SET and Sony to promote webinar on HDR in live content production

Next Friday, April 3rd, SET and Sony hold the first meeting of the SET Sponsored Webinars series. This is a new initiative by the entity to offer new content in new formats for members and also for the media and audiovisual entertainment community using remote meeting platforms.

In this first meeting, Sony will present the theme “Technologies and workflows for using the High Dynamic Range (HDR) formats in live content production“. The speaker is th engineer Hugo Gaggioni, Chief Technology Officer Sony Professional Solutions Americas, Sony Electronics, Inc. Gaggioni has the 2018 SMPTE David Sarnoff Medal and 2019 Emmy Life Time Achievement Award for his career dedicated to the technological development of the media industry.

He gave the following interview to SET, in anticipation of his talk. “This seminar describes in details the technical pitfalls that can be found in the HDR workflows if not proceeding with caution”.

SET – What is the focus of the presentation?
Hugo Gaggioni – The presentation is about the basic understanding of High Dynamic Range techniques as they apply to the production of Live Programs. It will discuss, workflows, simultaneous generation of SDR and HDR programs with one single-layer production, conversion techniques to integrate legacy material into the live production. It will illustrate possible artifacts if certain procedures/guidelines are not followed carefully.

SET – Why is it important to know these new features?
HG – Because the most important objective is to transition to and all HDR production while maintaining the production of today’s SDR programs without compromises. The generation of high-quality SDR is what maintains today’s business and cannot be compromised or altered in its quality if customers are to accept the new paradigm of HDR. And this seminar describes in details the technical pitfalls that can be found in the HDR workflows if not proceeding with caution.

SET – How can the new workflows guarantee better image quality content and at the same time an affordable production cost?
HG – The new workflows will create higher levels of picture quality since they are to be used in UHD formats and with Wide Color Gamut and High Dynamic Range features – which will guarantee new levels of visual impact and fulfilment. The costs in production can be maintained at reasonable labels and ultimately will not be more than what we face in today’s productions. However, the transition to and all HDR production will take time and will involve various levels of cost increases as the technology matures and the end-user becomes familiar with its usage.

SET – How can teams be trained to use these new demands?
HG – The seminar provides the necessary technical/theoretical basis for the engineering teams to learn the characteristics of the workflows and what to expect as the results of implementing the HDR processes. But, the solid understanding will only become reality after extensive practical training and usage of the HDR tools and experimentation of the interaction between acquisition cameras and the HDR converters throughout the chain of production steps.