Deluxe Entertainment Services Group (Deluxe) announced that its compression and authoring services are now Dolby Vision approved, which will rapidly facilitate the release of more high-quality 4K UHD Blu-ray content into the market. Deluxe has already delivered more than 100 4K UHD Blu-ray SKUs in high dynamic range (HDR) – more titles than any other industry provider. With this announcement, Deluxe’s end-to-end compression and authoring workflow, including its own proprietary toolset for dynamic range and color space conversion, and that of partners Scenarist and Ateme, is now approved by Dolby to support Dolby Vision HDR in addition to HDR10 for the 4K UHD Blu-ray Disc format.
With Futuresource expecting sales of 4K UHD disc players in 2017 to grow 148% and sales of 4K UHD TVs to grow 38%, Deluxe is helping to meet the growing demand for video content featuring the leap in visual quality that HDR delivers. The company has been working with many major studios and distributors to support their 4K UHD and HDR initiatives, with Paramount Pictures’ Transformers: The Last Knight being among the first Dolby Vision 4K UHD Blu-ray titles that Deluxe delivered.
“The Transformers franchise delivers the kind of eye-popping action and state-of-the-art sound that absolutely engulfs you,” said Edward Hoxsie, SVP of worldwide product production and fulfillment for Paramount Pictures. “Watching Transformers: The Last Knight on 4K UHD with Dolby Vision HDR quite literally transforms the home viewing experience into something more immersive and more visceral than ever before.”
Deluxe Distribution president Walter Schonfeld said, “Content providers turn to Deluxe because we have a complete infrastructure to support them in delivering the highest quality entertainment experiences. We’ve collaborated closely with Dolby and leading commercial tool providers Scenarist and Ateme to develop and perfect our workflow – which is backed by the world’s top compression and authoring experts, global facilities covering four time zones, 99.9% on-time delivery and a worldwide operation that masters more than 4500UHD Blu-ray, Blu-ray and DVD SKUs per year. We’re pleased to extend that to now include approved Dolby Vision UHD Blu-ray capability.”
“Deluxe has a long track record of pioneering workflows and technologies that help drive adoption of new formats,” said Ron Geller, VP of Worldwide Content Relations, Dolby Laboratories. “They’ve been an early supporter and key partner to us in bringing Dolby Vision to consumers across the cinema, home, and mobile devices.”
Hollywood’s Oscar Season Turns Into A Pledge Drive In Midst Of L.A. Wildfires
When the Palisades Fire broke out in Los Angeles last Tuesday, Hollywood's awards season was in full swing. The Golden Globes had transpired less than 48 hours earlier and a series of splashy awards banquets followed in the days after.
But the enormity of the destruction in Southern California has quickly snuffed out all festiveness in the movie industry's high season of celebration. At one point, the flames even encroached on the hillside above the Dolby Theatre, the home of the Academy Awards.
The fires have struck at the very heart of a movie industry still trying to stabilize itself after years of pandemic, labor turmoil and technological upheaval. Not for the first time this decade, the Oscars are facing the question of: Should the show go on? And if it does, what do they mean now?
"With ALL due respect during Hollywood's season of celebration, I hope any of the networks televising the upcoming awards will seriously consider NOT televising them and donating the revenue they would have gathered to victims of the fires and the firefighters," "Hacks" star Jean Smart, a recent Globe winner, wrote on Instagram.
The Oscars remain as scheduled, but it's certain that they will be transformed due to the wildfires, and that most of the red-carpet pomp that typically stretches between now and then will be curtailed if not altogether canceled. With so many left without a home by the fires, there's scant appetite for the usual self-congratulatory parades of the season.
Focus has turned, instead, to what the Oscars might symbolize for a traumatized Los Angeles. The Oscars have never meant less, but, at the same time, they might be more important than ever as a beacon of perseverance for the reeling movie capital.
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