Do Neo HD and Neo 2k use different Codecs?

[Mark Duckworth]

The reason I am asking is I want to experiment using them. I do alot of greenscreen work and I want to compare the differences in the two for keying. I want to see if there is a difference in the quality from the keys using identical footage( ie 422 YUV vs 444 RGB, 10bit or 12bit etc.). Basically I want to see if there is going to be a big enough difference in quality to warrant the purchase of Neo 2k over Neo HD.

[Richard Leadbetter]

4:4:4 is a selectable option within the CineForm codec. So you'd simply choose to turn it on and run one test, then turn it off and run the other.

I am sure that there will be a trial version in due course.

[Mark Duckworth]

Originally Posted by Richard Leadbetter

4:4:4 is a selectable option within the CineForm codec. So you'd simply choose to turn it on and run one test, then turn it off and run the other.

I am not quite sure what you mean. When you capture your footage in a particular codec usually the characteristics of that codec become inherent to the footage. If I capture to DVCPro 50 with in 8bit 422, I can't press a button and change it to 12-bit 444 because the information wasn't put there when I originally captured the footage. Is what your saying that when you capture your footage in any Cineform Neo product (HDV, HD, 2K) that the codec is automatically capturing in the maximum quality (2048x2048 444 RGB 12bit) and only allows you to use the product you bought a licence for (ie only allowed a max. of 1440x1080 YUV 422 for Neo HDV) but the information for 2048x2048 444 RGB 12bit is still there inside the codec. Is that right?

[David Newman]

The NEO 2K trial is now valuable, and Neo HD / HDV willl be up shortly :
http://www.cineform.com/products/Dow.../Downloads.htm

NEO 2K give you all the options, so you can encode as either 4:2:2 or 4:4:4. For low cost camera source 4:2:2 is the best your are likely to have, yet computer generated graphics elements and film scans (cin/dpx files) will be 4:4:4. To preserve the 4:4:4 nature of these source, you can access the 4:4:4 control within the CineForm exporters in AE and Premiere.

P.S. Prospect 2K includes all of NEO 2K plus more for operations with Premiere Pro.

[Richard Leadbetter]

Originally Posted by Mark Duckworth

I am not quite sure what you mean. When you capture your footage in a particular codec usually the characteristics of that codec become inherent to the footage.

What I'm trying to say is that you would trial the highest-end CineForm product, then do multiple capture sessions at the different settings you wish to compare.

Your thread title suggests that the two CineForm products use two different codecs, when it's actually a single codec with multiple encoding settings.

[Mark Duckworth]

I just downloaded Neo 2k. Tried to install it (deactivated and uninstalled my previous cineform software) and it said that a premiere pro plugin file is missing and that my installation failed. The program is half installed on my system now. The program fails when trying to capture or convert any footage and the unistaller for the program is missing so I can't uninstall the program. Any help is appreciated.

[David Newman]

The uninstaller is in programs/CineForm/NEO 2K-Edit -- I just tested that yesterday.

If you are using Aspect HD or Prospect HD, your upgrade for 4:4:4 is to Prospect 2K, not NEO 2K. NEO 2K is target to effects work, and those who don't need Premiere Pro real-time playback. You can put NEO 2K on an effects station and have the results work with Prospect HD on another.

[Mark Duckworth]

I am going from Connect HD. The program that I downloaded from link that was sent to me is NEO 2k 3.0.0 126 Set-up. I click on the installation program, choose my drive, the installer gets halfway through and says " Installation Aborted Set up not completed successfully. Above the little green installation progress bar it says cannot locate Premiere Plugin Folder. The only button that is then clickable on the installation setup dialog box is cancel. When I go to the Start menu->Programs->Cineform-> NEO-2K-Edit, the icon for the uninstall program isn't there and instead has the icon for unknown program, which when you click on goes to the missing shortcut dialog box and windows searches for the program and doesn't find it. Thank you in advance for an answer.

[David Newman]

OK, now I know what to fix. Nothing of concern was installed, re-install CHD for now. The installer look for PPro, should not be required. Unfortunately the machines we test had PPro on it. Oopps!

[Mark Duckworth]

Thank you. Going to bed now kinda late here. Check in the morning.

[David Newman]

Now fixed, download it again from the same link. It simply did an abort (now removed) if it didn't find Premiere.