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Videoguys Home Page > All Products > HD/HDV > Cineform
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CineForm Connect HD & Aspect HD
CineForm provides high-performance software products for media professionals working in film and high-definition video post-production. Aspect HD delivers a real-time, online editing workflow for HDV within Adobe Premiere Pro.
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 Cineform Aspect HD
Edit multiple HDV streams, add motion titles, color adjustments, dissolves, wipes, page peels, PIP & more - all in real time.
Aspect HD literally quadruples the performance of Adobe Premiere Pro CS3 to offer real-time editing of multiple HDV streams on affordable desktop PCs. Aspect HD incorporates CineForm Intermediate technologies to allow you to edit multiple HDV streams, add motion titles, color adjustments, dissolves, wipes, page peels, picture-in-picture and much more - all in real time without rendering. Aspect HD offers an online compressed Digital Intermediate workflow, meaning that you never have to work with proxy files, and you never have to conform a project at completion - you're always working with full-resolution source material using CineForm's Visually Perfect CFHD codec format
Aspect HD for Premiere Pro Owners - $429.00
CineForm Aspect HD w/ Adobe Premiere Pro CS3 Upgrade from Premiere (any version) - $599.00
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New Aspect HD v5 Features:
- Compatible with CS3
- HD-SDI Ingest (both AJA and Blackmagic)
- Acquire into either .MOV or .AVI
- Rewrap MOV <--> AVI
- DPX batch file conversion to/from CineForm files (separate utility)
- Additional visual fidelity upgrades in the CineForm Intermediate codec
- Conversions from XDCam HD, TOD, and AVCHD files
- Blackmagic Intensity HDMI direct-to-disk recording
- MacOS codec included (Prospect HD / 2K)
- Support for exporting from RedCine to CineForm MOV files
- M2T export from Premiere Pro
- Support for XDCam HD and XDCam EX file conversion
- Global active metadata control (ON/OFF) during playback for CineForm RAW files
See Cineform product table for details
Cineform Aspect HD Features
• Supports all existing editing modes and features of Adobe Premiere Pro 1.5.1, Premiere Pro 2 and Premiere Pro CS3
• Supported HD/SD resolutions:
- 1440 x 1080: 50i / 60i / 24p / 25p / 30p
- 1280 x 1080: 60i
- 1280 x 720: 24p / 25p / 30p / 50p / 60p
- 960 x 720: 24p / 25p / 30p / 50p / 60p
- 720 x 480: 60p / 60i
- 720 x 576: 50p / 50i
• IEEE-1394 Source Input Format: MPEG2 MP@HL Transport Stream (HDV format)
• File Input/Conversion Formats: Most AVI files, many MOV files, M2T (HDV), MXF P2 (DVCPRO HD), WMV
• Editing file format: CineForm Visually Perfect CFHD, YUV 4:2:2. AVI wrapper is compatible with other Windows AVI applications.
• Source file conversions (HDLink): Upscaling/Downscaling to/from standard HD/SD resolutions, plus deinterlacing, slow motion, and pulldown removal
• Image Spatial / Temporal converters (HDLink):
- Deinterlacing from interlaced material to progressive including 60i to 30p
- Pulldown removal (inverse telecine) for 60i to 24p conversion
- Spatial resampling; Various, including 1440 x 1080 ó 1280 x 720 ó 960 x 720, conversion from SD ó HD, including DV source
- Frame rate resampling (various) including 25p ó 24p (including audio remodulation)
• Simultaneous real-time effects on multiple layers of HD video in Adobe Premiere Pro:
- Keyframeable color adjustment
- Over 40 parameter-controllable transitions
- Slow-motion and frame hold
- Static and moving titles and video overlays
- Pan/Scan/Rotate/Zoom (PSRZ). For standard definition output, PSRZ allow real-time zooms and camera rotations to be added in post- production without any loss of pixel resolution.
• Support for special HD camera modes:
- Canon's XL H1, including 24F/30Fprogressive modes to enable a true 24p/30p editing workflow
- JVC's GY-HD100U camcorder and BRHD50U deck, including true 24p capture and editing.
- Sony's HDV CineFrame (30, 25, 24) modes enabling true 30p/25p/24p editing modes
- Panasonic HVX200 DVCPRO HD (P2-MXF)
• Supports Redrock Micro's innovative "M2" lens adapter for increased depth-of-field, angle of view, and focus
• CFHD Compressed File Sizes: Variable based on scene complexity.
