RGB HD A Pixel is a Pixel is a Pixel… - or - How Many Pixels Does it Take to Make a Movie?

RGB HDA Pixel is a Pixel is a Pixel…

- or -

How Many Pixels Does it Take to Make a Movie?

RICK HARDING

Sony Electronics, Inc.

Acquisition Choices:

35mm – 4:3 aspect ratio – 4096 x 3080 – 4K resolution

RGB HD – 16:9 aspect ratio – 1920 x 1080 - 2K 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 35mm.

Fact 2:

•The industry has universally declared that printing negatives created from 2K files at these resolutions are superior to printing negatives created through conventional optical reduction methods.

Fact 3:

Displayed vertical pixel resolutions from spherical 35mm film elements in both 1.85 and 2.40 film exhibition will typically requires less than 1080 vertical lines when recording 1828 horizontal pixels.

12% wasted data

12% wasted data

24% of file data will

likely only be used for

archive

When shooting full aperture spherical 35mm – Full vertical sample will never be displayed in any distribution product.

A Look at the Numbers (4K 2K reduction for post)

+

The Numbers Applied to Scanning

+

The Numbers Applied to Scanning

+

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

to2048 x 1493

The Numbers Applied to Recording

+Typically 1828 x 988 to 2048 x 1107

Displayed Pixels

1.85 Projector Matte

Academy Aperture

The Numbers Applied to 1.85 Exhibition

+ 1828 x 1556 to 2048 x 1556 interpolated Pixels

Derived from 2048 x 853 original samples

Full Aperture OCN Anamorphic Academy Aperture

The Numbers Applied to 2.40 Exhibition

Designed To Accommodate All Distribution Aspect Ratios

1.85 = 1920 x 1037

2.40 = 1920 x 800

1.33 = 1436 X 1080

1.78 – No Arbitrary Aspect Ratio

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 2K data workflows for 35mm film post?

3) If working in 10 bit RGB HD acquisition and post, do I need to work uncompressed?

Important Questions:

• 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

An Enabling Technology

Increasing Bit rates

Incr

easi

ng

R

eso

luti

on

MPEG4Low bit rate

BT601

MPEG2 MPEG4SP

64k 30M 300M 2G

1080 60P

2M

1080 60I

440M 880M

Positioning of MPEG4 SP

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 500x 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 2K digital projection.

Approximate area of sample extractions

Original 2K DPX file courtesy of the Digital Cinema Initiative (DCI)

Image “A”

Image “B”

Image “A”

Image “B”

Original 2K DPX Extraction

RGB HD Extraction

Applying HDCAM SR Technology

Linear HD Workflow Using HDCAM SR

Ingest

Edit

Restoration

Grade

Record

1

2

3

4

5• Familiar workflow

• Tape centric exchange of media/metadata

• Does not occupy finite server space

• Applicable to existing 4:2:2 HD infrastructures

SD conversion from HD Master

Dirt and Scratch removal from film

based images

4:4:4

4:4:4 HD Telecine Transfer

Adaptable to 4:2:2 HD Facilities

RGB Post Flow in Conventional InfrastructureTelecine Dailies in 4:4:4 HD w/

locked production audio

4:2:2

4:4:4

4:4:4

Dailies Screening

Temp EFX Titling

4:2:2 HD/SD Off-Line Edit

4:4:4 EFX/Title EDL4:4:4 Video

Conform

Preview Screening

Home Video Distribution

Masters from FINAL 4:4:4

Archival Master

Audio Mix & Layback

Edited 4:4:4: Master

DVD screeners

Conform in Server

or 444 switchers now available.

RGB Film Recording

4:4:4 Color Correction

RGB Non-Linear Systems

Now RGB Desk Top solutions

Final Cut Pro and Adobe also offer RGB Post Solutions

RGB Working IntermediateTelecine Dailies in 4:4:4 HD w/

locked production audio

4:2:2

4:4:4

4:4:4

Dailies Screening

Temp EFX Titling

4:2:2 HD/SD Off-Line Edit

4:4:4 EFX/Title EDL

4:4:4 Color Correction

4:4:4 VideoConform

Preview Screening

Home Video Distribution

Masters from FINAL 4:4:4

Archival Master

Audio Mix & Layback

Edited 4:4:4: Master

4K Scan of OCN Select Shots

In Server 4K

Conform

FINAL EDL

FINAL CDL

Film Recording(Printing Neg)

4K Digital Intermediate

FINALAUDIO

Release Printing

DCDM

4K Archival Data Master

Note: Assumes full aperture composite effects work in super 2K. - Server based RGB video conversion for preview screenings

Full Aperture Composite EFX

SRW Home Video Distribution

Masters from FINAL 4K Archival

File

Optional

CDL processes not yet standardized

Archival Elements:

Original Camera Negative (OCN) or Digital recording - cut or selects takes

Interpositive (IP) from cut OCN or Conformed Data Files (2K/4K)

Conformed 1.78 RGB Working Intermediate (WI)

Deliverables from the “Working Intermediate”:

Printing Negative (1.78 matted or anamorphic)

Full Frame 16x9 HD 4:2:2 or 4:4:4 Master (HDCAM SR w/conformed audio)

Letterbox 16x9 HD 4:2:2 or 4:4:4 Master (HDCAM SR w/conformed audio)

525/625 4x3 Full Frame Master (derived from SR format conversion)

525/625 4x3 Letterbox Master (derived from SR format conversion)

525/625 16x9 Anamorphic Master (derived from SR format conversion)

Thinking Differently About Archive & Deliverables

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 2K Digital Intermediate, shooting in 4:4:4 RGB HD WILL produce comparable end product results to 35mm film production while offering significant savings in stock, lab, scanning, and dailies expense.

Conclusions

How About Over Cranking and Under – You Can’t Do That in Digital

You Can Now!

Yeah, But…..

RGB HDA Pixel is a Pixel is a Pixel…

How Many Pixels Does it Take to Make a Movie?

RICK HARDING

Sony Electronics, Inc.