Progress continues, yet another beta release.

[David Newman]

There are many changes going on under-the-hood with these new public betas, that is why the full point version jump. This should tell you not to use this beta if your are in the middle of a critical project. Changes from x.x.0 to x.x.1 are almost always just bug fixes and minor enhancements, 4.2 to 4.3 more is going on. The codec is now at version 6.0, although the we where running out of digits as we were internal at 5.9.5, so the 6.0 version (while earned) is not huge significant change (although there are subtle changes that will make Active Metadata even more cool.) So while the list of changes is growing, we are placing the tracks for more to come.

From the readme:
Added: Alpha channel reading support for CS4.
Added: Project Management / Trimming support to the CS4 MOV and AVI importers.
Added: CineForm SysTray control now can set the demosaic filter for RAW sources.
Added: (3D products) FirstLight now has an OpenGL surface output for full secondary monitor via Gfx card (in addition to AJA and Blackmagic support.)
Added: (3D products) FirstLight supports quad buffered 120Hz shutter glasses stereo.
Added: (3D products) FirstLight supports full screen modes for single monitor systems.
Added: (3D products) FirstLight supports full and windowed screen modes for passive polarized 3D monitors.
Enhanced: Codec bumped to v6.0 (details to follow.)
Enhanced: Codec calibrated for all pixel formats up to 5K
Enhanced: Dragging an existing clip into FirstLight now reselects that existing item rather than an error message.
Enhanced: many tweaks a fixes to HDlink for supporting more and more cameras.
Fixed: 4:2:0 to 4:2:2 upsampling for AVCHD sources.
Fixed: (3D products) slight vertical and horizontal displacement with FirstLight's zoom.
Fixed: (3D products) left edge having some cross talk with the right edge under very slight zooms.
Fixed: crash that happened white balancing the first frame on a CineForm MOV file in FirstLight.
Fixed: Histograms, which were not accurate and different between RGB and YUV display modes.
Fixed: vertical offset in the Framing Active Metadata was backward in RGB(A) 8bit modes to all other pixel formats.
Fixed: 444 encodes, decoding as 16-bit YUV had a level shift.
Fixed: FirstLight overriding camera ColorMatrices -- rare.
Fixed: full res alpha channel decodes in 16-bit modes.
Fixed: uninstall will now disable the systray tool.
many more tweaks.

Add I forgot to add in the readme files, shell tool upgrades
* R2CF.exe now supports Red's new sensor, new color math and camera builds up to 30.
* CF2DPX now support the output of CineForm new DPX-C format (compressed DPX files)
* DPX2CF.exe now support DPX-C rewrap back to AVI/MOV

He are the direct links
Prospect 3D http://www.cineform.com/downloads/Pr....240-Setup.exe
Prospect 4K http://www.cineform.com/downloads/Pr....240-Setup.exe
Prospect HD http://www.cineform.com/downloads/Pr....240-Setup.exe
Neo 3D http://www.cineform.com/downloads/NE....240-Setup.exe
Neo 4K http://www.cineform.com/downloads/NE....240-Setup.exe
Neo HD http://www.cineform.com/downloads/NE....240-Setup.exe
NeoScene http://www.cineform.com/downloads/Ne....140-Setup.exe
NeoPlayer http://www.cineform.com/downloads/NE....240-Setup.exe

[David H. Wilson]

Thank you David. Great additions...

[Ian Lewis]

In First Light, with my (Blackmagic) output card enabled, the picture shows upside down and plays at about one frame a second. With output card disabled, it's OK. Also," use YUV" and "Quarter resolution" options are greyed out - although they appear to work.

In Premiere Pro CS3 timeline is fine - also OK on Blackmagic PPRO timeline using CF files, though they won't play unrendered for more than a couple of seconds, but that's usual for me.

I uninstalled rebooted and reinstalled. No change. Uninstalled and reverted to previous build 4.2.1.238 and works as expected. (Win 7 64)

[David Newman]

Thanks Ian, we are changing the FirstLight playback engine a lot, we will see what happened to Blackmagic playback on Monday.

[David H. Wilson]

Just noticed that the new OpenGL Player Options greatly enhances the usability of the less expensive Zalman 3D monitoring option. Thanks again.

[David Dwyer]

Updated and this seems to fixed my 30seconds delay in opening HDlink.

[David Newman]

Originally Posted by David H. Wilson

Just noticed that the new OpenGL Player Options greatly enhances the usability of the less expensive Zalman 3D monitoring option. Thanks again.

Thanks for testing the Zalman monitor for us. We have the 24" Hyundai, but the Zalmans are far more common. Yes the OpenGL support is very cool -- particularly since you can set the 3D view within FirstLight's window (single 3D monitor setup) and switching to full screen and back again, while FL is playing.

[Stephen Armour]

This latest beta already fixed an AVI to MOV audio conversion bug I was getting ready to report...congrads.

It seems faster on the AVI > MOV re-wrap, but slooooo on the other direction. Is that just an illusion?

[David Newman]

Either an illusion or something is wrong. CPU should be low if it is a rewarp.

[David Dwyer]

After I rebooted my HDlink still ages over 30 seconds to open - Ticket is still open with support.

[David Newman]

David,

That is not related to the build, it is a licensing problem that we have very little control over (it is licensed from a third party.) On some systems (<1%) the license just take longer (although 30 seconds is very long.) If the past when we have complained to the license vendor, they have suggested an OS reinstall (not happy.) The problem is software protection mechanisms rely on a lot of secrecy, the protection vendor won't tell us, so we can't tell you which system registry(s) need to be removed -- as doing so would unlock all licensed software. Software industry is not built on trust much. We have consider switching licensing tools, but we hear stories like this from all of them, on the license system for the Mac we had similar issue (just solved fortunately.) Other solutions are dongles (ekk!) but I'm not sure if that helps, and no protection. Our protection has got lighter over the years as the market grows (fewer protected elements) but it is hard for a small company to make that jump as there is no going back when the sales (officially) drop.

Long excuse, sorry, I'm just not sure if support has anything to help with this. If they do, let me know.

[Axel Mertes]

As always, a great update!

As we had been working with some of this stuff here a little earlier than most of you around, I can just recommend to jump on that bandwagon and use the new tools.

This is exciting.

Cheers,
Axel

[David Newman]

Just updated all the links above (except NeoScene / NeoPlayer) for a few fixes in FirstLight for HDSDI/HDMI and a stability issue. The download name is the same as before.

[Chris Light]

Hi David. I just uninstalled v1.5b137 in favor of v1.6b140. Question...in HDLink, the "Smart Rendering" option was replaced with "I-Frames"...is that the same thing?. If not, what does it mean? I use Sony Vegas to edit. Thanks!

[David Newman]

Yes, it is the same thing. We moved from the marketing name to the real name, and I-frame is preferred for 3D work (nothing to do with smart rendering.) We also changed the default to being I-frames.