Aspect HD vs Mainconcept MPEG Pro

[Michael Hackney]

Well my trial for Aspect HD expired and I've been having a HELL of a time trying to work with my HDV24p footage in Premiere Pro 2.0. Seems like nothing works and couldn't find any workarounds for Aspect HD other than shelling out $500, which is about as much as my whole Adobe Production Studio cost. I found
Main Concept Mpeg Pro today (free trial, which leaves a small watermark), just installed it and opened a new project using the HDV 24p settings. I must say that it is the best I've ever seen my Premiere Pro 2.0 work. It just seems so fast and responsive! It opened up my captured HDV 24p footage and played it in the preview window without hitch or stutter. It doesn't even seem to have to render. I would definitely download the trial version and see what you think, if you've been having similar problems. It costs about the same as Aspect HD, but everything seems smoother. I wonder why I haven't heard as much about it.
Lemme know what you guys think. Thanks

[crobs808]

i use MainConcept's HD plugin for Premiere Pro...and it's just like I'm editing DV footage again...fast editing and exports are crystal clear. it gives you sony, canon, and a few other editing presets for when you create a new project. Canon24F is the one I use pretty much all the time.

this is the plugin i'm using:
http://www.mainconcept.com/site/?id=7862

you can get it for $200 or less, full version, on ebay or other web stores. don't think you have to pay $500 just cause their site says it is $500

you could also wait and upgrade to Premiere Pro CS3 (release date: July 1st), it will have native HDV editing and exporting without the need for plugins.

in fact, I have already pre-ordered ppcs3 for mac, so I can stop booting into windows to do my video editing, then back into mac for everything else...i will be able to just stay in macos.

~ crobs808

[Lunchbox]

I use Premiere Pro 2.0 to edit the m2t file captured from HV20. Then export to .m2t using Adobe Media Encoder. Everything works fine without the cineform plugin.

[crobs808]

I use Premiere Pro 2.0 to edit the m2t file captured from HV20. Then export to .m2t using Adobe Media Encoder. Everything works fine without the cineform plugin.

i think "works fine" is a subjective term. it is a know flaw of premiere pro 2.0 that it has to rerender every frame of HDV whtther it's been edited or not. with plugins like aspect, and mainconcept hd, it allows you to edit MUCH faster like you were editing DV, and you do not need to rerender segments that have not had any filters or speed changes applied to them

Adobe even acknoleges this, and has updated premiere pro cs3 to be able to handle these issues.

Yeah...if you are making 10-30 minute HD videos of home footage or amateur stuff, then you can probably handle waiting for it to render, and deal with the editing time, but these plugins ar emade for people who film weddings and have a three camera shoot for example, or documentaries where you might have 25 tapes of footage that you have to edit down to one hour, and for projects like that, these plugins are a neccesity until cs3 comes out.

also, by using these presets, Premiere Pro capture to mpeg, instead of m2t, which make editing a snap. no transocoding a dang transport stream anymore prior to editing.

~ crobs808

[Kilgor270]

It seems to me that for most users the quality difference between the vast majority of intermediate codecs will be sufficient. The critical issue for the time being is getting the most out of a 24p camera.

Adobe Premiere Pro 2.0 has no way to do this currently. Cineform Aspect HD is the only automated way to achieve this without a very elaborate "home cooked" receipe from Farnsworth. The downside with the Cineform Aspect HD product is the cost. $500 for a professional user is reasonable. $500 for a home enthusiast is a tough sell. The other issue with the Cineform product is the file size difference between the native hdv capture and the Cineform AVI.

There is no question the Cineform Aspect HD is a great product.

Does any one know if the Mainconcept Mpeg Pro has any method to convert 60i to 24p (23.976)?

Thanks
Kilgor

[Doogs]

I use Premiere Pro 2.0 to edit the m2t file captured from HV20. Then export to .m2t using Adobe Media Encoder. Everything works fine without the cineform plugin.

Taky, is there any noticeable audio synch issues with the exported video using the Mainconcept plugin in prem pro 2.0

TIA

[Lunchbox]

I do not notice any audio sync issue with the Adobe Media Encoder export.

[Michael Hackney]

Mainconcept's MpegPro has it's own exporter that you can use, if you choose not to use the Adobe Media Encoder (they're in the same drop down menu).
I have had no issues exporting with either. I usually open a project that was shot in HDV24p, with MpegPro and edit as I like. Then can use the Adobe Media Encoder for exporting. Funny how Adobe Media Encoder has so many more options for supporting formants, then they do when creating your projects. I have had no issues with this work flow.

[Farnsworth]

I use Premiere Pro 2.0 to edit the m2t file captured from HV20. Then export to .m2t using Adobe Media Encoder. Everything works fine without the cineform plugin.

Exactly how do you do this? Premiere Pro won't open m2t files.

[Lunchbox]

I can import m2t to Premiere Pro no problem. You can also try renaming it to .mpg to see if you can get it to import to Premiere. However, if you are using a Trial version of Premiere Pro or upgrade from a trial vresion, you won't be able to import any MPEG file.

[szimmer]

Everytime people talk about using HD footage and Adobe Pro Premiere CS3, Aspect HD seems to be in the discussion much more than MPEG Pro™ HD 3 plug-in .

Don't they do the same job? Is Aspect Hd so much better?

I guess the best thing to do is download both and try them out. But whether it is in this forum or at Adobe, Aspect HD seems to be the more popular one.

Any ideas why?

Thanks,

Simon