Cineform question

[Iron Mole]

I guess I'm finally going to breakdown and get Cineform to do my 24P pulldown. It seems like the simplest solution. Which version of Cineform do you recommend for users of Vegas 7? Also, is there a better (cheaper?) place to order it? Thanks for the help.

[SalaTar]

http://www.cineform.com/products/NeoHD.htm

[Iron Mole]

Thanks for the quick reply. Are there any threads here that go into detail about using NEOHDV? I looked through a bit and saw a few mentions of it but nothing too specific.
One last question a Vegas 7 user might be able to answer... If I understand correctly you CAN NOT do the pulldown using the Cineform codec in Vegas 7, correct?
Thanks again for the help.

[SalaTar]

CF has a capture utility that does it..HDLINK

[CBarce]

Thanks for the quick reply. Are there any threads here that go into detail about using NEOHDV? I looked through a bit and saw a few mentions of it but nothing too specific.
One last question a Vegas 7 user might be able to answer... If I understand correctly you CAN NOT do the pulldown using the Cineform codec in Vegas 7, correct?
Thanks again for the help.

With NEOHDVYou can do the pull down at capture, while converting to the more editable Cineform codec. If you already have captures HDV footage to .m2t files, you can convert the .m2t files to the Cineform codec .avi, using pull down removal.

I have also edited in .mt2 files in Vegas, rendered out to an HDV .m2t finished file, and then do pull down by converting that file to the Cineform codec, then use that to render back out in Vegas to any format at 24p.

[Iron Mole]

With NEOHDVYou can do the pull down at capture, while converting to the more editable Cineform codec. If you already have captures HDV footage to .m2t files, you can convert the .m2t files to the Cineform codec .avi, using pull down removal.

This really seems like the simplest/best route. I'll probably download the NEOHDV trial and give it a try.

[haebby]

I've been using NeoHDV for a while now and am very happy with it.

I capture .m2t files from the HV20 with HDLink (which is included in the NeoHDV packaged) and let it do the pulldown. The result are .m2t files with pulldown (i.e. in 24p). I archive these files.

Before I do the editing, I convert the .m2t files into Cineform .avi files using NeoHDV/HDLink. I then do the editing in Vegas 7 on these .avi files, which works really great.

Once I'm done with editing, I render the edited video back into .m2t files, which I then playback through a media streamer directly onto our HDTV.

Works like charm so far - picture quality is awesome.

[Iron Mole]

Wait... isn't HDLINK a piece of hardware (capture card?) from Black Magic? If so, does it come bundled with NeoHDV??

[SalaTar]

its also the name of cineforms captue utility software

[haebby]

Wait... isn't HDLINK a piece of hardware (capture card?) from Black Magic? If so, does it come bundled with NeoHDV??

I was referring to the capture utility (software) that's part of the NeoHDV package.

[24Peter]

I capture .m2t files from the HV20 with HDLink (which is included in the NeoHDV packaged) and let it do the pulldown. The result are .m2t files with pulldown (i.e. in 24p). I archive these files.
You can also convert directly to cineform .avi 24p files on the fly correct? (I.e., no need to capture as .m2t other than for your archival purpose?)



Before I do the editing, I convert the .m2t files into Cineform .avi files using NeoHDV/HDLink. I then do the editing in Vegas 7 on these .avi files, which works really great.

How does preview/playback of the cineform .avi files within Vegas compare to native .m2t files from the HV20? The minute I add an effect/filter/layer to an .m2t clip in Vegas I lose smooth full screen playback.


Once I'm done with editing, I render the edited video back into .m2t files, which I then playback through a media streamer directly onto our HDTV.

I know it's dependent on your system specs and what you've done to your video, but how long does it take to re-encode your files as .m2t (e.g., 2X realtime...)

[haebby]

You can also convert directly to cineform .avi 24p files on the fly correct? (I.e., no need to capture as .m2t other than for your archival purpose?)

Yes, that's correct. You can also convert on the fly. I have this intermediate step only for archival purpose.


How does preview/playback of the cineform .avi files within Vegas compare to native .m2t files from the HV20? The minute I add an effect/filter/layer to an .m2t clip in Vegas I lose smooth full screen playback.

Preview/playback of the cineform .avi files in Vegas is smoother than the .m2t files. Although I have a 3.2 GHz processor and plenty of RAM, preview/playback of the original .m2t files was not smooth on Vegas. No problems when using the cineform .avi files.


I know it's dependent on your system specs and what you've done to your video, but how long does it take to re-encode your files as .m2t (e.g., 2X realtime...)

There's also a "smart rendering" option in NeoHDV/HDLink, which enables "faster exports in Vegas at the expense of increased file size" - so it also depends on whether you use this option or not. I've not yet tried this option, should do it... Haven't done measurements, but I'd say the rendering time should be roughly 2-3x realtime.