I spent this week creating Universal's 1st HDR-10 compliant UHD feature servicing masters for our initial Home Video and TV Distribution HDR deals. With four titles under my belt now and operational staff training 75% complete, my 70+ hour week is finally over. I can rest and relax for a few days, and enjoy my birthday weekend knowing I don't have a storm waiting for me at work on Monday.
I must admit the most memorable moments of the week were spent watching my co-workers' faces as I attempted to explain SMPTE ST.2086, MaxFALL and MaxCLL metadata and why it's needed. #DeerInTheHighlights
All jokes aside I thought I'd pass on some helpful high-level info about HDR-10 metadata.
SMPTE ST.2086 is "Master Display Color Volumes" metadata which is used to describe the capabilities of the display used to master content. SMPTE ST.2086 metadata includes CIE (x,y) chromaticity coordinates for RGB primaries, White Point, and min/max luminance of the mastering display.
Maximum Frame--Average Light Level (MaxFALL) is additional static HDR metadata that corresponds to the highest frame average brightness per frame in the entire stream. The MaxFALL metadata value is represented in nits, a unit of luminance.
Maximum Content Light Level (MaxCLL) is additional static HDR metadata that corresponds to the brightest pixel in the entire stream. The MaxCLL metadata is represented in nits.
MaxFALL/MaxCLL metadata is calculated on active picture only. Black mattes are not processed during the calculation.
So why do we need this metadata for our HDR-10 compliant streams? The short answer is blame the BDA. They requested CEA and HMDI support this metadata requirement.
How long does it take to calculate the MaxFALL/MaxCLL metadata using UHD HDR rec2020 PQ 1000nit 16bit TIFF source masters? It depends of the system, how it's connected to your storage and I/O traffic on the volume. A HP server with 64 cores or more that's fibre connected to high speed storage via a 16GB PCIe fibre channel HBA running at off peak hours should take approximately 2.5x runtime to complete these calculations and plot the raw data.
Like my buddy, Michael Cerminara, would say this is a "set it and forget it workflow like making Rotisserie Chicken." Thanks for the line Mikey. I use it all the time. Hope all is well.
So how much does or should these HDR-10 metadata calculations cost? Sorry, as a rule of thumb I don't discuss costs. We'll have to hire me on to get that info.
Hope you enjoyed this quick tutorial and found it helpful. Your feedback is welcomed and much appreciated. Thanks for stopping by.