1080i60 HDV files compress to typically 9MB - 14MB per second, approximately 40 GB/hour
720p30 HDV files compress to typically 7.5MB/sec, approximately 30GB/hour
• Supports Adobe's multi-cam feature (Premiere Pro 2 only)
• Batch capture using the Adobe Premiere Pro capture interface
• Multiple video quality range settings during capture or render
• Multiple resolutions supported simultaneously on timeline
• 24p editing workflow. If exporting to M2T, automatic pull-down conversion from 24p to 60i is provided
• Includes HDLink, CineForm's HDV I/O application and format conversion utility that operates external to Adobe Premiere Pro
• Threaded encoder for faster ingest on dual-core processors
• After Effects 6.5 (and 7) importer/exporter components.
• Graphics card support: Most Matrox, nVidia, and ATI graphics cards are supported. Aspect HD does not require GPU processing. For dual-head graphics cards, the second display should be configured to use the overlay channel
• Component Output Graphics cards (optional): Both the Matrox Parhelia and Nvidia FX540 are recommended for monitoring the timeline using their HD component outputs.
• Output Formats supported by Premiere natively or through plug-ins, including:
- HD: Windows Media Video 9 (WMV9); MPEG2 MP@HL, MPEG2-TS MP@HL (HDV),
- SD: MPEG2, DVD (anamorphic and letterboxed), Analog VHS (External video output card required)
• Supported HD cameras:
- All Canon HDV Camcorders and Decks
- All JVC HDV Camcorders and Decks
- All Sony HDV Camcorders and Decks
- Panasonic HVX200
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What is Cineform?
In short form, CineForm designs compressed Digital Intermediate workflows. In this case DI means that you convert camera footage - which does not have the characteristics to withstand a multi-generation post workflow - into a format that is designed for post. Our CineForm Intermediate, CineForm 444, and CineForm RAW formats are compressed (yes, through our codec) files that are designed to be indistinguishable from source files, yet hold up through a multi-gen post workflow. Not everybody needs CineForm, but if you're doing a lot of color correction, effects work, etc, in post, then you need a format that will hold up to the demands you're placing on your images.
Our codec is our underlying technology, it doesn't represent the complete product. Our products include our codec, but also include image processing software for telecine removal, deinterlacing, spatial resampling, speed change (i.e. 25p to 24p conversion), image flip (for 35mm adapters), etc. We also allow you to convert most any source format into CineForm files. This allows using many different cameras in your shoot but using a single format for post. IIn general the product I've described in this paragraph is our "Neo" family.
We also offer products optimized for Premiere that include our real-time processing engine that replaces the engine within Premiere. This will allow (machine dependent) 3 - 6 HD streams to play simultaneously on the timeline with no rendering, including color correction, transitions, titles, etc.
You can see our quality analyses here: http://www.cineform.com/technology/quality.htm. BTW, our quality is high enough that we've now become both an in-camera acquisition format plus a digital cinema projection format.
Circling back, our codec is our underlying technology, but it's all the software that goes around our codec that makes the product. Not everybody will choose to use CineForm. But if your workflow includes the following, CineForm can help:
- Heavy color correction or effects work in post (these push images a lot, exposing compression limitations of camera formats)
- Need for pre-processing of camera footage, including inverse telecine, deinterlacing, spatial resampling, image flip, speed change (such as 25p-to-24p), etc.
- Mixing of different camera formats. We solve this by converting virtually all formats to CineForm files.
- Need RGB or RGBA processing. CineForm offers the only practical RGB or RGBA compressed formats.
- Need cross-platform compatibility. Cineform files work both on Windows and MacOS.
- Need 10-bit processing. 10-bit (versus 8 bit) provides extra fidelity in post, especially when you're "pushing" your images a lot
- Higher-than-HD footage. We offer real-time, multi-stream workflows not only at HD, but at 2K and 4K also
- If you want extra performance out of your PC. The nature of our Wavelet compression allows many real-time streams on modern PCs.
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UNDERLYING TECHNOLOGY AND PRODUCTS
Our codec is our underlying technology, it doesn't represent our complete products. Our products of course include our codec, but also include image processing software for telecine removal, deinterlacing, spatial resampling, speed change (i.e. 25p to 24p conversion), image flip (for 35mm adapters), etc. We also allow you to convert most any source format into CineForm files. This allows using many different cameras in your shoot but using a single format for post. In general the product I've described in this paragraph is our "Neo" family: http://www.cineform.com/products/NeoHD.htm.
