Cineform...

[Tom.Wong]

Ok, so I'm trying to move away from a little from the pro res way of doing things. It's a cool codec, it looks good, but in the end it still needs a overhaul in efficiency. I was thinking about jumping to the other side of things and going for a cineform workflow. Transcode to it, deliver in it. If the client specifically asks for pro res I can do that for them anytime and keep a cineform master file for myself. The codec to play back cineform is free. So my question is, who's working in cineform right now?

Do you find it easy on your computer to edit in?
Has it shown any kind of conflict in workflow, client delivery, etc? any minor detail is welcome.

does it save or add more hard drive space?

finally, the cineform website is a little confusing... which version do i need to buy to write in cineform? should I get he one that lets me write in 4k? does it cover all the lower resolutions? the 4k one is really expensive...

[Hans von Sonntag]

Tom, we are working with CineForm and ProRes.

CineForm is a very good high quality codec that exceeds HDCAM-SR in fidelity and also has been in several tests a tad better than ProRes when going through many generations. It's a very efficient and space saving codec that is also quicker to encode than ProRes, for instance.

It actually works very well with FCP, PremierPro and AFAIK Avid. However, it does not work with Smoke. This is the reason why we still use ProRes in its 4444 RGB flavour.

Otherwise CineForm would be our main codec.

On PC and Premier Pro CineForm is the only alternative when a high fidelity codec is needed.

This said, not all that shines is gold. We had with several builds different issues, but hardly with the codec itself but with CineForm's batch render applications on Mac and PC that now work as expected.

The Neo3D product is a very interesting and powerful way to work with stereo 3D in FCP. CineForm won several awards in this regard.

Also worth to mention is their interesting non-distrcutive colour technology that let CineForm encoded clips give a grade in their application FirstLight which can be changed at anytime without rendering. While this is huge and intriguing there are many issues to be solved such as animation and vignettes to make is a real game-changer.

Hans

[Robert Niessner]

I second Hans. I am using Cineform (4 licenses) on PC and Mac and it does well. For my taste it takes a bit too much CPU Power while playing in Premiere CS4 on PC - but that's more an issue with Premiere. I absolutely love the possibilities of First Light. And their support is also great - I had filed in some bug reports and they where really helpful.

A little known fact: from Neo HD and above you are allowed to use the same license on up to two computers at the same time as long as it is the same operating system (it has to be either 2 PCs or 2 Macs).

As Hans said - on PC Cineform is without competition.

[Jay A. Kelley]

I am a HUGE cineform fan.. It's a one stop shop.. You can edit with it, and master with it. It fits EVERY resolution, and workflow. When on Premiere, and editing in R3D, I always master my final product to Cineform.

Love it.

Jay

[Tom.Wong]

does anybody know if Da Vinci can read/write cineform after I install it? which package do do ppl recommend i buy? cineform HD or cineform 4k?

[David Taylor]

Hi Tom, DaVinci has recently been adding and demo'ing CineForm. You should check with them for a status update. NeoHD is limited to "typical" broadcast resolution and chroma - HD and 4:2:2 chroma. Neo4K has unrestricted spatial resolution and supports 4:4:4(:4) and RAW. Both include base 3D support and both include First Light for non-destructive Active Metadata workflow.

[StevenMore]

Tom I am glad you asked this question! I literally was Googling this tonight and it pulled up this thread. I have been using Cineform for years and love it for going between Media, PP, AE, other VFX programs on a PC platform and over to Mac's when needed. I have just recently been using Davinci to grade my R3D files from my new Scarlet with no problems. I have also loaded standard ACVHD files from my Canon 5D and other media into Davinci, but when I convert Red or Canon files to Cineform .MOV or .AVI they do not appear in the media browser of Davinci.

I did read a release note that with V8 you can output Cineform files on a Mac.
The question that still needs to be answered is there a way to use Cineform Source files in Davinci?
I hope you can, as I have used Cineform to speed-up my productions to distribute tasks and normalize content from many sources.

[Paul Russell]

Best intermediate codec solution for PC IMHO.

[Mark Crabtree]

Our first CineForm license was $1,499 and we thought it was a steal for all it did for us. Now at $299 it's a gift. CineForm is our codec master for ALL our work. All deliverables get made from these masters. Stop thinking about it and just get it.

[Paul Russell]

unfortunately it won't convert R3D files.