There is an important message on the cineform website indicating that GoPro are abandoning Premium and Professional users. We have already been kicked in the teeth by Abobe with thier creative cloud ripofff. The main reason for choosing Cineform was the availability of the Premium version. The free Studio is very light weight product. Sony Vegas Pro still does support the cineform 3D files.

All this goes to strengthen my support for Open Source Software. So please would Gopro release some of the software to Open Source.

Wow... R.I.P. the Cineform we all knew and loved.

This is what happens when you get "acquired" in full by another company. To manage resources better, things have to be cut. Unfortunately, this is beyond the point of being saved.

Avid DNxHD and DNxHR are likely the last tools left for a good intermediate codec on PC.

I feel really bad for early supporters that have paid for Prospect HD/4K now.

It's unlikely they will release the core source for their software, cause it is still in use in their free product, watered down to a completely diluted state. The codec was standardized into SMPTE VC-5, but likely elements still remain closed source: https://www.smpte.org/news-events/news-releases/gopro%C2%AE-cineform-codec-standardized-smpte%C2%AE-vc-5-standard

Heck, DNxHD is VC-2 and FPGA devs (Convergent) still can't get access to the codec without asking Avid.

Avid DNxHD and DNxHR are likely the last tools left for a good intermediate codec on PC
Unless you are a Edius user with their Canopus hq(x) avi codec.

But I don't think that's open to other NLEs, I'm talking about codecs open to other NLEs and are relatively stable on PC.

Don't care what anyone says, ProRes is NOT STABLE on PC.

Ok, but you said first that avid's codec where likely the only intermediate codec option on pc, it isn't.

I said the only GOOD intermediate codec left. Cause you can go from DNxHD in acquisition directly to post on the PC without hassling with Quicktime if you use the MXF container. CineForm has never gained ground and will never gain ground now for acquisition. I have no idea if you could acquire using Canopus.

I said the only GOOD intermediate codec left

That still doesn't make your assumption right, the edius canopus hq avi codec is a very good intermediate codec usable on a pc but it works best in Edius ofcourse for which is was designed for. Now if you would say that as a adobe user or as a sony vegas user that good intermediate codecs would be limited I could agree but you didn't say that, you said on a "pc" in general and than avid codecs are not the only "good" option available.

Guys, guys!

Noa I think what Jack was getting at is that on the PC platform Cineform could be used with just about any PC based NLE. It was and still is a very good cross program intermediate codec. I have Edius here as well and the HQ codec is great but not all windoz based video players / applications can handle it. I have used Cineform for years, mainly in the earlier years when processing power was not so readily available or at least not at reasonable prices. The codec has a lot going for it as stated here:

CineForm - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CineForm)

As Jack says DNxHD is pretty well an industry standard, is cross platform and cross software compatible and works better better on the PC than does ProRes, especially on long form productions. DNxHD and Cineform are straight to edit acquisition formats. To lose Cineform is a shame because that basically leaves us only ProRes and DNxHD left for shoot and straight to the timeline codecs other than those that are camera manufacture specific.

Cineform was one of the few open codecs that got SMPTE ratification as a high end broadcast and cinema quality acquisition / production format. Slumdog Millionaire just to name one film that comes to mind was shot using Cineform for acquisition:

https://www.smpte.org/news-events/news-releases/gopro%C2%AE-cineform-codec-standardized-smpte%C2%AE-vc-5-standard

It's just a shame to see a good codec lost to us.

Chris Young
CYV Productions
Sydney

I know, I just wanted to point out that there is a good intermediate codec available for pc, which was suggested was not the case, I can use a hqavi codec in after effects or tmpgenc software as well so eventhough it is optimized for use in Edius it looks like to be compatible with other software. With the right software you don't need others option to be able to edit whatever codec.

It's just a shame to see a good codec lost to us.



My point exactly, and ProRes is not PC friendly at all.

I can believe your word that Canopus can be worked into other NLEs with elbow grease, but you have to think about simplicity in a wide deployment, like a post house. DNxHD has less steps to get it working with a wide variety of PC NLEs and lots of people have worked with said setup, and specific configurations are shared more with DNxHD setups, due to more editors using that kind of a setup.

