Colorfront at CineEurope 2025: Streamlining HDR Cinema Delivery
Colorfront will showcase its latest innovations in high dynamic range (HDR) mastering at CineEurope 2025, held June 16–19 at the Centre de Convencions Internacional de Barcelona (CCIB). Powered by the Colorfront Engine, our solutions provide precise and automated workflows for mastering across SDR, HDR, and extended dynamic range formats—ensuring creative intent is preserved across all cinema displays.
Colorfront HDR Cinema Tools support all major HDR standards, including the latest specifications from DCI, enabling seamless integration with modern HDR displays and laser projection systems from Barco, Christie, and others. On Thursday, June 19, CineEurope will host an exclusive screening of SKETCH, presented in HDR by Barco using HDR Light Steering technology.
Featured Presentation at ICTA Barcelona Cinema Technology Summit
Ahead of CineEurope, Colorfront participated in the ICTA Barcelona Cinema Technology Summit on Sunday, June 15. Held at The Phenomena Experience, the event featured a panel discussion titled “Extended, Variable and High Dynamic Range Solutions: Exhibitor and Distributor Perspectives.”
Colorfront at ICTA Barcelona Cinema Technology Summit
Colorfront participated in the ICTA Barcelona Cinema Technology Summit on Sunday, June 15, 2025. Held at The Phenomena Experience, the event featured a panel discussion titled “Extended, Variable and High Dynamic Range Solutions: Exhibitor and Distributor Perspectives.”
Panelists:
• Jan Rasmussen – Head of Screen Technology, Nordisk Film Cinemas
• William Feightner – CTO, Colorfront
• Jonny Whiles – Senior Director, Technical and Localization, Warner Bros. Entertainment
Bill Feightner's perspective:
...well, on the post-production side, it's obvious from everything that's been discussed that we've got a lot of versions we need to create. There are traditional ways—especially with some proprietary formats—where you have to deliver separate grades, or spend a lot of manual time trying to trim and finalize on particular screens. Practically speaking, post facilities can't maintain every solution out there. Right now, you'd potentially have Barco Light Steering, Christie VDR, Dolby Vision, and LED direct-view systems—multiple HDR display technologies.
The approach we’ve taken at Colorfront is to automate this process. It's about managing light and how to preserve the filmmaker's creative intent across different displays and dynamic ranges.
We've developed a perceptual processing model based on how human vision works. This ensures that when content is mapped to different dynamic ranges—whether SDR, EDR, or HDR—we retain the artistic choices made during mastering.
For soft-proofing in post, it's essential to work in a mastering environment that can simulate a wide range of projection systems. If you're able to reproduce the largest color volume and dynamic range required, you can reduce the number of trim passes and avoid creating separate versions manually.
We've seen excellent results using our tech to create Dolby Cinema masters from SDR sources. The process typically requires little or no manual tweaking, and it's a major time saver.
“Looking forward, there will come a point when we have technology in cinemas themselves that can locally render the content according to the specific display’s capabilities—similar to what’s currently done with immersive audio systems like Dolby Atmos.” William Feightner, CTO, Colorfront
Future cinema systems may adapt content in real time based on ambient light or screen capability. That means a dinner theater could display content differently from a dark auditorium, while maintaining perceptual consistency.
HDR isn’t about brightness alone. An HDR-capable projector can faithfully match SDR if needed. The power of HDR lies in its expanded creative palette, particularly in color, shadows, and highlights.
Perceptually driven automation is the most realistic path forward. Grading tools were built for creative intent—not complex color remapping. Colorfront’s tools handle the rest, allowing creatives to stay focused on vision while we manage delivery consistency.
The combination of automated workflows and local rendering will reduce the burden of HDR versioning and ensure that the filmmaker’s vision reaches every screen accurately.
At the show, Colorfront will host live demos with key projection technology partners:
Christie (Booth MR 134): Side-by-side SDR vs. Christie VDR comparisons using the Sony BVM-HX3110 HDR mastering monitor and Colorfront HDR Cinema Tools, showing enhanced contrast and dark-scene detail with no need for specialized mastering passes.
Barco (Booth MR 111): “Barco HDR Mastering” presentation with Colorfront Transkoder and Barco HDR Light Steering projection, showcasing consistent results across formats. Demo scheduled for Wednesday, June 18, 2:30–3:00 PM.
Colorfront Engine: Perceptual Processing for Cinematic Precision
At the core of Colorfront’s approach is the Colorfront Engine, a perceptual color processing system that intelligently remaps content across different dynamic ranges without compromising creative vision. The system supports real-time soft-proofing for SDR, EDR, and HDR outputs, making it possible to prepare multiple deliverables from a single master—automatically.
Colorist Terry Simpson and his experience with Colorfront’s Streamer
Streamer lets the tech fade away, allowing creativity to flourish.
Working remotely from South Africa using Colorfront Streamer, Terry Simpson successfully collaborates on high-end commercials worldwide. His projects span continents—streaming simultaneously to directors, agencies, and cinematographers on various devices, from broadcast monitors to tablets. Streamer's adaptive color pipeline and robust reliability transformed Simpson's workflow from uncertainty into confident, seamless global collaboration. Colorist Terry Simpson and his experience with Colorfront Streamer
Colorfront Dolby joint event in NYC
On October 16th, 2024, Colorfront and Dolby hosted an exclusive event at the renowned Dolby 88 Screening Room in New York City, offering industry professionals an in-depth look at the latest advancements in Dolby Vision packaging, mastering, and QC workflows. Dubbed Mastering Excellence: Dolby Vision Packaging & QC in Colorfront Transkoder, the event drew a diverse group of filmmakers, colorists, and post-production experts, eager to learn how these cutting-edge tools can enhance the efficiency and quality of their projects.
