NeoScene.

Having recently aquired a Canon T2i and shooting with that as opposed to my V1U, using meta-data has become more attractive to me. First Light is an excellent tool to make use of this information and I thank Cineform for including it. Are there plans to include this access in Premiere Pro natively, or will First Light always be required? I suppose since Adobe uses its own language of XMP it's either licensing or a lot of unnecessary conversion/coding, is that it?