The CineForm codec is not going away:
- There are 100X more seats of GoPro CineForm now than there was 4 years ago.
- CineForm has been standardized as SMPTE VC-5 (and GoPro is continuing this support.) see https://www.smpte.org/news-events/news-releases/gopro%C2%AE-cineform-codec-standardized-smpte%C2%AE-vc-5-standard
- CineForm 444(4) is now included in Adobe CC and the completely free GoPro Studio (on Windows and soon Mac (currently 422)). see Adobe Premiere Pro CC & the new GoPro CineForm Codec - YouTube
- CineForm is actively being updated and continues for the foreseeable future. I've been working on some very cool stuff that requires CineForm.

What is not being updated are the transcoding tools, basically now that GoPro CineForm codec is effectively free, use can you many third party tools. I acknowledge that there are still some feature gaps between FirstLight's Active Metadata support and GoPro Studio's, and we be will looking into that.

The future of the CineForm codec is way stronger now that it isn't tied to a $300 per seat license, and is a key component in GoPro's future.

I feel really bad for early supporters that have paid for Prospect HD/4K now.

This part is funny. Prospect HD/4K was designed for Premere Pro 2.0 and worked based with CS3 (does everryone remember having to avoid CS4?), which was released in 2007. In you haven't got your money worth in 8 years, I would suggest another line of business. I would also imagine that Prospect and CS3 still work great together today. ;)

If you are really thinking early supporters, extra an thank you goes to Aspect HD customers using Premiere (not Pro) 6.5 in 2003.

The codec was standardized into SMPTE VC-5, but likely elements still remain closed source:

The SMPTE VC-5 package comes with reference source code to build a encoder and decoder pair.

The future of the CineForm codec is way stronger now that it isn't tied to a $300 per seat license, and is a key component in GoPro's future.

David I am glad to hear this as will be many other editors who have to work across a broad spectrum of platforms and codecs.

With regards to ongoing developments could you get your dev team to look into an issue that has raised it head for a number of GoPro Studio users. There have been numerous postings around the web and how I know this is that I was one of many who suddenly encountered an unexpected issue. The issue was an error dialogue cropping up when opening up other software after uninstalling GoPro Studio. The error dialogue is:

"Error at loading ippSP library" - "No DLLs were found in the Waterfall procedure"

This error is caused because Gopro Studio version 121, plus I have heard other versions, removes

'ippsw7-6.1.dll'

when you uninstall GoPro Studio.

Naughty. Not a nice uninstall at all! No way should an uninstall of GPS remove ippsw7-6.1.dll from the windoz System 32 or SysWOW64 folders.

In my case it was GPS v121. This was a real PIA and took a while to chase down and rectify.

Thanks in advance and yes thanks again for the positive heads up on Cineform.

EDIT: BTW would GoPro ever consider doing what Avid have done with their DNxHD codec? Making it FREELY available for download as a configurable codec pack, both encoder and decoder, for use on both PC and Mac without having to install GoPro software packages.

Avid were very forward thinking in doing this... or were they pushed into this by their cross platform users. The latter I think but whatever it has made the DNxHD codec a very popular and widely accepted cross platform codec family. It might behoove GoPro to take a look at doing something similar. Deliver your codecs in your own software that needs to be purchased but look at the wider distribution and acceptance of the Cineform codec as a download pack for zero cost or at least a smaller nominal purchase price for industry professionals who wish to use it. For GoPro it would raise its profile and credibility in the production business greatly with little material cost to GoPro's bottom line which has exploded over the last year or so. Just a thought.

Chris Young
CYV Productions
Sydney

The SMPTE VC-5 package comes with reference source code to build a encoder and decoder pair.

Licensing rules/restrictions?

For example, DNxHD (also SMPTE standard) may be a free DL for Quicktime MOV from Avid but is restricted for non commercial use. Avid wants money to be included in a product AFAIK. Same for Cineform?

Can someone put Cineform in Libavcodec (ffmpeg universe).

Norman ~

To the best of my knowledge the Avid Codecs LE package has no restrictions at all on its use. The Avid Codecs pack PE on the other hand may have restrictions due to it containing the Avid MPEG2 IMX codec that may have licensing restrictions.

LE pack
Avid Codecs LE v2.5 (http://avid.force.com/pkb/articles/en_US/download/Avid-Codecs-LE-v2-5)

PE pack
Avid Codecs 2.3.7 Download (http://avid.force.com/pkb/articles/en_US/download/en423319)

if you are a manufacturer of hardware or software that utilizes Avid technology then yes there are definite licensing requirements to be met.