We also offer products optimized for Premiere that include our real-time processing engine that replaces the engine within Premiere. This will allow (machine dependent) 3 - 6 HD streams to play simultaneously on the timeline with no rendering, including color correction, transitions, titles, etc. This describes our Aspect HD or Prospect HD/2K/4K family: http://www.cineform.com/products/Aspect-Prospect.htm. Among other differences, files compressed with Aspect HD are 8 bits in depth and Prospect HD/2K/4K files are 10 or 12 bits in depth. For those interested in seeing the difference between 8 and 10 bit images when "pushed" in post, look here: http://www.cineform.com/products/Asp...pect.htm#10bit.
VISUAL QUALITY
You can see our published quality analyses here: http://www.cineform.com/technology/quality.htm. You'll notice that we offer visual fidelity that exceeds the respected HDCam SR format that is routinely used for source acquisition for film/television projects. In part, our quality is achieved by offering a large "head room" across varying image scene complexity that maintains the original source quality better than other formats. Because of our high quality CineForm compression has become i) an in-camera acquisition format ii) source acquisition format for direct-to-disk recorders, iii) a digital cinema projection format, and iv) a long-term archive format, including for all content delivered by Microsoft on Xbox Live Marketplace.
Circling back for emphasis, our codec is our underlying technology, but it's all the software that goes around our codec that makes the product.
PERFORMANCE
And we can't forget to mention performance. The CineForm codec in general was optimized for very high performance. The Wavelet nature of our codec allows unique multi-resolution decoder characteristics that we exploit for high performance within many NLEs. Further, within Premiere Pro, we have our own real-time, multi-stream video engine that replaces the engine in Premiere. Think of the Cineform engine like having a hardware accelerator card but performed in software. We are often 2X-4X faster than native M2T editing, although this depends on the performance of your machine.
CROSS PLATFORM
Cineform is unique in offering cross-platform compatibility on Mac and Windows for those with a need for a shared workflow. CineForm files work on both Windows and Mac. In addition, we have a re-wrapping utility that replaces the AVI wrapper with an MOV wrapper (and vice versa) without touching the underlying compression.
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Check out the Videoguys Blog for all the latest Cineform news from the show
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Product Architecture
As shown in the diagram above, CineForm's software products Prospect HD, Aspect HD, and Connect HD all include CineForm Intermediate, and each has software interfaces designed for Adobe Premiere Pro or Sony Vegas. The scalable and modular architecture of CineForm Intermediate allows each CineForm product to use a unique set of features based on the editing application (Premiere Pro or Vegas) and other workflow-dependent parameters. For instance, Prospect HD uses a full 10-bit I/O path and 16-bit arithmetic path for compatibility with HD-SDI source material, while Aspect HD and Connect HD each support 8-bit I/O paths consistent with HDV material. Our CFHD file format uses an AVI file wrapper ensuring compatibility with scores of other applications. Our products run on standard Windows desktop PCs, offering unmatched high-definition performance at a price dramatically lower than competitive solutions.
Digital Intermediate Workflow
A Digital Intermediate (“DI”) workflow is one that allows you to capture and digitize source footage (film or video) once, edit the source material (never a proxy) directly, then export to one or more distribution formats at the completion of post production. Because you're always working with full-resolution material, the workflow advantages of Digital Intermediate include:
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reduced costs because you only have to capture/digitize once
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saves time (hence dollars) because no conforming is required at the end of the process
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ability to view footage at full resolution while editing
Of most importance, use of the term "Digital Intermediate" carries with it a promise of preserving pristine source quality through the multiple generations of video processing inherent in post production. Achieving the highest visual quality possible was our number one priority when designing CineForm Intermediate; consequently we don't take the term "Intermediate" lightly.
Technology Background
While it is an “obvious” solution to use a compressed format within a DI workflow, the key limitation to date has been the poor multi-generational quality of most existing compressed formats. Some recent attempts have been made by eager manufacturers to jump-start a compressed DI workflow, but invariably the approaches employ simply repackaging off-the-shelf compression formats including: MPEG long-GOP, MPEG I-frames, DVCPRO HD, or motion JPEG, and positioning them as editing formats. None of these formats were designed for post-production – they were either designed for capturing video on tape (DVCPRO HD), distributing video (MPEG), or still images (JPEG). Their application in a post-production environment often introduces unwanted characteristics including: i) generally poor multi-generational quality, ii) 8-bit arithmetic processing limitations, iii) specialized hardware, and iv) lack of a compatible forward path to higher resolutions (Cinema 2K/4K) or arithmetic depth (10-bit, 12-bit). In most cases these codecs are not worthy of use in a Digital Intermediate workflow, and is the reason many have felt that "compression" within DI is a "bad word".
