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Spirit and Bones Upgrades Boost Digital Intermediate Productivity With More Workflow Efficiency and Creative Freedom (9/3/2006)

Extending its tradition of providing post-production leaders superior systems and support, Thomson (Euronext Paris: 18453; NYSE: TMS) today announced key enhancements to its Grass Valley post-production line that will enrich its digital post-production workflows and offer colorists even more creative freedom.

Highlights from today's announcement included new features such as the AutoFocus and Printer Lights option for the Grass Valley(tm) Spirit 4K and 2K High-Performance Film Scanners and DataCine(r). For the Bones(tm) open post-production software framework, a new Bones Color Correction module and ASC CDL compliance have been added. And, new software was announced for the LUTher color space converter.

With one of the broadest lines of digital post-production technologies available, Grass Valley provides turnkey workflows for film makers and commercial production professionals. Only Thomson offers a fully integrated, resolution-independent, end-to-end digital solution that lets them choose the right production path for their projects.

This announcement supports Thomson's Two-Year Plan which includes an overall strategy to help its global media and entertainment customer base acquire, create, edit and manipulate, aggregate re-purpose, and package their high-value content. The Spirit family of film scanning systems, the Bones post production environment and the LUTher color space converter are central to Grass Valley's strategy of delivering to movie producers worldwide industry-leading standards in image quality, creative productivity, and commercially effective workflows.

"Our expansion of the Spirit 4K, Bones, and LUTher lines reflects how Thomson is attuned to the requirements that are reshaping digital post production-and our intimate understanding of the creative community and its desire to extend digital toolsets so that it can embrace new workflows and distribution opportunities," said Marc Valentin, president of the Grass Valley business within Thomson.

New Enhancements for Spirit 2K and 4K Scanners Streamline Workflows

With more than 315 units installed worldwide, the Spirit family of products has become the industry standard for high-resolution film transfers, with the Spirit 4K offering 4k resolution at around six frames a second. This processing is an order of magnitude faster than competing scanners whose speed is measured in seconds per frame and new functionality to be launched at NAB is aimed at increasing this productivity still further.

The new AutoFocus option for the Spirit platform automatically centers the optical focusing system on the film emulsion, allowing new film rolls to be laced without the need for manual refocusing. Further, with the AutoDMin option, the Spirit will automatically sense the most transparent part of the original camera negative (D Min, or minimum density), to optimize a digital intermediate transfer for maximum image latitude. With these two new features, film dailies can be scanned into the digital-intermediate workflow faster than ever, with a high degree of accuracy in matching, all without the need for a senior colorist.

Directors and cinematographers have seized upon the creative possibilities of digital intermediate production, but need continuing support through this transition. Many will be comfortable with the old language of color timing, and have a strong feeling for printer points as a measure of color difference. To help them, the Spirit 2K and Spirit 4K platforms now have a PrinterLight option, which allows the facility to create and store settings for all its film stocks and, in combination with a calibrated display, to deliver color correction in printer light steps, thus preserving feedback to the cinematographer in readily understood terms.

These enhancements to the Spirit 2K and 4K are available immediately.

Bones 2.5 platform adds new color module and ASC CDL compliance

Grass Valley today also announced the immediate availability of Bones 2.5. The update includes a new Bones Color module that adds advanced secondary color correction which is also ASC-CDL compliant. "Grass Valley is committed to open standards in all aspects of its business, and is proud to be one of the first adopters of the ASC CDL standard," said Valentin.

As well as delivering powerful six-vector color correction, Bones Color is fully compliant with the emerging CDL (color decision list) open standard under development by the American Society of Cinematographers. The intention is that CDLs will be fully portable between the color tools of multiple manufacturers, just as EDLs are portable between edit controllers, ensuring interoperability between color-correction platforms, ultimately saving time and money.

LUTher system - New 3D LUT Designer software

The Grass Valley LUTher color space converter addresses one of the most critical issues in digital intermediate workflow: color space management. As a dedicated device, the LUTher system lets users preview and calibrate the display of a film print on an HD display or digital projection system.

New for NAB 2006 is the 3D-LUT Designer software which now makes it easier for facilities to create their own 3D look-up tables (LUTs), which are applied to the Luther hardware. In this way, a colorist and director can be sure what they see on a monitor is what audiences will ultimately see in the theatre (whether film or digital projection) or at home on DVD.

www.thomsongrassvalley.com

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