Update - CineForm Adobe CS4/CS5 Support

[David Taylor]

As all CineForm customers using Adobe CS4 are aware, our full support for CS4 is well behind our expectations. This has been frustrating to our customers, and to us as well. In this post we want to give you a final update about our intended support.

BACKGROUND: Adobe was very late releasing its 3rd-party SDK to integrators for CS4, so it put CineForm and our peers behind schedule from the beginning. In fact the CS4 SDK today still contains bugs that make CineForm's integration into CS4 difficult. Given the relatively short period of time remaining before the release of CS5, we have consulted with Adobe on the best strategy - do we continue full-speed ahead working on CS4 or should we move to CS5? Adobe informed us they will not fix any bugs in the CS4 SDK, and unfortunately one of the bugs we face is critical to the CineForm workflow. So our next step was to test whether that bug was fixed in CS5; we have confirmed that the bug is fixed in CS5.

PLAN: Given that information, and given that Adobe has already released the SDK for CS5, we have decided that our customers will benefit more in the long run by CineForm being out in front of the CS5 development effort rather than continuing to push on CS4 - which would in turn make us late to the party for CS5. Therefore, our plan is to:

1. Immediately begin work on CS5 – in fact, we have already begun.
2. We will add one more key feature to our existing support for CS4 which is to add project management support - the ability to properly trim projects.
3. Our intention is to ship Version 5 CineForm products for CS5 at the time Adobe ships CS5. CineForm v5 products, including new features we will offer in HD Link and First Light, will continue to support CS3 and CS4 for those customers who do not upgrade to CS5.

WHAT ABOUT EXISTING CUSTOMERS? All CineForm Prospect HD/4K v4 customers will receive a no-charge CineForm upgrade to the full version of our Version 5 product for compatibility with CS5. Anybody that purchases Prospect HD/4K v4 from now on will also get this free upgrade. To make you are aware, there will be additional features that will be part of our v5 release although we’re still working on details so we don’t want to pre-announce anything yet.

We apologize one more time for the difficulty we’ve encountered in our CS4 integration, but the silver lining is that CS5 looks to be a step-up for all.

[Mike Harrington]

Thanks for the update....dissapointing as it may be.

[Craig Irving]

Thanks David,

The news isn't disappointing to me. I'm just relieved to hear there will be a no-charge upgrade to v5 which I'm happy will add project trim and full compatibility with CS5 (on or near launch date). That's appreciated.

[Graham Hickling]

That sounds very fair to me, given Adobe's stated position on the SDK.

Can someone post a link for CS5's minimum and recommended system requirements? Do we know yet?

[Brian Parker]

What about neoHD users? Do we get the free upgrade too?

I bought neoHD for Adobe CS3 (mac) and was told to upgrade to cs4 for compatability. 16 months and 150,000 yen of adobe upgrades later I still own an expensive product that I've never been able to use.

Will you at least add the importer to NeoHD mac to make it cs4 mac compatible? I could do without realtime features if I at least have a way to edit and export my cineform files in Premiere CS4.

[David Newman]

We will be doing CS5 importer for both platforms ASAP, while I expect that a CS4 Mac importer would will be straight forward, we will complete the CS5 work first. If we don't go back to support CS4 Mac we will consider that upgrade, but for the general audience Neo products are unaffected by this decision.

The primarily reason to focus on CS5 now, is we want to find SDK bugs while Adobe is still in its beta cycle, not after it is over, this way there is chance bugs can be quickly addressed (rather than CineForm having to work the long way around them.)

[Rich Perry]

Any word on release dates, April?

[Marty Baggen]

I have been one of the most vocal on this board when it comes to the stalled integration of Cineform with CS4.

There has been some disappointment, first with the hurdles originating with Adobe. Then, with decisions from Cineform to table the compatibility efforts late last Fall.

Whether I have agreed or been happy with any of it is irrelevant, even more so with this announcement.

Put another way, regardless of our feelings on these difficulties, Cineform has been transparent with their efforts and difficulties as it pertained to this situation. Can anyone here imagine a similar attitude from Adobe? Wouldn't it be fascinating to get an honest, unvarnished dialog from their Chief Tech Officer about why their programs leak memory, or under perform, or add senseless complexity to its workflow..... or, God forbid, why their software is hostile to a product that enhances performance and productivity.

The plan mapped out on this thread is sensible and fair, and offers a solution to the highest priority incompatibility..... the recognition of CFHD for the project manager within Premiere.

The most frustrating thing about all of this now is the fact that Adobe is going to have their hands in my pocket for an undeserved payment to "upgrade".

Let's just hope that this time around they have a damn good understanding of precisely what that word means.

[Brian Parker]

Originally Posted by David Newman

If we don't go back to support CS4 Mac we will consider that upgrade, but for the general audience Neo products are unaffected by this decision.

I wonder if we could talk about a refund for my purchase then. I still believe in your proudct, and I may purchase it again in the future when it works (and when I can afford the next upgrade to CS5), but I didnt get what I paid for, and I gave you guys an awful lot of faith.

[Marty Baggen]

Originally Posted by Graham Hickling

Can someone post a link for CS5's minimum and recommended system requirements? Do we know yet?

Hey Graham..... I think this has a lot of pertinent info:
http://blogs.adobe.com/genesisprojec...e_me.html#more

[Graham Hickling]

Thanks .... I also recall some discussion somewhere of (large!) memory requirements - but I can't re-find it and I can't recall if the numbers being quoted were required or just recommended.

[Marty Baggen]

Yeah.... the figure I've seen is 12gig.

The philosophy seems to be, 'let's require so much RAM, no one will notice that any has leaked out".

[David Dwyer]

Originally Posted by Brian Parker

What about neoHD users? Do we get the free upgrade too?

I bought neoHD for Adobe CS3 (mac) and was told to upgrade to cs4 for compatability. 16 months and 150,000 yen of adobe upgrades later I still own an expensive product that I've never been able to use.

Will you at least add the importer to NeoHD mac to make it cs4 mac compatible? I could do without realtime features if I at least have a way to edit and export my cineform files in Premiere CS4.

Yes I'm a NeoHD user and have held off upgrading to PHD due to no need for CS4.

What will be the options for NeoHD users and CS5?

[Leo Baker]

So Adobe are forcing the world to upgrade again, I did not feel that cs4 was a huge jump from cs3 a few new features but not worth the price tag they were asking.

Maybe better to just stick with Adobe cs3 where the Cineform real-time engine works.

[Bruce Gruber]

Not only is adobe making your spend more money on there product but now you hvae to spend money on a new Nvida video card