Virtual telecine
Encyclopedia
A virtual telecine is a piece of video
equipment that can play back data files in real time. The colorist-video operator controls the virtual telecine like a normal telecine
, although without controls like focus and framing. The data files can be from a Spirit DataCine
, motion picture film scanner
(like a Cineon
), CGI animation
computer
, or an Acquisition professional video camera
. The normal input data file standard is DPX
. The output of data files are often used in digital intermediate
post-production
using a film recorder
for film-out
. The control room
for the virtual telecine is called the color suite
.
These are able to play out 2k data files in non-linear real time. Size, rotation and color correction-color grading
are all able to be done in real time controlled by a telecine color corrector. A Silicon Graphics
-SGI computer is used to play the data file
s to "Spirit DataCine hardware". The Virtual DataCine can output SDTV (NTSC or PAL) and HDTV-high definition or Data files DPX (or TIF), the same as the Datacine. First generation input/output interface for data files as the optical fiber
HIPPI
cables (up to 6 frame/s at 2k), the next generation interface is GSN-Gigabit Ethernet
fibre Optic (up to 30 frame/s at 2k). GSN is also called HIPPI-6400 and was later re-named GSN (for Gigabyte System Network). The SAN hard disk are interfaces to the Virtual DataCine by dual FC-Fibre Channel
, cables.
Real time 2k Color Correction is done by a Pandora Int.'s Pogle with a MegaDEF. Input and outout 3D LUT
-Look up tables are also use to control the look and standard of the clips.
VDC-2000 Specter and Specter FS are made in Weiterstadt
-Darmstadt
Germany
by Grass Valley - a Thomson SA brand, former names see Philips
Broadcast and Robert Bosch GmbH
, Fernseh
Division.
Current virtual telecines are:
Video
Video is the technology of electronically capturing, recording, processing, storing, transmitting, and reconstructing a sequence of still images representing scenes in motion.- History :...
equipment that can play back data files in real time. The colorist-video operator controls the virtual telecine like a normal telecine
Telecine
Telecine is transferring motion picture film into video and is performed in a color suite. The term is also used to refer to the equipment used in the post-production process....
, although without controls like focus and framing. The data files can be from a Spirit DataCine
Spirit DataCine
Spirit DataCine is a telecine and/or a motion picture film scanner. This device is able to transfer 16mm and 35mm motion picture film to NTSC or PAL standards or one of many High-definition television standards. With the data transfer option a Spirit DataCine can output DPX data files. The Spirit...
, motion picture film scanner
Motion picture film scanner
A motion picture film scanner is a device used in digital filmmaking to scan original film for storage as high-resolution digital intermediate files.A film scanner scans original film stock: negative or positive print or reversal/IP...
(like a Cineon
Cineon
Cineon System was a computer based system, integrating a film scanner and recorder hardware, digital software for compositing and effects, image restoration, color management and the development of a proprietary file format designed by Kodak. These components were created to support the work flow...
), CGI animation
Animation
Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. The effect is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in several ways...
computer
Computer
A computer is a programmable machine designed to sequentially and automatically carry out a sequence of arithmetic or logical operations. The particular sequence of operations can be changed readily, allowing the computer to solve more than one kind of problem...
, or an Acquisition professional video camera
Professional video camera
A professional video camera is a high-end device for creating electronic moving images...
. The normal input data file standard is DPX
DPX
Digital Picture Exchange is a common file format for digital intermediate and visual effects work and is an ANSI/SMPTE standard...
. The output of data files are often used in digital intermediate
Digital intermediate
Digital intermediate is a motion picture finishing process which classically involves digitizing a motion picture and manipulating the color and other image characteristics. It often replaces or augments the photochemical timing process and is usually the final creative adjustment to a movie...
post-production
Post-production
Post-production is part of filmmaking and the video production process. It occurs in the making of motion pictures, television programs, radio programs, advertising, audio recordings, photography, and digital art...
using a film recorder
Film recorder
A Film Recorder is a graphical output device for transferring digital images to photographic film.All film recorders typically work in the same manner. The image is fed from a host computer as a raster stream over a digital interface...
for film-out
Film-out
Film-out is the process in the computer graphics, video production and filmmaking disciplines of transferring images or animation from videotape or digital files to a traditional film print...
