At NAB, GoPro announced that it is broadening its efforts to ensure wide availability of the GoPro CineForm Codec, its high-performance video codec that has been widely adopted in postproduction. The CineForm Codec was acquired by GoPro last year, but it was already well-established in the professional filmmaking marketplace, having been integrated into several video cameras and acquisition systems, such as the Silicon Imaging SI-2K and Cinedeck mobile capture systems.
In addition to its efforts to make the GoPro CineForm Codec more widely available, GoPro is also supporting the efforts of SMPTE to adopt the codec as the VC-5 video compression standard to provide an open codec standard for video acquisition and postproduction.
“Since GoPro’s acquisition of CineForm last year, we realize there may be some questions in the professional production and post production markets about the future of this award-winning codec,” said David Newman, senior director of software engineering for GoPro. “This announcement sends a strong message to the community that GoPro is fully committed, and is accelerating its efforts, to make GoPro CineForm Codec widely available for camera and acquisition device developers. At the same time, we are moving closer toward achieving adoption by SMPTE as the VC-5 video compression standard.”
The GoPro CineForm Codec supports RAW camera formats such as Bayer patterns as well as RGB and YCrCb with an optional alpha channel and color difference sub-sampling.
The company also announced it has been working together with Technicolor to embed Technicolor’s CineStyle color profile for the debut of the new GoPro Protune – a free firmware upgrade for the HD HERO2 camera.
The Protune mode firmware upgrade incorporates Technicolor color science into GoPro’s latest product launch. These new features allow professional filmmakers an improved workflow for seamless integration with other source material and postproduction platforms.
Key features of the GoPro Protune mode include:
- 24fps frame rate, enabling GoPro HERO2 content to be easily intercut with other sources without a frame rate conversion;
- 35Mbps data rate for a compressed image with virtually zero artifacts;
- Neutral color profile, allowing for greater flexibility in a color correction workflow;
- Log curve encoding, offering more detail in shadows and highlights;
- Reduced sharpening and noise reduction for improved flexibility in professional postproduction and color design workflows.
“GoPro Protune mode is an extraordinary development for the entire professional production market – from filmmakers, cinematographers and DITs, to editors and colorists who are increasingly relying on the HERO2 for cinematic productions,” said Newman. “Developing this with Technicolor has provided us with a level of technological expertise that optimizes Protune for the professional market.”
“Technicolor is thrilled to make its color science available to GoPro throughout its Protune upgraded firmware,” said Alejandro Guerrero, senior vice president, Technicolor Digital Productions. “With more than 130,000 (and counting) cinematographers already using our CineStyle color profile, we are committed to expanding the CineStyle toolkit and are thrilled to support GoPro as it expands its market base.”
GoPro Protune integrates with GoPro CineForm Studio, automatically detecting Protune settings and applying the default adjustments to images. It also includes a variety of color tuning presets, or looks.
Using Protune with GoPro CineForm Studio Premium and GoPro CineForm Studio Professional provides additional benefits, including extensive color correction controls and customizable presets to create professional, cinematic looks from the GoPro HERO2 captured content. Non-destructive 3D LUTs enable users to further tweak their images, manipulating saturation and contrast and color correction controls to create highly stylized content.
