ConnectHD 3.0

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David Newman wrote on 5/28/2006, 9:17 AM
Epirb,

Encode progressive is mode on the compression to optimize for that type of video frame -- it does not change the video frame. Progressive encoding is higher quality with a progressive image. This is automatic for 720p, but for 1080 the image could be either i or p. We can;t use information from the source either, e.g. Sony CineFrame 25 and 30 marks the M2T as interlaced even through the frame is progressive.

De-interlace 1080i - will convert interlaced data into progressive, it changes the image before compression.

So options are separate -- so you can choose any combination for you desired results.

The "V2.4" text wasn't updated in that pop-up, I think that was fixed in 3.0.1.

-----

Regarding Smart Rendering -- There is a bug that will be fixed shortly. Vegas insists on AVI to be flagged as 32bit, even when there is only 24-bit data (RGB) within them. This is why the smart-rendering is not working correctly. We will update HDLink to flag the data as 32-bit to make Vegas happy, when using the smart render option

David Newman
CTO, CineForm
Marco. wrote on 5/28/2006, 9:21 AM
Thanks for the infos about Smart Rendering.

Marco
kkolbo wrote on 5/29/2006, 8:34 AM
A quick note to Cineform ...

In the past I have had problems with the registration and activation process (some caused by my own stupidity). The upgrade process went perfectly. The automated system did a perfect job in locating my information, generating both serial number and activation number. Thank you. That was very smooth. Using a single system code was a big help for dummies like me.
Keith Kolbo
David Newman wrote on 5/29/2006, 9:33 AM
Thanks Keith,

Yes we have been working hard to improve the upgrade and activation system (plus there are more enhancement to come.)
David Newman wrote on 5/31/2006, 4:52 PM
Marco & others,

Here is Connect HD 3.0.2 with the fix for the smart rendering option (link http://www.cineform.com/downloads/ConnectHD-3.0.2.20-Download-Setup.zip.) Please report back if it makes your rendering faster (or not) on newly converted files. If the news is good this will become the official release version.

David Newman
CTO, CineForm
epirb wrote on 5/31/2006, 5:01 PM
Thanks David,
If i understand correctly, in order to check this should we recovert the m2t's using this version (3.0.2)right. Then test those file correct.
should we also uninstall the prev version first.
Just want to give you acurate info, with a proper install.
David Newman wrote on 5/31/2006, 5:08 PM
Yes you have it correct. Always uninstall the older version first to guarantee a c
clean install.

David Newman
CTO, CineForm
epirb wrote on 5/31/2006, 5:33 PM
Wow! so far I like it!
0:20 second clip, both new converted clip and old converted same clip on the T/L.

straight rerender of each;
Old 1:40
new 0:05 !!!!
truncate the clip( liitle off front little off end )0:04
orig :20 sec length, add sec CC (.30 bump in satutration) 1:28 ..still faster than old rerender w/o fx!!
think this could close the deal for me on the upgrade.
I often need to just shorten some of the clips I have afterward and want to discard the rest of the CF DI.
also as an FYI
file size for this clip(i know it depend on scene complexity)
old: 182,775 KB
new: 213,434 KB

More testing tonight!!!
And to try and figure out how to replace the CF DI's I got in 2 projects with the new files, when I upgrade.
David Newman wrote on 6/1/2006, 7:53 AM
Anyone else trying 3.0.2?
MH_Stevens wrote on 6/1/2006, 8:14 AM
I just installed it to see if it helps with an issues of hanging in smart render mode. As advised I completely removed v2 before I installed this and I see I no longer show the cineform Codec in "Add/Remove Programs". Why is this and is this a problem if I return to v2?
epirb wrote on 6/1/2006, 8:31 AM
David,
so far the speed on the smart renders is workin great. a couple of issues I have are this:

1 this is more an anoyance than a bug I guess but each time I open Connect HD in the convert tab the split scenes box is checked. And I have to uncheck it.
(this is because I capture all my files first as M2T's and convert later. be it with connect HD or HDV Split. On the machine I am currently work on P4 3.2 ithas problems doing a capture and convert at the same time)

2. I am having a problem if I select multiple clips to convert with the program freezing or not responding. this happens randomly when i select muliplr clips to batch render.
It may be the second clip in the list or the twelve it seems random. It usually locks at the tail end of a render/convert where the progress bar is at the end.
It is not from trying to render really small files , which I have had in the past. and if I shut down and restart the programs it will render that same m2t just fine. this is intermittant so I end up selecting 4-5 clips at a time , but then I have to baby sit it , to continue. where I would obviuosly rather batch convert all say 30 clips and walk away.

this may be just a problem in my system, but I thought I would give you my input.
Eric
Jayster wrote on 6/1/2006, 9:28 AM
This is true : "Faster Vegas timeline editing performance for CineForm Intermediate files converted using HDLink" as compared we native HDV editing it what this is refer.

I don't see this. My understanding of the website text is that it is a comparison against Vegas produced CF files, not vs. the native m2t file. I gathered this from reading the footnote on the website which compares HDLink: "The DirectShow version is a bit more sophisticated about the manner in which we can code our files, so we get approximately a 30% reduction in file size with HDLink. These smaller files also perform "faster" on the Vegas timeline."

I"m not trying to be argumentative, I'm just trying to understand the differences and how we can get the most benefit. If a smart-rendered file is considerably larger, this might mean that editing performance actually gets slower (in portions where bona fide rendering is needed) due to added I/O load.