CineForm Intermediate changes all that. CineForm Intermediate blends together three elements in our patent-pending solution: i) CineForm's scalable, Visually Perfect™ codec, ii) our real-time high-resolution video pipeline architecture, and iii) an ubiquitous wrapper format (AVI) that surrounds our compressed files and guarantees compatibility across a wide range of PC applications. These technologies were all optimized by design for the demanding performance and visual quality requirements in post-production. Features of CineForm Intermediate include:
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Visually lossless quality with very high signal-to-noise performance for multi-generation use.
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Real-time, multi-stream editing performance in software on standard PCs, without the need for specialized hardware.
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8-bit or 10-bit source I/O plus 16-bit arithmetic processing to maintain the highest precision throughout the post-production workflow.
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AVI format wrapper guaranteeing compatibility with a large number of existing PC applications
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Scalable architecture with forward extensions to support:
- 12-bit precision and mathematically-lossless processing
- resolution extensions to Cinema 2K/4K
CineForm’s Visually Perfect Codec
For optimum performance in a post-production environment, CineForm’s Visually Perfect codec has a number of unique characteristics, including:
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Employs a full-frame temporal Wavelet transform, not a DCT transform. This eliminates “block artifacts” often present when using DCT compression.
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Scalable precision: operates in either 8-bit or 10-bit modes, with optimized arithmetic precision based on source resolution.
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Uses a symmetric transform, meaning that encoding speed is similar to decoding speed. This allows real-time software encoding while capturing, eliminating the need for specialized hardware.
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Exploits the hierarchical structure of Wavelet transforms to allow unprecedented performance in an editing environment, again eliminating the need for specialized hardware.
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Scalable resolution: scales compatibly to higher spatial resolutions including Cinema2K/4K.
While designing our Visually Perfect codec, we optimized for two things: 1) preserving source quality through multiple generation (instead of optimizing for lower bitrates), and 2) efficient arithmetic implementation in software (to eliminate the need for specialized hardware).
Streams compressed using CineForm's Visually Perfect Codec preserve the characteristics of the original source material, even through more than 15 generations of post-production rendering. Even noisy 16mm film scans retain the grain structure of the source through multiple generations. CineForm's Visually Perfect codec delivers a constant-quality, variable bitrate (VBR) compression that allows compression rates to rise dynamically for more complex scenes, and allows it to dynamically fall for less-complex scenes.
Compressed file sizes are approximately 6:1 to 10:1 smaller than their uncompressed YUV equivalent. As an example, source material which is 1920x1080 at 24 fps with 10 bits of precision has an uncompressed YUV bandwidth of about 125MB/sec. After CineForm compression, depending on the complexity of the source material, the resulting file size for this footage will be nominally 12MB/sec to 20MB/sec, even while preserving visual quality indistinguishable from the source.
Editing Workflow using CineForm Intermediate
Video Editing Application Support: As illustrated in the figure, CineForm Intermediate is designed to work with Adobe Premiere or Sony Vegas; specific interfaces have been designed to support these applications. As an example within Premiere Pro, CineForm Intermediate replaces Premiere Pro's entire 8-bit native arithmetic processing engine, yet all of the original features of the editing application are retained with the familiar Premiere Pro look and feel.
Video Ingest: Input is from a variety of 10-bit or 8-bit HD sources, including HD-SDI, HDV, film scan, or other file-based sources. While streaming HD-SDI or HDV input, and prior to writing the stream to disk, CineForm Intermediate converts source material to CineForm’s Visually Perfect™ AVI codec format. For capture, this workflow reduces the bandwidth of the uncompressed source to one that is manageable by even simple 7200 rpm IDE drives.
Video Editing: CineForm products are largely invisible to a user while running Premiere Pro or Vegas. The editing interface remains the familiar interface a user is accustomed to within a specific application. CineForm products works transparently within the editing application to deliver its real-time performance and Digital Intermediate workflow. When using Prospect HD with Premiere Pro, CineForm Intermediate supports real-time monitoring of the editing timeline through compatible HD-SDI cards.
Compatibility with Other Applications: Although CineForm’s CFHD codec format is unique, it uses an ubiquitous AVI wrapper ensuring file compatibility with scores of video applications including Adobe After Effects, Combustion, Windows Media Player, and others.
Video Export: File export is managed by the editing application in combination with the underlying CineForm Intermediate technologies. All output formats normally supported by an editing application are also supported when using CineForm Intermediate. With Prospect HD, 8-bit or 10-bit HD-SDI output is also a valid export format.
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