Hueris announced $500 Indie HD Toolkit

Heath McKnight · January 7th, 2004, 06:52 PM

Like I said earlier, and many others agree with it: It's a name brand, shareware isn't. Heuris backs up their products with their name and tech support. If it doesn't work, they'll make it work. Shareware is different.

heath

Paul Mogg · January 8th, 2004, 02:55 PM

Hmm, this actually sounds good to me, if the HD encoder does a good job it will most certainly be worth the $399. I will check it out at MacWorld today or tomorrow and let you know.

Paul

Christopher C. Murphy · January 8th, 2004, 03:35 PM

Hey Moog, how's it going? Yeah, if you could check it out first hand that would be great.

Thanks again..

Murph

Paul Mogg · January 10th, 2004, 08:21 PM

Well I looked for them at MacWorld but couldn't see them anywhere, they weren't listed as an exhibitor in the show guide, so I don't have a report I'm afraid. I'd really like to take a look at the encoding quality and see it demoed before ordering.

Darren Kelly · January 22nd, 2004, 05:57 PM

Is it just me, or has the Heuris site gone down. I haven't been able to connect to it for a few days.

Can someone else try this and post their results.

I also tried to call about a week ago and got no return.

DBK

Heath McKnight · January 22nd, 2004, 07:06 PM

Heuris is strange: site goes down a lot, calls aren't returned...Hmmm...

heath

Paul Mogg · January 23rd, 2004, 12:33 PM

Does anybody know what format their camera capture utility converts the footage into?. All their blurb says is that it is a format that is FCP friendly but doesn't say what that format is, I assume they reccomend you edit in that format.

Thanks

Paul Mogg · January 23rd, 2004, 01:14 PM

Well to answer my own question. I just talked to Heuris technical support (they are aware that their website is down right now).
Their camera capture utility will capture and demux the Transport Stream files from the camera directly to an .aif audio file and an .m2v file (program stream) that is Quicktime friendly, so you can load this into FCP and render it out in another format for editing, (as FCP will not edit MPEG2 directly as far as I'm aware, just play it back) or you can convert it to another editable format using Quicktime Pro or any other conversion tool that's available.
Their Mpeg2 encoder (when it is released on Feb 1st) will encode directly from the FCP timeline to MPEG2 TS (a transport stream file that is readable by the camera or DVHS). The support person did not know the exact bitrate of this file but thought it would be the same as is output by the HD1OU. As this is a Quicktime codec, I imagine you could also encode from Quicktime Pro or Compressor. They have a special offer of $399 on this package if you order before Feb 1st.
If I've got anything wrong perhaps someone from Heuris will correct me.
Sounds good to me. It saves a couple of steps in the shareware pathway to do the same thing, if that is important to you.
I'd like to compare the quality of the encoding to the free Mpeg2enc HD encoder first though.

Heath McKnight · January 23rd, 2004, 02:24 PM

Paul,

Does that mean when we're using the shareware utilities that we don't need to convert the demuxed files (.m2v) to Pixlet, etc.?

heath

Paul St. Denis · January 23rd, 2004, 02:36 PM

I have edited m2v files from Final Cut after using Project X to demux. You need to have Quicktime's mpeg2 component installed and mpeg2 is not the ideal editing format, but it does work.

Heath McKnight · January 23rd, 2004, 02:43 PM

I'll go with Pixlet!

heath

Paul Mogg · January 23rd, 2004, 04:14 PM

Whenever you edit a highly compressed MPEG2 format directly (such as is output by the HD1OU) you are going to get more quality degradation than if you go to an uncompressed or (allegedly) lossless compressed format such as DC30. How much that degradation will be depends on how much compositing you do in your timeline, and how many times your editing software has to uncompress and recompress during the editing process, this is the case with regular DV, but it doesn't seem to bother most people.
That's why, even if Apple or someone else develops a codec for editing MPEG2TS directly under Quicktime, I think I'd stick to editing uncompressed (or at least LESS compressed) HD if I have the disk space and bandwidth to do so, especially if I'm doing much compositing. But I guess the proof is in the pudding as they say.

Heath McKnight · January 23rd, 2004, 04:51 PM

Mogg,

Do you recommend DC30 over Pixlet? I've only made 2 or 3 Pixlet clips of my short film to edit (still owe you all jpegs from that shoot). Let me/us know!

heath

Paul Mogg · January 23rd, 2004, 07:35 PM

You probably have just as much or more experience with Pixlet as I do, but I did notice a problem with black and white footage using Pixlet in a short piece I edited which transitioned from color to B&W and back, odd artifacting was very visible. I don't know if this was a one-off case or if it's repeatable, but it happened. I tried the DC30 codec afterwards and found that it edited so seamlessly in FCP (on my G5) and looked so good, that I would use that. I'm using a SATA RAID array though, which gives good throughput.

