Greetings. I have a few questions for the Cineform gurus.

We are using the Cineform intermediate to edit our feature on a PC system. All footage was shoot on XL H1s and captured via Premiere CS3 as M2T and converted in HDLink to AVIs.

We have a Unit team that shot additional footage across the country on a XH A1. They are on a Mac system.

What is the best way for them to transcode the footage to match ours? I did some research and it appears that FCP does not export M2Ts. Does the Mac version of CS3 export M2Ts? Could they transcode directly into Cineform?

Any suggestions would be very helpful. Thanks so much for your time.

Edgar

Edgar, your Mac team can download and install the CineForm Mac codec as long as their Mac is Intel-based. Then they can export directly from FCP to CineForm MOV files. You can then move those files back to Windows.

You will likely need to re-wrap the files to AVI files as PPro (Windows) doesn't do a perfect job using the MOV wrapper, but you can experiment with this. If it doesn't like the MOV wrapper then simply re-wrap the files to AVI using our HD Link (part of all CineForm products). Re-wrapping does NOT touch the underlying compression - it simply replaces the MOV wrapper with an AVI wrapper.

Thanks so much David. I am big fan of Cineform and I am closely watching your progress on PC CS3 integration with the Red One, as we will be getting our camera in the next month.

Are the file size for Cineform .MOVs the same as the AVIs?

Edgar

Thanks so much David. I am big fan of Cineform and I am closely watching your progress on PC CS3 integration with the Red One, as we will be getting our camera in the next month.
We will have some additional announcements about CineForm support for Red One in the near future - stay tuned.

Are the file size for Cineform .MOVs the same as the AVIs?Edgar
Yes, for a given quality level, CineForm file sizes are the same other than the small deviation related to the wrapper information, but that is insignificant.

Is Neo HD the proper release for the Mac team to encode Cineform .movs? Thanks.

Edgar

Yes. Neo HD comes with two S/Ns - one for Windows which includes our HD Link capture and conversion utilities, and a Mac S/N for the CineForm Mac codec.

Thanks. Can you get the Mac codec without the bundle?

Edgar, the Mac codec comes with the Neo package which includes both the Windows license and Mac license.

Hi David. What is the proper aspect ratio to export on the Mac for a PC Aspect Premiere project? It allows for 1920x1080 and 1440x1080. Does it make a quality difference? Thanks.

Edgar

Edgar, there is no "right" spatial resolution. It depends on your deliverable format and also the resolution of your source footage. If you start with HDV there is no visual quality to up-rez to 1920, but if your final deliverable is 1920 then you'll need to up-rez at some point. If you have mixed source footage (1440 and 1920) you will probably want to up-rez to 1920.

We support both resolutions depending on the project needs. If you have specific project parameters you're working with we'll be glad to offer some suggestions.

Thanks David. You guys rock at Cineform! I am closely following your effects on Reduser and I hope that you guys will be "allowed" to release your converson tool after NAB.

It is a little off topic, but while we are on the subject of 1920 deliverables... What is the best way to get the cleanest upconvert from 30p Cineform Aspect 1440 x 1080 (1.33) Avis? We are planning on exporting 1080p, DVD and BluRay masters.

Edgar

Just take your 1440x1080 1.33:1 files into you DVD mastering tools, if 1920 is needed that will happen automatically.