HDV using CS4 vs Cineform aspect HD vs ?

[Marko Grady]

Hi Im struggling a bit with HDV I have a fairly powerful computer 3.2GHz core2duo 4gb RAM 8800 GTX 786MB. So I would think that CS3 would be able to run and render pretty easily using CS3 HDV settings although everything seemed decidedly slow. I have tried AspectHD and it run fine although I have to pay 500$(£250). I really don't want to spend that money since I bought CS3 and would rather spend my money in other places BUT Aspect HD for anyone looking is really good. Will CS4 solve my issues? Is there any other alternatives?

[Chris Barcellos]

What are you using for a video card. As I understand it, video card makes a difference in Adobe programs.

But you could go to NeoHDV at half the price. You won't get special filters and such that Cineform packs with Aspect, but you will be able to capture and edit with Cineform's latest HDV codec.

[David Newman]

NEO is not a good choice for users wanting performance in Premiere Pro, for that you need Aspect or Prospect HD. Aspect/Prospect comes with much more than "special filters", it is a playback accelerator for Premiere.

[Kevin Shahinian]

Aspect works wonders for performance. It is worth the price.

[Mike McCarthy]

Adobe has made no claims about CS4 that would lead one to expect a performance increase for HDV editing. If you want faster HDV editing, you will need to purchase a more advanced solution. AspectHD is more that sufficient for most HDV work, and the Matrox RTx2 would be the next step beyond that, with hardware acceleration for HDV.

[Paul Curtis]

I'd add a vote for aspect or prospect in premier. just does what it says, no fuss.

i cannot see how HDV could ever be edited as well as cineform because one is an intraframe codec and the other is frame based.

No matter how you cut it with HDV if you want frame X the NLE has to jump to the nearest full frame and then scan forward creating the I frames until it reaches frame X. Obviously some NLEs do a very good job, but they'd do a better job if the video was just frame based. It just adds more processing work for the NLE which you cannot avoid.

I'd always convert HDV or XDCAM into something frame based.

cheers
paul

[Roger Wilson]

Originally Posted by Mike McCarthy

Adobe has made no claims about CS4 that would lead one to expect a performance increase for HDV editing. If you want faster HDV editing, you will need to purchase a more advanced solution. AspectHD is more that sufficient for most HDV work, and the Matrox RTx2 would be the next step beyond that, with hardware acceleration for HDV.

The Matrox RTx2 is very impressive, but I choose to go with CineForm Aspect HD so that I could also edit on a laptop. The $500 is a small price to pay when you start adding up your hours waiting for Premier without Aspect HD.

Roger

[Norman Lang]

I vote for Cineform as well. Can't edit HDV on Premiere without it. Very nice solution.

[David Newman]

Norman,

Thank you for your postive feedback. Did you know Prospect 2K user get Prospect 4K as a free upgrade.

[Gary Brun]

I also use ProspectHD and have no problems with it.
Highly recommended.

[Paul Kepen]

Originally Posted by Gary Brun

I also use ProspectHD and have no problems with it.
Highly recommended.

I agree 100% with the above. Cineform woks flawlessly. IT makes HDV editing as fast and easy as regular DV editing. I have a 3 year old AMD Athalon X2 4200 (dual core) system with 2 gigs of ram and Win XP pro. I haven't used much more then 2 tracks of video with 4 of audio, but I was still getting very close to real time performance, even with my somewhat older computer.