SDR – Advanced HDR By Technicolor

Technicolor’s Alan Stein Explains How Acceptance of Technicolor HDR as an ATSC 3.0 Candidate Standard Offers More Options for Broadcasters

admin — Wed, 17 Nov 2021 01:53:51 +0000

Technicolor’s Alan Stein Explains How Acceptance of Technicolor HDR as an ATSC 3.0 Candidate Standard Offers More Options for Broadcasters

AMSTERDAM – Sept. 13, 2017—PRE-IBC 2017—During the IBC 2017 conference in Amsterdam this weekend, executives from Technicolor and its partners will be on hand to discuss the latest developments in high dynamic range (HDR) technology. In a podcast interview for journalists, Alan Stein, Technicolor’s Vice President of Technology and Standards, reports that another step toward advancing the use of HDR in broadcasting has been taken with the recent approval of SL-HDR1 (also known as Technicolor HDR) as a Candidate Standard Amendment to A/341, the ATSC 3.0 video specification.

“Advanced HDR by Technicolor is a technology solution that consists of Technicolor HDR (SL-HDR1) and Technicolor Intelligent Tone Management (ITM). Technicolor HDR takes in any SDR or HDR format and distributes it to any device and appropriately presents the correct image for SDR-capable devices or HDR-capable devices. Technicolor ITM offers the ability to up-convert SDR content to HDR-capable devices during the distribution process,” he says.

SL-HDR1 is a unique solution in that it takes HDR video and converts it into a format that can be viewed on legacy HD televisions. However, the content can be converted back to HDR for newer devices, so that one can address both the legacy market and the new television market within a single stream. SL-HDR1 can convert HDR to SDR – a process known as tone mapping.

“This is very interesting for broadcasters who are starting to do live productions in HDR but deliver on their legacy networks in SDR. It is critically important for broadcasters because they want to send one stream (not simulcast.) While over-the-top (OTT) providers can easily send multiple streams to consumers (SDR to SDR devices and HDR to HDR devices), broadcasters and—to some extent—cable providers, would be burdened quite significantly if they had to simulcast multiple streams,” Stein says.

Alan Stein, Technicolor

Technicolor has successfully tested this capability several times over the past two years. Most recently, at the end of July, Technicolor worked with Spectrum SportsNet in Los Angeles to broadcast two Los Angeles Dodgers – San Francisco Giants games, using SL-HDR1’s tone mapping to convert the HDR production to SDR for nationwide distribution.

Looking ahead, Stein says U.S. broadcasters plan to have large-scale trials in 2017 and early 2018 with commercial services possible later in 2018 and early 2019.

“The decision to add Technicolor HDR into the ATSC 3.0 toolkit encourages the technology’s implementation into the next generation of television sets and other consumer electronics products,” concludes Stein.

To listen to the podcast or read the full Q&A, visit: https://soundcloud.com/technicolorco/how-approval-of-technicolor-hdr-as-an-atsc-30-candidate-std-offers-more-options-for-broadcasters
Journalists and analysts are free to pull quotes from this Q&A feature with attribution in media and market reports. For more details and context, contact: Lane Cooper 323 817 7547 Lane.cooper@technicolor.com
Photo: https://www.prlog.org/12664304/

Cobalt Digital’s 9904-UDX-4K Provided the Perfect Solution for M6’s UHD HLG to UHD SDR Conversion During UEFA European Football Championship

admin — Wed, 29 Sep 2021 09:00:17 +0000

Sept. 29, 2021— Cobalt® Digital, designer and manufacturer of award-winning edge devices for live video production and master control, and a founding partner in the openGear® initiative, has announced that Groupe M6, utilized its 9904-UDX-4K openGear card including Advanced HDR by Technicolor solutions to convert UHD HLG signals to UHD SDR during the UEFA European Football Championship.

Groupe M6, one of the key broadcasters for the UEFA Football Championship in France, offered all retransmitted games on a dedicated UHD SDR channel on top of the traditional HD SDR terrestrial broadcast. This additional UHD transmission presented a technical challenge for M6 who received a UHD HLG signal which needed to be delivered in a UHD SDR format. Working with Cobalt’s French reseller, OBV.TV, M6 configured, tested, and implemented a workflow using the Cobalt 9904-UDX-4K card with AI embedded Advanced HDR by Technicolor solutions to analyze each image for optimal conversion. The flawless performance was achieved using the default settings on the Cobalt 9904-UDX-4K card which also allowed for effortless deployment.

