Cinnafilm and Technicolor are teaming up to build a file-based solution for High Dynamic Range (HDR) conversions from Standard Dynamic Range (SDR) source material.
Cinnafilm is integrating Technicolor Intelligent Tone Management (ITM) and Advanced HDR by Technicolor (also known as SL-HDR) as a feature set upgrade to its Dark Energy noise and texture management toolset. ITM is an algorithm that tone maps and up-converts SDR video into a native HDR format. Dark Energy removes digital noise and film grain from moving pictures without harming image detail.
Conversions from SDR to HDR video can be exported as SLOG3, HDR-10, or HLG, and the tool will be able to down-convert from those HDR formats to SDR Rec 709 and distribution including Advanced HDR by Technicolor.
“We have been active in live production over the past several years with Advanced HDR by Technicolor; however, we needed a strong partner in file-based production that would add other aspects of the video toolchain like noise reduction. We believe partnering with Cinnafilm and combining the features of Dark Energy and PixelStrings to be a compelling solution for our customers,” said Kirk Barker, senior vice president of emerging products at Technicolor, in a statement.
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“We have been involved with high-quality image processing workflows for some time, and we began in cinema where every detail, every frame, matters. After evolving our solutions for broadcast, it is exciting to be part of a new merge point for consumption in the form of home theater and OTT. We are thrilled to partner with Technicolor, a company known for its excellence and passion for picture quality. I see this as a perfect union of similar philosophies, and we are thrilled to bring this new solution to market in 2019,” said Cinnafilm CEO Lance Maurer in a statement.
Dark Energy with Technicolor ITM will be made generally available in the second quarter of 2019. This summer the solution will be made available as part of Cinnafilm’s PixelStrings pay-as-you-go cloud service.