Aspect HD or DVCProHD Decoder

[Film Division]

Hi,

I'm using Premiere Pro 2.0, I need to convert my 720p/25 footage. I'm pretty much out of cash for the time being. I can afford Connect HD or DVCProHD Decoder ($200 area).

I have used Aspect HD and I was very happy with it, although I can't afford that at the moment... Oh and I don't like Raylight very much.

Connect HD or DVCProHD Decoder?

Which one delivers the best results? Which one is more versatile? Which one is the best for me?

Or any other simple method to convert HD to SD (mxf to avi).

Thanks,

Stewart

[Hans Moleman]

Uh, unless I missed something, Connect HD is only for vegas, my friend. And what I've seen so far suggests that serious magic's product has difficulty handling 24p-native footage. I'd suggest robbing a liquor store, because your options are down to aspect HD

[Film Division]

Uh, unless I missed something, Connect HD is only for vegas, my friend. And what I've seen so far suggests that serious magic's product has difficulty handling 24p-native footage. I'd suggest robbing a liquor store, because your options are down to aspect HD
Not according to Cineform 'my friend'.. Both Aspect & Connect can convert mxf to avi, I think the extra options in both applications are related to real time workflow & color correction, etc..

Does the 24P problem with Serious Magic's product also affect 25P?

[THoff]

And what I've seen so far suggests that serious magic's product has difficulty handling 24p-native footage.A patch is coming out this week.

[Barry_Green]

Oh and I don't like Raylight very much.
What don't you like about raylight? Raylight works well, delivers great quality, has variable playback speed depending on what playback quality setting you choose, it's inexpensive... I think it's a great little product.

The needing-to-keep-the-MXF-where-they-are thing is about the only thing I can think of that someone might not like about it, and if I'm not mistaken Marcus said at some point he may release a version that allows you to make all-in-one AVIs so that restriction would be removed.

The Serious Magic one is very similar; it has a better user interface but doesn't do the variable quality levels thing so you only get one playback speed. Only thing is they need to fix the audio issue for pN footage (which should be very soon).

You can download trial versions of all the products and see how they perform on your system.

[Film Division]

What don't you like about raylight? Raylight works well, delivers great quality, has variable playback speed depending on what playback quality setting you choose, it's inexpensive... I think it's a great little product.

The needing-to-keep-the-MXF-where-they-are thing is about the only thing I can think of that someone might not like about it, and if I'm not mistaken Marcus said at some point he may release a version that allows you to make all-in-one AVIs so that restriction would be removed.

The Serious Magic one is very similar; it has a better user interface but doesn't do the variable quality levels thing so you only get one playback speed. Only thing is they need to fix the audio issue for pN footage (which should be very soon).

You can download trial versions of all the products and see how they perform on your system.

Hi Barry,

Raylight just doesn't seem to perform that well on my system and the keeping of original files in the same location is also a bind.. I have used Aspect HD and I liked it.. Will Connect HD suffice, just for converting mxf files to avi, for use in Premiere Pro 2.0?

I am playing around with the Serious Magic product at the moment, but as suspected I'm having audio sync troubles (waiting for the patch).

Thanks

[bermurray]

Hi Barry,

I tried the Serious Magic decoder, and combining it with Cineform it got me access to some footage I hadn't been able to play up to that point. My big questions is, how do you output at DVCPRO HD with it in Premiere? I would love to pass the majority of frames through without recoding. One of the big loopholes in all of this is delivery. All the service houses here in Denver are Final Cut, and I need to output a file they can read properly. This saves buying an AJA and a HDCAM deck for output. Then I can take a $200 Besy Buy exernal drive with the files for output.

To restate, how do you output as DVCPRO HD in Premiere?

Thanks, Bernie

[Barry_Green]

AFAIK, at this moment, you can't with any CineForm product, nor with the Serious Magic product. But you can with Raylight.

[THoff]

As Barry said, the Serious Magic DVCProHD product is just a decoder -- it is after all called just that. Your best bet would be to use a lossless codec when exporing from Premiere. Take a look at Free-Codecs.com (http://www.free-codecs.com), they have several lossless or visually lossless codecs such as Huffyuv and the Alparysoft codec. Install only what you need, never install any "codec packs"!

[Film Division]

OK..
So, to save some money, will Connect HD convert MXF to Avi for me to use in Prem Pro 2.0?

Thanks

[David Newman]

Premiere is very much enhanced by tools in Aspect HD which Connect HD does not have. You should try Connect HD for 15-days (free download) and see if it will be sufficient for you.

[jeghead1]

please correct me if i am wrong. It is my understanding that once the mxf files are converted to avi, whether you use raylight, connect hd, or magic, you can just import them into a say 24fps 1920 X 1080 project and use premiere as normal (just like dv in ppro 1.5)

thanks,
Jason

[Film Division]

please correct me if i am wrong. It is my understanding that once the mxf files are converted to avi, whether you use raylight, connect hd, or magic, you can just import them into a say 24fps 1920 X 1080 project and use premiere as normal (just like dv in ppro 1.5)

thanks,
Jason

Well thats all I want to know...?

[David Newman]

As most of the software have trial periods there should be no mystery. Yes they all will work in Premiere in some fashion -- performance being a separating characteristic. Aspect HD is the only solution with direct Premiere hooks for acceleration, that is why it costs a litte more -- it will typically pay for itself with one or two projects.

[Barry_Green]

please correct me if i am wrong. It is my understanding that once the mxf files are converted to avi, whether you use raylight, connect hd, or magic, you can just import them into a say 24fps 1920 X 1080 project and use premiere as normal (just like dv in ppro 1.5)

thanks,
Jason
Yes, that's what Raylight does. With Serious Magic's decoder you'd either import into a 1280x1080 native DVCPRO-HD-sized project, or you'd have to apply a pixel aspect ratio of 1.5 to the footage and then you could just import straight into a 1920x1080 24fps project.

[joshtownsend]

I think Cinieform is a no brainer.

[bleutuna]

For $195, I think the RayLight is a steal.