SetActiveMetadata for Avid Metafuze at DVinfo.net

Bill Ravens · January 11th, 2009, 02:25 PM

David(s),

As I get up to speed on conversion technology, I'm realizing Cineform RAW has the capability to adjust and include metadata. Avid's Metafuze adds the capability to play with metadata on CFHD files generated with HDLINK.

So, this leads to a few questions, probably dumb, but, as I said, I'm learning. Opening CFHD files in Metafuze gives me access to metadata in the files. One option which interests me, very much, is the ability to connect LUT's to the CFHD file. Currently, Metafuze has the LUT button greyed out when I set up a CFHD file for transcoding. Am I overlooking something in the process, or is this feature not yet implemented in CFHD in Metafuze?

Referring to the Cineform Technotes, there is a discussion of using the SetActiveMetaData utility. I see no such utility in my Tools directory of the Cineform Folder. Is this a future utility or a currently implemented utility that I don't seem to have installed?

Please excuse my ignorance and bear with me as I try to understand this process.The ability to attach an LUT to my metadata import to Avid Media Composer is exciting. But, it would appear that capability is not yet implemented. Is that correct?

David Taylor · January 11th, 2009, 04:20 PM

Bill,

The SetActiveActive application is *currently* only supported on Neo 4K and Prospect 4K. Further, currently you can only modify/change Active Metadata within PPro using Prospect 4K. The current version of SetActiveMetadata, which ships with Neo 4K and Prospect 4K, will only allow you to turn ON or OFF Active Metadata that has been previously applied to a clip.

All of that is about to change. Neo HD v4 (not yet announced, but soon) and Prospect HD v4 (in addition to Neo 4K/Prospect 4K) will include a new Active Metadata application that allows setting/changing AM as a side application outside of PPro. I don't want to spill all the beans on this yet, but we have lots of near-term plans for extending our renderless color workflows using Active Metadata.

In the short term you can download Neo 4K or Prospect 4K (as appropriate) and use the existing SetActiveMetadata application in Trial mode to experiment with. Just be aware that you cannot change AM in the current application outside of PPro on Windows until we release v4.

Currently MetaFuze is simply transcoding CineForm files to DNxHD files. SetActiveMetadata defines which of the CineForm AM parameters that are attached to a file you want to include when you transcode. There is no handoff of metadata through MetaFuze, the chosen AM is flattened into the transcoded file. That said, we're having some product discussions with Avid, so hopefully we will see some improved Avid-CineForm workflows in the not-too-distant future. But no schedule for this yet.

Bill Ravens · January 11th, 2009, 04:47 PM

It all sounds way too cool. I hope Cineform and Avid can come to an agreement.
Thanx for taking the time to answer. I understand more now.

Jay Bloomfield · January 14th, 2009, 09:50 AM

This a tiny bit OT, since it doesn't directly relate to Cineform Active Metadata (which has to do with color correction, white balance, bad pixels, etc., as I understand). HDV camcorders produce tapes that contain non-video information which is referred to by a variety of terms (datecode, datacode, timecode, EXIF, tags and metadata). I am not referring to the wrapper header information, but rather, the tags that go along with each recorded frame. The freeware program HDV Data Monitor:

Translated version of http://videotreffpunkt.com/thread.php?threadid=2488

(Translated from German to Googlenglish)

... does a credible job displaying such items as aperture, shutter speed, gain etc., either from RT captured HDV streams or from M2T files. The program works with many PAL camcorders and remarkably displays everything correctly from NTSC camcorders, except shutter speed. Here is more information about HDV Data Monitor:

HDV Data Monitor - Canon HV20, HV30 & HV40 User Forum

My question is, is there any possibility that this information could be added to Cineform AVI files, along with some way of displaying it? As camcorders and DSLR cameras begin to merge as technologies, there will be more and more interest in these photographic frame tags, just as embedded GPS information is gathering interest?

Also, does anyone know whether Quicktime MOV files contain similar tags to what HDV Data Monitor can display for M2T files? I'm somewhat familiar with the h.264 spec., but I've never seen any software that can do what HDV Data Monitor does with any flavor of MPEG-4 file.

David Taylor · January 14th, 2009, 10:02 AM

Jay, besides Active Metadata we use the same structure to store Passive Metadata which is the kind of information you describe. While Active Metadata defines processing options after the decode of a frame (or sequence), Passive Metadata stores informational data. We have numerous plans for viewing or presenting Passive Metadata also, although I won't offer any specifics yet because "plans" and "schedules" aren't often the same. But in general metadata processing is important to us.

Regarding the specifics of grabbing and storing passive metadata in HDV streams, we don't have specific plans for that in the short term, but it certainly can be done within our metadata architecture.