Suzana Brady, Cobalt Digital’s senior vice president of worldwide sales and marketing, says, “Aside from all the high technical specifications, the beauty of our extremely versatile 9904-UDX-4K card is that it’s truly plug-and-play and doesn’t require any customization. Colors converted by the card from the original channel to the UHD SDR channel were virtually identical. We were delighted to play such a critical role in M6’s coverage of these popular games, and proud to work alongside Technicolor to achieve such successful transmission.”

different markets throughout the world. These distribution channels vary in capability for content delivery,” says Bozzini.

As a result, creatives need the ability to offer content in multiple flavors — whether it is HD or UHD and SDR or HDR — to match the capabilities of a particular distribution channel and generate revenue.

“Advanced HDR by Technicolor enables engineers to distribute content in both SDR and HDR within a single stream. It leverages the metadata to determine whether a consumer device is capable of supporting SDR or HDR. That is a point of differentiation in a highly competitive marketplace.”

The award-winning Cobalt Digital 9904-UDX-4K advanced scaler/frame synchronizer is a 12G/6G/3G/HD/SD UHD Up/Down/Cross Converter/Frame Sync/Embed/De-Embed Audio Processor. The card, referred to as the company’s Swiss Army Knife for its unparalleled capability range, offers numerous options, including SDR-to-HDR conversion and color correction.

Baltimore Audiences Can Now Enjoy Advanced HDR by Technicolor on WNUV – the CW Baltimore

admin — Mon, 28 Jun 2021 17:27:53 +0000

The Latest ATSC 3.0-Powered NEXTGEN TV Station operated by Sinclair Broadcast Group

By: Advanced HDR by Technicolor BALTIMORE – June 28, 2021 – PRLog—Advanced HDR by Technicolor, the leader in cutting-edge high dynamic range technology, today announced it will continue to provide its HDR technology to Sinclair Broadcast Group operated stations, with WNUV the CW Baltimore the latest station to incorporate ATSC 3.0-Powered NEXTGEN TV capabilities featuring Advanced HDR. With WNUV’s ATSC 3.0 features, viewers will be immersed in stunning video with brilliant color, sharper images, deeper contrast through the technology Advanced HDR by Technicolor is providing to the station. Advanced HDR by Technicolor provides a suite of high dynamic range (HDR) production, distribution, and display solutions that leverages artificial intelligence (AI) to maximize the image quality of any HDR format. Advanced HDR by Technicolor was designed to protect—and enhance—investments in infrastructure and devices made by industry and consumers. WNUV is the 16th Sinclair-operated station to commercially deploy Advanced HDR by Technicolor, making the company the largest HDR broadcaster in the country, with plans to expand the application as it continues to roll out the technology to other stations, demonstrating the company’s commitment to delivering premium viewing experiences. “This is the latest example of the leadership Sinclair is exhibiting in providing audiences with access to sophisticated over-the-air (OTA) and over-the-top (OTT) streaming content. The leadership at Sinclair has played a major role in harnessing the power of technology included in the ATSC 3.0 broadcast standards to provide viewers with clear, immersive, and exciting visual experiences,” says Tony Bozzini, head of business development with Advanced HDR by Technicolor. Leveraging AI, Advanced HDR by Technicolor enables content creators and broadcasters to conserve resources and reduce costs thanks to the suite’s highly automated conversion processes between legacy standard dynamic range (SDR) and HDR. At the same time, these solutions offer easy-to-use, full tuning capabilities to match any video quality requirement. “As a result, viewers watching WNUV the CW Baltimore will be able to enjoy premium viewing experiences, regardless of whether their devices support SDR or HDR. The base-layer SDR video stream is made available to any consumer device by the deployment of Advanced HDR by Technicolor. With the same stream, consumers with Advanced HDR by Technicolor certified TVs will be able to experience the content in high-quality HDR,” says Bozzini. To learn more about Advanced HDR by Technicolor, visit: https://bit.ly/AdvancedHDRbyTechnicolor Contact Advanced HDR by Technicolor ***@mindsharecapture.com