Using CFX Plug-ins: Requires Rosetta to be turned on?

Question

Hello
I very much enjoy using the CFX free plug-ins that allow one to black out the edges of imported VHS video, where the static or not well aligned heads on older video, often occurs.
Since the plugins are not Intel ready yet, the CFX states that you must force your iMovie app to be able to use Rosetta.
One thing they do not address and I need help on, does this make everything I do in iMovie now become slower because of using Rosetta all the time? Or does it slip into Rosetta only to implement the plug in?
TIA
d
Here is what the workaround is:
This is a small tutorial on how to enable the option of "Open Using Rosetta" for iLife '06 applications. Here's how you do it. For this example, we will be using iMovie:
1. Right-click on the iMovie application.
2. Click "Show Package Contents"
3. A Finder window should show up entitled "iMovie HD", and there should be a folder called Contents.
4. Open Contents, and double click "Info.plist"
5. Scroll down a ways to the bottom, and look for:
<key>LSRequiresNativeExecution</key>
<true/>
6. Change <true/> to <false/>, or just delete it.
7. Save the file.
8. Then, open "Disk Utility" and repair disk permissions.
9. After permissions are repaired, go to /System/Library/ and delete Extensions.kextcache and Extensions.mkext.
10. Simply reboot, and...
...Voila! The "Open Using Rosetta" option should now be under there in "Get Info". This works for all of the other iLife '06 applications.
EDIT: If deleting Extensions.kextcache and Extensions.mkext doesn't do anything, try moving the application from one directory to another. Also, what will definitely do it, is duplicating the file, however that may take a while depeneding on the speed of your computer and the side of the file.
Mac Pro 2.66 Mac OS X (10.4.8) 2 Pioneer 110D Superdrives-750gig-1.2gig ram

Answer 1

It is disappointing indeed, and perhaps a bit more explanation is required:
"Rosetta Mode" means that your Intel-based Mac is executing PowerPC-code instead of native Intel code. This requires that the processor has to look up every single instruction, translate it, and only then can execute it. This leads to significant performance loss. The mere fact that Apple has managed to get even somewhat (perhaps borderline) acceptable performance out of Rosetta is a testament to the ability of their engineers.
Our (cf/x) plug-ins currently are PPC-based only. Because of the nature of plug-ins (they are code that is literally plugged into the running code of the hosting application), a plug-in must always be written for the same processor as the host. iMovie can't simply cick into Rosetta and pop out of it randomly. Therefore you must run iMovie in Rosetta to run PPC-based plug-ins, or run it natively, but with non-native plug-ins disabled.
Which leaves the question why we don't have native plug-ins. The answer is that we dont have them yet as there were significant compiler issues. 'Were', as in 'past tense'. A few weeks ago we had a breakthrough, and are now busily upgrading and porting the PPC code to Universal. Progress is slow, as we need not only to bring the code to Universal, but also have to integrate and test lots of new technology. On two architectures simultaneously. But we are quite sure we'll get there eventually. As always, though, I recommend you do not base any decisions on what I or other people assert, but simply wait and see what gets delivered.
Cheers,
-ch
Please Note:
I work for cf/x, may profit from posting here, and took the liberty of shamelessly tooting our horn here.