DVFilm (new software)
 

FYI... Check out http://www.dvfilm.com/maker/index.htm

I just started playing with this little bit of software on my footage and it's quite impressive. It's a lot cheaper than Cinelook, Filmlook or Magic Bullet, but what's really impressive is how fast the rendering time is with this puppy. It's 10x faster.

It's also 10x cheaper and runs stand-alone without the need for A.E. or a non-liner editing system.

They have a free demo download so you can test it out on your own stock footage, and they also make a PAL > NTSC utilities.

Thought ya'll might like to take a look if you haven't seen this software yet. It has deinterlacing features, progressive scan conversion, 24p editing, etc.

I agree that it's very good - I use it myself, or used to use it rather.
Since I upgraded my Quicktime software to Quicktime 6.5 Pro, I can't render properly in DVFilm. They know about the fault - it's on their website, but as yet, there's no magic fix. I think it's a real bummer :-( I could uninstall Quicktime 6.5 and re-install 6.0, but then I'd lose the functionality of Quicktime Pro.
I really hope they can attend themselves to this soon...
Robin.

Hmm, i'm using quicktime 6.5.1 and it seems to work just fine for me, but it's not the pro version. I know there are some updates ready on DVFilm's website.

I found this quote in the release notes in DVFilm's updates section:

Note: Apple has fixed their DV codec bug in Quicktime for Windows release 6.5. If you have QT 6.5 installed, you should update to 6.5.1 or later version. See links at the bottom of this page.

I betcha if you do an update in QT and get the latest update for DVFilm, it should work fine. Here's a link to their update page:

http://www.dvfilm.com/update/index.htm

I hope this helps Robin! :)

John,
Thank you so much for the info about the upgrade. I have been running Quicktime 6.5. I've just downloaded 6.51 and everything is working just as it should. I'm really delighted!!!

Robin.

Robin,

Sweet! Glad I could help. DVFilm maker is an amazing little program and well worth the money. We plan to use it to master our DV clips when we edit the latest project in the fall. It's sooo fast, crisp and clean. Using Adobe Premiere and Cinelook takes forever for it to process, not to mention it adds a lot of artifacts and messes with the resolution.

With DVFilm, we can master the video for whatever format we need. Digital, DVD, Film, etc.

I can't spread the gospel any more than that. Anyway, hope you continue to use it and hope that it works well for you.

Daw Haul ar Fryn

I bought Grahame Nattris's G FILM filters as well as tried a couple of other ones but when I shoot 1/60 normal (vs. 1/30 frame) and run it through the assorted filters I get the impression that with just my XL1S I think the footage looks more 'filmic'.

That goes for when I tried MB at a client's shop.

(shrug) I'll give this a try too since they've got a trial download and see what happens.

DVFilm works best with 1/60 filming, so it should work beautifully on your footage. They've got a demo program that will render test footage clips (raw AVI's or MOV files) but insert DVFilm's logo on the output, but at least you'll be able to see what it can do for your footage before you fork out the $95 for it.

That's what I did. Downloaded the demo version and loved the output so much, I bought the downloadable retail version.

The speed factor is very important for me as well. It's 10x faster than magic bullet or cinelook using premiere. The output is a lot cleaner, i've seen no artifacts added to the output footage, and it's fully customizeable if you need to tweak some of the sensitivity and features. Plus, it's a stand alone program.

It can convert your footage to 24p for DV to film (16/35mm) transfers, has deinterlacing, 16:9 coversion (compress or crop mode) and all kinds of stuff I haven't even explored yet.

I actually tried it against Vegas and Vegas seemed to give
better results. For one, I noticed an unpleasant color shift in the
highlights with DVFilmMaker, with a loss of detail there, also.

I did a test of their 24p option and found unnaceptable flickering / twittering on high contrast horizontal edges, I hope they can fix that because the rest of what I saw looked fine.

Thanks Kevin for the comments on my Film Effects - V1.5 should be out soon with loads more features. If you're using FCP, I reckon it's the best thing since sliced bread, but I would, wouldn't I? There's a free demo, naturally.

Graeme

I just tried this software on about 20 high motion clips and also noted a slight loss in detail as well as higher contrast on playback thru WINdvd, Divx and WMP. Unless I was doing something wrong in the setup this software is not for me.

Regards,

Mark