Anyone who's tried to edit or even VIEW their 5D Mark II video has been the victim of CHOP CHOP CHOP playback. QuickTime can't play the .mov files for beans (it doesn't leverage video hardware), but even worse, Adobe Premiere CS4 can't either! Try to play your video in Adobe's high-end NLE and it's still choppy and horrible.
Not knowing where to turn, I decided in March to start buying the components to build a high-end mega-gamer PC (12GB ram, overclocked Intel i7 processor, the whole works). BUT--I found out from forums that the problem still exists even with a rig like that!
I finally found out the reason, quite simple: Our Canon 5D Mark II raw 1080p video files can't be played smoothly on our PC's natively, end of story (Mac Pro users with Final Cut Studio, hush up, we know you can. ). Well, one exception for smooth viewing for PC folks is a shareware viewer called VLC, but the video quality it emits is a bit pixelated, and you STILL can't edit the video in Premiere.
THE ANSWER: You simply need to have a magic tool that converts the 5D2's .MOV files to an even-higher quality .AVI file that not only plays gorgeous and smooth in Windows Media Player, but also can be edited in Premiere the way it should have been to begin with. And this amazing tool that converts the 5D2 video should also make the video look even BETTER, more cinema-quality, right?
So where is this magic tool, and what does it cost? It's called NeoScene by Cineform (once the page opens, click on the NeoScene link on the left).
You open your 5D2 file in this software and convert it to AVI, and you're DONE. The new AVI is totally viewable and editable, even in Premiere Elements.
I bought it Wednesday and tried it out last night, and was amazed. I have a 2006 Dell Laptop with an older 2.0 gHz Core2Duo, and it worked great. The cost for NeoScene on the Cineform site is $129, but you can buy it for $99 from VideoGuys.com (I got another $10 being a first-time customer too!). They send you a download link the next day via email.
IMPORTANT NOTE: NeoScene adds info to the video file to increase image quality, so the AVI file size is larger than your original 5D2 file. For example, I converted a 250MB 5D2 file and ended up with about a 400MB AVI file once it was done, so hard drive space is needed (we need it anyway with video... I'll probably have to have 3TB soon enough).
Anyway, last month I started building this mega-gamer PC thinking that was the only way to work with the 5D2 video (and it'll be a great rig to edit on once I'm done, no doubt), but it's clear now that NeoScene is as important to 5D2 owners as is a lens on the camera, if you want to work with HD video. You probably don't need to build a Saturn V PC, a decent dual-core PC with at least 2GB ram should work just fine!
Final thought for video buffs: NeoScene can't convert the 5D2's 30p video down to 24p. The website says NeoScene does do 24p conversions, and that's true, but not from the 5D2's 30p format. (Hey Canon!! We still need you to include 24p in the next firmware upgrade!!)
John, did you get the RAD tool to work with 5D2 raw video? I can't... I just downloaded the tool and followed the instructions on the website (quite easy actually), but the AVI file it creates has two problems: one, it won't open in Windows Media Player or Premiere CS4 (says it's not valid or corrupt), and two, it turned a 117MB 5D2 .MOV file into a 4.1GB AVI. Yikes! I converted it twice to be sure, but same results.
I emailed RAD and asked them if their tool works with H.264 .MOV files generated on a 5D2... we'll see what they say.
Hey Paul,
No, I don't have a 5DII.
However, I've had this program for awhile now for other uses, and assumed that it would work with any MOV file.
Thanks for investigating this further.
...and assumed that it would work with any MOV file.
LOL! You would think so! Not the case I guess... I'm learning that this video attempt by Canon, while providing an excellent image quality, is anything but standard. I don't know for sure, but I think the H.264 compression that Canon chose (which is a good thing) adds to the complexity of the file format, so maybe that's why RAD Tools doesn't like it.
It's good to hear about these tools so they can be checked out, so I'm glad you posted it. I'll be happy to test whatever people find. So far, NeoScene is the only one that works really well.