Avid | Avid DNxHR and DNxHD Codec Licensees (http://www.avid.com/US/resources/dnxhd-codec-licensees)

I know of no network having to enter any agreement or pay for the professional use of any Avid codecs used outside of proprietary Avid software such as Composer.

For developers of Avid codecs it is free to use, including the new DVxHR codec, until such time as you want to go commercial with it.

Well I trust that is still the case otherwise my editing life is built on a lie! Shock, horror! :))

Chris Young
CYV Productions
Sydney

Hi David,
Thanks for clarifying. If you could clarify just a little bit more that would be helpful.

Mainly to do with Cineform RAW. I am now heavily invested with Blackmagic design cameras and use RAW4pro to allow the Cineform workflow. It is the only reason I bought the cameras. I can avoid using Da Vinci. I can use Vegas and grade in firstlight with extraordinary results. Will we still be able to transcode from Cinema DNG to Cineform RAW with the publicy available tools after the support ends?

I have spent a tidy sum of dollars in licences over the years and Hdlink is crucial for my transcoding from mxf to Cineform. Studio cannot do it at the moment. Where will we be left? HDlink does so much more IMHO.

Will you create an unlicensed/unprotected version of the transcoding tools? What happens if I move to a new computer in the future. Lots of questions, sorry but a bit worried. Thanks for your time. Henry

See, I went through and witnessed another company acquisition that went from caring for it's community to being limited to the Public Relations byline. This was a classic example.

Even if the source is "freely" available, it's still a pay-for standard. SMPTE standards are only "free" to SMPTE members, and hardware implementations still require the permission of the people that make it. That is not a "free" codec, just like XAVC isn't a "open" codec, which is why Canon made their own XF-AVC once again.

As pointed out earlier, deleting System32 files in an uninstallation is a BIG no no. And with support ending, should a bug get introduced in the final Jan 2014 version, that will never get fixed.

The activation servers WILL shut down by the end of the year, then it would be impossible to transfer activations between machines, rendering it useless should a machine's HDD die and you wish to transfer your license to a new install of Windows. The codec may live on, (albeit restricted) but to see this era end like this is exactly what I don't like about major acquisitions. Microsoft acquired Skype... look where it is now... It's the least configurable it's been ever and the UI is filled with ads and poor design choices. IDK about you, that sounds like they purposely ruined it for anyone that used it pre-acquisition.

QUOTE: "The activation servers WILL shut down by the end of the year, then it would be impossible to transfer activations between machines, rendering it useless should a machine's HDD die and you wish to transfer your license to a new install of Windows. "

Yes I've seen this sort of thing happen before. GoPro should at least issue last updates with serials that can be used on any platform and that are not locked to a specific CPU / HDD combination. The trouble is that most software we use is under an End User License and that leaves us high and dry should GoPro decide to rescind that license. Just looked at my first Cineform activation, Sept 5th 2006. Kind of sad to be passed over with no more updates etc after this long.

Chris Young
CYV Productions
Sydney

I understand that change can be hard, but that is the better approach, the way many of the original CineForm folks (all still at GoPro) have been seeking. We had to end the old before anything new can happen; you will just have have to wait and see if our vision is successful.

Respectfully David,
If the change means that we cannot use tools that are a crucial to our workflow anymore - that's not hard - that's disastrous, and I am sure you can see that. There are no options for me when it comes to what Cineform does on a PC - so again please bring clarity as to what we are losing. The sooner the better

But if the change means we can use our current tools with more freedom and fewer restrictions, then more power to you. I look forward to what is coming down the pike.

Now, about the transcoding tools - that is the heart of Cineform. IMHO

In my case - I use your stuff for realtime capture via HDMI using an intensity card, MXF transcoding from a Nanoflash and Blackmagic cDNG to Cineform RAW conversion. HDlink is a monster for all sorts of things as well.

So to simplify my question. Are these transcoding options getting lost forever once your servers get the lights out or do we get them in a free version?

Best
Henry

IMHO, the focus is conversion specifically from the actual Hero cameras, and all other conversion tech will have to go by the wayside, so "better" is in fact only for the Hero cameras.

Capturing, MXF conversion, and RAW conversion will all HAVE to go by the wayside, so yes, expect the features to be either lost forever or intensely crippled.

For the codec the future is pretty good.

