Neo HD/4K for Mac

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Neo HD/4K for Mac

Unmatched HD Visual Quality and Workflow Simplicity on Mac

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Release Notes
Update/Upgrade Policy

CineForm Ships Neo HD/4K - Mac

    Update Release: 12/23/08 - v2.16 Build 72
    • DPX/Uncompressed added as output formats
          from ReMaster
    • Fix for licensing inconsistency for some users

    New Neo HD Pricing: $499

    Neo HD/4K Press release
    Red One Workflow Overview
    Update Log
    Free upgrade for existing customers
    ReMaster Tech Note: File Conversion

CineForm Workflow Overview
10-bit versus 8-bit precision
4:4:4 versus 4:2:2 chroma
Tech Notes
Active Metadata Controls
Visual Quality Analyses
Neo HD/4K (Windows) product page

Neo HD/4K (Mac) Feature Highlights

Neo HD/4K includes:

CineForm Mac Codec compatible with all Mac QuickTime applications including Final Cut Pro, Motion, Premiere Pro, After Effects, and more. Supports spatial resolution up to 4K with 12-bit precision and RGB, YUV, and Raw chroma formats.
Remaster application to convert from myriad camera or source files into CineForm or ProRes files. Remaster includes numerous preprocessing features during conversion including telecine removal (60i --> 24p), spatial resampling, deinterlacing, and more.
SetActiveMetadata application adds non-destructive color information such as White Balance, 3D LUTs, and gain/offset to your images as a video layer without flattening or re-rendering the source images.

Among many other features, Neo HD/4K offers the following for your post workflow:

The industry's highest fidelity compression-based post-production workflow. See quality analysis....
Converts most HD / HDV / 2K / 4K camera formats into post-production ready CineForm or (optionally) ProRes HQ, DPX, or uncompressed YUV (V210) files
Choose 10-bit 4:2:2, 12-bit 4:4:4 (RGB), or 12-bit CineForm RAW workflow to match your source or distribution format.
Remove telecine fields (24p extraction) when embedded in 60i, yielding a true 24p (23.976p) post workflow. Supports virtually all camera sources: HDV, XDCam HD/EX, etc.
Edit up to 4000-wide images in FCP.
Use a non-destructive color workflow with Active Metadata™ to better preserve image fidelity and highlights without clipping
CineForm QuickTime files files are compatible:
- across all QuickTime applications (QT Player, FCP/Motion, PPro/AE, Speedgrade, etc)
- on Windows. Just copy CineForm files to Windows and start using them.
Rewrap CineForm AVI files originating on Windows to MOV files for better efficiency on Mac (the compression layer is undisturbed)
Create 1K CineForm Express files from HD, 2K, 4K, or 4K sources. Especially useful for 4K sources such as from Red One.
Alternatively choose ProRes as the destination format during conversion operations
A free decoder (Neo Player) is available for sharing deep-precision content with others who may not have purchased a CineForm license

Neo HD/4K Workflow for Mac

Step 1	Convert with ReMaster: Media is acquired from camera or file-based sources and converted to CineForm MOV files using the Remaster application that is part of Neo HD/4K. CineForm files can be created from any file playable in QuickTime Player (including ProRes) plus additional file types as discussed in the specifications. Pre-processing features of Remaster (telecine removal, spatial resampling, etc) can be applied at the time of conversion.
Step 2	CineForm MOV files are your new source master: Backup or discard your original source files. Your CineForm files will better preserve image fidelity through post than your source files. Why? Chances are your source files were intended for acquisition, not for preserving fidelity through post-production. CineForm files are compatible with virtually all QuickTime applications including Final Cut Pro, Color, Premiere Pro, AE, and others CineForm files can be moved to Windows with full compatibility. Or you can rewrap to AVI on Windows which some applications prefer.
Step 3	(Optional) Non-Destructive Color Management using SetActiveMetadata. CineForm's SetActiveMetadata application applies white balance, 3D LUTs, and gain/offset adjustments to your source images without rendering, so you always maintain best visual fidelity and retain highlights. Using Active Metadata is like applying an Adjustment Layer in Photoshop, but the adjustments remain with your images until you choose to render. How It Works: Active Metadata for each file is stored in a CineForm color database that is interrogated by the CineForm codec when called by a QuickTime application. Active Metadata is applied to images within the codec after decoding but prior to presenting the image(s) to the calling application. Because Active Metadata resides outside the calling application (FCP for instance) it is application independent. Active Metadata will be properly applied to CineForm files regardless of the calling application, even after moving the files (and color database) to Windows.
Step 4	Distribution: At the completion of your project you may render from your host application to your preferred distribution format. Archive: If you may ever need access to your project in the future, we recommend archiving your CineForm files and project file along with your distribution format.

Neo HD/4K (Mac) Feature Specifications

CineForm Mac Codec	Up to 4K spatial resolution and 12-bit precision for MacOS QuickTime applications
Max Spatial Resolution:	Up to 1920 x 1080 (Neo HD); 4096x4096 (Neo 4K)
Bit Depth / Chroma:	10-bit 4:2:2 12-bit 4:4:4 12-bit CineForm RAW (Neo 4K Only)
File Compatibility	CineForm QuickTime (MOV) files are cross-platform compatible on both Windows and Mac. CineForm AVI files can be rewrapped by ReMaster into CineForm MOV files for improved Mac compatibility without disturbing the underlying compression.
Encoder Quality Selector	Remaster • Low • Medium • High • Filmscan1 • Filmscan2	QT / FCP Panel • Least • Low • Medium • High • Best
File Wrapper on Render:	MOV

