HV20 - DVFilm Maker Solution
 

Just thought some of you would be interested to know what is coming from DVFilm Maker's new version. Here is a quote:

"Release 2.4 will be out soon which adds 3:2 pulldown removal from HDV mpeg2 (HV20) files."

I bet this will be a lot easier then all these other methods. It's pretty cheap also!

Release 2.4 is out now, see http://dvfilm.com/maker

The 2.4 demo crashes on my XP PRO machine (3 GB RAM) right after it's loading the window:

AppName: makerdemo.exe AppVer: 2.4.0.0 ModName: quicktime.qts
ModVer: 7.2.0.240 Offset: 007fbe36

I have the latest Quicktime/iTunes installed btw.

QT 7.2 may have problems with Maker unless you put QT into safe mode.
See note at the end of this page

http://dvfilm.com/update/index.htm

The "safe mode" fixed it, I hope you are working on a fix on your side too though.

BTW, could you please quickly write down which options we should be using for HV20 footage?

For example, should we de-interlace? Which radio boxes should we click on the 24p editing options, and is there anything required to click on the Advanced options?

I know you have a guide on your site, but I guess what I am asking is: is there a specific, quick start guide for the HV20 in particular?

See http://dvfilm.com/raylight/raylightTutorial7.htm

Ok, I tried what's suggested on that page, but Maker crashed the lossless codec of my choice, Lagarith (a pretty popular open source codec). It crashed while working on the 5th frame:

AppName: makerdemo.exe AppVer: 2.4.0.0 ModName: lagarith.dll
ModVer: 1.3.14.0 Offset: 00003b00

The only thing I do additionally to what's suggested in the tutorial is to resize to 1920x1080.

Ok, this is not good.

Maker also crashed the SECOND lossless codec of my choice, the even more popular Huffuyv open source codec (used a lot by Linux apps, and FFMPEG):

AppName: makerdemo.exe AppVer: 2.4.0.0 ModName: huffyuv.dll
ModVer: 2.1.1.1 Offset: 00005042

It also crashed on the 5th frame. Please note that both my Lagarith and Huffyuv codecs were configured to encode in YUV. Please install them and try it yourself.

The actual source video that I am testing to remove pulldown is this one:
http://www.embeddedexcellence.com/vid/keeper03.m2t

Trying to export in "uncompressed" works btw, but that's not what I want to do...

Can you actually convert MPEG streams? (Have you done it before?)

I've been using Maker for a while but I have never been able to do anything with straight MPEG Streams/Programs. Have you tried converting it to AVI first (Windows platform standard "I guess")

I am trying to convert a captured 24p .m2t file to a lossless .avi file, so I can later edit that .avi file without losing quality. I am not going to add a yet another encoding on top to transform the .m2t to something else. That would be too much of my time...

I did find a bug in Maker and was able to successfully convert your .m2t file into a 24P Huffyuv AVI. I'll put the new version up soon (it will be 2.4a).

Thanks. Did that fix also fixed the Lagarith crash? I suspend is the same bug.

For the $145.00 cost of DVfilm maker wouldn't it be better to just buy Cineform Neo HDV? It may still cost a little bit more but look how much time you will save and you would end up with a format you can actually edit and not a hard to use lossless file or uncompressed file. For the $250.00 for Cineform Neo HDV you get a capture tool, a way to remove the pulldown on the fly and a great visually lossless codec that can be edited in certain NLE's in RT.

I would agree with you. Marcus' tool should be cheaper, just to compete.

Which NLE's do you mean. I looked at the product info and if didn't say which NLEs it could be used in. (Just not in Premiere, which requires Aspect).

Vegas works with it.

But won't Vegas remove the pulldown all by itself already?

No. Vegas does not support HV20's required version of pulldown removal.

So the, back to the point, what other NLEs will this Cineform product work in? Thanks!

Neo HDV provides a capture utility (HDLink) and a codec (Cineform Intermediate), for use with most any editor. It is my understanding that that also includes Premiere, though I have confirmed that continues to be the case. Aspect with Premiere provides additional color correction and speed enhancements that add to the editing capabilities in Premiere.

It is my understanding that for PC editing, Cineform produces a .avi file, that should edit with any program that can access the codec. You can ask this in the Cineform subforum here at DVinfo.net to confirm.

Yes, here are the statements from Cineform and NEO and ASPECT. For NEO is says "most" applications, then names some companies, but seems to specifically leaves out Avid. So when it says "most" don't know what applications excluding.

So, as you suggest, if I want to know I'll go to another forum. Thanks.

From the Cineform website:

# NEO: The NEO product family delivers a software post-production environment compatible with most high-resolution video/film applications on Windows and Mac OS X, including those from Adobe, Apple, Autodesk, Sony, and others. NEO supports spatial resolutions from HDV to 2K, I/O precision up to 12 bits, and numerous format conversion features including inverse telecine for 24p workflows. Features are similar on both platforms whenever possible, and resulting CineForm files are always compatible across platforms.

# Aspect HD / Prospect HD / Prospect 2K: The Aspect and Prospect family run on Windows, and include all the features of NEO. But in addition, Aspect and Prospect include CineForm's real-time video processing engine for Adobe Premiere Pro that delivers unmatched real-time, multi-stream editing performance on the Premiere Pro timeline that eliminates the need for rendering for most common functions. CineForm's real-time video engine is software-based, so it scales fully with CPU performance and is never limited in functionality as is common with hardware-based architectures. Prospect HD/2K also include the CineForm QuickTime codec for Mac.

Maker 2.4a is now online and it does fix the third-party codec
problems. I checked it with Huffyuv and Cineform.

Try it at http://dvfilm.com/maker

For $195 you can get DVFilm Raylight with Maker which also permits real time editing. The Raylight 1440x1080 codec has only about .5% added noise per generation.

Maker has a superior 60i to 24p and 60i to 30p method vs. HDLink (which reduces vertical resolution 50%). Many people already own Maker just for this purpose. This is only a factor for 60i material that does not have pulldown.

Also Maker can encode/decode many 3rd-party AVI codecs and can decode/encode Quicktime with most any codec.

Finally some minor usability points, Maker has a drag-n-drop user interface and also a built-in viewer, and previews the results while the conversion is taking place. This can help you ensure you've selected the right clip and the settings are correct before the conversion is done :)

The new demo I downloaded STILL crashes:

AppName: makerdemo.exe AppVer: 2.4.1.0 ModName: makerdemo.exe
ModVer: 2.4.1.0 Offset: 00012501

This time it crashes right after I press "start".

Also, the Quicktime bug is still not fixed and so the app still crashes on load if QT is not set to "safe mode".

I get the same error in the quicktime.qts even after installing the latest version of quicktime.....