HDLink -- various questions

[Stephen Armour]

David, the HDLink with the new 4K upgrade is not capturing from any of our HDV cams.

In CS3, the capture works just fine.

HDLInk recognizes the cams, but is giving a "missiing video header" error and terminating.

If it helps, I can screen capture the log (hardcopy logs would be a nice feature to add to HDLink...)


Suggestions?

[David Newman]

Contact support as it working here. Are you running 3.3.1.167A, there was a small patch to the installer a few days ago.

[Stephen Armour]

Originally Posted by David Newman

Contact support as it working here. Are you running 3.3.1.167A, there was a small patch to the installer a few days ago.

No, just the original release version. I can download the new patched ver. and see if there's any dif.

[David Newman]

Or just install this small patch
http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=123287

[Stephen Armour]

Originally Posted by David Newman

Or just install this small patch
http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=123287

The patch "healed" it. Tnx!

[Leslie Wand]

i was watching someone capturing and editing with cineform / cs3 today, and noticed they were capturing with hdlink. now i know i can download a trial version, etc., but i've searched around for answers here and on the sony site without too much success vis a vie using hdlink to capture with vegas.

what i would like to know before i waste / invest any time / money is....

a. does hdlink work happily with vegas (ie the captured / converted files), and if so, does it capture and convert on the fly reliably (e6600, 3gb ram, dedicated sata drive)?

b. is the 'high' quality in hdlink noticeable better than that supplied with vegas cf?

c. will it print back to a sony 15 vtr more reliably than vegas's ptt?

d. is it worth my while considering i rarely do compositing to any degree, most of my work is doco, so is pretty much cut to cut, a bit of minor cc'ing, titles, etc., and so far, editing m2t's hasn't caused me any serious grief?

e. ah, most importantly, does it capture the original tc, and is there anyway of batch capturing with it (neo)?

thanks for you time,

leslie

[David Taylor]

a. Files captured with HD Link work perfectly fine with Vegas

b. Yes. CineForm's software has updated components compated to those shipped with Vegas. Plus you get the myriad of pre-processing features (telecine removal, etc) unavailable otherwise with Vegas.

c. no idea.

d. your call. CineForm offers improved visual fidelity compared to editing m2t files. We have quality analyses posted on our website you can review. But we also tell people that for simple edits that don't push your images in post, and if you're only doing one level of render, that you might get by with native m2t editing. Personally I would never do this, but not everybody is image critical.

c. HD Link does not batch capture, nor does it retain source HDV timecode. Those are features that are on the list but not yet implemented.

[Leslie Wand]

many thanks david for you reply, precisely what i was looking for....

other than i'm still not sure i need cf for the work i do (i can certainly see it's benefits when it comes to more serious post production). of course, it's a question only i can answer - having used the built in version on a couple of ocassions i can't really see the need for it, but then again, if i decide to start using magic bullet looks and the like, it could be a whole different story....

ptt is a temporary step since i don't have bluray at the moment, so it's a minor point.

the major, and it is MAJOR, is the lack of batch capture with hdv at this level. once cf does have it, it's certainly on my shopping list!!!

again, thanks for your time

leslie

[Dan Parkes]

I have only a few days left of a trial of Prospect Cineform and am seriously thinking of purchasing the software, especially after seeing the results on a large screen at my local multiplex (the colours looked wonderfully vibrant).

However I have had a couple of glitches that have made me think twice The most recent was a 24p-25p conversion of a 15 minute HD2 (720p) avi file. Initially I was impressed -it converted it in good time, the 4% audio increase was fine (compared to the same conversion using Adobe Audition) and most interestingly the file size went from 40GB to less than 5GB! But then I discovered the last three minutes of audio was missing... This was the second time to attempt such a conversion and the same issue occured both times (fortunately I could replace the missing audio).

I would be interested to know if anyone has any ideas on this. I am using CS3 software on a QuadCore with 3GB RAM running VISTA, and double checked all Cineform Pref settings. The only two other issues I have encountered are Export to Tape failure and MultiCamera editing failure. The other features will likely outweigh these issues, but any help appreciated.

Sincerely
Dan

[David Newman]

720p24/25 CineForm AVI should be around 6-7 MB/s, so your 15-minute film should be between 5-6GB. So the file size is correct. I gather 40GB source was uncompressed YUV. I haven't heard any reports of the missing audio. How did you generate the source file? If we can repeat the situation here the audio can be checked out.

For tape to tape we recommend using HDlink's export over Premiere in built feature -- use Export Movie and select CineForm M2T (we think the quality is better.) Multi-cam is not accelerated.

[Dan Parkes]

Thanks for the reply David.

Yes, the original file was an uncompressed avi. file It was edited on a Matrox system -but not a 'Matrox' avi file as far as I know.

I will try the HDlink export method again, as it was not working a few days ago, while the export out of premiere worked fine.

Regards
Dan

[Nimesh Shrestha]

hi david,
I am very new to this forum. I saw your replies over the frame rate conversions and really impressed with your answers.I am having a big problem here. I shot the footage using Sony's HVR S270 E hdv camera at 25p.Now I need to convert it to 24p. Is there anyway that I can convert my footage to 24p without losing much of the quality? Please do help me.
Thank you.

[David Newman]

Yes, 25p to 24p is the easiest of the conversions (no quality issues.) But it is a question for a new thread. In that thread you should explain your production needs so user can help (not just me) guide you.

[Nimesh Shrestha]

Thanks David. I used cineform prospect HD to capture the footage at 25p and edited on Premiere Pro CS3 and the final project was exported as cineform AVI file.Now I need to convert it to 24p to give a film look and for the film transfer.Can you help me out.
Thank You.

[David Newman]

It is a question for another thread. Note: you can filmout from 25p.