Announcing Neo Family Version 5

[David Taylor]

CineForm is enthused to announce version 5 of our Neo family for both Windows and Mac. There are many new features and capabilities rolled into the new version as discussed below.

SUMMARY
----------
- Platforms: Both Win and Mac, including new versions for each Neo family member: Scene / HD / 4K / 3D.
- All previous Neo versions on both Win and Mac will be incremented to Version 5.
- Ship Date: Approximately end of April. Public beta releases will be available the week after NAB.
- Prospect (HD/4K/3D) families are absorbed in the Neo family. This means that the Prospect family is retiring after a long and productive life. (Don't worry, Prospect customers will be happy with the move to Neo). And yes, the CineForm editing experience is a good one in CS5.

New features are many, and include:

NEW OVERALL FEATURES
------------------------
- Support for CS5 on Windows (CS5 Mac support within a couple months). CS5 support includes special 3D capability including 3D renders and 3D titling.
- The return of HD-SDI monitoring within CS5 through a third-party plug-in (more on this soon).
- 3D content creation and editing is added to all Neo products except for Neo Scene, at no change in current prices.
- Support for OpenGL surfaces for monitoring as either a primary or secondary display (or both), including for 3D active and passive displays.


NEW FIRST LIGHT FEATURES FOR NEO HD/4K
-------------------------------------------

- Keyframeable Active Metadata for primary color controls.
- New "Tools" control as video overlay for burn-in or other uses. Histogram overlay was previously supported. New tools include vectorscopes, waveform, and "grid lines" (particularly useful for 3D adjustments).
- Text/graphics engine built in as part of Passive Metadata tab. Allows for addition of text overlays as metadata on top of video. Allows selection of fonts, sizes, color, outlines, etc. Supports 3D parallax control for 3D subtitles with 3D depth independent of underlying video.
- Graphics engine also supports PNG overlays for logos or other uses. Also supports independent parallax control to present 2D objects as 3D.
- New passive metadata extraction during file conversion. All passive metadata now appears in the Passive Metadata tab within First Light.
- Support for OpenGL surfaces for monitoring, including for 3D active and passive displays.


HD LINK (WIN) AND REMASTER (MAC)
------------------------------------

- On WinDOWS, HD Link is scheduled for a major interface overhaul. The result will be similar to the interface used for ReMaster on Mac, and will include many new features. This is not completed yet, but when it is finished it will be provided as a free update to all Neo HD/4K/3D customers.


NEW NEO3D FIRST LIGHT FEATURES
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- Addition of separate Left eye and Right eye 3D controls. (Previously Right eye or Both).
- Keyframeability of convergence controls to match clip transitions.
- Floating window masks to manage 3D window violations.
- ‘Ghost busting’ to minimize high-contrast crosstalk between Left and Right channels visible on some 3D display technologies
- Dual-link stereo output will directly drive RealD or Dolby projectors directly from the FCP or PPro timelines.


PRICING
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No change in pricing from current versions. Pricing below reflects a) new license purchases, and b) upgrade prices from the previous version to version 5:

- NeoScene: a) $129 b) $49 upgrade
- NeoHD: a) $499 b) $149 upgrade
- Neo4K: a) $999 b) $249 upgrade
- Neo3D: a) $2995 or b) free upgrade


UPGRADE PRICING FOR PROSPECT FAMILY OWNERS
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- Prospect HD v3 or earlier to Neo HD v5: $149
- Prospect HD v4 to Neo4K v5: Free. Yes, All Prospect HD v4 customers will get a free upgrade to Neo4K.
- Prospect 4K (any version) to Neo4K: Free.


DID YOU PURCHASE DURING 2010?
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Any customer who purchased a CineForm license during 2010 will get a free upgrade to version 5 of the equivalent product.


A NOTE FOR THE ARITHMETICALLY CHALLENGED:
If you upgrade from a previous version of Prospect HD to version 4 of Prospect HD ($199) before we ship version 5, you will get a free upgrade to Neo4K v5.