Remaster Application	Convert (normalize) most all source files into high-quality CineForm or ProRes files
Supported HD/HDV camera formats	Any file that will play in QuickTime Player can be converted to a CineForm file
Supported 2K/4K camera formats	Arri D20/21, Dalsa DPX, Red R3D, Silicon Imaging AVI/MOV, Vision Research .cine* * Coming in a later release, although you can convert from these cameras today on Windows
Special camera support	Grass Valley Infinity. With optional I-J2K Suite, convert Infinity's JPEG2000 files to CineForm files.
ReMaster Export Formats	CineForm: 10-bit CineForm YUV, 12-bit CineForm 444 (RGB), 12-bit CineForm RAW ProRes HQ: Must have Final Cut Pro 6 / FCS2 (or greater) installed. DPX Uncompressed YUV (V.210)
Spatial resampling to:	• 1920x1080 • 1440x1080 • 1280x720 • NTSC: 16:9, 4:3 letterbox or centered • PAL: 16:9, 4:3 letterbox or centered
Aspect ratio re-shaping	Letter box / Pillar box
Inverse telecine processing (Available in release v2.2)	24p extraction from 60i source
Deinterlacing (Available in release v2.2)	60i → 30p 50i → 25p
Speed Change including audio remodulation (Available in release v2.2)	60p → 24p / 30p 30p → 24p 25p → 24p / 23.976p 24p → 25p / 23.976p 23.976p → 25p / 24p
Image Flip (Available in release v2.2)	Upper-Left to Lower-Right for 35mm adapters such as Redrock Micro
Re-wrap (Available in release v2.2)	CineForm AVI → CineForm MOV
1K Express Files	Create color-perfect "Mini-Me" versions of full-res 2K, 3K, or 4K CineForm master files. Typically 2-3MB/sec in size. Used for onlining (including color correction, transitions, effects, etc). Later Express files are unlinked, and full-res CineForm master files are re-linked into the same project while retaining all effects applied to the Express files.
Direct-to-disk recording	HDMI* and HD-SDI* source * Coming in a later release

SetActiveMetadata Application	Manage renderless color workflow - similar to Adjustment Layer in Photoshop
Stored as independent layers per file	Add/change Active Metadata parameters: • White Balance • 3D LUTs (meeting Iridas .LOOK LUT format) • Saturation Matrix • Gain / Offset

HW/SW Requirements
System HW (Intel Mac Only)	Recommended: 2.66GHz (or greater) dual quad core Minimum: 2GHz Core 2 Duo
OS	Mac OS X v10.5 or later
QuickTime	v7.1.3 or later

Neo HD/4K (Mac) Release Notes

Free Neo Player (Mac/Win): Neo Player is a free download that installs the CineForm QuickTime or Windows codec. Neo Player includes a non-expiring CineForm decoder and a watermarked Trial of the CineForm encoder. Neo Player can be installed by anybody wishing to view CineForm-encoded content. Download Neo Player

A note about Apple Color: Unfortunately Apple Color does NOT support QuickTime codecs (including CineForm) but instead only supports legacy codecs as defined by its architecture from pre-Apple days. Apple is aware of this problem and hopes for an update to Color in the future that resolves this. In the mean time, ReMaster (part of Neo HD/4K) exports ProRes, DPX, and uncompressed YUV files which are supported by Color.

Cross-Platform Workflows (Re-Wrapping): QuickTime applications prefer MOV-wrapped files. In addition, to ensure Final Cut Pro interprets CineForm files with 10/12-bit precision, you MUST use MOV wrappers. While playable on Mac, AVI files are always interpreted as being 8 bits in depth. Remaster (soon - around the end of November) will rewrap Cineform AVI files to MOV files on Mac to ensure maximum precision is retained. Re-wrapping is almost as fast as a file copy because the underlying compression is not being disturbed. Re-wrapping creates new CineForm MOV files and leaves the source CineForm AVI files intact. For rewrapping today, please use HD Link which is part of our Neo and Prospect families on Windows.

Update Log: Read details about current and previous Neo HD and Neo 4K product updates.

Click for Trial downloads, free Neo Player, or updates to all CineForm products

Update and Upgrade Policy

Free Update Policy: If you have a serial number for Neo HD/4K (Mac) you are always entitled to download the latest update releases from CineForm for free. Visit our Neo HD/4K (Mac) update page for the latest version. In general we tend to offer free updates every 4-8 weeks. Subscribe to the RSS feed on our home page to be notified of new releases.

Existing Customers: Free Upgrade to Neo HD/4K: Any customer who has a "CineForm Mac Codec" serial number (starts with CIMxx) as part of a (Windows) Neo HD/4K or Prospect HD/4K purchase is entitled to a free upgrade to Neo HD/4K (Mac):

If your CIMxx serial number came from a purchase of Neo HD or Prospect HD, simply download Neo HD (Mac) and activate it using your existing CIMxx serial number. (Either run the Authenticator application in /Applications/CineForm or else go to www.cineform.com/register.html.
If your CIMxx serial number came from a purchase of Neo 4K or Prospect 4K, then you must replace your CIMxx serial number with a new N4Mxx serial number. Click here to automatically get your new Neo 4K (Mac) serial number. Then install the latest Neo 4K (Mac) and activate it using your new serial number.

All CineForm software is tuned for best performance on Intel processors by leveraging Intel's high-performance SSEx (Streaming SIMD Extension) instructions plus threading optimizations for Intel's multi-core architectures.

Intel, the Intel logo, Centrino, Centrino Inside, Intel Core, and Core Inside are trademarks of Intel Corporation in the U.S. and other countries.

Want to Learn More?

Read our Technology section for more about CineForm Intermediate, CineForm RAW, and our Visual Quality Analyses.

Visit our Learn More section for additional resources.