NEO HD and Encoding License?

[Jim Browning]

I'm a newbie trying to consolidate HDV clips (I guess you would call it destructive editing) for some 'highlight reels', so I don't have to keep what will become a large amount of footage on my hard drive. I just want to keep the clips I've selected and throw away the rest (except for the original tapes). When I tried to do this, in Vegas Studio Platinum, I got an error message that my CineForm license doesn't include the ability to encode. Which product/what license do I need to consolidate clips in Vegas while maintaining the CineForm intermediate files?

Thanks...
--
Jim

[David Newman]

If you have NEO installed correctly you have the license you need. Reinstall it to make sure, and rename the CFHD.dll in the Vegas 8 directory (Vegas has a bug and it sometimes uses and older codec version -- very annoying.)

[Jim Browning]

Originally Posted by David Newman

If you have NEO installed correctly you have the license you need. Reinstall it to make sure, and rename the CFHD.dll in the Vegas 8 directory (Vegas has a bug and it sometimes uses and older codec version -- very annoying.)

Yes, I was bitten by that one when I first did the install. Thanks for the (usual) quick response, and I'll try a reinstall later today.

[Jim Browning]

The reinstall solved the encoding issue... thanks. Now a truly basic question. How do I get the latest release after my 30 day purchase download expires? Going through the update or the demo download routines isn't generating an email to me, and I don't see any way to get the latest build without an email. Not that it's a big deal right now, but I do like to stay up-to-date.

Thanks again..

[David Newman]

15-day is the normal trial. Get another email account if you can't control the spam filter on your current account. We work fine through gmail.com.

[Richard Leadbetter]

The OP's predicament usually occurs if NEO Player is installed when you already have a licensed CineForm product on your PC.

[Jim Browning]

Everything is working fine. I was able to consolidate CF clips within Vegas after reinstalling, although as David pointed out in a Vegas thread, VirtualDub does that nice and fast.

As for upgrading to the latest release, it looks like the download manager had an issue over the weekend, but I received emails (to both email accounts I tried) this morning. All is good.

Thanks...
--
Jim

[John Cline]

I, too, have been getting the "Not Licensed for Cineform HD encoding" error message when attempting to render an "HDV 1080-60i intermediate" file. I'm running Vegas Pro v8.0b in Vista64 and have installed (and reinstalled) the latest version of NeoPlayer (Windows v3.24 Build 154.) I've also renamed the cfhd.dll file in the Vegas folder.

Is there some sort of issue with Vista64? This combination works fine in WinXP.

John Cline

[Richard Leadbetter]

A tip for editing down CineForm files on a PC with no CineForm encoding license.

1. Download VirtualDub from VirtualDub.org
2. Drag and drop CFHD clip into VirtualDub
3. Under video select 'Direct Stream Copy'
4. Navigate with the slider and use HOME and END to choose points you wish to keep, press F7 to save
5. Alternatively choose points you want to delete with HOME and END and press delete to cut those clips out, then F7 to save

The good thing about this is that your original captures are being retained, there's no re-encoding going on whatsoever (hence Direct Stream Copy).

VirtualDub is also freeware. It's no substitute for a decent NLE and won't play back CFHD files in realtime, but for quick and easy cutting down of your clips it's a godsend.

[Chris Davis]

I am getting the same error. Apparently something in Vegas broke about six weeks ago and my CineForm videos would not play on this workstation. So I downloaded the NEO player and all was well.

Now I cannot render using the CineForm codec in Vegas. I'm assuming because the NEO download installed some demo version of the codec. I've uninstalled and reinstalled Vegas 8.0, but it still won't work. I'm under deadline on this project (must be done today!) and I can't render. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[David Newman]

Contact support today, tomorrow is HD Expo, so staffing at the office will be limited.

[Chris Davis]

Thanks, I've submitted a support request.

Since other people may face this problem, I want to put as much info here as possible.

I noticed that the codec settings dialog on this workstation shows I have v3.5.9, and the encoding options are disabled.

On another workstation that has Vegas 8.0, the codec settings dialog shows v2.8. That dialog has no options on it. I think my original hypothesis is correct - my licensed codec was overwritten by the demo version.

[David Newman]

You install NEO Player on one, and the other is running the codec Sony ships (which is too old to play newer files.) Why not reinstall NEO HD? That is what support is going to say.