Press Release - CineForm Supports Mac OS X and Final Cut Pro

Media Contacts:
David Taylor
CineForm, Inc
(858) 345-2645
dtaylor@cineform.com

Mary Reeves
CineForm, Inc
(858) 345-2645
mreeves@cineform.com

CineForm Announces 12-Bit RGB Codec For HD and 2K Direct-To-Disk Media Recording and Online Post-Production Workflows

Tests Using Prototype Wafian HR-2 Direct-to-Disk Recorder Delivers Visual Fidelity Exceeding HDCam SR For Source Media Acquisition

Solana Beach, Calif., April 4, 2007 – CineForm^®, Inc. announced today that its CineForm Intermediate™ codec family now supports a 12-bit RGB format called CineForm 444™, offering spatial resolutions up to 2048 x 2048 pixels. Further, CineForm’s Windows-based Prospect 2K™ editing software for Adobe^® Premiere^® Pro now supports real-time, multi-stream editing of CineForm 444 content on its editing timeline. A version of CineForm 444 compatible with Intel-based Mac OS X QuickTime™ video applications will be released in the near future.

Intended for professional film, digital cinema, and broadcast applications, CineForm 444 offers real-time software-based direct-to-disk recording of dual-link HD-SDI sources onto Windows (and soon Mac OS X) computers as an alternative to traditional tape-based recording. Tape-based recording requires an extra tape-to-disk transfer process prior to beginning post production which is eliminated by using CineForm 444 direct-to-disk recording. Setup parameters allow selection of whether files will be written to QuickTime MOV or AVI file formats for cross-platform (Windows / Mac OS X) compatibility. Recorded CineForm 444 files are immediately available for online editing using Adobe Premiere Pro or After Effects^® on Windows, with compatibility soon to be offered for Final Cut Pro and other non-linear editing and compositing software.

To determine CineForm 444 visual fidelity, CineForm and Wafian Corporation participated in a suite of comparative recording tests versus the respected HDCam SRW1 dual-link HD-SDI recorder. Tests performed included dual-link recording from a Viper Filmstream™ camera courtesy of Thomson, plus dual-link recording of StEM (Standard Evaluation Material) footage commissioned by DCI (Digital Cinema Initiative) to test codec quality. Material was recorded into a prototype Wafian HR-2 dual-link direct-to-disk recorder featuring CineForm 444, and simultaneously to the HDCam SRW1 tape deck. In all tests performed, with results measured by PSNR (Peak Signal-to-Noise) analysis, the recorded visual quality of CineForm 444 exceeded that of HDCam SR by 3dB up to 5dB when each is compared to the uncompressed reference images. Additional details and test results are available at CineForm’s website www.cineform.com.

“CineForm has always strived to deliver the highest image fidelity”, said David Taylor, CEO of CineForm. “We’re honored that our new CineForm 444 compares favorably against HDCam SR which has become the reference standard in our industry for high-quality compressed recording. Our desire with CineForm 444 is to offer an end-to-end IT-based workflow that meets or exceeds the visual fidelity obtained from traditional tape-based workflows, but which offers an increase in post-production efficiency combined with a reduction in costs.”

The CineForm 444 codec extension is a new feature offered in CineForm’s Prospect 2K real-time editing software for Adobe Premiere Pro, which is available for download from CineForm’s website www.cineform.com. CineForm 444 will become available in additional CineForm software products to be announced shortly, and will soon be available as a Beta release for Mac OS X. Pricing for CineForm products that include CineForm 444 is available on its website.

Additional details about the Wafian HR-2 dual-link direct-to-disk recorder are available from Wafian Corporation at www.wafian.com.

CineForm, Inc., located in Solana Beach, California, develops software products for use by media professionals in high-resolution acquisition and post-production applications. Powered by CineForm Intermediate, CineForm's acclaimed products provide unmatched visual fidelity and real-time performance within an editing environment while enabling an online compressed digital intermediate workflow that runs on affordable Windows or Macintosh PCs. For more information, contact CineForm at 858-345-2645, or visit CineForm’s website at www.cineform.com.