CineForm

Thanks David

Another question that came to my mind the minute the HDLink conversion proccess started is how we suppose to be 100% sure that no frame drops or other misfortunes doesnt ocure ? Easy to check in a 10 second clip, but what about larger projects ?
 
As it is not live capture process and it typically much faster than real-time there is no way to drop frames. Drop frame conditions only occur when a data stream is coming in at a fixed rate and the PC isn't fast enough to handle it. As the MXF conversion is a file I/O system this can't occur -- we convert the data as fast as we present it to ourselves. I hope that makes sense. Same goes for "other misfortunes" we convert everything that is in the MXF file, including timecode, so there isn't going to be unexpected results.
 
Does Connect allow you to capture live from the camera into Vegas? I'd download the trial and test it out myself, but someone has run off with my camera.
 
I hope you get your camera back. Connect HD will convert MXF media off P2 directly or off the camera connected via USB2, in either case the data must already be stored on P2 media or the FireStore (or similar.) This is not a live conversion. I think might Connect HD might be able to support live conversions for HDV cameras, but I haven't tried, we don't get many enquires for that feature.
 
I think might Connect HD might be able to support live conversions for HDV cameras
Apparently not. I can't get Connect HD to capture a live stream from an HC1E without tape (the capture start button is greyed out). The internal Vegas capture tool does capture a live stream but obviously there is no live conversion.

I do have one question: How come I get 10-11 FPS in the Vegas preview if I do the conversion with ConnectHD 3.0 (demo) and 14-16 FPS if the conversion is done by rendering in Vegas? (same timeline, same settings for project properties, preview quality, etc.) The different size settings in ConnectHD do not seem to change FPS in the preview noticeably.

However, the conversion with ConnectHD is considerably faster that the one in Vegas, but I'm more interested in higher frame rates when editing than with saving time when converting.
 
Have you tried setting "Enable smart rendering" within HDLink, that makes the file slightly less efficient on disk space, but somewhat more efficient for Vegas rendering and playback. Give that a go.
 
Tried it with "enable smart rendering" setting. Now I get the same FPS for the material converted with HDLink as for the stuff rendered with Vegas (i.e. approx. 16 FPS für preview best full). Any way to increase that?
 
ro, In Vegas there is many way to setup up the preview, you can get real-time smooth motion by using "Preview (Auto)" -- this is how most use HD material in Vegas.
 
AJA XENA LH works with Prospect HD Edit or Prospect HD Ingest. We have wondered if there is a significant market for a Xena card with Aspect HD (our theory is if you want a 10-bit hardware card you will want 10-bit software to drive it.)
 
David: just saw that video from NAB, still dont quite get it, so its 12bit linear data that is rendered into curved 10 bit cineform wavelet? (or did i got this wrong?) uhmm, and why call that raw?

would 10bit workflow do any good when using hvx?
 
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smok3 said:
David: just saw that video from NAB, still dont quite get it, so its 12bit linear data that is rendered into curved 10 bit cineform wavelet? (or did i got this wrong?) uhmm, and why call that raw?

Yes the sensor data (from the SI1920 camera) is 12-bit linear, and we apply a user selectable curve to 10bit (most cameras go to 8-bit.) We call it CineForm RAW as the codec is compressing the "raw" sensor data, no sharping, white balance, color matrix, etc. is applied to the image, giving a much higher degree of dynamic range and therefore post flexibility, so the "raw" has the same preprocessing benefit on the raw mode on digital still camera.

would 10bit workflow do any good when using hvx?

Yes. HDCAM is 8-bit yet you don't do your post in 8-bit for the same reasons. If you color correct your image, 8-bit becomes less than 8-bit (banding visible where discontinuities OK), 8-bit data bumped to 10-bits preserves the orginal 256 levels even as color correction is applied, greatly reducing the introduction of banding. If you have the budget 10-bit is the way to go.
 
David -

Regarding Prospect HD Edit -

If I decide to utilize a laptop for editing, that would definitely rule out the XENA card!! So...

...Is it possible to input DVCProHD footage via Firewire or, with a P2 card, a PCMCIA reader and use Prospect HD Edit to edit the footage?

AC
 
Andrew Clark said:
David -

Regarding Prospect HD Edit ...Is it possible to input DVCProHD footage via Firewire or, with a P2 card, a PCMCIA reader and use Prospect HD Edit to edit the footage?

AC

I would like to know that as well.

And can you edit at 10bit on a laptop?
 
Andrew & Peter,

Yes absolutely Prospect HD Edit will work on a laptop (give it a 7200 rpm drive.) You can do 10-bit post work, ingesting your P2 media via a PCMCIA slot. PHD Edit on a laptop is a very nice setup.
 
So would the workflow be to ingest the P2 media via whatever method you choose, import that into a Premiere project, then up-sample to 1920 x 1080 at YUV 4:2:2 chroma at 10 bits using the CineForm codec?
 
Peter,

Not quite, it is easier than that. The HDlink utility with Prospect HD has been upgraded to directly batch convert and upscale P2 media to 1920x1080 10-bit, all in one simple opteration (you can scale to 1280x720 or 1440x1080 10bit also.) The resulting full res. 10bit AVIs are then placed on a Premiere Pro timeline or an AE Pro composite, ready for post.
 
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