For HDLink, its future was already bleak 5 years ago, as it was built to solve issues for HDV (remember tape?) cameras. CineForm stopped feature additions to HDLink tool well before the GoPro acquisition, and had begun its deprecation. But I hear the concern if your workflow is based in these old tools, then a licensing error would be major. Noted for further thought.

David ~

Glad to hear some thought might be given to the existing user base. I think it is a wise move and can only benefit GoPro as it will keep faith with the existing user base that is always evolving into the new user base. Don't do an Apple and crucify the faithful who have supported GoPro / Cineform in the past. What Apple did to their FCP users still resonates among many people who had invested a lot of time and money into FCP. I know many media professional who will never allow an Apple product back in their premises. But that's Apple, the 'i' product bottom line is where the money is. With the money Apple make it would have only been a minor financial heartache to have continued FCP and slowly wound it down giving the user base time to transition elsewhere. GoPro could look at a Microsoft type scenario. We can still use XP if we wanted to even though MS no longer offer support for the legacy product. XP can still be installed and used even though it is dead and gone.

It is a short sighted company that doesn't look after its legacy customers. Customers who in the long run are training the next generation of media professionals coming through who will be using products such as those offered by GoPro. It's never good to poison the waters and sow disquiet amongst the existing customer base. Goodwill is the cheapest form of advertising and looking after legacy customers can only spread the word about how good the Gopro / Cineform people and products are.

Not a good comparison regarding the software but the attitude of Scenalyzer when it came to the end of its life was admirable. The return on investment for the development of Scenalyzer had been made. Andreas Winter could have just closed down and forgotten about all who used his software but instead he did a decent thing. Many business entities could learn from this type of corporate goodwill example. I ask GoPro to please do something in a similar vein as to what was offered by Scenalyzer to its existing user base . What was done can be seen here.

ScenalyzerLive Page (http://www.scenalyzer.com)

Chris Young
CYV Productions
Sydney

Awww shucks, just gotta get this off my chest. Please understand my rant is because I am a passionate loyal user and this is in an informative yet fun spirit. And I do still have faith in your guys to pull a rabbit out of the hat so to speak so I wait with anticipation....having said that.......this is the opinion of one your customers......

100% agree with Christopher. Goodwill is free loyalty. May even lead to more Gopro camera sales. Funny how these things work. Loyalty will lead folk to do strange things, even go to the trenches for you. But once it's lost. . . . or your loyal following become disgruntled . . . . . . all bets are off. I remember watching a video of how you guys started out. It was done by a small news channel and it was a few guys in an office and you guys came across so well. Small startup - innovative. I have followed your work over the years on the blog and here as well. At every step of the way you guys have led and most importantly of all you have listened to your user base. Timelapse with a 5D in RAW - check, colour grading, check. The only company to support Blackmagic capture cards properly - even better than their own software!!!!Check. Slow down, speed up, pitch up and pitch down audio man I could go on....

David, I think you undervalue your own product somewhat. Perhaps it's a small niche but though HDlink may appear to be a dinosaur to a progressive company wanting to innovate and 'move on' but it still has plenty of value left in it even in a tapeless workflow. As I said it does Soooo much and is without any peers. It solves many, many problems quickly. Why kill it?

Here is another company that took care of legacy users heavily invested in their product. Those who don't need it's usefulness don't care anyway and those who need it are cared for.

FX Teleport (http://www.fx-max.com/fxt/purchase.html)

I suggest something similar or a key generator ( gasp ). The best option is to strip the copy protection off altogether. Oh and as if on cue and it's so not funny, my desktop Cineform activation broke last night ( seems as if the server software de-activates any antagonistic posts on web forums - of course I am joking). Will have to start another ticket. Would be so nice to not have to do that.


I will finish with a final theme. Cineform is a company I have loved since I realised what the products did. You guys think like me in a way. It's like you got into my mind. I needed to colour grade but couldn't afford Speedgrade. So I got Speedgrade onset and with Firstlight it was like having the fullblown speedgrade minus a few functions like masking. Saved a few thousand right there ( except another acquisition by Adobe messed that up - still have my license but CC means I may not be sure for how much longer ). I thought, I want to capture HDMI 4:2:2, Cineform was there. I thought I want to use my weak computer to edit HD and beyond, Cineform was there. I thought I need to slow down my 30p footage to 24p and Cineform was there. I thought, I want to be able to use my nanoflash footage in Firstlight. You guys were there. I thought maybe studio is a nice replacement - but hold on - Gopro Studio cannot deal with my Cineform RAW avis - they load to a nice black screen - but Firstlight works great. Funny how Studio hates it's own format. Once my edit is done - I needed to render to a master file that wasn't uncompressed. Cineform was there.. . . . You get the picture right? And that's off the top of my head. Now one can get a myriad of tools to do all these things but why bother when I can have one that does it all. And what about capturing my tapes in a few years time? Many of us still have shelves of tapes lying around. Family stuff, professional stuff, weddings etc. The technology has moved on but the tapes are still there and one day, I may decide to do an edit, or a company may want some archive footage. Yes there are other tools but why bother when I have one great tool to do it. I do NOT look forward to a day when I wish to do any of these things and CINEFORM is not there!!!

