RGB HD A Pixel is a Pixel or

RGB HD A Pixel is a Pixel… - or - How Many Pixels Does it Take to Make a Movie? RICK HARDING Sony Electronics, Inc.

Acquisition Choices: 35 mm – 4: 3 aspect ratio – 4096 x 3080 – 4 K resolution RGB HD – 16: 9 aspect ratio – 1920 x 1080 - 2 K resolution Film is Better, Right! Well, ya, but……. .

Enter the Digital Intermediate “The Great Equalizer” So What Does That Have To Do With Anything?

The D. I. - A Few Facts Fact 1: The processes that lead to industry wide acceptance of the Digital Intermediate, commonly employed 1828 horizontal samples when recording to Academy Aperture 35 mm. Fact 2: • The industry has universally declared that printing negatives created from 2 K files at these resolutions are superior to printing negatives created through conventional optical reduction methods. Fact 3: Displayed vertical pixel resolutions from spherical 35 mm film elements in both 1. 85 and 2. 40 film exhibition will typically requires less than 1080 vertical lines when recording 1828 horizontal pixels.

A Look at the Numbers (4 K 2 K reduction for post) 12% wasted data 24% of file data will likely only be used for archive 12% wasted data When shooting full aperture spherical 35 mm – Full vertical sample will never be displayed in any distribution product.

The Numbers Applied to Scanning +

The Numbers Applied to Scanning +

The Numbers Applied to Recording 1. 33 Aperture 1. 37 Aperture + Physical area reduction in Academy Aperture: 11. 4% Horizontal - 14. 2% vertical

The Numbers Applied to Recording Common File Size 2048 x 1556 + Commonly Recorded at 1806 x 1307 to 2048 x 1493

The Numbers Applied to 1. 85 Exhibition Academy Aperture 1. 85 Projector Matte + Typically 1828 x 988 to 2048 x 1107 Displayed Pixels

The Numbers Applied to 2. 40 Exhibition Full Aperture OCN + Derived from 2048 x 853 original samples Anamorphic Academy Aperture 1828 x 1556 to 2048 x 1556 interpolated Pixels

1. 78 – No Arbitrary Aspect Ratio Designed To Accommodate All Distribution Aspect Ratios 2. 40 = 1920 x 800 1. 85 = 1920 x 1037 1. 33 = 1436 X 1080

Important Questions: 1) Given applied pixel count to the final film products that established the D. I. process, could 10 bit 1920 x 1080 RGB HD be considered a viable acquisition alternative to film for feature quality end results? 2) Given applied pixel count to the final film products that established the D. I. process, could 10 bit 1920 x 1080 RGB HD be considered a viable alternative to 2 K data workflows for 35 mm film post? 3) If working in 10 bit RGB HD acquisition and post, do I need to work uncompressed?

An Enabling Technology • Full Band 4: 4: 4 1920 x 1080 Recorder – No pre filtering or sub sampling • 10 bit Linear or Log RGB, or 10 bit linear, or 10 bit color gamut R’G’B’ - NOT bound to 709 color space • MPEG 4 SP compression scheme − DPCM and DCT parallel processes − Intra-Frame and Intra-Field compression • 440 Mbps and 880 Mbps recording • Virtually Loss-less Compression

Increasing Resolution Positioning of MPEG 4 SP 1080 60 I BT 601 MPEG 2 MPEG 4 SP MPEG 4 Low bit rate 64 k 2 M 300 M 440 M 880 M Increasing Bit rates 2 G

vs. Uncompressed Data Testing procedure: • 2048 x 1080 DPX file provided by DCI • 1920 x 1080 extraction converted to RGB HD and recorded to HDCAM SR • HDCAM SR recording played back to server and converted to TIFF file • Sample extraction taken from both the original DPX file and the new TIFF file created from recorded playback server from HDCAM SR. • Sample extraction from both files blown up 500 x in Adobe Photoshop 6. 0. • Test duplicated for the ASC Technical Committees on the DCI/ASC Mini-Movie, displaying uncompressed data files in real-time via 2 K digital projection.

