Cinnafilm Releases Dark Energy Xenon, an Automated HDR Conversion Solution Utilizing Advanced HDR by Technicolor for Incredibly Vivid Content Delivery

Dark Energy Xenon (Xenon) combines Cinnafilm's industry-leading Dark Energy texture management and noise removal technology with Technicolor's state-of-the-art HDR technologies

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Cinnafilm, Inc.

Sep 12, 2019, 11:55 ET

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M., Sept. 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Cinnafilm, a media and conversion solutions company, released Xenon, an enterprise-grade High Dynamic Range (HDR) conversion system that provides an incomparable file-based solution for fully automated, high-quality HDR conversions from Standard Dynamic Range (SDR) source material. Xenon's output capabilities breathe fresh life into SDR libraries for OTT delivery and viewing on the latest home theater technology. It also streamlines editorial and production workflows for non-HDR content to be seamlessly edited into natively-captured HDR material. Xenon converts SDR to HDR using Technicolor HDR Intelligent Tone Management (ITM) technology to generate up to 2,000 nit assets from SDR sources.

Xenon integrates Technicolor HDR ITM and Technicolor HDR (also known as SL-HDR) with the noise reduction capabilities of the renowned Dark Energy noise and texture management toolset. Technicolor HDR ITM is an automated process that tone maps and up-converts SDR video into a native HDR format. Dark Energy, a technology used for over a decade in many of the most prestigious post facilities in the world, removes digital noise and film grain from moving pictures without harming image detail and replicates any grain structure to create the perfect texture for a pleasing, final image. Dark Energy also provides superlative upres, creating stellar UHD/HD from HD/SD sources, respectively. Xenon bridges the gap between existing SDR workflows and source content material and the ever-increasing demands for HDR delivery. Conversions from SDR to HDR video can be exported as SLOG3, HDR-10, or HLG. In addition, the tool will down-convert from those HDR formats to SDR Rec 709 containing Technicolor HDR distribution metadata.

"We have been active in live production over the past several years with Advanced HDR by Technicolor; however, we needed a strong partner in file-based production that would add other aspects of the video toolchain like noise reduction. We believe partnering with Cinnafilm and combining the features of Dark Energy and PixelStrings to be a compelling solution for our customers," says Thomas Bohan, Head of HDR Program at Technicolor. Cinnafilm's CEO Lance Maurer says, "The Cinnafilm story started 15 years ago with an unbridled passion for converting and optimizing images for cinematic format. We made quite a mark with our unique blend of image detail retention, quality, and performance, developing several stellar conversion products for broadcast that have become technical cornerstones in modern media supply chains. We continue to push the evolutionary envelope, and it is exciting to be part of a new merge point for consumption in home theater and OTT. Upconversion of SDR material is on the minds of nearly every content provider from both a resolution and color space perspective. The enormous amount of content in libraries to be repurposed for today's home theaters requires an option such as Xenon, an automated, enterprise-grade solution that makes perfect sense for every budget. We are thrilled to partner with Technicolor, a company known for its legendary excellence and passion for picture quality, to fashion a new class of product - the HDR converter. I think of Xenon as the perfect union of our similar philosophies and elegant technologies. This is a great time to be in this business."

Dark Energy Xenon ships in Q4 directly from Cinnafilm as part of its array of award-winning enterprise software solutions. Cinnafilm COO Ernie Sanchez will be available for live demonstrations at IBC2019, September 13 – 17 in Amsterdam. Please contact [email protected] to schedule an appointment. For more information on Dark Energy Xenon, please visit https://xenon.cinnafilm.com or contact [email protected].

About Cinnafilm

Cinnafilm, Inc. is a global leader in innovative video optimization solutions for television, film, and multimedia delivery. Harnessing the unmatched computing power of modern graphics cards, Cinnafilm's patented, 100% file-based software solutions are rapidly changing the field of high-quality image processing. Cinnafilm software is in use today at many of the world's premier, forward-thinking studios and networks, solving a wide variety of very complex imaging problems including but not limited to restoration and bitrate optimization, noise removal and texture-matching for digital cinema and film, and automatic retiming and standards conversions within real-time transcode workflows.

Contact: Laquie TN Campbell, Director of Marketing | [email protected] | 505.242.6626

SOURCE Cinnafilm, Inc.