. The control room
Control room
A control room is a room serving as an operations centre where a facility or service can be monitored and controlled. Examples include:*in television production, the master control is the technical hub of a broadcast operation common among most over-the-air television stations, television networks...
for the virtual telecine is called the color suite
Color suite
Color suite also called a Color bay or a Telecine suite or Color correction bay. Color suite is the control room for color grading video in a post production environment. The video source could be from: a telecine, a Video tape recorder , a motion picture film scanner, virtual telecine or a Direct...
.
- The 2000 movie O Brother, Where Art Thou?O Brother, Where Art Thou?O Brother, Where Art Thou? is a 2000 comedy film directed by Joel and Ethan Coen and starring George Clooney, John Turturro, Tim Blake Nelson, John Goodman, Holly Hunter, and Charles Durning. Set in 1937 rural Mississippi during the Great Depression, the film's story is a modern satire loosely...
was scanned with Spirit DataCineSpirit DataCineSpirit DataCine is a telecine and/or a motion picture film scanner. This device is able to transfer 16mm and 35mm motion picture film to NTSC or PAL standards or one of many High-definition television standards. With the data transfer option a Spirit DataCine can output DPX data files. The Spirit...
, color corrected with a VDC-2000 and a Pandora Int. Pogle Color Corrector with MegaDEF. A Kodak Lightning II film recorder was used to output the data back on to film.
- Virtual telecines are also used in film restoration.
- Another advantage of a Virtual telecine is once the film is on the storage array the frames may be played over and over again without damage or dirt to the film. This would be the case for outputting to different TV standards (NTSCNTSCNTSC, named for the National Television System Committee, is the analog television system that is used in most of North America, most of South America , Burma, South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, the Philippines, and some Pacific island nations and territories .Most countries using the NTSC standard, as...
or PALPALPAL, short for Phase Alternating Line, is an analogue television colour encoding system used in broadcast television systems in many countries. Other common analogue television systems are NTSC and SECAM. This page primarily discusses the PAL colour encoding system...
) or formats: (pan and scanPan and scanPan and scan is a method of adjusting widescreen film images so that they can be shown within the proportions of a standard definition 4:3 aspect ratio television screen, often cropping off the sides of the original widescreen image to focus on the composition's most important aspects...
, letterboxLetterboxLetterboxing is the practice of transferring film shot in a widescreen aspect ratio to standard-width video formats while preserving the film's original aspect ratio. The resulting videographic image has mattes above and below it; these mattes are part of the image...
, or other aspect ratioAspect ratio (image)The aspect ratio of an image is the ratio of the width of the image to its height, expressed as two numbers separated by a colon. That is, for an x:y aspect ratio, no matter how big or small the image is, if the width is divided into x units of equal length and the height is measured using this...
. Restoration, special effectSpecial effectThe illusions used in the film, television, theatre, or entertainment industries to simulate the imagined events in a story are traditionally called special effects ....
, color gradingColor gradingColor grading or colour painting, is the process of altering and enhancing the color of a motion picture, video image, or still image either electronically, photo-chemically or digitally. The photo-chemical process is also referred to as color timing and is typically performed at a photographic...
, and other changes can be applied to the data file frames before play out.
2k virtual DataCine products
- First virtual telecine by PhilipsPhilipsKoninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. , more commonly known as Philips, is a multinational Dutch electronics company....
, now Grass ValleyGrass Valley (company)Grass Valley, previously known as Grass Valley Group, is a privately held company based in California, USA. Grass Valley produces technology for the video and broadcast industry. On January 29, 2009, Thomson announced its intention to sell the Grass Valley business unit...
a Thomson SAThomson SATechnicolor SA , formerly Thomson SA and Thomson Multimedia, is a French international provider of solutions for the creation, management, post-production, delivery and access of video, for the Communication, Media and Entertainment industries. Technicolor’s headquarters are located in Issy les...
Brand:- VDC-2000 Virtual DataCine
- Specter FS Virtual DataCine
These are able to play out 2k data files in non-linear real time. Size, rotation and color correction-color grading
Color grading
Color grading or colour painting, is the process of altering and enhancing the color of a motion picture, video image, or still image either electronically, photo-chemically or digitally. The photo-chemical process is also referred to as color timing and is typically performed at a photographic...
are all able to be done in real time controlled by a telecine color corrector. A Silicon Graphics
Silicon Graphics
Silicon Graphics, Inc. was a manufacturer of high-performance computing solutions, including computer hardware and software, founded in 1981 by Jim Clark...
