FilmLight’s latest Baselight system fuels Dolby’s drive for HDR

FilmLight announced today that Dolby, long-term client and technology partner, has taken delivery of one of the first Baselight X systems, the latest and most advanced implementation of the Baselight hardware range yet. Baselight X, designed with exceptional power and performance for the most demanding projects, will be used in the Dolby Vision mastering suite in the company’s Burbank facility.

With the need for higher resolutions and quality in post-production, as well as the increasing desire for higher dynamic range and extended colour gamut, the architecture of Baselight X rises to the challenge. The system combines six processing GPUs plus a seventh GPU for the user interface and real-time waveform monitors and vectorscopes. It provides real-time playback and processing, across multiple layers with complex grades, effects and matte channels.

Baselight in the Dolby suite

Baselight X also incorporates a large, ultra high-speed storage system that connects directly to the internal image processing components, addressing Dolby’s requirement to play 4k 4096 x 3112 16bit film scans and cache the results to disk at the same time.

Dolby and FilmLight have a long history of collaboration, with Baselight being the first grading system capable of mastering for Dolby Vision. Dolby in fact has a total of four Baselight suites in its R&D departments, and upgraded an existing Baselight EIGHT system to the enhanced power of Baselight X. This gives Dolby’s colourists and colour scientists ultimate real-time control over high-resolution, high-bit depth HDR grading and finishing.

Baselight X has six processing GPUs and a
dedicated GPU for UI & scopes

“Dolby’s vision is to change the way consumers experience moving images in both the cinema and the home. We use Baselight to explore and develop this new experience using high dynamic range imagery (HDR) and expanded color gamut,” said Curt Behlmer, SVP, Content Solutions & Industry Relations, Dolby Laboratories. “As we expose filmmakers to this new technology in post-production, they expect quality and real-time performance, and we are happy to have a close working relationship with FilmLight to help optimise the tools to meet their expectations.

“We look forward to using our new Baselight X system in our ongoing development of Dolby Vision content,” he added.

Baselight X has already been purchased by two other clients in the US and will be formally showcased at NAB2016.