CS5 - do I even need Cineform?
 

This is an open question.

I've tried the trial version of Cineform in the past ( I stopped using it becuase the blackmagic timeline preview over HDMI never happened).

Anyway, Looking at CS5 Premiere now - I'm wondering what advantage Cineform still offers given the realtime mercury engine's abilities with a certified CUDA card.

To my mind, I'm guessing Cineform still gives better performance on a lower spec, particulalry where HDD requirements are concerned?

Thank you

Your are thinking of CineForm as codec accelerater only, we haven't been just that in many years. We are a workflow company, easing the moving for media across platform with database driven color correction, image framing, and now 3D corrections. If you never used FirstLight you likely do not know how much has changed. You can still use us as an accelerator, in place of an upgraded graphic card, or to complement it.

Thanks David,

Cineform worked fine for me on a normal 7200rpm HDD - how does that compare to the new Premiere peformance without Cineform - do you need to start thinking about RAID configs in handling the native formats - If so I'll stick with Cineform.

Also I tried ProspectHD as it gave me the realtime colour adjustments, Could I now just use NEO and let native CUDA give me that functionality?

Would be nice to see a comparison of how your products integrate and what benefits. My workflow is HDV tape to PAL BD. Usually mix Z5 and 5DII footage in a production.

Thank you

You only need RAID for uncompressed these days. The old real-time color filters of Prospect HD have nothing on what FirstLight can do, both for speed, flexibility and easy of use. NeoHD is the old Prospect HD plus a lot more. CUDA + NeoHD do work well together.