Version 4.2 is a nice bump in features, with more to come. You will want them just for the decoder speed up.

From the readme:
Added: timecode base at the framerate for non-TC sources in HDLink.
Added: HDLink now extracts Timecode and Time/Date info for most file conversions.
Added: ExifTool support to exact additional shooting info metadata from diskbased files, particularly for Canon DSLR sources.
Added: Add a directory structure style navigation to FirstLight passive metadata to handle the potentially large number of new metadata fields.
Added: Custom Copy/Paste Filters in First Light. Ctrl+Shift+C will bring out a window to filter which properties to copy or Ctrl+Shift+V will do the same for paste.
Added: Local (per clip) overlay templates -- now metadata layouts can be clip or globally applied.
Added: Free View 3D mode -- like side-by-side but not anamorphically squeezed.
Added: Overlays with center justification are now draggable.
Added: Green Magenta anaglyph to First Light
Enhanced: 3D overlay placement.
Fixed: Fixed a decoder performance issue as the Active Metadata color processing was on when not needed.
Fixed: a memory leak in the overlay engine.
Fixed: (3D) Swap eyes for side-by-side mode.
Fixed: MOV Import a divide by zero error when a audio track is flagged but has no samples.
Fixed: Bug in StereoMux (3D) where it would find the muxing tool.
Fixed: (3D) overlays working in YUV side-by-side, under-over and interlace modes.Enhanced:

Download links for trials and updates.
Prospect 3D http://www.cineform.com/downloads/Prospect3Dv420b235-100106.zip
Prospect 4K http://www.cineform.com/downloads/Prospect4Kv420b235-100106.zip
Prospect HD http://www.cineform.com/downloads/ProspectHDv420b235-100106.zip
Neo 3D http://www.cineform.com/downloads/NEO3Dv420b235-100106.zip
Neo 4K http://www.cineform.com/downloads/NEO4Kv420b235-100106.zip
Neo HD http://www.cineform.com/downloads/NEOHDv420b235-100106.zip
NeoScene http://www.cineform.com/downloads/NEOSceneV150b135-100106.zip

Thanks!

Hey David, any plans to release a FirstLightLUTs-pack2?

I still haven't been able to comprehend First Light fully so I usually shy away from the fancy features and just browse through a list of the LUT presets. They look great! Would love even MORE options down the road. Was that the idea? Or maybe Cineform users here can start a sharing database, that'd be cool.

We feel the users should be creating there own LUT packs. Both Prospect in CS3 and now First Light itself can export LUTs. Please create your favorite looks and share.

Added: ExifTool support to exact additional shooting info metadata from diskbased files, particularly for Canon DSLR sources.

I assume that this means that any non-Canon Exif (and XMP) support doesn't work. Some of my Cineform files have both types of metadata and dragging them directly to the exiftool.exe file does show the metadata. Firstlight only shows Cineform metadata and one freeform metadata entry that I added to the registry.

No. We add everything that exiftool reports, on new conversation only, you might be looking at an old file. Exiftool is very cool, we now need something to extract more per frame metadata. All CineForm metadata can be per frame. I think you are talking about XMP data abode (mostly uselessly) appends after import. We want aquisition related metadata. All file based HDLink conversion now append all found metadata to each frame - no sidecar files, clip only data.

Couldn't care less about any of these features. Only one thing matters: real-time Engine for CS4. When is that coming? Thanks

No. All file based HDLink conversion now append all found metadata to each frame - no sidecar files, clip only data.

I was talking about Exif data also, that I added to a Cineform AVI file at some point after conversion with abcAVItag. But I figured FL would only display whatever passive metadata came over from the camera's original video file at acquisition time. So, I assume that even if I add a tag later (even with write function in ExifTool) it won't show up in FL, unless it matches one of the spectrum of tags that you are looking for from the Canon DSLRs, etc. (like in the the screen capture that you posted).

There doesn't seem to be a generic (meaning "across all common video wrapper formats") open source library/SDK for per frame metadata (at least I haven't seen it). DVMP Pro 4 (http://www.dvmp.co.uk/) will read the per frame metadata for MPEG2 and AVCHD files, in a manner similar to the way that the German HDVdataMon freeware program did for HDV files, so it can't be that hard to do. I've never seen any extraction and/or display of per frame metadata for MOV files, but then I'm not a Mac guy. There is code online as to how to extract everything in each frame, since this has been a big virus/cryptography (Lego my Stego, hehe) issue with mp3, jpg and avi files:

http://www.codeproject.com/KB/security/steganodotnet4.aspx

Where exactly is the per frame metadata stored in an AVI file, though?

The key to the new metadata capability in First Light is new conversions in HD Link. The recent version of HD Link grabs all metadata from the video file and inserts it into the converted CineForm file. Earlier versions of HD Link did not grab all the metadata.