That said, getting the smart render working is still potentially a huge benefit and might just be enough to get me to upgrade. It could potentially shave off hours from rendering a project. WOW! This (I think) more than offsets any theoretical disadvantage of having more I/O to process.

The issue of playback performance is important to us Vegas users, too. Playing back a straight CF avi file is no problem. It's when you start adding effects and filters (i.e. when some real rendering must be done), then the preview gets quite slow. Maybe this all just a fact of life (editing HD is demanding). But I'd be curious to know if the smart render feature has any impact on previews and playback. Probably not, but it'd be great if it did.

A perhaps unrelated question is whether previewing HD edits on an external preview device is faster on a secondary LCD monitor than it is on a firewire-connected SD CRT. In the latter case, Vegas must do it's own "render" to convert the HD content into SD for the preview...
David Newman wrote on 6/1/2006, 9:34 AM
Epirb, P4 3.2 should haven't plenty of performance to capture and convert in one pass -- you my have a FireWire card issue if you are getting glitches. I have 3.2 P4, and I always use the RT capture convert option.

I'm aware of the batch conversion issue, but we keep an eye out for it.

David Newman
CTO, CineForm
David Newman wrote on 6/1/2006, 9:37 AM
Jay,

I suggest you just try the software an come to your own conclusions. We have found that Vegas performance to not follow that of logic :), In Aspect HD premiere to smaller optimized files are faster (where the marketing message come from), in Vegas the larger VfW optimized smart render files are faster. Oh well. We trying to make many NLEs happy.

David Newman
CTO, CineForm
David Newman wrote on 6/1/2006, 9:39 AM
MH,

If you reinstall CHD 2 (and why should you :) ) everything should return to it previous state.

malowz wrote on 6/1/2006, 10:14 AM
i was trying some hdv editing on my amd xp2000 im my home, and i cant beliveve how fast preview is. i guess is because the ability of decode "half" resolution and other lower res, like vegas do in dv. im right? ive tested a lot of codecs to do "intermediate sd & hd" and only a few has this wonderful thing...

i was having problem with smart rendering, the files was showing 16 bits wold re-render, files converted with vfw codec, smart render was ok. i will test this new version...
Jayster wrote on 6/1/2006, 11:06 AM
i was trying some hdv editing on my amd xp2000 im my home, and i cant beliveve how fast preview is.

Preview speed depends on what you are asking Vegas to do. I used to have the same experience (fast previews), then I started a project with lots of pan/crop, track motion, filters, multicam, etc. and it cripples the preview (which is why Vegas has features for previewing to RAM and prerendering). And the preview at lower quality settings is not useful for this kind of project.

I think I shall take the advice we were given, to try out this new CF codec version soon.
Marco. wrote on 6/1/2006, 12:18 PM
I tested the bugfixed version 3.0.2 build 20. Converting to smartrender files which works in Vegas are doing fine now. My 43 second clip which needed more than 2 minutes before to be rerendered in Vegas only takes 38 seconds now - bit faster than realtime.

A maybe minor issue I see now is ConnectHD seems to shorten the clip a bit sometimes. The original HDV is 43:12. But when having converted it to a Smartrender intermediate it's only 43:09. Three frames seems to be lost anywhere. But this does not always happen.

Marco
GregFlowers wrote on 6/1/2006, 2:41 PM
So just to be clear about Connect HD 3.0's deinterlacing/converting abilities. It can take standard 1080/60i HDV video and convert it on the fly to 1080/30p or 1080/24p Cineform HDV? It can do a good job with this, mabey not as good as DV Filmaker or Magic Bullet but much faster. Is the quality on par with what Vegas can do internally?
MH_Stevens wrote on 6/1/2006, 2:58 PM
Please tell me if you think I have the work flow wrong and that I can get more mileage out of v3 (speed is NOT an issue for me) but the reason I may stay with v2 is that capturing the 1080i intermediaries and putting them into a 24p time-line looks just as good (to me) as letting CineForm v3 do a 24p conversion. In fact the CineForm manual says DVFilmaker does a better job anyway.

I've always been a great supporter of CineForm and and love the product so do please explain to me if I'm missing something.

Michael
David Newman wrote on 6/1/2006, 5:49 PM
If 60i to 24p conversions are the only feature your are interested in then a upgrade might not be so important. However Connect HD 3.x include many other enhancement, such as quality (even within Vegas), whereas the VfW encoder was previously stuck at medium quality. Add of course we will continue to do free upgrades and bug fixes for the 3.x line, 2.x users will not benefit from those. In the end we are talking about $99, some people monthly cable bill is more than that. :)

David Newman
CTO, CineForm
MH_Stevens wrote on 6/1/2006, 6:05 PM
Thanks for the reply Dan. When you wrote "whether" do you mean "when ever"? Does this imply to get equivalent quality in v2 I should use the high setting rather than the medium one?

David Newman wrote on 6/1/2006, 8:11 PM
I wrote the last post too quickly (fixed now.) v2 doesn't allow you to change the quality of the codec for renders within Vegas, therefore v3 is higher quality.
Marco. wrote on 6/2/2006, 8:00 AM
Which codec version is in ConnectHD 3.0?

Vegas seems to use Cineform HD Codec V2.5 for decoding and V2.4 for encoding.

Marco