Colorfront Transkoder 2023 | What's New?

Enhanced Dolby Vision Workflow
You can effortlessly swap Dolby Vision XMLs on selected clips while preserving the existing offset using a menu option. This is particularly useful when a longplay Dolby Vision XML has been applied to a composition with shorter inserts, and the operator needs to replace it with an updated XML of the same length that includes necessary fixes. Additionally, the Dolby Vision validation process includes a "Scene Change" to evaluate the alignment of content’s scene change points with the results obtained from scene detection algorithms.

Dolby Vision Conversion Tools
Colorfront now offers two key Dolby Vision conversion tools: the SDR to Dolby Vision tool, which converts SDR video to Dolby Vision HDR, ensuring a precise match in contrast, color, and hue; and the DCI to Dolby Vision node, which transforms XYZ cinema master content, originally designed for 48-nit displays with gamma 2.6, into Dolby Vision HDR while maintaining a perceptual match.

Updated Dolby Vision Analysis
The updated Dolby Vision analysis introduces a new setting that enhances the precision of light level adjustments, allowing users to fine-tune how highlights and dark areas are balanced in accordance with the latest Dolby Vision standards. This setting offers several options, ranging from preserving the most highlight detail to prioritizing darker areas, enabling users to choose the level of detail that best suits their content.

Customizable Metadata Validation Plan
Transkoder's File Validation test plan allows operators to verify metadata validity for files, including DCP and IMF packages, by creating a validation plan based on a "gold version" reference file. This plan ensures new files meet established standards, such as correct color space and HDR10 metadata. Users can export timeline metadata, customize the file, and validate it through the Validation Window.

Enhanced Marker Track Customization
A new Context Menu option, "Show preferences…​," opens the Marker Track Preferences window, enabling advanced customization of marker tracks. You can assign custom track names, create or select group names for organizing tracks, and choose from 21 different colors for the track and its markers.

Speech to Text Encoder
The Speech to Text (Whisper) audio encoder on the Render Page is designed to recognize and transcribe the timeline’s audio into text. This encoder detects the original language of the audio and, using the open-source speech recognition tool Whisper, transcribes it into the original language or seamlessly translates it to another.

HDR DCP per DCI HDR1 Specification
The DCP Finalize Window now supports a new HDR DCP format, aligning with the DCI HDR1 specification to meet the latest HDR standards. The Encode Tab includes an updated HDR Type parameter with options such as Dolby Cinema and DCI HDR1.

Stereo IMF Support
Now supporting stereo IMF packages, users can create and manage stereo IMF assets within stereoscopic projects. By enabling stereoscopic mode and ensuring media for both the left and right eyes are synced, users can easily generate CPLs and finalize their stereo IMF packages.

Compare Video Inserts in VFs for QC
The latest Transkoder update streamlines QC for supplemental IMF or DCI packages with added video inserts. This feature lets you lift inserts from the timeline to compare them with the original clips.

Dante Audio Integration
Transkoder now functions as a 16-channel audio transmitter on the Dante network, a technology by Audinate that enables high-quality, low-latency digital audio transmission over standard Ethernet. Currently available on Windows with AJA device support, the Dante audio output syncs with AJA video output within ±5 milliseconds.

Improved Audio Monitoring
Transkoder lets you create and edit multichannel audio, like 5.1.4 or 7.1.4, for an immersive sound experience. The Timeline menu offers new options to customize individual audio channels, easily replace dialogues, create new multichannel tracks or convert existing ones, giving you precise audio control to match your creative vision.

Autodesk Flow Capture Integration
Uploads to Flow Capture, Autodesk's cloud platform for real-time collaboration, are now supported. Two new Web encoder presets, Flow Capture 1080p SDR (MPEG4 10 Mbit) and Flow Capture 2160p HDR (HEVC) have been introduced, producing .mov and .mp4 files with accompanying .xml metadata.

Target Render Job to Specific Machine
This feature allows users to efficiently manage render jobs by targeting specific machines within the system. Through the Web UI, users can view, edit, and configure render units to handle specific job types like Probe, Render, or Copy jobs. Machines can be assigned custom names and tags, enabling easy job assignment either to a particular machine or to all machines sharing the same tag, ensuring efficient processing across the system.

Enhanced Probing
Transkoder's probing feature has been significantly upgraded, with expanded support for various file formats and the introduction of recursive probing. Users can now extract metadata more efficiently, with basic metadata displayed in blue, along with a separate file data dump for convenience.

Slate Tool
A new Slate tool in the Node Page handles slate text for timeline footage, allowing you to edit, load, and save text, choose fonts, adjust size and line spacing, and more. The Slate Text Table offers 20 rows for text with options for different alignments, font formatting, and the use of keywords with dollar signs.

Advanced Visual Customization Tools
Transkoder introduces enhanced customization options for both text and logos. The BurnIn node offers improved font editing, including font selection, adjustable text sizing, customizable RGB font color, and text rotation control, providing users with greater flexibility for burn-in text. Additionally, a new Logo node has been added to the Node Page, allowing users to easily manage timeline logos with options for file selection, color space settings, position adjustments, and various appearance customizations.

OTIO Support
Transkoder supports the import of media files using the OpenTimelineIO format, providing a seamless way to conform and manage timeline-based metadata within the platform. This new feature enhances workflow efficiency by integrating an open-source standard for handling timeline data.

Timeline Context Menu
A context menu feature in the timeline offers more direct control over editing tasks. Right-clicking allows you to insert tracks, add or delete tracks of the same media type, convert audio tracks to multichannel, and perform actions like grouping shots and adding or removing fades and dissolves, depending on where you click.

Custom Keyboard Mapping
Transkoder's custom keyboard mapping feature allows users to personalize their workflow by creating and managing hotkey configurations via XML files, allowing for a tailored workflow experience. Users can also choose to use the default Classic and Modern layouts, offering a blend of customization and simplicity.

Enhanced Timeline Track Management
Improvements to timeline track management include a new option to add or remove a reel marker track via the menu or by right-clicking the track label. Custom markers can be set using "I" and "O" for "in" and "out" points. Tracks now have individual colors, with unique colors for the QC and Reels tracks for easier identification.

Fade Effects on Audio/Video
The timeline context menu allows you to easily add in and out fades to clips in the timeline. Right-clicking on any video or audio clip brings up options to add fades at the beginning or end of the clip, video dissolves between adjacent clips, and audio crossfades. You can also customize fade duration by dragging the fade’s endpoint.