Heath McKnight · January 23rd, 2004, 07:46 PM

I'm using a FireWire drive, so that doesn't help things.

heath

January 7th, 2004, 06:52 PM	#16
Heath McKnight MPS Digital Studios Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Palm Beach County, Florida Posts: 8,531	Like I said earlier, and many others agree with it: It's a name brand, shareware isn't. Heuris backs up their products with their name and tech support. If it doesn't work, they'll make it work. Shareware is different. heath __________________ My Final Cut Pro X blog

January 8th, 2004, 02:55 PM	#17
Paul Mogg Major Player Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: San Francisco CA Posts: 386	Hmm, this actually sounds good to me, if the HD encoder does a good job it will most certainly be worth the $399. I will check it out at MacWorld today or tomorrow and let you know. Paul __________________ Paul

January 8th, 2004, 03:35 PM	#18
Christopher C. Murphy Trustee Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Boston, MA Posts: 1,707	Hey Moog, how's it going? Yeah, if you could check it out first hand that would be great. Thanks again.. Murph __________________ Christopher C. Murphy Director, Producer, Writer

January 10th, 2004, 08:21 PM	#19
Paul Mogg Major Player Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: San Francisco CA Posts: 386	Well I looked for them at MacWorld but couldn't see them anywhere, they weren't listed as an exhibitor in the show guide, so I don't have a report I'm afraid. I'd really like to take a look at the encoding quality and see it demoed before ordering. __________________ Paul

January 22nd, 2004, 05:57 PM	#20
Darren Kelly Major Player Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Vancouver Posts: 351	Is it just me, or has the Heuris site gone down. I haven't been able to connect to it for a few days. Can someone else try this and post their results. I also tried to call about a week ago and got no return. DBK __________________ Darren Kelly

January 22nd, 2004, 07:06 PM	#21
Heath McKnight MPS Digital Studios Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Palm Beach County, Florida Posts: 8,531	Heuris is strange: site goes down a lot, calls aren't returned...Hmmm... heath __________________ My Final Cut Pro X blog

January 23rd, 2004, 12:33 PM	#22
Paul Mogg Major Player Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: San Francisco CA Posts: 386	Does anybody know what format their camera capture utility converts the footage into?. All their blurb says is that it is a format that is FCP friendly but doesn't say what that format is, I assume they reccomend you edit in that format. Thanks __________________ Paul

January 23rd, 2004, 01:14 PM	#23
Paul Mogg Major Player Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: San Francisco CA Posts: 386	Well to answer my own question. I just talked to Heuris technical support (they are aware that their website is down right now). Their camera capture utility will capture and demux the Transport Stream files from the camera directly to an .aif audio file and an .m2v file (program stream) that is Quicktime friendly, so you can load this into FCP and render it out in another format for editing, (as FCP will not edit MPEG2 directly as far as I'm aware, just play it back) or you can convert it to another editable format using Quicktime Pro or any other conversion tool that's available. Their Mpeg2 encoder (when it is released on Feb 1st) will encode directly from the FCP timeline to MPEG2 TS (a transport stream file that is readable by the camera or DVHS). The support person did not know the exact bitrate of this file but thought it would be the same as is output by the HD1OU. As this is a Quicktime codec, I imagine you could also encode from Quicktime Pro or Compressor. They have a special offer of $399 on this package if you order before Feb 1st. If I've got anything wrong perhaps someone from Heuris will correct me. Sounds good to me. It saves a couple of steps in the shareware pathway to do the same thing, if that is important to you. I'd like to compare the quality of the encoding to the free Mpeg2enc HD encoder first though. __________________ Paul

January 23rd, 2004, 02:24 PM	#24
Heath McKnight MPS Digital Studios Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Palm Beach County, Florida Posts: 8,531	Paul, Does that mean when we're using the shareware utilities that we don't need to convert the demuxed files (.m2v) to Pixlet, etc.? heath __________________ My Final Cut Pro X blog

January 23rd, 2004, 02:36 PM	#25
Paul St. Denis Regular Crew Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Stony Brook NY Posts: 169	I have edited m2v files from Final Cut after using Project X to demux. You need to have Quicktime's mpeg2 component installed and mpeg2 is not the ideal editing format, but it does work.

January 23rd, 2004, 02:43 PM	#26
Heath McKnight MPS Digital Studios Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Palm Beach County, Florida Posts: 8,531	I'll go with Pixlet! heath __________________ My Final Cut Pro X blog

January 23rd, 2004, 04:14 PM	#27
Paul Mogg Major Player Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: San Francisco CA Posts: 386	Whenever you edit a highly compressed MPEG2 format directly (such as is output by the HD1OU) you are going to get more quality degradation than if you go to an uncompressed or (allegedly) lossless compressed format such as DC30. How much that degradation will be depends on how much compositing you do in your timeline, and how many times your editing software has to uncompress and recompress during the editing process, this is the case with regular DV, but it doesn't seem to bother most people. That's why, even if Apple or someone else develops a codec for editing MPEG2TS directly under Quicktime, I think I'd stick to editing uncompressed (or at least LESS compressed) HD if I have the disk space and bandwidth to do so, especially if I'm doing much compositing. But I guess the proof is in the pudding as they say. __________________ Paul

January 23rd, 2004, 04:51 PM	#28
Heath McKnight MPS Digital Studios Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Palm Beach County, Florida Posts: 8,531	Mogg, Do you recommend DC30 over Pixlet? I've only made 2 or 3 Pixlet clips of my short film to edit (still owe you all jpegs from that shoot). Let me/us know! heath __________________ My Final Cut Pro X blog

January 23rd, 2004, 07:35 PM	#29
Paul Mogg Major Player Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: San Francisco CA Posts: 386	You probably have just as much or more experience with Pixlet as I do, but I did notice a problem with black and white footage using Pixlet in a short piece I edited which transitioned from color to B&W and back, odd artifacting was very visible. I don't know if this was a one-off case or if it's repeatable, but it happened. I tried the DC30 codec afterwards and found that it edited so seamlessly in FCP (on my G5) and looked so good, that I would use that. I'm using a SATA RAID array though, which gives good throughput. __________________ Paul

January 23rd, 2004, 07:46 PM	#30
Heath McKnight MPS Digital Studios Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Palm Beach County, Florida Posts: 8,531	I'm using a FireWire drive, so that doesn't help things. heath __________________ My Final Cut Pro X blog