Couldn't care less about any of these features. Only one thing matters: real-time Engine for CS4. When is that coming? Thanks

While I understand your concern, many of us are enormously appreciative of the new features in this latest build.

While I understand your concern, many of us are enormously appreciative of the new features in this latest build.

And we understand your appreciation.

We appreciate your understanding.

I was talking about Exif data also, that I added to a Cineform AVI file at some point after conversion with abcAVItag. But I figured FL would only display whatever passive metadata came over from the camera's original video file at acquisition time. So, I assume that even if I add a tag later (even with write function in ExifTool) it won't show up in FL, unless it matches one of the spectrum of tags that you are looking for from the Canon DSLRs, etc. (like in the the screen capture that you posted).

There doesn't seem to be a generic (meaning "across all common video wrapper formats") open source library/SDK for per frame metadata (at least I haven't seen it). DVMP Pro 4 (http://www.dvmp.co.uk/) will read the per frame metadata for MPEG2 and AVCHD files, in a manner similar to the way that the German HDVdataMon freeware program did for HDV files, so it can't be that hard to do. I've never seen any extraction and/or display of per frame metadata for MOV files, but then I'm not a Mac guy...[/url]


We still seem to be talking across purposes. Take your original source files M2T, MXF etc, convert them in HDLink than load the result into First Light, you will see all the metadata ExifTool reports is now embedded (we convert the full ExifTool output input CineForm metadata.) We have nothing custom for Canon DSLRs, although they are a rich source of metadata.

I have looked at DVMP Pro 4, I should probably see if I can convince them to make a shell version that HDLink can call, so we can append its data in addition to all the ExifTool data. We don't want to reproduce their work, I would rather up-sell a script-able version of their tools through integration. Do you know anyone behind that tool?

All metadata is stored within each frame of a compressed sequence, it can't be lost, and the decoder core is aware of it (very useful for Active Metadata and burn-ins), which it couldn't do if the metadata was in the file's header or in a side-car.

I understand your appreciating and appreciate your understanding.

But seriously, my last few comments on this forum have all been complaints about the lack of mac cs4 updates. I just want to say to redress the balance a bit that when cineform come through and make neohd usable, it is going to be awesome. I can't wait to get my teeth into first light and start playing with luts. Metadata support is great too. Adobe Bridge with all of it's xmp etc power, is useless for browsing avchd files because it cant see any of the data. It might finally start to become useful.

Hope it all happens soon though. My hard drives are filling up with a year and a half's worth of avchd and mpeg2 intermediate files, waiting for the time when I can export cineform masters for proper archival.

Any possibility yet of correcting the previously incorrect framerate metadata (always 25 fps) from earlier HDLink conversions, so we can include burn-in TC windows with the correct timecode output with previous Cineformed data?

Or is that another reason you're looking at DVMP Pro 4 and similars?

Stephen, the fix for the old files is engineering work that we just can't justify at moment. Particularly as in is not an issue going forward and mostly cosmetically impacts a minority of users (PAL users can't use timecode burnin accurately.) It requires that we have a post encode metadata insertion tool that is file based, i.e. not using the database. This might happen for other reason, is so, we can consider the old file timecode patch.

Stephen, the fix for the old files is engineering work that we just can't justify at moment. Particularly as in is not an issue going forward and mostly cosmetically impacts a minority of users (PAL users can't use timecode burnin accurately.) It requires that we have a post encode metadata insertion tool that is file based, i.e. not using the database. This might happen for other reason, is so, we can consider the old file timecode patch.

Could it not be possible to "re-encode" older CF material, correcting that problem simply by detecting the true framerate and inserting in the rewrap/encode just as you did before? I would have no problem whatsoever running batchs back through HDLink again just to gain that feature.

If it's simply too much hassle/cost/pain for too little gain, I'll quit whining and live with it, but if there's any way possible to bring older mastered CF material into line, it would be nice.

This is my last complaint on this, thanks for answering.

It you converted again, using existing AVIs as source, it will fix it, yes.

We still seem to be talking across purposes. No, I understand what you are saying:

Native format metadata --> HDLink--> Identical metadata in CFHD AVI

What I was asking, but you answered it, is:

Original metadata in CFHD AVI ---> 3rd party metadata editor ---> Original + added metadata in CFHD AVI.

The "added" metadata do not show up in FL, at least for me. No matter, it's not that important.

BTW, Adobe's XMP metadata is added to the video clip and isn't located in a sidecar file. XMP metadata shows up in ExifTool in read mode (see attached text file from exiftool), with some bogus passive metadata that I added to a CFHD AVI file with both CS4 (XMP) and abcAVItag (EXIF metadata).


