The CinemaDNG Discussion (raw2cdng)

[andy kh]

the pink dot removing costs a lot of speed - but i still think about a optional button for that.

oh wow!! that wil be fantastic if there is optiional button for removing pink dot. no other application wil be needed  in the workflow if you do so. drag and drop all mlv files in raw2cdg. remove pink dots and convert to cdng. this wil be the best application for sure

[duey101]

@all
mlv/audio native is on the way.

This look promising, +1 for the pink dot button.

[CrW]

Just a little bug report (sorry if this has already been posted):
On Windows (8, 64-bit), the drag-and-drop functionality breaks if the path of the dragged file contains spaces (mlv_dump gives error).
E.g.:
C:/this/path/works/video.mlv
C:/this/path/does not/work/video.mlv

In the latter case, mlv_dump would say that "C:/this/path/does" does not exist.

[chmee]

@CrW What Version you're using? Please try 1.4.9.3 and tell if its still apparent..
http://www.magiclantern.fm/forum/index.php?topic=5618.msg102531#msg102531

[kaco]

@CrW What Version you're using? Please try 1.4.9.3 and tell if its still apparent..
http://www.magiclantern.fm/forum/index.php?topic=5618.msg102531#msg102531

I was about to report same bug. With 1.4.9.3 it works for me.

[kaco]

@all
mlv/audio native is on the way.

When developing native wav extract, could you please test importing the final CDNG into Davinci Resolve? For me the DNG sequence and the WAV file is always being imported as two separate files. :-/

[AD DP]

@CrW What Version you're using? Please try 1.4.9.3 and tell if its still apparent..
http://www.magiclantern.fm/forum/index.php?topic=5618.msg102531#msg102531

Using 64bit win 8.1 here, no response when attempting to drag and drop a MLV file on version 1.4.9.3 of the converter, am I missing something? 

Edit:
I can convert from MLV to RAW first then use raw2cdng and it works - sometimes (all crash logs saved) - but there seems to be a huge loss in quality when importing to premiere for editing, compared to the other option of converting MLV's to DNG's with Mystic then importing to After Effects, Any ideas? ;/

[chmee]

@AD DP
The difference is the DNG-Wrapper. Premiere uses another code than AFX. Because i dont have Win8.1 i cant check, whats wrong there. Please wait some more days for native MLV-Support, then give it another try.

[kaco]

Using 64bit win 8.1 here, no response when attempting to drag and drop a MLV file on version 1.4.9.3 of the converter, am I missing something? 

Edit:
I can convert from MLV to RAW first then use raw2cdng and it works - sometimes (all crash logs saved) - but there seems to be a huge loss in quality when importing to premiere for editing, compared to the other option of converting MLV's to DNG's with Mystic then importing to After Effects, Any ideas? ;/

I'm also on Win 8.1
The 1.4.9. version was not working with spaces in directories. With 1.4.9.3 it works for me (although the windows with mlv_dump will stay black during the extraction process).

[arrinkiiii]

Please what some more days for native MLV-Support...

Wonderful =))

[AD DP]

@AD DP
The difference is the DNG-Wrapper. Premiere uses another code than AFX. Because i dont have Win8.1 i cant check, whats wrong there. Please wait some more days for native MLV-Support, then give it another try.

@chmee

That's Great! I did have success converting to RAW and then using the program to make CDNG's, just not with the MLV's. Cant wait for the updates! Thank you for all your hard work.

[chmee]

raw2cdng v1.4.9.5 is online
* native mlv+audio

http://www.phreekz.de/wordpress/2013/06/magiclantern-raw2cdng-cinema-dng/

PLEASE! i wont believe, that all is working fine. so, test and tell all bugs, glitches, problems. my wish is to get a stable 1.5 version..

[melimelo]

I'm a total newbie so my questions may be quite simple but have a few doubts about the raw2cdng workflow and quality implications:

1. To edit directly in PPro (with no pink cast) I just extract the cdngs setting bitdepth at 12/linear as I hve read in chmee's blog. Everything goes smoothly but my question is: is there any quality loss vs extracting at 16 bit and then grading in resolve and sending back to premiere via xml for edit and back to resolve for export (or using the 16 bit extract at ACR)? (I'm not a pro in any way, so the quality I get with the 12/linear export in PPro is more than enough for me...but just wanted to know...)

2. When I open the CDNG sequence in premiere for color grading I use the speedgrade direct link but when I've triedto color in resolve (via xml from PPro) I get the problem that the CDNGs have embeded a 24fps frame rate. In premiere I just interpret footage as whatever it actually is (i.e. 25fps) and sequence is adjusted accordingly. But if I export that 25fps sequence as xml, Resolve just does not import the clips as it says the clips do not match the sequence timecode (I guess the dngs have a fixed 24 fps timecode embedded). ANything I'm doing wrong? If not, how can I change that "internal" fixed 24 fps setting?

Thanks

[Jakobmen]

raw2cdng v1.4.9.5 is online
* native mlv+audio

http://www.phreekz.de/wordpress/2013/06/magiclantern-raw2cdng-cinema-dng/

PLEASE! i wont believe, that all is working fine. so, test and tell all bugs, glitches, problems. my wish is to get a stable 1.5 version..

link to 12.03.2014 – v1.4.9.5 – native mlv-support is downloading v1.4.9.3 first glitch..   