APRIL SALES PROMOTION
-------------------------
- We have scored a deal with Gunnar Optiks in Carlsbad, CA to provide a FREE set of their new

Phenom 3D glasses with the purchase of a new (non-upgrade) license for NeoHD, Neo4K, or Neo3D from the CineForm website through April 2010. These are awesome RealD-compatible passive polarized glasses that retail for $99. They will instantly become your preferred glasses when watching a 3D movie through RealD projection, or as you edit using any RealD-compatible passive polarized monitor. Customers will only be charged for shipping of the glasses around the first of May. Any purchases during April will come a version 4 license that will be upgraded for free to version 5 when it is ready to ship.

- When ordering, enter the code "GunnarOptiks" in the "Customer Notes" field during the online order process.

[Leo Baker]

David,

Sounds very exciting. The logo overlay is a great feature especially for doing run off dubs of offlines and cuts before the proejct is finished for review.

So the Prospect HD v4 I have now will be upgraded to Neo4K? Will the capture into Cineform using Premiere pro cs5 be available as well?

Leo

[David Taylor]

Capture through HD-SDI in CS5 will be available but through a yet-unannounced third-party in the near future. They have not yet announced so we won't pre-empt them.

[Leo Baker]

Perfect, is the Real-time engine available for Cineform like in CS3?

Leo :)

[David Newman]

Leo, yes and no. We do have a custom playback engine for CS5, but it is not the one used in CS3. This new one is more Premiere friendly, no more audio sync issues, and monitoring color mis-matches -- also non-CineForm FX also play without rendering.

[Mike Harvey]

Since I didn't see it listed anywhere... Neoscene 4 to NeoHD 5 is how much money...?

[David Taylor]

Good question. There are numerous upgrade possibilities, including from one product family to another, such as Neo Scene to Neo HD.

I should have mentioned that a version change (such as to version 5) is a good time to do this upgrade because our policy is to offer a full discount on the MSRP for the existing product from the purchase price for the upgraded product. So...Neo Scene to Neo HD will be $370.

[Mike Harvey]

Very cool about the pricing... also, safe to assume the RT engine won't be making it's way into NeoScene, and just sticking to HD/4K/3D?

[Milan Ratna Bajracharya]

Hi

I am using Neo 4k Neo4KMac-2.4.3.122-15 I have a problem in playback in fcp.Does this New Version of neo v5 solve this play back problem.

My system is
Mac pro
Processor xeon double quadcore 2.5 ghz
8 gb ram
nvedia graphic card
using Raid 0 hard disk

And I am woking on 2k file format

Thank You

[David Newman]

The current version works correctly for RT playback under FCP. Your question is for support, please tell them what the problem is. File a trouble ticket here Support Center

[David Dwyer]

Ohhh think I'll be upgrading my NeoHD but I think I need Neo4k.

Can you say what the main features differences between NeoHD and NEO4K?

Will the RT engine be in NeoHD?

[Hans van Turnhout]

The Neo HD upgrade price of USD 149 will that be for cross platform or for single platform use (I capture in win 7 and edit on SL)?

//Hans

[Brian Parker]

Just wondering if you have any clearer idea on when you will be able to add the mac CS4 importer functionality to the current neohd product. I noticed that Final Cut Pro got some love recently. You mentioned that you would know around NAB time, after having got the CS5 compatible version out of the door.

[David Newman]

David, the new playback engine will be in all Neo products (and feature even in NeoScene.)

Hans, no cross platform upgrades, sorry -- each is a separate upgrade (Mac or PC.) Although the same two activation policy is in place (so laptop and desktop.)

Brian, The Mac work is still to be completed for CS5, no news for CS4 yet.

[David Dwyer]

Originally Posted by David Newman

David, the new playback engine will be in all Neo products (and feature even in NeoScene.)

Hans, no cross platform upgrades, sorry -- each is a separate upgrade (Mac or PC.) Although the same two activation policy is in place (so laptop and desktop.)

Brian, The Mac work is still to be completed for CS5, no news for CS4 yet.

Oh great news for playback engine - Will be upgrading to V5.

What do you mean for the activation policy ? Laptop/PC?