I have looked at DVMP Pro 4, I should probably see if I can convince them to make a shell version that HDLink can call, so we can append its data in addition to all the ExifTool data. We don't want to reproduce their work, I would rather up-sell a script-able version of their tools through integration. Do you know anyone behind that tool?

Sorry, no. The author's name is Colin Browell and I'd bet that he'd be interested. I've used it for several versions now, since HDVDataMon was no longer supported. DVMP Pro 4 is a handy tool to parse out the per frame gain settings, especially. It's only a single exe file with no additional DLLs, so there are no exposable entry points to possibly call. But that's a great idea to contact the author.

Also, a cool (but not free) metadata editor that works with AVI files (both read and write, unlike ExifTool) is MetadataTouch (http://www.digitalconfidence.com/MetadataTouch.html)

Hello,

Is there a metadata editor that works with .avi's that also allows you to add in and out points to various points in the clip and save them in metadata?

I am looking for software like Lightroom to organize all my clips but have yet to find anything remotely close.

Any ideas?

Simon

It you converted again, using existing AVIs as source, it will fix it, yes.

I re-wrapped an older 1920x1080p CFed AVI to be a CF MOV and then used local layout and TC overlay in FL to check it and it reset the TC for the 30 frames.

But, I could NOT get HDLink to re-convert the CF AVI to CF AVI under any circumstance. Is there a trick I don't know about?

EDIT:
Cancel that last statement. It suddenly decided to cooperate and works fine. I am happy...almost.

Now for that pesky CS4 RT engine... :)

It just worked for me. AVI in, AVI out.

It just worked for me. AVI in, AVI out.

Me too, now.

Thanks David, I'm a happy camper! Ahhh, you saved me many hours of work!

Hello,

Is there a metadata editor that works with .avi's that also allows you to add in and out points to various points in the clip and save them in metadata?

I am looking for software like Lightroom to organize all my clips but have yet to find anything remotely close.

Any ideas?

Simon

Hey Simon, Try using Adobe Bridge I think you can do it from there. It also os very east to batch rename files.

Bruce

It just worked for me. AVI in, AVI out.

I have one more question about FL after converting older CF material.

When I converted the CF material, both in FL (or any other viewer like Veedub64, or MPC), the timecode window only shows every other frame. It tracks correctly, but only updates every other frame.

Is this a bug or by design, or something to do with the conversion?

If you use IP structured files, you only get metadata updates every second frame. If you select "Smart render" you get I-frame only files, which can have metadata on every frame.

If you use IP structured files, you only get metadata updates every second frame. If you select "Smart render" you get I-frame only files, which can have metadata on every frame.

Can you give a quick summary of what implications that would have for these reconverted CF masters and editing?

Most of our material is still coming from up-rez HDV, or direct-from-HDMI (like V1) recording via Intensity Pro, and the reconverted material is used as masters for various target outputs (DVD, BR, direct download HD, flash, satellite direct broadcast[middle east])

summary: "Zero impact" ;)

summary: "Zero impact" ;)

Except space-wise, I-frame came out a lot bigger (15% bigger, but was much faster to re-convert).

Yes, I expected you to work that out. These days that 15% is not an much of an issue -- 7 years ago when we first designed the codec core it was very important as drives were much slower.

For sure that 15% is no biggie today. Everything else seems to be as you stated: zero impact. I tried some AE conversions of NTSC to PAL and also Flash and it was the same. So the difference in the keyframes are what determines the TC reading?

Are there any "gotchas" to watch out for with any other scaling or color conversions, or is it simply a non-issue? If that is true, the speedier conversion and TC frame rate alone is worth it to me.

Tnx

I-frames only is all we use for 444, 4444, 3D & RAW, only YUV coding offered IP frame structures. So going to I-frame is a zero gotcha workflow, we will likely set that as the default is a future release.

I-frames only is all we use for 444, 4444, 3D & RAW, only YUV coding offered IP frame structures. So going to I-frame is a zero gotcha workflow, we will likely set that as the default is a future release.

Sounds like it's time for us to catch the I-frame waves.

No more questions, and have a good afternoon in that warm SC sunshine. It's almost as good as Natal's (sooooooo sorry for the rest of you wrong-side-of-the-equators!...[except Robert in Hawaii]).

With the new Prospect HD build, is it possible with HDLINK to capture HDV from the Firewire and retain the timecode of that clip which is captured into a Cineform AVI?

Leo,
Not at the moment, all the metadata changes where for file based media. If the metadata display engine proves to be popular with we see what can be done for streaming HDV captures. File based M2T work, however the timecode reading is only correct in NeoScene (other used time of day, rather than tape TC) with will be address for the official release.

Hello David,

Thanks for the reply, that makes sense. I know in cs3 and Prospect HD the timecode was retained when the Media was captured in a Cineform Premeire pro with the RT engine via HDV firewire.

Thanks,
Leo