I first saw an Onyx HDR Cinema screen at Roundabout West in Los Angeles after a tip off from one of my students at Amazon Studios. So, when I was invited to the Samsung showroom in Frankfurt to find out more, I jumped at the chance.
To begin with I saw some feature trailers and HDR content that had been specially mastered by Roundabout West and they were all very enjoyable. When it was time for me to grade on the screen, I worked on their high end Resolve system and mostly had the screen set to ST 2084 with a DCI P3 gamut, D6295 (DCI) white point and 300 nits peak. I wanted to use a scene referred workflow with various camera raw shots that I had, so I used ACES. There is not yet a released Onyx ODT, but I was provided with an output LUT to use in the meantime. Honestly, I struggled with the LUT as shadows were murky and colors were not what I had hoped for. After some hours persevering with it, I decided to try another route. I set the ACES ODT to a regular ST 2084, P3 D65 for 1000 nits with the intention of grading down to the 300 nit target. There is no metadata used in cinemas, so this seemed reasonable. Wow, the results were stunningly better with all the shadow detail and color clarity anyone could hope for. In fact, it was a dream to grade on and everything looked great with very little effort. If I had just made a movie, I would fight to have it shown at Onyx cinema. I did prefer a D65 white point to DCI white and I believe that today it makes so much sense to make all HDR formats D65. Control in the highlights was clean and well defined. At 300 nits there is not the harsh cut off at peak white that I have experienced when grading on a Dolby Vision Christie projector. As with all HDR content, the trick is to keep the main program level low and similar to the regular cinema levels of about 48 nits. This allows plenty of headroom for the HDR effect, shows great depth, looks very real and most importantly looks beautiful. This is something we cover in great detail in my CA301: HDR Colorist Masterclass. I was a little bemused when we were interrupted by a tour of potential purchasers and I overheard the comment. “amazing, it is not too bright at all, just very real”. I am so impressed that I am offering a special version of the HDR masterclass in Frankfurt in their Onyx cinema.
The Samsung Onyx is a new cinema experience that uses LED displays instead of projection. The technology is SMD LED, which is proven technology in the Digital signage industry and re-engineered for cinema use. It comes in fixed 5m, 10m and 14m widths and boasts true 4K resolution. (4,096 x 2,160). But what really makes it shine is that it can reach up to 500 nits. That’s five times more than the current Dolby Vision laser projectors and 10 times more than standard digital projection. The problem with brighter cinema projection has been that the light reflects off the screen to illuminate the theatre, lifting the black level. That means more brightness actually reduces contrast and high contrast is what we really want. The Onyx LEDs can be switched off for solid blacks even when the house lights are up and the screen contrast is amazing especially in theatrical lighting conditions. Since the screen is not a reflective surface, ambient light is not a problem and the images always look gorgeous. The product specification for contrast in a dark room is ∞: 1. CGV in Korea has introduced the first cinema in a living room environment. Translation; the lights stay on during the movie!
Following their first LED cinema opening in Korea in 2017, there are now more than 40 commercial installations worldwide including Pacific Theatres in Los Angeles, USA, and Arena Cinemas’ Sihlcity theater in Zurich, Switzerland. To date they rarely show the true HDR images they are capable of. The problem is that there are already two HDR cinema formats (Dolby Vision and Eclaircolor) and each needs its own bespoke master graded in the correct theatrical environment. Onyx cinemas need a third uniquely graded master to exploit the full HDR potential and it is hard to justify making yet another master just for a few screens. There was also a concern about audio because traditional cinemas have the main speakers behind the screen and the solid infrastructure of the Onyx does not allow that. This is a mixed blessing really. Screens with speakers behind them are perforated which technically reduces the picture resolution since no image is reflected from the holes. However, Samsung Audio Labs and Harman JBL have overcome the problem.
It gets better. The Samsung Onyx needs a custom graded ST 2084 HDR master, they are specifying 300 nits as a commercially prudent target, but it is a very flexible display. In my tests the Onyx screen played back Rec 709 television, DCI P3 theatrical masters, Eclaircolor and Dolby Vision cinema masters with ease. There should actually be a wealth of material to show in these cinemas – it just needs the various parties to agree on licensing arrangements. Everything I ran through the Resolve grading system looked as good or better than I have ever seen it before. I really hope that we see more and more of these screens and that one gets installed nearer to me.
