CineForm viewable by all?

Norm Sanders

Norm Sanders

Script Wrangler
I'm rendering out several HD files of one of my short films, for festival submission, to include in a DVD-ROM section of the DVD ... should they want/need them for anything other than playing the film via DVD player.

One of the files I want to include is a 720P AVI, and the defaulting codec for that is CineForm. I've heard licensing issues before about Cineform, and aren't sure if people need a special player to view this, or if it's readable by ALL who want to watch/edit it?

Other suggestions, if it's going to be a problem? I want to keep it HD, with a manageble file size that will fit all on a standard DVD disc.
 
They won't be able to view Cineform files unless they have the codec already installed so it's not a good idea to use it as a distribution codec. I would use h.264 to make an HD version with a high bitrate instead.
 
The decoder is free, but the user doing the presentation will need to download the free decoder. If your featival with take CineForm file, the format is idea for that purpose. We have some threaters using CineForm for direct large screen presentation, so why not more feativals.
 
Okay, thanks folks. I'm including in the DVD-ROM section of the DVD AVI, MOV, and WMV files, all HD. So they should be good to go, if they wanted HD with a selection to choose from.
 
David Newman > Hi, The free decoder you mention can decode only 720p cineform or 1080p and higher resolutions for large screen playback ?

Secondly, how does one render a cineform file larger than 720p from within Vegas ? I think it only allows rendering upto 720 cineform right ?

Lastly you mentioned "We have some threaters using CineForm for direct large screen presentation", could you elaborate on that a little more ? You mean commercial theaters are using it by playingback from a desktop ? And for what kind of material ? commercials or main features ? What resolution ?

Thanks
 
1) The free decoder does all resolutions, there are no restrictions. The license in for single user, not for theatrical presentations -- we will sell you a license for that.

2) The very old Vegas codec license is for HDV, so it goes up to 1440x1080.

3) There are screens in India and Germany using CineForm as their presentation format (features and experimental.) These are off-main-stream solutions, DCI J2K is too pricey for India, and the German installation are sync'd tiled projectors for extreme high resolution (wide display) -- 6K by 1080 I believe -- no idea what for, but I would love to see that. We project the San Diego 48 Hour Film Project using CineForm, so maybe other festivals are doing the same (it is the perfect format for a film festival.)
 
Purchase any CineForm license and you can encode 1920x1080. For the base version for our products use Neo Scene.
 
If you want to use a codec that can be freely used for any purpose (including commercial ones, or for public performance), use Ogg Theora. It isn't patent encumbered, so it can be used for just about anything.

I use Theora for HD all the time, and it looks great.

You can get Directshow codecs for Windows from this page: http://www.xiph.org/dshow/. You may want to put these on the disc, just in case the end user doesn't already have them installed.
 
I have been trying different codecs WMA,MOV(H.264,Sor3),Avi for a final print to tape output to be used at a Festival. It was shot at 1440x1080 30f and I have been rendering at 720p. The WMA files look the best but the file size looks small. Will the Ogg Theora project better quality?Making the jump to V9 from V6 , I am not familiar with some of the new codecs available from the pull down menus.
 
David Newman > Whats the cheapest option to buy if one just wants to render out 1920x1280 cineform ? From seeing your website i assume it is NEOSCENE ? Will this be a stand alone app or a plug-in that would work with Vegas ?

Thanks
 
Last edited:
plainman007 said:
David Newman > Whats the cheapest option to buy if one just wants to render out 1920x1280 cineform ? From seeing your website i assume it is NEOSCENE ? Will this be a stand alone app or a plug-in that would work with Vegas ?

Thanks
Click to expand...

CineForm Neo Scene is our base level tool, includes a 1920x1080 codec which works in Vegas. MSRP is $129.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top