And so Gopro had an idea. . . . acquisition and I thought, here we go again I hope this plays out well. I have been burned before - anyone remember Gigastudio and Tascam! But I was also excited because of the possibilities. But Gopro bought this incredible software to transcode h.264 from an action camera! Really - I mean come on this codec has some serious heritage. A camera shooting to it won an Oscar!! It is big league stuff. Transcodes Red footage at any resolution. A true indie film industry disruptor if there ever was one and now that a Blackmagic Pocket cinema camera costs what - half a grand. BMPCC to Cineform RAW paired with Cineform Firstlight is unbeatable for independents. You have a huge market waiting to be exploited if you think about it. Now is not the time to get out the game IMHO. Just when a 4k workflow is on the hoizon and a wavelet compressed codec to encode to makes sense - that's when the towel gets thrown in. The intermediate Codec market didn't just die - it opened up. In a studio controlled environment for greenscreen with the Blackmagic design intensity 4k. To manage file sizes where do we turn now? The blackmagic URSA mini. Who wants the huge file sizes from DNG when Cineform can make them perhaps half the size and retain the colour grading workflow that is NLE agnostic. And one can play it back without needing a supercomputer with 64 cores!!!!!!Alexxa 65, RED Vistavision in 8k. Imagine being able to grade all of that without needing enough power for a small town and eight graphics processing to play it back? Seriously guys, take a leaf out of Blackmagic design's approach. See what they did with Da Vinci Resolve. Yes it is married to their cameras but is full blown - no crippling - and they continue to advance it - more people buy their cameras - more people use their software and depend on it the more people stay loyal to the company ecosystem. 101 in marketing. It's easier to keep customers than create new ones right? I humbly suggest you consider doing the same as BM. With Sony, Panasonic, Blackmagic design and others sniffing up the backside of Gopro in the action cam department, Gopro can do with some big ideas. Not even new ideas - you have the best tech already in house. I even suggested to you on twitter last year that you think of a Cineform RAW camera. SD cards are fast now, really fast. Can keep up with Cineform 4k easy. A Gopro that can shoot to Cineform RAW has been on the cards for years. In fact that was what I thought the acquisition may have lead to. A hardware company marries a software one to improve it's hardware. Guess I was so wrong and seems Blackmagic design thought it was a good idea. Bet they sell a few million of the action cam - what's not to like about it - small size, drone ready, global shutter, 13 stops of dynamic range, RAW? Atiny part of me did wish BM had acquired you guys because they seem to be the front runners in affordable high quality innovation at the moment for professionals. They think for us and even think ahead. Consumers can always benefit from tech dripping down after all. But when the pro side is abandoned? So where is the Pro in Gopro Cineform? Perhaps a name change to GoConsumer Cineform is more apt hey he he he!

Please, please keep firstlight, RAW transcoding and HDlink available in a painless form. Don't care if it never gets updated again. The rest to me is fluff. Transcoding to mp4 for youtube? Got better tools already. As long as I can use the Cineform tools until my professional worklife ends - it is too crucial. At least give me the option until Windows dies. I know you may allow other third parties to join in but why re-invent the wheel?

It may be that what comes next from you guys deals with every concern I have but the fact that you have to think about it is worrying. I sincerely hope that what's to come will blow us away, otherwise it will be a rather sad end. I truly hope you guys keep a big vision and getting into our heads to solve all video related problems and not get smaller in ambition - a casuality of big company corporate politics. Seen it so many times now, but why my beloved Cineform. Please consider the points I have raised. Working in a corporate bubble can put one out of touch with the grass roots - that's where Cineform belongs, it is where it shines. The independant film-maker and above..........at least IMHO. How would a consumer understand the need to transcode already compromised video - 8 bit MP4? The damage is already done. Why bother - but uncompressed, RAW or prores high quality. Now we are talking - that's when Cineform makes any sense at all again IMHO.

