Custom graphics overlays for lining up shots.
AJA’s v2.0 firmware for ColorBox adds a new TV Mode and Live Mode to the device, a compact, high-performance converter for colour-managed workflows. Designed for conversions across a range of professional applications, ColorBox supports low latency in-line HDR/SDR algorithmic and LUT colour transforms for live production, live event, in-studio and on-set applications. The update introduces an add-on license to expand ColorBox’s Colorfront Engine video processing options.
Along with adding support for the most recent v1.6 BBC HLG LUTs, the release includes an ORION-CONVERT update with a gamma compensation function to ensure compatibility between different types of colour conversions. Other new features enhance usability, such as support for overlaying frame lines or other graphics, and five extra built-in test patterns.
ORION-CONVERT transforms
Colorfront Engine New TV and Live Modes
As colour management strategies continue to gain importance, the tools required to facilitate those strategies in the real world are developing as well. To help professionals keep pace, ColorBox’s new Colorfront TV Mode is a colour processing engine built for broadcast workflows and available on license. It gives operators access to new Brightness, Highlight, Super Highlight and Colorfulness tools that improves their control over critical elements in colour conversions.
Corrections are made within the guidelines of Colorfront’s perceptual processing algorithm, which will maintain perceived colour, hue and saturation without hard clipping artifacts. TV Mode also introduces Sony S-Log3 conversions as part of the license upgrade, which have proven useful when used in modern live production applications.
The same license also enables Colorfront Live Mode, which includes several camera log formats beyond SDR, HLG and PQ, like the ARRI Log C4 colour space. These new Colorfront Engine capabilities mirror those available via the recent FS-HDR v4.2 firmware update.
ORION-CONVERT 1.1 and LUT Updates
NBCU LUTs
While the ORION-CONVERT v1.0 transform is the origin of the widely used NBCU LUTs, ORION-CONVERT v1.1 is now compatible with other LUT-based broadcast conversions through ORION’s new Gamma Compensation, which is supported via ColorBox v2.0. ORION-CONVERT is used to find optimum SDR/HDR settings for specific situations, and use them as presets. The new Gamma Compensation applies the optional OOTF or opto-optical transfer function (see ITU-R BT.2408-5, section 5.1) to compensate for the subjective change in appearance between SDR and HDR.
BBC HLG LUTs are also updated to the latest v1.6, including a new combination LUT that fuses two LUTs into one for camera shading applications and a new downmapping LUT based on the Color Appearance Model (CAM), a human visual system that attempts to preserve the artistic intent of original HDR content.
Graphics Overlay Library, Test Patterns, Partner Integrations
Setting up and framing shots requires attention to many different details at once including the camera, sensor, lens and target aspect ratio. Giving a DIT the ability to see frame lines on-set gives the production the best chance of capturing the shot right the first time. New with ColorBox is the User Overlay feature, used to import and overlay custom graphics onto the output. Those graphics could be frame lines but also any other image such as a logo etc. imported as .png files to the new Overlay library and recalled with or without your existing overlay information.
Regarding the DIT’s job, ColorBox plays a key role in preparing crews and equipment for production. To further that role, five new test patterns have been added for a total of 14 to help users prepare more quickly. The five test patterns consist of three BT.2111 HDR variants, NBCU Fancy Bars and a circle pattern.
Utilising ColorBox’s SDK, Light Illusion ColourSpace display calibration software, Portrait Displays Calman display calibration software, and QTAKE Video Assist software recently completed integrations with ColorBox, enabling more markets and supported applications to take advantage of ColorBox’s professional feature set. www.aja.com
