Does anybody have experience encoding HD videos to Cineform via VirtualDub?

[Randall Leong]

Hi,

I have a problem with the recent update to Cineform NeoScene:

I had used older versions of the Cineform codec that came with older versions of NeoScene with no problems in VirtualDub. Unfortunately, the latest update broke this compatibility, stating that "Not licensed for Cineform HD encoding. Please visit Cineform to purchase your upgrade." This, plus the issues that I have been having between the latest version of Lagarith and the latest version of Adobe Media Encoder, has forced me to encode HD videos as uncompressed.

And yes, I did try to export that same HD MPEG-2 (1080i) video clip to Cineform via Adobe Premiere CS5.5. The encoder locked up in mid-clip.

Do you have any suggestions as to how to fix this?

[David Newman]

Nothing has changed in NeoScene to impact VirtualDub compatibilty. Place try a re-install for NeoScene and is that doesn't work contact support (cineform@support.com.)

[Randall Leong]

Yes, something has changed in the Cineform encoder. Whereas before I could manually select the encoding quality, with the new version the quality parameters are now grayed out and unselectable.

I am going to retry this with 1440x1080 material (the content I was trying to encode was 1920x1080).

The Cineform codec in question is v 7.5.6.

UPDATE: I tried this, and the exact same error occurred with 1440x1080 video. When I tried configuring the encoder from within Sony Vegas, the quality paramaters are similarly unselectable - permanently stuck to defaults. It gave me the same error.

[David Newman]

Nothing has changed in NeoScene in months, please contact support.

[Randall Leong]

Originally Posted by David Newman

Nothing has changed in NeoScene in months, please contact support.

Thanks for the offer. But most of the video work that I edit is not in H.264 - but MPEG-2 HD instead (I just get handed down HD videos from friends and family members whose PCs still are not powerful enough to handle even HDV, let alone AVCHD). I would have had to shoot most of my camera work in AVCHD in order to make NeoScene worthwhile.

[David Newman]

We are reading the same responses? You NeoScene should be working fine, if not email support@cineform.com to find out why. NeoScene works with either MPEG2 or H.264 sources.

[Randall Leong]

I will file a trouble report soon. This version of the Cineform encoder works in some programs but not in others. No trouble within NeoScene or from Adobe but throws up an error message in AVISynth/VirtualDub or in Vegas.

[Carlo Macchiavello]

i just converted some avchd to cineform by virtual dub, with batch and work fine with latest codec.
check your config software.
i tested today with : premiere, avisynth, squeeze soreson, quicktime, aftereffects.
all work fine.

[Randall Leong]

Originally Posted by Carlo Macchiavello

i just converted some avchd to cineform by virtual dub, with batch and work fine with latest codec.
check your config software.
i tested today with : premiere, avisynth, squeeze soreson, quicktime, aftereffects.
all work fine.

The config software has not changed or altered at all whatsoever from the previous version of the Cineform encoder, which worked perfectly. With 7.5.6, however, none of the quality parameters can be changed at all whatsoever - and VirtualDub will not let me encode to Cineform at all (the codec is selectable, but the encode just throws an error message about the licensing).

Could it be that my download and/or installation might have been corrupt? (I am currently checking whether NeoScene itself is working correctly.)

UPDATE: Even NeoScene does not work. I tried AVCHD camera files, and the program threw up an error message ("Error: CreateAndAddFilter"). Maybe my system's existing DirectShow filters or Media Foundation filters got borked.

UPDATE #2: I reverted back to the previous release of NeoScene 5.5 (5.5.4), which comes with Cineform encoder 7.4.0. That version worked fine. It's version 5.6.1 of NeoScene and version 7.5.6 of the Cineform encoder that did not work in my system. The version that David talked about was the official version 5.5.4 of Neoscene with Cineform encoder version 7.4.0. Version 5.6.1 of Neoscene along with version 7.5.6 of the Cineform encoder popped up in the automatic updates, with no change log to be found whatsoever for 5.6.1 of NeoScene. So, officially, on the Cineform site, the latest release of NeoScene is still 5.5.4 and the latest version of the Cineform encoder is still 7.4.0.

Hope this clarifies things.