Good luck David and co. I hope I will still be a part of your ecosystem in the future. Is it the end of the world , heck no but it would make my workflow so much harder without the transcoding tools.

( I apologise if this is in poor taste but I thought it was worth a chuckle ) - GoPro is doing some corporate restructering due to a change of direction and this is the new logo.

"Gopro Studio cannot deal with my Cineform RAW avis - they load to a nice black screen - but Firstlight works great. Funny how Studio hates it's own format."

CineForm RAW works fine in GoPro Studio, likely something you are setting for the default curve or metadata. You should contact support, Jake will still help you on that.

I will try to be short
David I'm an huge fan of your work, and I understand that is Gopro and not you the head of decision, but I would like where we can write to Gopro head to show the real situation :

- now low budget raw cameras are a real, like bmcc, digital bolex, kineinfinity (that record directly in cf raw), and cine form is the unique codec raw on market, the affirmation that codec still live is not correct, only part of it...
- missing cf studio pro and premium mean miss active metadata pro, stereo tools, raw tools
- actually is not possible to encoding raw cine form without go pro studio prem or pro, and without its command line utility.

With raw4pro utility every cf users can encode a cine form raw with audio sinc in batch, preview etc, that meaning you not need to do more, only to keep alive the tools.

Go out from a growing market when it start is not a good commercial action..
Anyway, my question is :
is possible to start a kick starter or similar to promote 6 month of additional develope of goprostudio premium and pro to add a simple thing, an hardware key, that mean I continue to use my license independent from my actual computer, that can be broken, damaged, or simply stolen...
I know that Rainbow hardware key is not so complex to add in developing, you can add for every start of software.
I just have hardware key for 3D software, davinci and more, one more is not a problem, but come back to old and obsolete workflow with proxy and more for 4k raw is a problem...

That was a dirty great big surge of apprehension I just had on first reading this latest topic.

I am a relic still shooting on a SI2K using DVR2. The SI2K records natively to cineform. With Adobe's move to a rental model, I am waiting for DaVinci Resolve to mature as an editor.

It will be a big kick in the gizzard if am I am rendered unable to update or re-register Cineform in its already owned Neo 4K flavour or the GoPro 4K version at 2K resolution functionality when the computer inevitably dies and a clean re-install to a new system is needed.

I have been caught with a screenwriting software that went bellyup and product support evaporated. Luckily I found a hack and was able to keep it going. I nearly aquired but luckily did not aquire another screenwriter which was swallowed up and shut down by the purchaser.

Whilst the camera-recorder working in DVR2 can export to DNG and DPX, it is an extra in-camera-only step and a huge data increase, when cineform at 2K is fine. Free GoPro as I know it will open and play back 2K as a plug-in but will not export 2K.

The likely few current users of the SI2K system likely will not justify the software writing to enable 2K exports with free GoPro as a plug-in for Adobe CS6 and DaVinci Resolve.

I might be barking at shadows here. Some reassurance would be appreciated along with advice of what I should do. From one West Aussie to another. Cheers.

Can someone put Cineform in Libavcodec (ffmpeg universe).

I havent seen that code, but since it is reference it is probably much slower than anything real.

I might be barking at shadows here. Some reassurance would be appreciated along with advice of what I should do. From one West Aussie to another. Cheers.

I think you'll find you won't get any solid reassurance from official sources whenever it comes to shutdowns after full acquisitions. The only future proof option is DPX and DNG now for the SI2K.

Just saw this topic. As the owner of a Neo3D license I'm wondering if there will be activation issues in the future regarding my license.

It's still working perfectly for my editing needs with my Adobe production software. But will there be problems down the road at one of those inevitable times I need to re-install and re-activate my license?

And yes, I'm one of those who has used HDLink for capturing and removing pulldown from HDV tapes. What happens with future capture jobs from my tape archives if I can't install/activate my license?

I've already been affected by Adobe turning off the activation servers for older versions of their production software, a version of which I wanted to re-install earlier this year for a particular purpose. I paid for the license and while I understand the reasoning behind activation, I'm still not very happy when I am denied the use of otherwise perfectly functional software that I paid for.

