HDLink -- various questions

[Alex Raskin]

I have just fixed the problem.

I guessed that if I installed 3.0 first, then maybe it'd fix the problem I was having.

Sure enough... uninstall 3.1... install 3.0... install 3.1 that automatically uninstalled 3.0 first, then installed 3.1... and no more errors!

Note to Cineform: *please* have a better installer for AHD v 3.1. It should either require 3.0 installed first; OR contain all the necessary components so 3.0 would not be needed to be installed first, one or the other.

Also: better error debugging would be nice. While experimenting, I just discovered that exactly same error (see GIF in the 1st post) can be seen on a different, "good" PC, under totally different circumstances. Namely, when trying to convert m2t file that resides not on local but on a mapped network drive. Sigh.

On the plus side:

1. Cineform engineer Jeff is great in his response speed and willingness to help. Kudos!

2. Once correctly installed, HDLink 3.1 seems to work well. I like scene detection - a new feature in this release.

Happy HDVing.

[David Newman]

Alex,

I glad things are now working, and we will be looking in the conversion across a network, issue. We don't currently know of any requirement to install 3.0 first, with the hundreds of recent Aspect HD 3.1 downloads no one has reported this. We have determined that the error is un-related to an installer issue. The 3.1 installer is actually brand new, and is a major upgrade over the older 3.0 installer -- we are finding far fewer installation issues, none to date, and it is much faster.

[Harry Saal]

Originally Posted by Alex Raskin

Starting HDLink with Aspect HD 3.1 Trial and trying to Convert any m2t file results in this Error:

Oh, and what's up with C:\Brisco folder reference in the error message?? No such thing on my PC...

I get this same bogus error message when HDLink hiccups. Misleading and useless; don't inspire much confidence in the product.

[Ben Forman]

Guys

I've been trying to get help on this issue for 3 days,it is as follows:

I had the usual rubbish after 10 seconds capture issue in premiere 1.5.1 so i downloaded HDLink 3.2 Everything was then fine, capturing and editing until I decided to speed up a clip. When I sped it up the resultant preview render was horizontal lines in different colours. When I tried to view it in a number of media players it was the same, I then tried to view my captured clips in the media players and realised that they were the same ie.

1. everything captured using HDLink worked fine in premiere but would not play properly in other external players (wmp,vlc,wmc) ie. with multicoloured stripes.
2. videos previewed from the working premiere timeline either with effects or rendered out also had the multicoloured stripes when brought back into premiere and in external players.

I have tried reinstalling HDLink and premiere pro (and the 1.5.1plugin),I have also used graph edit and gspot to check the codecs and they both seem to thin that they canrender the video even though to the eye they obviously aren't working. And I have tried two different systems.

This is really annoying as until this (massive) problem I was pleased with how the cineform stuff improved premiere, and I don't want to have wasted the last week and have to recut the video at the last minute in SD.

I have raised a ticket with cineform, but being in the uk the time delay is infuriating.

thanks

Ben

[David Newman]

We have found this to happen on a some AMD systems and we have a patch that will be available in a couple of days, along with a new release of Aspect HD and Connect HD with enhanced JVC 100U support. Your access to this download will be granted shortly.

[Ben Forman]

David

I have now tried a clean install of Premiere Pro 1.5.1 and AspectHD trial on a Pentium 4 and am having the same problem still. The only thing that has been constant in the three tests I have carried out is the monitor.
Please have one of your guys contact me ASAP this is the third day I have spent on this issue.

thanks

Ben

[Ben Forman]

ok i've done some tests and found a work around it seems that

1. anything captured on the AMD works in premiere but will not render or export
2. anything captured on the AMD will also work in premiere but not render or export when transferred to a pentium
3.anything captured on the pentium will work and render and export from the pentium.

This means that I now need to recapture my entire project onto a pentium.

Ben

[David Newman]

No more workarounds needed. Aspect HD 3.3 will address this issue for AMD captures plus add a range of features and enhancements. Download it from www.cineform.com.

