Capturing to Cineform?

Laurence wrote on 9/27/2005, 8:54 AM

I'm trying to capture directly to Cineform as mentioned here:

http://www.sundancemediagroup.com/articles/hdv/HDV_and_Sony_Vegas.htm

I can capture to mts, but I can't find any of the direct Cineform options mentioned in the above article. What am I doing wrong?

Comments

Laurence wrote on 9/27/2005, 10:16 AM

OK, I see you need to buy the Cineform Connect HD to capture to Cineform directly. This also seems neccessary if you want to split the scenes on capture.

Two questions:

Is there still a discount for Vegas users to buy Connect HD? I find reference to it being $150 for Vegas users at one time rather than the $200 it shows on their web site.

How much difference is there in quality between the three size options, and which one of these options does the one that comes with Vegas use?

David Newman wrote on 9/27/2005, 10:52 AM

There is no longer have discounted version. The $150 pricing was for a lite version that Sony sold throught there web site (lite because it didn't come with the MPEG decode we prefer.) The was for version 1.5 only, and Connect HD is about to become version 2.0 for the standard $199.

The is a bigger quality increase that happens before compression when using Connect HD to capture and convert. Vegas uses an M2T 4:2:0 YUV -> RGB -> YUV -> CFHD workflow, whereas Connect HD uses a M2T 4:2:0 YUV -> 4:2:2 YUV -> CFHD. Avoiding the RGB step greatly improves the quality as well as 4:2:0 to 4:2:2 upconversation that is missing from the Vegas path. The quality setting on the codec adds one level higher than the Vegas default, yet the quality on the CineForm codec at medium is sufficient for most production needs. Use the highest quality mode for keying, or effects heavy work. The low quality mode is for off-line work, I have never had need to use it.

You are welcome to try it out before making a purchase decision. You can download a full version from http://www.cineform.com/products/ConnectHD.htm which we run for 15 days.

David Newman
CTO, CineForm

Laurence wrote on 9/27/2005, 11:20 AM

I've already downloaded and been playing with it for a couple of hours now. Yeah, I can see that this is the way to go for time efficient HDV editing. The Connect HD capture is far quicker than capturing M2T and converting, and I have already noticed the color difference. Things like the splitting the clips and smartrendering are extremely important to me. I'll be a customer before my 15 days runs out I'm sure.

billwil wrote on 9/27/2005, 2:17 PM

David,

I am thinking of buying Connect HD. What is the typical upgrade price when you come out with new versions and how often do you suspect major versions will be released. What I am getting at is, if I buy ConnectHD right now, what, if anything, will I pay for the upgrade to 2.0. Also, when will I likely need to upgrade again, and what is the price likely to be? I'm trying to plan out the real costs of integrating this into my workflow.

Thanks,

Bill~

David Newman wrote on 9/27/2005, 3:50 PM

Bill,

We have never charged for an upgrade yet. We might one day, but we haven't made any plans to do so. So if you purchase 1.9 today, 2.0 will be free. If you purchased our original version, 2.0 would still be free. New releases are arrive to support new camera features, or to support higher quality compression. In the past the updates have occurred every 2-3 months.

David Newman
CTO, CineForm

Laurence wrote on 9/27/2005, 6:25 PM

Well I ordered today. For me, the savings in time and disc space, the separated clips, and the slight improvement in color quality were all deciding factors.