CineForm has teamed with Drastic Technologies in an effort to "accelerate the migration of postproduction workflows away from expensive and cumbersome tape-based formats toward more efficient and cost-effective file-based recording and playback," according to a statement.

The result of this technology partnership, CineForm CineDDR, combines CineForm’s mastering-quality compression with Drastic Technologies’ expertise in professional DDR technology to provide a software-based alternative for professional acquisition and playout. Leveraging commonly-available PC or Mac hardware, CineDDR delivers an accelerated workflow by creating media files that are immediately usable in postproduction.

CineForm demonstrated CineDDR for the first time in its booth at NAB 2009 in Las Vegas. CineDDR is positioned as "an affordable alternative to HDCAM SR."

“HDCAM SR has proven to be a workhorse technology for film and television production and post work,” said David Taylor, CEO and co-founder of CineForm. “Our strategy with CineDDR is to offer cost savings and labor efficiency that exceeds tape workflows, while also offering higher visual fidelity and feature compatibility demanded by professional workflows. Partnering with Drastic was a perfect fit for CineDDR because it allowed CineForm to focus on compression features and performance while leveraging the rich deck control features and user interface expertise for which Drastic is known.”

“The result of our collaboration with CineForm represents a significant workflow enhancement for the postproduction market,” added James Brooks, manager of development, Drastic Technologies. “Combining our expertise in developing tapeless digital disk recording solutions with CineForm’s innovative compression workflow creates an entirely new opportunity for customers to adopt a streamlined capture/playback solution with the functionality of a professional production VTR and a familiar VTR-style front end for ease of operation and a minimal learning curve.”

CineDDR is being sold both as a software solution and as a manufacturer-optimized turnkey system.

CineDDR is available to customers immediately as a software solution as well as a manufacturer-built and -optimized turnkey system that will be available for purchase on Aug. 1, 2009.

As a software-based solution, customers can assemble a CineDDR recording/playout system by adding an Intel Core i7-based PC or Mac with RAID storage plus an AJA Xena (Windows) or Kona (Mac) card. The integration cost for Dual Link recording and playout for a CineDDR system is less than $10,000, enabling an ownership model instead of a rental model because the integrated price point is approximately 1/10 the cost of purchasing a fully-featured HDCAM SR deck.

As a turnkey solution, customers can easily order and deploy a specifically-designed and optimized "bulletproof" turnkey solution. Benefits include professional system design, performance and maintenance for customers with mission critical content.

Key features of CineDDR software and turnkey solutions include:

• Record into or play back from CineForm’s 10-bit YUV or 12-bit RGB mastering format
• Timecode-based video capture and playback to/from HD-SDI and component sources
• 9-pin serial control and VTR emulation supporting IN and OUT for integration into an automated environment
• Supports VITC, LTC and absolute timecode sources
• Clip metadata maintenance and display
• Setup tools for up/down/cross-conversion for output flexibility

Pricing and Availability
CineDDR software will be offered in both Single Link and Dual Link versions, and also in versions that support both Windows and Mac OS X.

The Single Link version of CineDDR is $2,500. The Dual Link version is $4,000.

The Windows version of CineDDR is available for purchase and trial download from CineForm’s Web site. The Mac version of CineDDR will be available in the coming weeks.

Turnkey solutions will be available Aug. 1, 2009.