-SGI computer is used to play the data file
Data file
A data file is a computer file which stores data to use by a computer application or system. It generally does not refer to files that contain instructions or code to be executed , or to files which define the operation or structure of an application or system ; but specifically to information...
s to "Spirit DataCine hardware". The Virtual DataCine can output SDTV (NTSC or PAL) and HDTV-high definition or Data files DPX (or TIF), the same as the Datacine. First generation input/output interface for data files as the optical fiber
Optical fiber
An optical fiber is a flexible, transparent fiber made of a pure glass not much wider than a human hair. It functions as a waveguide, or "light pipe", to transmit light between the two ends of the fiber. The field of applied science and engineering concerned with the design and application of...
HIPPI
HIPPI
HIPPI is a computer bus for the attachment of high speed storage devices to supercomputers. It was popular in the late 1980s and into the mid-to-late 1990s, but has since been replaced by ever-faster standard interfaces like SCSI and Fibre Channel.The first HIPPI standard defined a 50-wire...
cables (up to 6 frame/s at 2k), the next generation interface is GSN-Gigabit Ethernet
Gigabit Ethernet
Gigabit Ethernet is a term describing various technologies for transmitting Ethernet frames at a rate of a gigabit per second , as defined by the IEEE 802.3-2008 standard. It came into use beginning in 1999, gradually supplanting Fast Ethernet in wired local networks where it performed...
fibre Optic (up to 30 frame/s at 2k). GSN is also called HIPPI-6400 and was later re-named GSN (for Gigabyte System Network). The SAN hard disk are interfaces to the Virtual DataCine by dual FC-Fibre Channel
Fibre Channel
Fibre Channel, or FC, is a gigabit-speed network technology primarily used for storage networking. Fibre Channel is standardized in the T11 Technical Committee of the InterNational Committee for Information Technology Standards , an American National Standards Institute –accredited standards...
, cables.
Real time 2k Color Correction is done by a Pandora Int.'s Pogle with a MegaDEF. Input and outout 3D LUT
3D LUT
In the film industry, 3D LUTs are used to calculate preview colors for a monitor or digital projector of how an image will be reproduced on the final film print. A 3D LUT is a 3D lattice of output color values. Each axis is one of the 3 input color components and the input color thus defines a...
-Look up tables are also use to control the look and standard of the clips.
- On a Spirit Datacine Phantom TransferEngine software running on an SGI computer or Bones Linux-based software is use to record the DPX files from the Spirit DataCine. These files are stored in the virtual telecine or on a SANStorage area networkA storage area network is a dedicated network that provides access to consolidated, block level data storage. SANs are primarily used to make storage devices, such as disk arrays, tape libraries, and optical jukeboxes, accessible to servers so that the devices appear like locally attached devices...
hard diskHard diskA hard disk drive is a non-volatile, random access digital magnetic data storage device. It features rotating rigid platters on a motor-driven spindle within a protective enclosure. Data is magnetically read from and written to the platter by read/write heads that float on a film of air above the...
storage array.
VDC-2000 Specter and Specter FS are made in Weiterstadt
Weiterstadt
Weiterstadt is a town in the Darmstadt-Dieburg district, in Hesse, Germany. It is situated approx. 6 km northwest of Darmstadt.....
-Darmstadt
Darmstadt
Darmstadt is a city in the Bundesland of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Rhine Main Area.The sandy soils in the Darmstadt area, ill-suited for agriculture in times before industrial fertilisation, prevented any larger settlement from developing, until the city became the seat...
Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
by Grass Valley - a Thomson SA brand, former names see Philips
Philips
Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. , more commonly known as Philips, is a multinational Dutch electronics company....
Broadcast and Robert Bosch GmbH
Robert Bosch GmbH
Robert Bosch GmbH is a multinational engineering and electronics company headquartered in Gerlingen, near Stuttgart, Germany. It is the world's largest supplier of automotive components...
, Fernseh
Fernseh
The Fernseh AG television company was registered in Berlin on July 3, 1929 by John Logie Baird, Robert Bosch and other partners with an initial capital of 100,000 Reichsmark....
Division.
Real-time virtual telecines
- HDTV 4:2:2 and better 4:4:4RGB color spaceAn RGB color space is any additive color space based on the RGB color model. A particular RGB color space is defined by the three chromaticities of the red, green, and blue additive primaries, and can produce any chromaticity that is the triangle defined by those primary colors...
