You may remember me for being the annoying voice on this forum continually pestering you on this topic.
The time is now. Both Novastar MCTRL4K as well as all of Bromton's Tessera processors can do 12 bits. Before it was all hypothetical, but now I have three actual projects spanning two continents and this needs to happen. One project in particular, a new Magic Flute, is just BEGGING for the full use of all 4096 shades of grey. Imagine the night queen emerging from a 2,200 nit video wall, with just the shimmers of her magic breaking free from the 500 nits cap I have on for the rest of the opera. The processors support it, the walls support it. The competitors support it. Resolume needs to rise to the challenge and join the ranks of Disguise, Green Hippo, and Pandora's Box.
One of the companies wants me to use Disguise, but I'd much rather stick with Resolume. I preach the gospel of Arena to every theatre, opera house, installation, and concert venue I design in, and to every university class I teach, and I want to continue to BELIEVE. Please don't let me down.
Understanding that incorporating HDR into the code is probably a massive undertaking and is a long ways away for Resolume, I'm exploring janky solutions. And to that end, I think I actually got it to work, but the workflow is abysmal.
I've got two outputs, one Spout, one NDI (I'd do only Spout, but I can't figure out how to get two separate Spout outputs). Output 1 has the base content as you would for an 8-bit image (0-255), Output 2 has the identical content, aligned, but ONLY the additional brightness (luminance values 256-511) which is well short of the 1024 of HDR10, but I'm not sure if the Brompton panels will really even let me access that given that I'm reading the actual luminance of hdr10 is capped at 1k nits. Not sure...
So, imagine image one is a video of the sun setting over the ocean. Image 2 is ONLY the sun, plus a few caustic reflections off the water. But both line up and are synchronized.
I THEN bring both inputs as sources into ArKaos' MediaMaster Pro (ugh), which is running simultaneously on the same computer with Resolume. That program does output HDR. I simply blend mode ADD those two inputs together and boom: HDR output. I've got a Shinobi 7 monitor on the way to visually confirm the effect is working as intended.
Expensive as hell, janky, tears like crazy between the NDI and Spout, and it's murder on my frame rate... but I think it works. Glorious HDR sunset.
So my thought is this: rather than reprogram the entire Resolume backbone to support HDR from the start, what would the feasibility be of a satellite program, like Alley or Wire, that can take multiple outputs and ADD them together. Basically, what I'm doing with MediaMaster, but within the Resolume ecosystem? (And without me having to spend an extra $1700). Not entirely use-friendly and far from intuitive, but for VJ style work, it might be useful. And it would certainly be useful for me in opera/theatreland.
Or perhaps does anyone know of a piece of hardware out there that does this? I could imagine a cute box that just ADDs signals together and spits the output in some flavor of HDR. Surely there must be a broadcast mixer out there that does that (though I've been unable to find it).
I did an exploratory implementation once, I've found that quite a few effects/mixers 'break'. For each generator/effect/mixer we'd need to specify how we expect it to behave in the extended range, ie should it keep clamping or is it allowed to go brighter.
So yeah, quite a bit of work, but definitely a +1 from me
Menmo, that's totally fair! I can only imagine the challenges...
And I appreciate you looking into it! I am, out of necessity, doing a crash course in Disguise for the one show in particular that needs HDR in the coming months, but I'm looking forward to the implementation (one day) of HDR in Resolume.
And if there's the need for Alpha (dare I say Pre-Alpha) testers, sign me right up!
1. Resolume: Four outputs. Each one covering one 8 bit (a fourth) of a HDR 10+ signal.
2. Sent via internal NDI to Divinci Resolve.
3. Composite ADD mode into a single 10bit HDR signal.
4. Sent via 12g SDI to Bromton Tessera for true HDR playback.
Audience is hanging out, watching a totally cool, subtle show at 500 nits. Cue the sunrise cue...2000 nits.
thingsaregoingtostarthappeningtomenow.gif
Of course... it would be easier if this could happen within Resolume...
The time has come for me to switch away from Resolume.
I can't tell you how heartbroken I am, and I have held out for as long as I could, but I simply can't continue to invest in a software that isn't ready to embrace what is the essential next step in video technology. I've brought Resolume with me to venues across seven countries, had it drive shows playing before audiences in the tens of thousands, and before senators and literal kings. I've based my entire career around it. https://davidmurakami.com/projection-design-reel
I've stuck with it for the past ten years. Back before DXV. Back before there was an undo button!
But I must implore you, HDR is no longer optional. I've already started using Disguise in all projects that involve video walls or HDR enabled projectors, and I'm ready to invest in switching over all my rental servers to Pixera.
But please, give me a sign. Tell me I should hold out. Tell me it's right over the horizon.
Anyone reading this ever used a Novastar MCTRL4K? What about a Megapixel Helios? Or a Brompton Tessera? Reply in comments, because Devs, the average user of Resolume now has access to 10 bit video walls and our beloved Resolume can only use 25% of it. Pixera, Green Hippo, Disguise, Vertex, Touch Designer, and now even WATCHOUT supports HDR. (The use of caps there was to emphasize my distain, not properly capitalize the name)
I can't count the number of professional theatres and opera houses I've proudly marched in touting how excellent Resolume is, or how many of my college students I've taught Resolume to, but increasingly my confidence is shifting to shame. 10 bit output is no longer optional for a professional media server. But it's not just the high end venues now... just walk into any Costco. Wonder why those TVs all look so nice? This is no longer exotic tech, it's something that will soon be in everyone's living room. So you have to rebuild the entire render pipeline, yes, that sounds really hard. All of your competitors have done it already. Time is up; don't let Qlab beat you to it...