Approximate area of sample extractions Original 2 K DPX file courtesy of the Digital Cinema Initiative (DCI)

Image “A” Image “B”

Image “A” Original 2 K DPX Extraction RGB HD Extraction Image “B”

Applying HDCAM SR Technology

Linear HD Workflow Using HDCAM SR 4: 4: 4 HD Telecine Transfer SD conversion from HD Master 1 Adaptable to 4: 2: 2 HD Facilities Ingest 2 Edit Dirt and Scratch removal from film based images 4: 4: 4 3 Restoration 4 Grade • • Familiar workflow Tape centric exchange of media/metadata Does not occupy finite server space Applicable to existing 4: 2: 2 HD infrastructures 5 Record

RGB Post Flow in Conventional Infrastructure Telecine Dailies in 4: 4: 4 HD w/ locked production audio Dailies Screening Temp EFX Titling 4: 4: 4 EFX/Title DVD screeners 4: 2: 2 4: 4: 4 4: 2: 2 HD/SD Off. Line Edit 4: 4: 4 Video Conform 4: 4: 4 Color Correction Home Video Distribution Masters from FINAL 4: 4: 4 Archival Master EDL Audio Mix & Layback Edited 4: 4: 4: Master Preview Screening Conform in Server or 444 switchers now available. RGB Film Recording

RGB Non-Linear Systems

Now RGB Desk Top solutions Final Cut Pro and Adobe also offer RGB Post Solutions

RGB Working Intermediate Telecine Dailies in 4: 4: 4 HD w/ locked production audio Note: Assumes full aperture composite effects work in super 2 K. - Server based RGB video conversion for preview screenings CDL processes not yet standardized 4 K Digital Intermediate Dailies Screening Temp EFX Titling 4: 4: 4 EFX/Title 4: 2: 2 4: 4: 4 4 K Scan of OCN Select Shots 4: 2: 2 HD/SD Off. Line Edit Full Aperture Composite EFX 4: 4: 4 Video Conform EDL FINALAUDIO 4: 4: 4 Color Correction Audio Mix & Layback In Server 4 K Conform 4 K Archival Data Master DCDM FINAL CDL Optional Home Video Distribution Masters from FINAL 4: 4: 4 Archival Master Edited 4: 4: 4: Master Preview Screening SRW Home Video Distribution Masters from FINAL 4 K Archival File Film Recording (Printing Neg) Release Printing

Thinking Differently About Archive & Deliverables Archival Elements: Original Camera Negative (OCN) or Digital recording - cut or selects takes Interpositive (IP) from cut OCN or Conformed Data Files (2 K/4 K) Conformed 1. 78 RGB Working Intermediate (WI) Deliverables from the “Working Intermediate”: Printing Negative (1. 78 matted or anamorphic) Full Frame 16 x 9 HD 4: 2: 2 or 4: 4: 4 Master (HDCAM SR w/conformed audio) Letterbox 16 x 9 HD 4: 2: 2 or 4: 4: 4 Master (HDCAM SR w/conformed audio) 525/625 4 x 3 Full Frame Master (derived from SR format conversion) 525/625 4 x 3 Letterbox Master (derived from SR format conversion) 525/625 16 x 9 Anamorphic Master (derived from SR format conversion)

Conclusions Post: Considering the transparency of the HDCAM SR codec, it is now practical to consider real-time RGB 10 bit Log or linear recording as an efficient means of data management in both linear and non-linear operations for Digital Intermediate post. Production: Given applied pixel counts in the processes of the 2 K Digital Intermediate, shooting in 4: 4: 4 RGB HD WILL produce comparable end product results to 35 mm film production while offering significant savings in stock, lab, scanning, and dailies expense.

Yeah, But…. . How About Over Cranking and Under – You Can’t Do That in Digital You Can Now!

RGB HD A Pixel is a Pixel… How Many Pixels Does it Take to Make a Movie? RICK HARDING Sony Electronics, Inc.