RGB can be used as a Virtual Telecine. In this case, standard HDTV video products can be used in a post-productionPost-productionPost-production is part of filmmaking and the video production process. It occurs in the making of motion pictures, television programs, radio programs, advertising, audio recordings, photography, and digital art...
work flow.
- As faster computers and SAN-Storage area network come on the market, more Real time 2k Virtual Telecine will be on the market, SDTV is easier to output in real time than HDTV or 2k display resolutionDisplay resolutionThe display resolution of a digital television or display device is the number of distinct pixels in each dimension that can be displayed. It can be an ambiguous term especially as the displayed resolution is controlled by all different factors in cathode ray tube , flat panel or projection...
files.
- Limitation to speed are: color correction, resizing aspect ratio , dirt removal, special effectSpecial effectThe illusions used in the film, television, theatre, or entertainment industries to simulate the imagined events in a story are traditionally called special effects ....
s, motion picture creditsMotion picture credits-Opening credits:Opening credits, in a television program, motion picture, or video game, are shown at the beginning of a show and list the most important members of the production. They are usually shown as text superimposed on a blank screen or static pictures, or sometimes on top of action in...
, and other restoration. Also bandwidth speed of the hardware limits real time play out: CPU, interface, SAN, memory, software and hardware.
Current virtual telecines are:
- Da Vinci SystemsDa Vinci Systemsda Vinci Systems is a main manufacturer of high-end post-production color grading and film restoration systems for feature films, video production and broadcast post-production facilities...
Splice - Bones by DFT Digital Film Technology in WeiterstadtWeiterstadtWeiterstadt is a town in the Darmstadt-Dieburg district, in Hesse, Germany. It is situated approx. 6 km northwest of Darmstadt.....
, GermanyGermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. - FilmlightFilmlightFilmLight Limited is a digital cinema technology company started in 2002 by the Scientific and Technical Academy Award-winning former Computer Film Company R&D team.Their main products are:...
Baselight - Marquise Technologies MIST prime and MIST i/o
- SpectSoftSpectSoftSpectSoft is a software development company started in 1997 to create tools for the professional film and video markets. They are located in Oakdale, California....
RaveHD and Rave2K
Non-real-time virtual telecines
A number of products are on the market that can output frames in less than real time. These can be used to output DPX data file, but are too slow for HDTV. For some digital intermediate work 4k data is needed. These large 4k display resolution files cannot be transferred in real time.See also
- Digital cinematographyDigital cinematographyDigital cinematography is the process of capturing motion pictures as digital images, rather than on film. Digital capture may occur on video tape, hard disks, flash memory, or other media which can record digital data. As digital technology has improved, this practice has become increasingly common...
- TelecineTelecineTelecine is transferring motion picture film into video and is performed in a color suite. The term is also used to refer to the equipment used in the post-production process....
- Direct to Disk RecordingDirect to Disk RecordingDirect-to-disk recording refers to methods by which analog signals and digital signals such as digital audio and digital video are digitally recorded to optical disc recording technologies such as DVDs, and CD optical discs...
- Hard disk recorderHard disk recorderA hard disk recorder is a type of direct to disk recording system that uses a high-capacity hard disk to record digital audio or digital video. Hard disk recording systems represent an alternative to more traditional reel-to-reel tape or cassette multitrack systems, and provide editing...
- Lustre (file system)Lustre (file system)Lustre is a massively parallel distributed file system, generally used for large scale cluster computing. The name Lustre is a portmanteau word derived from Linux and cluster...
- FernsehFernsehThe Fernseh AG television company was registered in Berlin on July 3, 1929 by John Logie Baird, Robert Bosch and other partners with an initial capital of 100,000 Reichsmark....
External links
- A Brief History for Colorists, History of Telecines
- theasc.com, © 2003 American Cinematographer, DI by Debra Kaufman
- American Cinematographer A flex Finish
- http://www.thomsongrassvalley.com/ Thomson Grassvalley Home Page
- http://www.ascentmedia.com/solutions/onesheets/VIRTUAL_TELECINE_FINAL2.pdf Ascent Media’s Virtual Telecine
- http://www.angelfire.com/fl3/FDL60/history.htm#cc - Pogle
- http://pogle.pandora-int.com/ Pandora International Home Page
- http://www.marquise-tech.com/ Marquise Technologies Home Page
- http://www.gvs9000.com/ Grande Vitesse Systems Home Page