Cineform NEO for Canon 5D

marcel-vossen wrote on 4/9/2009, 1:52 AM
Hi guys, Mark,

Markwww suggested in another thread that the method I use now to get workable media files from my EOS 5D m2 is a bit peculiar. I use Sony MXF files for editing and they work a lot faster in previewing than the original Canon output, which is way to slow for previewing.

Mark suggested I'd use Cineform Neo , but since I don't have a lot of experience in this, I have a few questions:

- What would be the major difference in using NEO vs MXF? Is it also faster, or just better quality?
- Which product would I have to purchase to work with it in Vegas? Neo HD is $499, and since I am not earning big money yet, this would be a huge investment for me...

Thanks for your help!



Comments

UlfLaursen wrote on 4/9/2009, 3:01 AM
Hi Marcel

You could try the Neo Scene:

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

It's only $129 and according tthe webpage, it goes with the canon too.

It will make bigger files, but much easier to edit.

/Ulf
marcel-vossen wrote on 4/9/2009, 3:53 AM
Thanx, I will download the Trial first, and 129$ is well worth it when it save me a lot trouble! I hope my fast normal SATA Harddrive keeps up with the previewing of 6 Canon 5D files though, if they are 10Mb/sec ...I am very curious!

What does the Neo HD version have extra then? I see that Sony Vegas is not mentioned in the info for Neo Scene, it is mentioned in Neo HD....
Ros wrote on 4/9/2009, 7:08 AM
Sony Vegas is mentionned for Neo Scene
• Windows:
- Adobe: Premiere Elements or Premiere Pro*
- Sony: Movie Studio or Vegas

It be good if you could share your experiences with Neo Scene versus transfering to .mxf.
I don't have a Canon 5D yet, but I am looking into it.

Thanks,

Rob
marcel-vossen wrote on 4/10/2009, 10:43 AM
I will tell you my findings, once I figure out how to use it that is, isnt there supposed to be an extra media format inside Vegas also, where I can render a project with for example?

This Neo Scene software renders AVI's from my EOS 5D MOV files pretty quickly, takes about 3 times the original space on the harddisk.

Can anyone tell me what's the difference between an AVI that is made with this encoder and an AVI made with Proxystream script using Vegas itself?


Marcel
marcel-vossen wrote on 4/11/2009, 6:09 AM
I have tested the NEO scene trial and I've replaced the MXF files in my project with the AVI files that NEO made (they are 2-3 times larger)

I can't say that the preview performance is a lot better for NEO than it is for the Sony MXF intermediate files I used.
I think the Chroma Keying process is the bottleneck in my case. I have 6 people in 1920x1080 chromakeyed in a 3D environment. The preview immediately goes from 25 to below 2 fps when the keying begins.

Previewing a mix of 5 tracks without chromakey effects is way better. But there the Sony MXF files also perform way better than the original Canon output files.


But what I dont understand is that the CPU load is still only max 25%, during the heavy chromakeying preview, so I guess Vegas only uses 1 core in my i7 CPU?

Anyone know that ?


blink3times wrote on 4/11/2009, 6:36 AM
"But what I dont understand is that the CPU load is still only max 25%, during the heavy chromakeying preview, so I guess Vegas only uses 1 core in my i7 CPU?"

There is an internal switch labeled "use multiple cores for playback" (or something like that) and it does seem to help. I can get 85% cpu usage (q6600) when it is on. Still though, with 2 tracks of avchd (1920 @ 17Mb/s) the preview rate drops down to around 8 or 10 (in preview mode)

(To get at the internal settings... hold down the SHIFT key while clicking on preferences. When the menu comes up you will see an extra tab labeled "internal settings")
marcel-vossen wrote on 4/11/2009, 7:06 AM
Wow lord, you gotta be kidding me?!?

Thanks man, I found the switch and it seems to bring quite a lot extra previewing capability....unbelievable!

Now tell me what key combination I gotta use to get into the secret menu that has the option to turn off the random crashes and I'll be happy! LOL

These are funny guys at Sony...they dont mention this stuff on the telephone though...