NO kidding! I thought it was the slow write time on the CF cards! I was so disappointed when I saw that on my videos... thank you for clearing this up!
Really? I haven't noticed that... are you using UDMA cards? Makes a huge difference, because UDMA technology takes the burden off of the host (the 5D2 in our case). You get faster write times, larger buffer (smaller jpegs are pretty much limitless), and most of all you get smooth video writing without all of the 5D2's internal circuits heating up. Try one SanDisk Extreme IV and see what you think (or a Lexar, just make sure it's 300x).
Discussion
10 repliesNot knowing where to turn, I decided in March to start buying the components to build a high-end mega-gamer PC (12GB ram, overclocked Intel i7 processor, the whole works). BUT--I found out from forums that the problem still exists even with a rig like that!
I finally found out the reason, quite simple: Our Canon 5D Mark II raw 1080p video files can't be played smoothly on our PC's natively, end of story (Mac Pro users with Final Cut Studio, hush up, we know you can.
THE ANSWER: You simply need to have a magic tool that converts the 5D2's .MOV files to an even-higher quality .AVI file that not only plays gorgeous and smooth in Windows Media Player, but also can be edited in Premiere the way it should have been to begin with. And this amazing tool that converts the 5D2 video should also make the video look even BETTER, more cinema-quality, right?
So where is this magic tool, and what does it cost? It's called NeoScene by Cineform (once the page opens, click on the NeoScene link on the left).
You open your 5D2 file in this software and convert it to AVI, and you're DONE. The new AVI is totally viewable and editable, even in Premiere Elements.
I bought it Wednesday and tried it out last night, and was amazed. I have a 2006 Dell Laptop with an older 2.0 gHz Core2Duo, and it worked great. The cost for NeoScene on the Cineform site is $129, but you can buy it for $99 from VideoGuys.com (I got another $10 being a first-time customer too!). They send you a download link the next day via email.
IMPORTANT NOTE: NeoScene adds info to the video file to increase image quality, so the AVI file size is larger than your original 5D2 file. For example, I converted a 250MB 5D2 file and ended up with about a 400MB AVI file once it was done, so hard drive space is needed (we need it anyway with video... I'll probably have to have 3TB soon enough).
Anyway, last month I started building this mega-gamer PC thinking that was the only way to work with the 5D2 video (and it'll be a great rig to edit on once I'm done, no doubt), but it's clear now that NeoScene is as important to 5D2 owners as is a lens on the camera, if you want to work with HD video. You probably don't need to build a Saturn V PC, a decent dual-core PC with at least 2GB ram should work just fine!
Final thought for video buffs: NeoScene can't convert the 5D2's 30p video down to 24p. The website says NeoScene does do 24p conversions, and that's true, but not from the 5D2's 30p format. (Hey Canon!! We still need you to include 24p in the next firmware upgrade!!)
The free RAD Video Tools app. will do the same conversion, and the price is right.
I emailed RAD and asked them if their tool works with H.264 .MOV files generated on a 5D2... we'll see what they say.
Did you get it to work?
No, I don't have a 5DII.
However, I've had this program for awhile now for other uses, and assumed that it would work with any MOV file.
Thanks for investigating this further.
LOL! You would think so! Not the case I guess... I'm learning that this video attempt by Canon, while providing an excellent image quality, is anything but standard.
It's good to hear about these tools so they can be checked out, so I'm glad you posted it. I'll be happy to test whatever people find. So far, NeoScene is the only one that works really well.
Really? I haven't noticed that... are you using UDMA cards? Makes a huge difference, because UDMA technology takes the burden off of the host (the 5D2 in our case). You get faster write times, larger buffer (smaller jpegs are pretty much limitless), and most of all you get smooth video writing without all of the 5D2's internal circuits heating up. Try one SanDisk Extreme IV and see what you think (or a Lexar, just make sure it's 300x).
Thanks for the tip Paul !
Wim