So assuming that I have the ProRes decoder installed on my PC will Cineform support converting it? The reason I'm interested in this workflow option is Ninja recorder from Atomos. I really would love to have a recording that goes straight to Cineform, but the Cinedeck is 10 grand! This thing is only 1 grand! I figure that native encoding to ProRes will result in some pretty awesome looking footage.

So is it possible Cineform guys?

The Ninja - HDMI ProRes HDD or SSD Recorder (http://www.atomos.com/ninja/)

We convert from any codec installed.

Since so many DDR were announced at NAB this year I thought I would give a small update on my experiment. Yesterday I received the Ninja from Atomos and recorded two small clips and imported them via HDLink (Neo4k 5.3.0.304). My camera has 3:2 pull down on the HDMI output so I had to remove that and to my surprise it worked! I went from ProRes 422 1080i 59.94 to Cineform AVI at 1080p 23.97! The resulting file played fine and could be imported to CS5.

BUT....there was small issue with the conversion. During the conversion the status bar was totally off and gave no indication of exactly where it was in the conversion process. Also the output log reported that HDLink detected the source as 4:2:0 and "upscaled" it to 4:2:2. This might be a false positive or maybe something is getting messed up. The resulting file looked fine and I could not tell the difference between the original ProRes and the converted Cineform AVI.

I will post a bug this weekend and see what the Cineform team has to say.

I'm planning to purchase either the Sound Devices or Atomos DDR and converting all the ProRes clips into Cineform. Can I convert all these using only a PC? I read that you can get the ProRes playback decoder for PC, but is this sufficient for Cineform to do its thing? I would presume so, but I just want to make sure I don't need to be on a Mac with FCP installed.

I really wish these DDRs would start providing Cineform as an extra option.

It is possible to convert ProRes on a PC as long as you have Quicktime and the ProRes decoder installed. I should have mentioned in my previous post my system info.

Windows 7 x64
4GB RAM
Core 2 Quad Core at 2.93GHz
Quicktime Pro (I think Pro isn't even necessary)
ProRes Decoder 1.0 for Windows.

actually, you could simply edit the ProRes on your Windows machine and just export the master to CineForm.

The ProRes decoder is in QuickTime for Windows.

Worked for me in CS4 on a laptop...

Digital Video CS4 - Production Premium CS4: Creating an event DVD | Adobe TV (http://tv.adobe.com/watch/digital-video/production-premium-cs4-creating-an-event-dvd/)