Aspect HD 4.2 now in public beta

[David Newman]

It has been a while between versions, a whole two months. :) But we have been very busy preparing the new versions of all our products. So here is a first look at Aspect HD 4.2. All existing Aspect HD users are welcome to download it from here : http://www.cineform.com/downloads/As...420b65beta.zip

This is just some of what has been enhanced :

• New scaling algorithms, particularly for enhanced interlace SD exports. DVD exports from HD projects have never looked better.
• Desktop and Overlay controls now work as they should. Desktop mode corrects NVidia level shift issues (ATI works best with overlay on.)
• HDLink now supports conversion of common media types (now most files that play with Media Player can be converted with HDLink.) Your good old DV, WMV or any miscellaneous AVI (some MOV) files can now be batch converted into CineForm Intermediate.
• HDLink now supports resizing of all sources to standard HD sizes. Previously you could up-convert SD, or any non-standard image size.
• Added aspect ratio control for CineForm SD media (rendering to 16x9 SD now imports as 16x9)
• Enhanced compression quality even further (across all encoding modes.)
• Added 23.976 to 25p conversion within the HDV capture controls for PPro.
• Added de-interlacing and resizing options to Premiere Pro's HDV capture (to match the controls in HDLink.)
• HDLink fix for long file batch M2T to AVI conversions
• Fixed audio corruption that can occur with an interruption of Premiere’s audio conform
• Many many other small fixes and refinements


Of course never run a beta if you are in the middle of a project, otherwise please give the new features a try and tell us if you have any issues.

Thanks,

[Juan Oropeza]

David,

Any news on the latest build of Prospect?

Thanks,
Juan

[David Newman]

everything is going to have a new release version about the same time. Expect Connect HD 3.2, Aspect HD 4.2 and Prospect HD 2.2, to all be available either next week or early the following.

[Richard Leadbetter]

Originally Posted by David Newman

• HDLink now supports conversion of common media types (now most files that play with Media Player can be converted with HDLink.) Your good old DV, WMV or any miscellaneous AVI (some MOV) files can now be batch converted into CineForm Intermediate.

Absolutely brilliant. I just gave this a whirl and it's enormously faster than using VirtualDub to do the same job, thanks to the multi-threaded encoder. Mind-bogglingly swift, in fact.

Many thanks indeed!

[Mark Leonard]

So how's the beta running guys? Want to install but want to make sure there's nothing major screwy in it first.

[David Newman]

If no one installs we won't have much of beta. ;) Nothing reported so far.

[Mark Leonard]

so far not a single problem with the beta. is it me or is also rendering a tad bit faster?

[David Newman]

There is more threading "under the hood" of this new Aspect HD version, maybe you seeing some of that. Thanks for the feedback.

[Fredrik-Larsson]

When I installed, it uninstalled 4.1 and installed 4.2 at the same time which then caused an error about premiere couldn't be found. Installing it again makes it work.

[Christopher Glaeser]

Originally Posted by Fredrik-Larsson

When I installed, it uninstalled 4.1 and installed 4.2 at the same time which then caused an error about premiere couldn't be found. Installing it again makes it work.

I had to install it twice also. First install apparently removed 4.1 only, and did not install 4.2.

Best,
Christopher

[David Newman]

Yes, the first attempt uninstalled the previous version. We could made that clearer.

[Jerry Porter]

My uprezed video is definitely cleaner

[William Gardner]

Originally Posted by David Newman

• Desktop and Overlay controls now work as they should. Desktop mode corrects NVidia level shift issues (ATI works best with overlay on.)

Hi David,

Thanks for the update. I've installed it and haven't seen any problems or issues at first glance.

As an owner of the NVidia QuadroFX540, I was wondering if you could elaborate a bit on the line I quoted above. When I use the default driver settings for my video card, I still notice a color and contrast shift when PPro 1.5.1 is playing Cineform previews vs. when I stop and look at a still.

What settings are now recommended for NVidia users? If this is on the Cineform website or somewhere else, please excuse the question and point me to where I can find the information.

Thanks again,
Bill

[David Newman]

If you are using the overlay to send video output to a second monitor you, will still need to calibrate the NVidia as it still an NVidia setup (default) error. However if you are not using the overlay, turn off the ovelay option within Playback settings -- previously the overlay was still partly being used causing NVidia to show its "true" colors. Now your desktop playback will have no shift issues.

Recommendation for most setups:

NVidia users -- turn "Enable overlay surface" off.
ATI users -- turn it on.

[Denis Danatzko]

I'm in the middle of a project, so I'll not be testing for at least another week.

However, I have to admit that while I have a brand new computer with the full Adobe Production Studio, as well as Aspect HD, I haven't made much use of it. While I hope my next project may serve as grist for the mill, I will only have miniDV source to work with.

Will the 2 changes below benefit me? Please explain, as Aspect HD came as part of the computer, but I got no documentation. Where can I read to learn more about it and how I can make better/more use of it? While I have the "tools" I don't have an HD project...which is good for the moment so I have time to learn.

Originally Posted by David Newman

• HDLink now supports conversion of common media types (now most files that play with Media Player can be converted with HDLink.) Your good old DV, WMV or any miscellaneous AVI (some MOV) files can now be batch converted into CineForm Intermediate.
• HDLink now supports resizing of all sources to standard HD sizes. Previously you could up-convert SD, or any non-standard image size.

Am I correct in understanding that I can now take source footage from a miniDV tape and up-res it?

Thanks for your patience.