Cineform decoding on mac at DVinfo.net

Matero Materassi · June 1st, 2011, 11:40 AM

Hello, I have several 2k cinefrom files encoded on a PC.my question is, if I have this cineform files on mac will be possible to encode them in another format (like prores) without having a license on the mac system? These people asked me that and I can give the uncompressed DPX 10bit sequence or a cineform file, which i rather use because is smaller and still high quality. The problem is that they don't have any cineform product on their machine and they still want to convert whatever format i give them in prores. I don't have a ma c so I don't know if I can even play CF files without any license. Thank you!

Chad Haufschild · June 1st, 2011, 12:38 PM

I've never tried it with a 2k file, but I do it with 10bit 1080p and 720p stuff all the time. All you need is Neo Player installed on the mac. It's free and you can download it from Cineform's website. It's just a decoder so you can play back the file. Like any codec, if you can play it you can transcode it to whatever your system supports.

Craig Davidson · June 4th, 2011, 09:37 AM

You do need to be careful on how you do the decode, and whether the source is AVI or MOV. AVI files are normally read through the QuickTime interface, and QuickTime refuses to decode AVI files to anything other than 8-bit 422.
If they use FCP, it will decode the files to the 32-bit floating point, 4444 YUV that is also native to ProRes, so that will work with the free player.

June 1st, 2011, 11:40 AM	#1
Matero Materassi New Boot Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: LA, California Posts: 22	Cineform decoding on mac Hello, I have several 2k cinefrom files encoded on a PC.my question is, if I have this cineform files on mac will be possible to encode them in another format (like prores) without having a license on the mac system? These people asked me that and I can give the uncompressed DPX 10bit sequence or a cineform file, which i rather use because is smaller and still high quality. The problem is that they don't have any cineform product on their machine and they still want to convert whatever format i give them in prores. I don't have a ma c so I don't know if I can even play CF files without any license. Thank you!

June 1st, 2011, 12:38 PM	#2
Chad Haufschild Regular Crew Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Lincoln, NE Posts: 162	Re: Cineform decoding on mac I've never tried it with a 2k file, but I do it with 10bit 1080p and 720p stuff all the time. All you need is Neo Player installed on the mac. It's free and you can download it from Cineform's website. It's just a decoder so you can play back the file. Like any codec, if you can play it you can transcode it to whatever your system supports.

June 4th, 2011, 09:37 AM	#3
Craig Davidson Regular Crew Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Solana Beach, CA Posts: 142	Re: Cineform decoding on mac You do need to be careful on how you do the decode, and whether the source is AVI or MOV. AVI files are normally read through the QuickTime interface, and QuickTime refuses to decode AVI files to anything other than 8-bit 422. If they use FCP, it will decode the files to the 32-bit floating point, 4444 YUV that is also native to ProRes, so that will work with the free player.