Frankly, this is an issue with software activation. It really does harm the legitimate, licensed user when a company doesn't address the issue adequately when a program reaches EOL and the activation server(s) get shut down.

The software may be old, even considered legacy, but if it installs and functions and is still useful to those who purchased a license, why effectively leave it useless and crippled for existing owners?

@christopher
A friend of mine have your same problem with after cs3 and Photoshop cs3, he call Adobe and after some annoying talking they give him an address of ftp where there are version of cs3 without activation, only serial code.

@gopro
If product die, you can ripoff protection scheme and send to all user with a simple serial.
If you kill professional product, it will be dead and without value.
If you are feared about piracy, from many years exist trial reset that allow to use without pay it.
We legal user, who support develop, hope to see a way to use it in future, if we want cineform is because it's an excellent product, not replaceable with anything in its unique property like active metadata, Raw support, multiresolution driving performance, stereoscopic tool.
Please keep it alive

Analog videotape restoration is a large part of my business and I use HDLink daily to capture direct to Cineform from a Blackmagic card, FirstLight is also an integral part of my workflow. I guess as long as my current installation of Cineform Studio Premium and the computer on which it operates continues to work, I'll be OK for the time being. I'm mainly concerned about FirstLight, there isn't anything else available that can do what it does. We'll see...

I am a relic still shooting on a SI2K using DVR2. The SI2K records natively to cineform. With Adobe's move to a rental model, I am waiting for DaVinci Resolve to mature as an editor.


A number of people are using Cineform in Lightworks, you also have the option of purchasing a license rather than the subscription. You can test the free version, although the exports are limited to Youtube 720p.

Dang... this sucks. Yeah I second some of the sentiments here. I don't care about further support but seriously, can we not have a permanent unlocked version of Cineform Pro as it stands now? I mean I would like to keep using HDLink

Frankly, this is an issue with software activation. It really does harm the legitimate, licensed user when a company doesn't address the issue adequately when a program reaches EOL and the activation server(s) get shut down.

The software may be old, even considered legacy, but if it installs and functions and is still useful to those who purchased a license, why effectively leave it useless and crippled for existing owners?

The single word answer to this question is MONEY. They want you to finally spit out that well chewed piece of gum and grab a new piece.

-gb-

Free GoPro as I know it will open and play back 2K as a plug-in but will not export 2K.

On Windows systems, the current free version of GoPro Studio can encode at 4K and beyond.

The single word answer to this question is MONEY. They want you to finally spit out that well chewed piece of gum and grab a new piece.

-gb-

The new piece of gum is the free version of GoPro Studio and you're welcome to continue chewing the old piece as well. The activation server is still up and running and i'm still here to help if you have activation problems.

On Windows systems, the current free version of GoPro Studio can encode at 4K and beyond.

Thanks for that info Jake. I will give it a shot and see what happens.

On Windows systems, the current free version of GoPro Studio can encode at 4K and beyond.

Yep. And with Mac I use After Effects to encode CF.

The new piece of gum is the free version of GoPro Studio and you're welcome to continue chewing the old piece as well. The activation server is still up and running and i'm still here to help if you have activation problems.

Good to know, Jake. I was merely making an observation. Haven't had any problems myself.

-gb-

ehm...
i don't know why GoPro head decide to stop Premium and Pro version developing, but about some comments on money before mine, if is only because it not catch enought money why not do a new payed upgrade?

from what i saw cineform for users is free upgrade around the years, every other software i bought (with exception of zbrush where user installed licences grow at exponentially speed) every year or two go out with a payed upgrade, that pay developing team and developing cost.
I not understand why many people think that software update is not a work, and want not pay a work of developers per years.
every years i spent a bit of my budget to update software, like mocha, adobe suite, lightwave3d, cinema4d, plugin update like i update when i can my hardware camera, lens, filter and more..

i will be happy to see a new Uber GoPro Studio with new feature, or only actual features with a better integration of some tool for ingesting video, frame sequence etc. And i will be happy to pay the work of developing of new tool. better if is it with an hardware key that allow me to move from a computer to a computer without this annoying internet activation, be cause i often change hardware of my computer, and i hate everything lock me to some hd or a cpu, be cuase cause me too much time to spent to activate tool instead to use it.

The new piece of gum is the free version of GoPro Studio and you're welcome to continue chewing the old piece as well. The activation server is still up and running and i'm still here to help if you have activation problems.