[Raul Blanco]

So, does this mean that everything captured with Aspect HD 3.2 on an AMD machine that has this problem (for example mine) will not work once upgrade to 3.3 and it will be necesary to recapture?

Thanks.

[David Newman]

Unfortunately yes. This effected AMD users with 3.2 only. The error is in the captured file so Aspect HD 3.3 can't repair the capture error, it can only prevent it happening again. If you have a lot of work that needs re-capturing I do have at least one thing to try that may work (if you haven't combined 3.3 captured footage in the same project.) It is hack that works on the theory two wrongs might make a right, unfortunately none of our systems had the issue, so nothing to test this on. Email me if you wanting to try this (click on my name to the left.)

[Raul Blanco]

I have emailed you... I really can't believe it. You don't know how many problems I had previously trying to import the footage because of the incompatibility between Sony Z1 and windows... and now another one.

Well, let see if this fix can do something on my work.
Thanks a lot.

[Dan Robinson]

After a month of shooting HDV file footage it's time for me to archive and backup tapes.

Using Connect HD, I can capture in HDV video in HDLink, convert the m2t to Cineform AVI, then import the AVI into Premiere. After trimming, titling and assembling raw clips into packages for archiving, I can export to a Cineform AVI, then use HDLink to convert back to m2t for writing to tape.

The end product looks fine, but I'm concerned about the number of generations needed to get from start to finish. Is there a way to export to m2t directly from Premiere? Before I bought Connect HD I had the trial of Aspect HD installed. Aspect resulted in Premiere having a 'Cineform HDV Export' option as well as 'Cineform HDV AVI' option. Is there a big difference between the two?

The only work I'm doing with HDV now is shooting and archiving alongside SD work I'm already doing. I could just capture bits of video in m2t then sequentially (batch) export them back out without involving Premiere, but I need to organize the clips into packages, and log timecodes and scene information (starting at 00:00:00) for each package. I could do that using HDlink, but it would be a little tedious - and I also wouldn't be able to trim down the individual m2t files and add title screens.

[David Newman]

Connect HD is not designed to work with Premiere, you really should consider upgrading to Aspect HD if you intend to edit the footage. HDLink doesn't convert AVI back to M2T, for that you should use CineForm M2T option under Export Movie (only with Aspect HD.) Premiere 1.5.1 only has the export to tape option, which has interlacing issues for some transitions in HDV. Also 'Cineform HD Export' is significantly better that the free 'Cineform HDV AVI' option -- everything has been upgraded, quality controls, scaling algorithms, and many things I have now forgotten.

However, as it seems your are only chopping up M2T data, Connect HD will work fine for you capture to M2T data, but you might consider Womble or similar for making your packages. This is only if you intend to change nothing, not color correction, no overlay'd titles (which all benefit for Aspect HD), then a tool for just triming MPEG might work out for your workflow.

[Dan Robinson]

Thanks David,

I think the Womble software along with Connect will take care of the archiving tasks, I'll give that a try. I actually like that option better as there is no re-rendering and it should save time. For titling, I think I can just keep making titles in Premiere, string them together, export to tape, then re-capture with HDLink. That way I'll have m2t titles that Womble can attach to the captured clips. That should be easy enough since I'm only doing this once every month or so.

For now, I'm at least able to import Connect's HDLink AVIs into Premiere to get frame grabs and export edited AVIs for WMV HD encoding, which I might have occasion to do every now and then for web display. Otherwise Premiere can stay out of the picture for now since I have no immediate plans to produce anything in-house with HDV. If and when I get to that point, an upgrade to Aspect looks like a sure bet.

Thanks again for the info!
Dan

[Michael Stewart]

I noticed today when I go to take an existing m2t file and convert it, it does not allow me to choose the destination, it defaults to the same location as the m2t file, can that be changed? Did not notice if that was possible in Aspect 4.0.

Thanks
Mike