Connect HD questions.

[David Newman]

Jeremy,

Good questions. The confusion is over CineForm's use of the term "intermediate" which we derived from the film workflow "Digtial Intermediate" not from the concept of temporary "proxy." In film digital intermediates you don't go back to the source negative. The CineForm Intermediate is not a proxy for the M2T data, it completely replaces it. We are like an uncompressed workflow -- only much more convenient due to file size and speed. We adopted the branding of "CineForm Intermediate" during the post production of "Dust to Glory" where CineForm compression was used through out and was the final master format. So that is the philosophy. From these AVIs you create your master, to go to whatever output format you want : WMV9, AVC264, MPEG2, DVD, D5 or film.

[Jeremy Rochefort]

Finally - a concise and honest answer! - thanks David

First, thanks for the quick reply - from what I can gather from the forums - a Cineform standard!

You have just gained another customer!

I will be doing some tests to satisfy my own curiosity but from a workflow point of view, you have certainly enlightened and satisfied me.

Many thanks

Jeremy

[Mark Woollard]

My initial experience with HDConnect 1.7 has been very good. I capture m2t wtih automatic conversion to CF Intermediate. That saves hard drive space and gives me very good quality for editing. So far I've output the final edit to two different formats, wmvHD for playback on a computer, and back to m2t (HDV) for printing to tape. I played the latter through a Christie LX 45 projector and was very pleased with the result.

When I first started using HD Connect, I thought the time delay awaiting completion of auto conversion would be a workflow problem. The delay is equal to about 50% of the total length of the clip. I've adjusted my documentary production workflow to capture shorter clips (e.g. not usually longer than 5 or 6 minutes, and often only 1-2 minutes) and while the auto conversion is happening, I review the next portion of tape and cue it to avoid capturing the interviewer's questions and fluffed answers. I find I waste very little time this way. This probably wouldn't work so well for long-form event productions but I don't do much of that anyway.

Hopefully Vegas will soon have this function built in.

[Steve Crisdale]

Originally Posted by Mark Woollard

Hopefully Vegas will soon have this function built in.

That would be nice... and it's something that many HDV newbies are mistakenly beguiled into believing exists. I don't think it's likely to happen unless the HDLink tool can be made to work somewhat like a 'plug-in' for Vegas, so the captures are made directly to the Media Pool/Timeline.

Any possibility of that?

As things stand at this point in time, anyone who has a HDV camera and a PC who isn't using a Cineform product, is not getting as good a final product as they could...

[David Newman]

Originally Posted by Steve Crisdale

As things stand at this point in time, anyone who has a HDV camera and a PC who isn't using a Cineform product, is not getting as good a final product as they could...

Can we quote you. :)

[David Newman]

Regarding the HDLink direct integration into Vegas, this would be nice. The Sony Vegas engineering team (hopefully) will be adding more of these features over time. Unfortunately I'm not aware on any plug-in API that would allow CineForm to do this itself.

[Steve Crisdale]

Originally Posted by David Newman

Can we quote you. :)

Sure!!

I know there've been those who've questioned the need for Cineform products in dealing with HDV; but from my experience with editing HDV from my HD10u and FX-1e, ConnectHD has been an integral component of creating video - both SD and HD - that has truly lived up to the expectation and promise that HD carried with it when I decided to jump on the HD technology train...

Thanks for your efforts David, and your involvement with the HD community.

[Mark Woollard]

I'm a one-man operation using Vegas to edit--primarily on my desktop. I'd like to start using my laptop for some smaller projects. Vegas lets me have two installs. Does CineForm?

[David Newman]

Yes and No. One purchase is only for one license. However we do recognize that the laptop to desktop work-flow can require a second install. Contact technical support to request a laptop activation.

[Mike Teutsch]

David,

I've got Aspect HD on my main, can I get it for my laptop too? I got the laptop later and now use it more than the desktop.

Also, when I bought it, I asked for the disk to be sent when available, hard copy, but never did get it, is it ready yet?

Thanks david,

Mike

[David Newman]

Some policy applies to Aspect HD.

If have forwarded you inquiry to sales regarding a physical copy to see what happened.

[Mike Teutsch]

Thank you very much David. I can't express how much it means to have you as a major contributor to this forum. I wish there were more reps like you.

Mike

[Serge Victorovich]

I'm very interested in the possibility to use Cineform codec for real time
capture and compression in combination with inexpensive card.
I know about expensive combination Prospect HD and AJA Xena card.
But i can live with 4:2:2 8bit use Connect HD or Aspect HD
for capturing 720p from cmos camera head and capture board
like this:http://www.epixinc.com/products/sv9m001.htm
Anybody tested Connect HD with differents capture boards?
Thank you in advance for any info,
Serge.

[David Newman]

Connect HD is not currently setup for this as the camera source image is bayer formatted, not RGB 4:4:4 or YUV 4:2:2 which is expected by the CineForm codec. You will also need to gamma correct the linear data coming off the camera head. So there will be a lot of pre-processing required to compress of the fly -- so much pre-processing that you will spend for more on your PC than will will on any other gear to maintain real-time capture from a bayer sounce into Connect HD.

HOWEVER, we have been developing a new compression technology to directly compress bayer source without all the processing overhead. Unfortunately this market for frame grabbers is smaller than that of HDV, so a bayer compression tool can't be priced as inexpensively as Connect HD. This is currently undergoing a licensing discussion, so today I can't annouce details.

[Serge Victorovich]

as the camera source image is bayer formatted, not RGB 4:4:4 or YUV 4:2:2

David, but if this cmos camera head inside have a dsp and can output filtered signal YUV 4:2:2 through GigE or 1394b, in this case is possible encode to PHD? Or only solution is camera with SMPTE 292M HDSDI output and Xena HS as capture card? And last question:Prospect HD able to resolve non-standart resolution 1280x1440p24 (combined two streams 1280x720 by over-under stereo3d)?