January 11th, 2009, 02:25 PM	#1
Bill Ravens Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: santa fe, nm Posts: 3,264 Images: 10	SetActiveMetadata for Avid Metafuze David(s), As I get up to speed on conversion technology, I'm realizing Cineform RAW has the capability to adjust and include metadata. Avid's Metafuze adds the capability to play with metadata on CFHD files generated with HDLINK. So, this leads to a few questions, probably dumb, but, as I said, I'm learning. Opening CFHD files in Metafuze gives me access to metadata in the files. One option which interests me, very much, is the ability to connect LUT's to the CFHD file. Currently, Metafuze has the LUT button greyed out when I set up a CFHD file for transcoding. Am I overlooking something in the process, or is this feature not yet implemented in CFHD in Metafuze? Referring to the Cineform Technotes, there is a discussion of using the SetActiveMetaData utility. I see no such utility in my Tools directory of the Cineform Folder. Is this a future utility or a currently implemented utility that I don't seem to have installed? Please excuse my ignorance and bear with me as I try to understand this process.The ability to attach an LUT to my metadata import to Avid Media Composer is exciting. But, it would appear that capability is not yet implemented. Is that correct?

January 14th, 2009, 09:50 AM	#4
Jay Bloomfield Major Player Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Voorheesville, NY Posts: 433	This a tiny bit OT, since it doesn't directly relate to Cineform Active Metadata (which has to do with color correction, white balance, bad pixels, etc., as I understand). HDV camcorders produce tapes that contain non-video information which is referred to by a variety of terms (datecode, datacode, timecode, EXIF, tags and metadata). I am not referring to the wrapper header information, but rather, the tags that go along with each recorded frame. The freeware program HDV Data Monitor: Translated version of http://videotreffpunkt.com/thread.php?threadid=2488 (Translated from German to Googlenglish) ... does a credible job displaying such items as aperture, shutter speed, gain etc., either from RT captured HDV streams or from M2T files. The program works with many PAL camcorders and remarkably displays everything correctly from NTSC camcorders, except shutter speed. Here is more information about HDV Data Monitor: HDV Data Monitor - Canon HV20, HV30 & HV40 User Forum My question is, is there any possibility that this information could be added to Cineform AVI files, along with some way of displaying it? As camcorders and DSLR cameras begin to merge as technologies, there will be more and more interest in these photographic frame tags, just as embedded GPS information is gathering interest? Also, does anyone know whether Quicktime MOV files contain similar tags to what HDV Data Monitor can display for M2T files? I'm somewhat familiar with the h.264 spec., but I've never seen any software that can do what HDV Data Monitor does with any flavor of MPEG-4 file. Last edited by Jay Bloomfield; January 14th, 2009 at 12:31 PM.

January 11th, 2009, 04:20 PM	#2
David Taylor Major Player Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Solana Beach, CA Posts: 853	Bill, The SetActiveActive application is currently only supported on Neo 4K and Prospect 4K. Further, currently you can only modify/change Active Metadata within PPro using Prospect 4K. The current version of SetActiveMetadata, which ships with Neo 4K and Prospect 4K, will only allow you to turn ON or OFF Active Metadata that has been previously applied to a clip. All of that is about to change. Neo HD v4 (not yet announced, but soon) and Prospect HD v4 (in addition to Neo 4K/Prospect 4K) will include a new Active Metadata application that allows setting/changing AM as a side application outside of PPro. I don't want to spill all the beans on this yet, but we have lots of near-term plans for extending our renderless color workflows using Active Metadata. In the short term you can download Neo 4K or Prospect 4K (as appropriate) and use the existing SetActiveMetadata application in Trial mode to experiment with. Just be aware that you cannot change AM in the current application outside of PPro on Windows until we release v4. Currently MetaFuze is simply transcoding CineForm files to DNxHD files. SetActiveMetadata defines which of the CineForm AM parameters that are attached to a file you want to include when you transcode. There is no handoff of metadata through MetaFuze, the chosen AM is flattened into the transcoded file. That said, we're having some product discussions with Avid, so hopefully we will see some improved Avid-CineForm workflows in the not-too-distant future. But no schedule for this yet.

January 11th, 2009, 04:47 PM	#3
Bill Ravens Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: santa fe, nm Posts: 3,264 Images: 10	It all sounds way too cool. I hope Cineform and Avid can come to an agreement. Thanx for taking the time to answer. I understand more now.

January 14th, 2009, 10:02 AM	#5
David Taylor Major Player Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Solana Beach, CA Posts: 853	Jay, besides Active Metadata we use the same structure to store Passive Metadata which is the kind of information you describe. While Active Metadata defines processing options after the decode of a frame (or sequence), Passive Metadata stores informational data. We have numerous plans for viewing or presenting Passive Metadata also, although I won't offer any specifics yet because "plans" and "schedules" aren't often the same. But in general metadata processing is important to us. Regarding the specifics of grabbing and storing passive metadata in HDV streams, we don't have specific plans for that in the short term, but it certainly can be done within our metadata architecture.