Cineform - what is it ? why does one need it ? what am I missing ?

Question

Hello,
I am very puzzled with what Cineform is. I have been to their website, but they don't do a very good job at describing what Cineform is, or what it does, and why somebody would need it.
Could somebody who has a few moments, explain what Cineform is, and what it does, and how it make Premiere better ?
I just don't understand it at all, and I'm afraid I may be missing out on something important.
Thank you,
Dave.

Answer 1

Temporal compression is a way of making files smaller. Rather than storing all the data for every frame, you store only the data for the first frame, and then you store only the changes from frame 1 to frame 2, and then the changes between frame 2 and frame 3, etc. For any given second of video, 30 frames worth, only two are stored in full. All the rest only store the changes.
For news type programs, also called talking head shots, very little changes between frames, so this is a very good way to save space.
During a high action scene, a lot will change between frames, and it becomes more difficult to store the data using this method. This is why artifacts are created, errors during the encoding that do not allow a correct display of the video. This is also why a lot of professionals often prefer formats that do not create such artifacts in the source footage. Temporal compression is a good way of shrinking video for final display, but often causes issues when you use it to shoot the original scene.
It takes much processing power to restore those change related frames for display. Cineform takes the load off the processor by doing the work ahead of time. It converts the files before you import them, thus restoring the "change frames" to "full frames", making it very easy for Premiere to display them, and edit them.