Da Vinci Systems has released a solution designed to support color grading of native RED Raw files with the company's R-series color enhancement systems. The new Digital PowerHouse system provides direct access to RED Raw (R3D) files, saving time and ensuring maximum output quality by enabling colorists to use the full dynamic color and density range of the original camera files.
The integration of Digital PowerHouse with da Vinci's existing technologies now allows colorists to read R3D files directly from shared storage and then decode, debayer, grade and record to tape without rendering. This eliminates the need for an interim DPX conversion step, low-quality non-debayered workflows or time-consuming selective debayering.
Digital PowerHouse is available in three different software-and-hardware configurations based on da Vinci's R-200, R-300 and stereoscopic R-3D and R-4K color-grading systems. The bundled technologies allow colorists to scale their workflows to use any quality setting from the best (4096 x 2048 native resolution at 24fps debayered) to the quickest (quarter-resolution at 24fps non-debayered). A software-only option (DP0) is available to all Resolve and R-series customers with active support agreements. The single-server configuration (DP1) provides faster decode speeds on R-200 through R-350 series systems, while the dual-server configuration (DP2) supports near instantaneous decoding and real-time performance on the R-4K system.
Additional benefits of the Digital PowerHouse system include the ability to:
- Leverage Resolve's direct-to-SAN interface for simplified file management, versioning and disk storage requirements
- Obtain real-time performance with the best quality possible by using the native RED Raw format and da Vinci's Transformer technology
- Conform directly from RED files using absolute or edge time code
- Read Avid or Final Cut Pro EDLs with long reel names for conforming and select grading
- Convert file formats from RED Raw to DPX in addition to several other formats