That's great to know Jake. My motherboard just crapped itself and have updated to a X99, fortunately all the hdds plugged straight in and everything booted ok. I was anticipating having to go through all the activation stuff but it all seems ok. I'll let you know if I have any probs.

Good news for some of us


Well I got an e-mail from RAW4Pro and they have just released a version that does not require a paid Cineform license but can still export to Cineform RAW and video. Good news for all you Blackmagic design camera users and also any camera that outputs Cinema DNGs.

I must say this is a step in the right direction and excellent news and I assume this was done in collaboration with GoPro. If so, I hope it is a sign of things to come that will truly free us from being tied down with activation required versions. Nice one Gopro - made my day......that's how you win friends........

@christopher
A friend of mine have your same problem with after cs3 and Photoshop cs3, he call Adobe and after some annoying talking they give him an address of ftp where there are version of cs3 without activation, only serial code.
Thanks Carlo, I appreciate the tip.

Last request to the Gopro Cineform guys,

Would it be possible to have Firstlight as a standalone program? I am not sure whether it has to have an activated version of Cineform to function but it certainly 'checks license' at boot up. If not and we can use it with an un-activated Premium product, then ignore this. If so then can you unhook it? I think I have had to accept that I can live without HD-link as I can use Vegasaur in Vegas to do pretty much all my transcoding for me.

But Gopro studio is too buggy on my system for grading.

So I have come to realise that actually the most brilliant part of the products I used was actually Firstlight. Everything else is sort of covered but it always just worked on my system with few issues.

Best
Henry

"Error at loading ippSP library" - "No DLLs were found in the Waterfall procedure"

This error is caused because Gopro Studio version 121, plus I have heard other versions, removes

'ippsw7-6.1.dll'

when you uninstall GoPro Studio.

Naughty. Not a nice uninstall at all! No way should an uninstall of GPS remove ippsw7-6.1.dll from the windoz System 32 or SysWOW64 folders.



ohhh I remember that drama - That was end end of cineform for me - a good product screwed by gopro

In order to prepare for all the changes coming forth, I have built up a new editing rig, fresh installed Windows 10 and reinstalled/deactivated and re-activated the last version of Cineform Studio Premium (2.0.1 b319). Alongside that, I also installed the current free version of GoPro Cineform Studio (2.5.6). My workflow is within Adobe and everything is great except one thing - video capture.

Does anyone know if there an alternative to HDLink software bundled with Cineform Premium that can use Blackmagic cards (Intensity/Decklink) to capture directly to Cineform (preferably .avi)?

I can do away with Cineform Studio Premium but this one problem is keeping me from moving forward and just use the free version of the codec. Unfortunately if I use native capture within Premiere Pro CS6/CC 2015 I have no choice but to either use what's provided by BM: Uncompressed, MJPEG, or DVCPROHD - all of which I am not really thrilled about because it will require an added step to convert captured media to CF files rather than in real time as with HDLink.

update: I dug around a bit more and I found something I haven't used in ages which may work. VirtualDub. I'll report back after I do some testing.

update#2: Scratch that.. I cant get capture to work properly. I can get it to display live feed video through BM Intensity card but when I try to capture using CF VFW codec, I get a "Video compressor error: The source image format is not acceptable. (error code -2)." If I use a BM's MJPEG or uncompressed, it works fine. GoPro Cineform Codec v9.0.5 is listed but it doesn't seem to work...

I cant get capture to work properly. I can get it to display live feed video through BM Intensity card but when I try to capture using CF VFW codec, I get a "Video compressor error: The source image format is not acceptable. (error code -2)." If I use a BM's MJPEG or uncompressed, it works fine. GoPro Cineform Codec v9.0.5 is listed but it doesn't seem to work...

I do use v9.0.5 to capture and encode in VD. Afaik this codec works best with rgb24 data so if your card is giving something else this may be the problem.

RGB24 is very common in VFW, but not the most efficient for compression. YUV through VFW is tricky, but better (faster.) We also implemented v210 -- 10-bit YUV through VFW, I know VD can be made to support it. Unfortunately I don't have hands on experience with this type of capture.

Well so far, I have tried different settings and have been unsuccessful so far with VD + Cineform + BM Intensity card.

I am open to suggestions, are there any other alternative hardware/software solutions that will allow me to capture in real time using Cineform (non-Premium)? Perhaps Aja/Matrox? I am willing to alter workflow but I would like a method to be able to acquire footage via capture directly to Cineform.