Cineform transcode time?

[Jay Handleson]

Hi,

I just downloaded the Aspect HD demo this weekend and have imported a couple of clips from my FX1 into Premiere 1.5.1.

After capture, Cineform transcodes the file, a 2 minute clip takes approximately 10 minutes to transcode. Is this normal? If this is the case a 1 hour video would need to be captured and then left overnight to transcode.

Additionally, I have a Rex RT card in my system that I can get external monitor out when not in HDV, but when I switch to HDV, I have no monitor out, not even through the FX1.

I am running a P4 3.2 w/2GB PC 3200 RAM on an ASUS P4C 800E Deluxe.

Thanks,

Jay

[David Newman]

Jay,

Actually you conversion times are way off. My home PC is identical to yours (only I have less memory) and it has a conversion speed of 1.5 : 1 (so it would complete a 1 hour tape in only 90 minutes -- not too bad.) All the with-in spec PCs will convert faster than 2:1, modern dual CPU systems will approx 1:1. When using Premiere make sure you are using the "CineForm/Aspect HD" presets (not the HDV presets which are Adobe only modes.) To test that there aren't other system issues, use the HDLink tool to capture a raw M2T first (that is real-time 1:1), then use the conversion tab to convert that file (and time it.) This will test you what your system is capable of.

You Rex RT will not work with HDV, sorry. You may have problems if you trying use its firewire ports for capture (could be way your conversion times are off.)

[Steven White]

Seems off. My conversion times are approximately 60% of real-time (i.e., 1.67x as long) on a 2.8 GHz HTP4 with 1 GB of DDR400 RAM on an ASUS P4C800 using HDLink, and I had similar times with PPro 1.5.1 before I upgraded.

-Steve

[Jay Handleson]

David,

Thanks for your prompt response.

I'll check the HDLink solution tonight.

I figured that the Rex would probably not work with the Cineform plugin, but thought I should be able to preview out through the FX1. Is that a limitation as well? I am using the firewire input from the ASUS MB for capture.

If so, is there a preview solution for this motherboard? I currently have the GEForce FX5600 8X AGP card for graphics. I do not want to lose dual monitor support.

Thanks,

Jay

[David Newman]

To support dual monitor and preview output does require a triple head card -- so I can't immediately think of a solution. Adding a PCI GFX card of another output would be my best guess (however use the AGP card for the video out for speed.)

[Jeff Baker]

I had the the same hopes for my DV storm, but it turns out creating and scaling an HDV image is huge work and whole new ball game. I can't even preview HDV from the camera to a monitor like I could with DV.
It seems you have to step up to a PCI-X card to do the job.

Is there a PCI or AGP solution for viewing HDV on an external monitor?

[Jay Handleson]

I don't think PCI-X works on my motherboard, so it looks like I'll be building a new system for HDV.

[Derek Serra]

I have a dual computer monitor setup plus external broadcast monitor/TV setup running. You'll need either the triple-head Matrox Parhelia AVPe card or a dual monitor PCI-e graphics card with HD out for your TV/monitor plus one computer monitor and a second graphics card to run your second computer display. I have the Nvidia PNY540 card with a cool HD breakout box with component, s-video and composite outputs. Too bad I'm experiencing a glitch on playback which PNY, Cineform and Videoguys are trying to solve. Apart from that it's great having the familiar dual monitor plus external CRT to edit with as I'm used to the Canopus DVREX-RT, which I still work on for SD projects.

[Jay Handleson]

Well I came home and tried the Cineform HDV capture, transcoding took 4 min 45 sec for a 1 min 50 sec clip.

Additionally, playback after capture is impossible. Stuttering, stopping, dropping frames.

And I can preview out through the FX1 during capture, why not during playback?

What am I missing here? These times would kill on a long project and how would I possibly know what my project looked like?

I wouldn't have a problem upgrading the video card, but I'd sure want to know that Aspect works as it should before I committed to it.

Fortunately I have no HDV clients yet, but if I did, I'd be in trouble.

Thanks,

Jay

[David Newman]

Jay,

Please file a trouble ticket so support can offer their help. Something is not correct with your system. As Steven posted, he is getting signicantly faster times on a slower PC than your -- and I know his (and others--) playback is not an issue. Help us find a solution for your PC.

[Jay Handleson]

Thanks David, I'll let you know.

[John McGinley]

As for adding a 3rd Monitor for previewing.

I bought a PCI GeForce FX 5500 and an AGP GeForce 6600, and I can preview with a dual monitor setup. The Gigabyte Geforce card I have also has a component out, but since my little widesceen LCD is DVI input only I haven't gotten to use that function. But the way I have it working is the widecreen LCD monitor is plugged into the DVI port on the AGP card and 1 CRT is plugged in the second port and the other is running off the PCI GF5500.
In Sony Vegas 6.0b it works best as you can setup your additional monitors as the preview monitor. I got 30FPS in Preview (auto) mode which is obviously downrezzing and about 15-19FPS in Best (full) these are with the Cineform V1.2 codec that ships with Vegas.

I tried setting the fullscreen overlay to use the LCD fullscreen for use in Premiere, but the fullscreen overlay wouldn't work with HD res footage My cheap little westinghouse monitor registered 'out of sync range' when I tried to play it. I set the Resoultion on the monitor to 1280x720 at 60hz which is below what they list at 1280x768, so I'm not sure what's going on. I tried using the refresh override in Nview and it sorta worked when I hit the apply button, but whenever a new video would play it crapped out again. I scowered DirectX and Nvidia forums looking for fixes, hacks or workarounds with no luck. Even DV res with the overlay was kinda wonky. But when I work in premiere I just stretch the work area to the 3rd monitor and expand the 'monitor' in premiere the the extents of the lcd monitor. Not the ideal soultion but it's working on the cheap.

Hope that helps. And if anyone has any idea how to get full screen previewing with Premiere working, I'm all ears. I think it may have something to do with the fact the other monitor on the card is using a 4:3 aspect resolution.

My system specs for those who are curious.

P4 HT 3.2GHz, 2Gigs of Ram, 2 256 meg video cards

As an aside David, do you think I'd get a better frame rate in Vegas' Best(full) mode, if I got the full version of ConnectHD?

moderator note: The full version of Connect HD (vs CineForm bundled with Vegas 6.0) doesn't improve editing speed but it greatly improves capture and conversion speed and adds many more capture options (auto scene breaking, reverse pull-down, frame rate conversion with audio pitch maintainence, quality control etc.)

[Derek Serra]

"Well I came home and tried the Cineform HDV capture, transcoding took 4 min 45 sec for a 1 min 50 sec clip.

Additionally, playback after capture is impossible. Stuttering, stopping, dropping frames."

There's definitely something amiss with your setup. Before buying AspectHD I ran the trial version on my older P4 3Ghz system with 1gb Ram and it worked as advertised. On my new AMD3500+ with 2gb RAM it's even faster. Not quite RT on capture, but pretty close. Of course, if you're capturing multiple clips using batch capture in the end there's quite a wait as all the clips are converted. I'd thumb-suck an extra 10sec/1 min of footage but I'll actually sit and time it next time I do a capture. After capture the Cineform footage works just like DV footage, perfect playback on the timeline, etc. If you render out to camera the final product looks great! AspectHD definitely works.