[chmee]

just ve seen it fixed.

@melimelo
(1) i didnt recognised any real disadvantages on 12bit versus 16bit. primarily i left the 16bit because of acr and resolve-users. and some saying, its a disadvantage by numbers
(2) will look deeper on that.

[melimelo]

just ve seen it fixed.

@melimelo
(1) i didnt recognised any disadvantages on 12bit versus 16bit. primarily i left the 16bit because of acr and resolve-users. and some, saying, its a disadvantage by numbers
(2) will look deeper on that.

Thanks for your extremely quick reply...have downloaded the new version, I guess this native feature must be a big improvement (as I've read you've been working on this for quite long) but could you elaborate for "illiterates" like me what are the main improvements/advantages of this version of this vs previous versions? Thanks!

PS: the only thing I may add is that in the new version the default tif model tage still says version 1.4.9.3...not much help but that is the most I can contribute ;-)

[chmee]

main advantage is the native mlv+audio support. before that i had native raw-support and mlv+audio was done thru chaining to external app (mlv_dump). it was a double copy/recode-process. i just wanted to do an app, you're able to transcode straight from the card, without copying and merging splitted files, with batch support (dropping more than one raw/mlv-file) - support in premiere, because thats my favoured edit-app - and finally something with a kind of speed. i dont like the timeconsuming process with acr/photoshop/lightroom/aftereffects, nonetheless its still the way to get the best quality.

still says version 1.4.9.3...not much help but that is the most I can contribute

thx.

[Jakobmen]

so is there a option for 23.976? or its just 24.000fps

[AD DP]

raw2cdng v1.4.9.5 is online
* native mlv+audio

http://www.phreekz.de/wordpress/2013/06/magiclantern-raw2cdng-cinema-dng/

PLEASE! i wont believe, that all is working fine. so, test and tell all bugs, glitches, problems. my wish is to get a stable 1.5 version..

@chmee

I think there is a loss in quality when going the CDNG route, but it may also be my inexperience with utilizing speed grade and not really being able to pull all the detail back out. Here are the results I was able to get using the previous version 1.4.9.3 by going the MLV>RAW>CDNG then importing into Premier for my regular workflow:
https://vimeo.com/88723935
Shot on the t2i with the most recent nightly build [v2.3 March] at 1152x482 with a 2.39 aspect ratio, also at 1080p / 24 frames sec selected in the canon menus. Stretched just abit (14%) to fit. Not amazing quality, but eh for the t2i its pretty good! and its leagues better than the h264.
Will continue some testing [this time on my 5DIII] and post results. Excited to see the new version, will definitely give it a shot with my next test!

[kaco]

raw2cdng v1.4.9.5 is online
* native mlv+audio

http://www.phreekz.de/wordpress/2013/06/magiclantern-raw2cdng-cinema-dng/

PLEASE! i wont believe, that all is working fine. so, test and tell all bugs, glitches, problems. my wish is to get a stable 1.5 version..

Great work, thanks!
In my case i am having problems with FPS detection (the MLV was shot as 23.976, in older versions it worked OK).

[kaco]

Next problem is that the resolve is importing this CDNG as 24p (bud I can change this via Clip attributes). But the audio will always import as separate file and it is few seconds longer.
I assume this is some MLV stuff and not a problem of CDNG?

[Olivier57]

Hi everyone ! 

Yes, I have the same problem than Kaco with the fps detection. Also: how do you activate the chroma smoothing function ? (Because it's "disabled")

Thanks

[chmee]

(1) fps-read from mlv. on the list. (something since yesterday while coding
(2) according framerate (also timecode) into cdng. on the list.
(3) chroma smoothing - not useable now, on the list for 1.5
(4) audio length. please check, if theres really async or if the audiopart is just longer.

edit:
6074 frames / 24fps = 4min 13sec 2frames
6074 frames / 23.976fps = 4min 13sec 8frames + ~6 frames audio often recorded by mlv (seen in another thread)

(5) audio/video resolve - maybe a nameproblem (according to the path/filename-thing found entries ago)

regards chmee

[kaco]

(5) audio/video resolve - maybe a nameproblem (according to the path/filename-thing found entries ago)

probably a timecode problem.

OK, I found I way how to sync audio and video in Resolve. You can do this in Media Pool by syncing the clips viac timecode.
Read page 122 from this document: http://software.blackmagicdesign.com/DaVinciResolve/Manual/DaVinci_Resolve_Colorist_Reference_Manual_Nov_2013.pdf

Now the problem is, that all my clips from CDNG has Start timecode 01:00:00:00. I have to manually change clip attributes to 00:00:00:00 otherwise the sync won't work. I can't change this for all clips in one click, I have to do this for every DNG sequence.
@chmee: Could we somehow change the start TC in raw2cdng?

You can see the wrong start TC column here:

[chmee]

(5a) thy will be done. static sync-TC set to 00:00:00:00 (because no one ever said something about it)
and/or
(5b) button switch for TimeOfDay?
and/or
(5c) instead of wav -> bwf (wav with timecode) timecode in bwf is strange thing.. no.

regards chmee