The event was followed by one-on-one private demos and NYC customer meetings.
IBC 2024 Amsterdam
Colorfront Opens a New Chapter in Color Tools For Cinema & Television IBC 2024, Amsterdam – Colorfront has opened a new chapter in SDR/HDR color workflows with a multitude of new tools that dramatically augment its already abundant feature-set for cinema and television mastering.
Colorfront Does IBC 2024… Live From Stockholm‽ …Plus Other Ground-Breaking Workflow News From Amsterdam< IBC 2024, Amsterdam – Colorfront will showcase its latest technology during IBC 2024 with cloud-based demonstrations of its powerful streaming and mastering solutions.
Colorfront, renowned for high-performance post-production tools, is set to demonstrate its SDR to Dolby Vision HDR conversion at HPA Tech Retreat 2024. The event, a nexus for industry leaders in film and streaming technology, will feature Colorfront's latest advancements, spotlighting their Transkoder platform's groundbreaking Dolby Vision capabilities. This technology offers a seamless transition from SDR to HDR, ensuring content fidelity. Bill Feightner, CTO, will lead a detailed discussion at a breakfast roundtable, emphasizing Transkoder’s role in preserving the artistic essence of SDR productions.
This conversion process not only transitions SDR to visually stunning Dolby Vision HDR but also produces unique Dolby Vision metadata, guaranteeing that the Dolby-derived SDR output visually matches the original SDR content. This innovative roundtripping method presents a unified, streamlined, single-source workflow for mastering and distribution.
Colorfront Streaming Server Awarded Trusted Partner Network Gold Logo Certification
Colorfront is thrilled to announce that the Colorfront Streaming Server has achieved the prestigious Trusted Partner Network (TPN) Gold Logo Certification. This accolade reflects Colorfront's unwavering dedication to upholding the highest levels of security and compliance within the dynamic media and entertainment industry.
Earning the TPN Gold Shield status means that our Streaming Server has successfully passed a rigorous third-party security assessment, conducted by a TPN-accredited assessor. The comprehensive security report is readily accessible to Content Owners via TPN+, ensuring complete transparency and peace of mind.
At Colorfront, we're all about keeping your valuable content secure, safe, and reliable. Join us in celebrating this milestone for a safer and brighter entertainment future!
Colorfront Transkoder 2023 runs on both PC and Mac.
Colorfront Transkoder is the ultimate tool for DCP and IMF mastering,
including: the industy's highest performance JPEG2000 encoding and
decoding, 32-bit floating point processing on multiple GPUs, MXF wrapping,
accelerated checksums and AES encryption and decryption, IMF/IMP and DCI/DCP
package authoring, editing, transwrapping.
COLORFRONT SUPPORT FOR AWS CDI UNLOCKS NEW POTENTIAL FOR CLOUD-BASED VISUAL EFFECTS AND CONTENT CREATION
Autodesk Flame with CDI running on AWS
Los Angeles – December 07, 2022 - Colorfront (colorfront.com) – continues to push boundaries and create new ways of efficient working with the announcement that Colorfront Streaming Server now supports AWS Cloud Digital Interface (AWS CDI) network technology. This pioneering advance unleashes fresh potential for collaborative, cloud-based content creation by enabling digital artists, operating applications that run on Amazon Web Services (AWS), to conduct live remote sessions or deliver work-in-progress to multiple production stakeholders using reference-quality assets, over the public internet.
Colorfront support for AWS CDI unlocks new potential for cloud-based visual effects and content creation
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Colorfront Transkoder delivers a masterful performance at Annapurna Studios
The Telugu film industry, also known as ‘Tollywood’, has blossomed to become one of the largest film industries in India, shooting and releasing hundreds of features each year.
CTO CV Rao expalains how Annapurna Studios is harnessing the power of Colorfront Transkoder for deliverables and DCP / IMF mastering needs.
RRR was shot in-and-around the capital city and premiered on over 10,000 screens worldwide, in a large range of multi-language release formats, including IMAX, 3D-stereo and Dolby Cinema. After colour grading the movie, Annapurna Studios struck no fewer than 70 DCP masters for worldwide distribution using Colorfront Transkoder.
“Transkoder has been a most welcome addition to our mastering facility”
Streaming Player is Colorfront's streaming video receiver software, that can decode the encrypt HEVC stream from Streaming Server and Colorfront Transkoder / Dailies products, and which supports professional video output to a variety of displays, from your phone to a 4K Dolby cinema.
You can securely stream from any Colorfront Software including On-Set Dailies, Transkoder, QC Player or Streaming Server (Mini) to multiple remote Streaming Players at the same time.
Colorfront Streaming Server has opened multiple doors for our team when it comes to working remotely. Throughout the pandemic, our entire dailies workflow relied on the Streaming Server for color-critical evaluation within home working environments. For our finishing teams, Colorfront's solution offers a more robust, color-calibrated, and keenly-priced alternative to other remote collaboration solutions on the market. Phil Harrelson, VP of US operations at Light Iron in Los Angeles
