Mastering station from Rohde & Schwarz looks to the future with HDR, floating point processing and enhanced IMF workflows

The new software release of the R&S CLIPSTER mastering station from Rohde & Schwarz provides an expanded tool set for high dynamic range workflows, enabling more flexible color processing. Both Dolby Vision and HDR10 are supported. IMF subtitles and compositing directly on the timeline simplify localization workflows. Rohde & Schwarz has enhanced its multiple award-winning, complete solution by adding these and many other new features tailored to the needs of post production and content distribution.

R&S CLIPSTER has established itself as the complete mastering and deliverable solution for premium content. The new functions allow content creators to master their films and TV content more quickly and reliably. The superiority of R&S CLIPSTER is especially evident in productions with higher resolutions, higher frame rates and enhanced colors (bigger better pixel): the new floating point processing enables color management in realtime up to 4K.

R&S CLIPSTER 6.1 has extended the IMF feature set to include localization of subtitles. And the new alpha compositing feature enables data such at title sequences and text clips in multiple languages to be easily exchanged directly on the timeline. Content that has been mastered for a specific region can now be modified for worldwide distribution. Support of Dolby Vision and HDR10 metadata in IMF (PQ, SMPTE2086) allows content to be delivered for all current HDR consumer standards. R&S CLIPSTER has integrated the new HEVC and ProRes 444 XQ formats for delivering content in the high resolution high dynamic range (HDR) and wide color gamut (WCG) formats. The additional output of audio via HDMI simplifies quality control.

One highlight of R&S CLIPSTER 6.2 is the enhancement of the HDR workflow to include image processing with floating point processing. This enables the wide dynamic range of the HDR material to be precisely converted. Rohde & Schwarz has succeeded in importing a high-quality master such as a linear OpenEXR file and rendering it in the output color space with the appropriate quantization (12-bit PQ/SMPTE ST 2086). This is necessary in order to meet the constantly growing HDR color management requirements. R&S CLIPSTER 6.2 takes the next step toward a flexible HDR mastering solution. In addition, an optimized architecture and the accelerated hardware enable image processing in realtime up to 4K 120p. Other features include support for the Avid DNxHR® codecs and the ability to process HDR metadata for Dolby Cinema.

Stephen Birdsong, Product Manager Post Production Solutions at Rohde & Schwarz says: “We have worked very hard on making R&S CLIPSTER what it is today – the standard for DCI and IMF mastering. The system is extremely versatile in post production and supports numerous workflows. Users appreciate the absolutely reliable playback over professional display interfaces as well as the realtime, timeline-based image processing. Post production providers rely on this proven solution to meet the high delivery requirements for film and TV productions.”

The new version of the R&S CLIPSTER 6.1 mastering station will be available in the third quarter of 2016.