Answering Member Questions: HDR and Dolby Vision Workflows

August 10, 2024

Grading and delivering HDR is a complex technical process. Learn to master it with an hour of expert insights from 3 professional colorists.


Series

Office Hours LIVE! 24 July 2024: Wrestling the HDR beast into submission with Dolby Vision

If you find yourself on every shot being like, ‘This one needs to be more aggressive. This one needs to be less aggressive,’ and things are really not matching, you might want to take another critical look at your HDR grade.

On this edition of Office Hours Live, host and Mixing Light CEO Patrick Inhofer is joined by colorist Joey D’Anna, and finishing artist Zeb Chadfield. The trio tackles five complex technical questions related to working in and delivering HDR and Dolby Vision projects.

Question 1

Could you provide details on how the input, output DRT and timeline luminance work in Resolve’s project settings when color science is set to DaVinci YRGB Color Managed? Also how do these apply when working node based with color space transforms?

Maria, Mixing Light Member

Question 2

Can you provide some best practices for performing Dolby Vision trim passes?
What are the differences when working with gamma vs mid tone offset?

Maria, Mixing Light Member

Question 3

What is the best method to ensure proper and compatible delivery of HDR live event/wedding exports on a USB stick or hard drive to play directly on an HDR TV?

Stefano, Mixing Light Member

Question 4

Where is it best to place halation, grain, glow or vignettes – before or after the CST transformation to Rec 2020?

Stefano, Mixing Light Member

Question 5

What are your tips for grading in HDR but for SDR-only approval and delivery?

Patrick, Mixing Light Member

Office Hours Live Attendee User Poll Results

  • 38% have delivered HDR
  • 29% have delivered Dolby Vision
  • 13% are using SDR 1080p external displays. 
  • 30% are using UHD 4K HDR 1000nit external display.
  • 08% are using UHD 4K HDR 2000+ nit external display.
  • UHD 4K SDR is the most popular HDR-capable external display at 39%.

Mentioned in this Insight:

Chapters

bold = member questions

  • 00:00 – Introduction
  • 02:49 – Learning HDR and Dolby Vision Delivery
  • 05:45 – Managing Hue Shifts When Exporting DCPs
  • 12:00 – DCP Export, Import and QC Procedure
  • 16:12 – Working with Graphics in HDR
  • 24:06 – Dolby Vision Trim Passes: Best Practices
  • 27:04 – What does Mid-Tone Offset do in Dolby Vision Grades
  • 29:14 – Thomas Graham (Head of Dolby Vision Content Enablement at Dolby Laboratories) offers advice for using different analysis modes
  • 31:39 – Limitations of Timeline-Specific Settings for Dolby Analysis
  • 32:48 – Tips for Changing Analysis Modes in Resolve
  • 39:42 – Delivering HDR Content via USB or Hard Drive for HDR TVs
  • 42:34 – Grade for Rec 2020 PQ and do Dolby Vision Analyse All, export as Dolby Vision Profile 5
  • 44:30 – HDR as an upsell for customers and Directors of Photography
  • 52:19 – Placement of Halation, Grain, Glow, and Vignette in a Color Space Transform workflow
  • 57:00 – Tips for HDR Grading for SDR Delivery
  • 58:03 – Using Compound Timelines for SDR Approvals

What are your experiences in grading HDR?

Are you working in and delivering HDR? What was your experience working with Dolby Vision? What was the best tip you picked up from this Insight? Leave a comment and let us know!

– Patrick, et al.


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