
Astora Digital Builds HDR, Virtual Production Workflow Expertise in China with Help from AJA ColorBox
Brie Clayton September 26, 2023
0 Comments
Digital imaging technologists (DITs) have become paramount to productions in recent years as virtual production, HDR, and remote work have brought new technologies and challenges to on-set and post workflows. While common in the West, the DIT role is still emerging in China. Beijing-based Astora Digital, founded in 2020, is working to establish DIT standards in the region to support film, television, and advertising productions in transitioning to new models. The company provides video technology, workflow solutions, and post services to advertising agencies and film production companies, primarily in Beijing, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Shanghai.
Across projects, Astora Digital's team serves as the backbone of the production crew, functioning as a data and quality control center and applying state-of-the-art technology on-set to support the creative aspects of production. Their mission is to ensure smooth communication and collaboration across departments while seamlessly integrating digital and artistic creativity. For this, they've come to rely on a pipeline built with tools like AJA ColorBox, Io 4K Plus, KONA 5, HELO Plus, and Corvid 44 12G, plus significant technical expertise.
Since SDR is still the primary deliverable in China, Astora Digital designed its pipeline to support simultaneous SDR and HDR production, including monitoring and adjustment. With an increase in camera setups, the team knew more equipment would be needed, making it a significant challenge for the DIT department in terms of stable operation and signal management in fast-paced shooting environments. Traditional products lacked support for high-precision LUTs, but AJA ColorBox, a compact, high-performance HDR/SDR converter, provided a solution.
Commenting on the decision to use ColorBox, Color Manager Lucas Lin, noted, Previously, we'd need to prepare several LUT boxes to process SDR and HDR signals simultaneously. With ColorBox, we only need one unit to achieve real-time SDR and HDR monitoring on a single line. It simplifies our workflows and makes the process more straightforward and manageable.
Although Astora Digital tailors each workflow to the project, they almost always start with a Log C camera signal that goes through a 12G-SDI router to color grading. The AJA ColorBox Colorfront pipeline then supports HDR to SDR conversion, allowing the director and director of photography (DP) to monitor HDR and SDR simultaneously. Their capture equipment and routers are all equipped with 12G-SDI connectivity, including the main control-level monitors although on-site video transmissions remain processed at 1080p, 24 frames per second due to hardware limitations.
Astora Digital provides sample processing at 4K or up to 8K HDR based on the original sources given. These samples are used for directors to review and DPs to assess results. Despite hardware constraints, their setup is designed to ensure high-quality output. The high-resolution samples that the Astora Digital team provides for review and guidance enable the creative team to make more informed decisions during the daily filmmaking process.
September 18, 2023Spin Digital Delivers VVC Support for 8K Encoder/Decoder Built with AJA Video I/O CardsMedia solutions provider Spin Digital is rapidly envisioning new 8K video production systems as
September 15, 2023PaintScaping Supersizes 3D Projections with Help from AJA FiDO Fiber Mini-ConvertersWhether 3D projection mapping onto the Hollywood sign for Black Entertainment Television or an
ColorBox is often also employed by the team to perform real-time color adjustments based on the camera output to achieve the expected color effects. Doing so establishes a strong foundation for post and contributes to maintaining color consistency, ensuring captured footage aligns with the intended visuals. Calling out the AJA Color Pipeline as a key advantage of ColorBox, Lin said, The AJA Color Pipeline enables us to uphold color consistency across every stage of production, providing valuable support for cinematographers to supervise LED color control in virtual production work. ColorBox also supports LUT accuracy and can stack 1D LUTs, which is crucial in making ColorBox unique.
Being able to stack 1D LUTs gives Astora's team more flexibility for gamma mapping and adjusting the gain of the RGB channel. They can easily resolve the common LED shooting issue known as homochromatic metamerism using 1D LUTs for visual matching and correction, whether for black balance or color saturation. Lin added, In an HDR workflow, the requirements for LUTs precision are extensive. With ColorBox, we're able to apply the highest specification LUT (33pt), which significantly reduces issues like posterization in high-brightness and high-saturation work scenarios.
For a recent HDR visual effects film project, Maddog Aria , the team developed SDR and HDR full-process monitoring, and live color grading on-set based on the director's requirements. They unified the colors between pre-production and post-production, using the ACES standard for on-set color management for pre-production and applying color grading and VFX color management for post. On other projects, they've leveraged a custom integrated video assist system with AJA hardware components to use with Live Grade Studio and QTAKE.
Astora Digital CEO Marco Wang explained, ColorBox offers a wide range of down-conversion solutions from HDR to SDR. By integrating ColorBox into our signal processing chain, we were able to optimize our LUT box resources significantly. ColorBox's real-time and automatic signal conversion capabilities reduced the time and cost of equipment, allowing us to focus on
North America Stories
14/04/2026
WESCAM MX -Series EO/IR Systems Provide Critical Visibility During NASA Re-Entry Operations....
14/04/2026
DiSCO reduces uncertainty during the fog of war in modern threat environments an...
14/04/2026
GOES-19 imagery captured by L3Harris-built Advanced Baseline Imager technology helps forecasters issue life-saving weather warnings. Credit: NOAA/NASA...
14/04/2026
For decades, understanding the physical world from space has required a trade-of...
14/04/2026
Ruiz has helped fuel growth for both client-side and media companies, including, most recently, TelevisaUnivision.
He will spearhead transformation, innovatio...
14/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
14/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
14/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
14/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
14/04/2026
Shotoku Introduces the World to Aura P2 PTZ Prompter Panner at NAB 2026
New system removes PTZ pan restrictions for teleprompter-based productions
Shotoku US...
14/04/2026
Integration of Vantage, Pulse, and Telestream UP with Grass Valley AMPP Ecosystem enables scalable, interoperable workflows spanning live production and file-ba...
14/04/2026
Enterprise growth leader to scale Dalet's next phase of innovation and global expansion
New York, NY April 14, 2026 Dalet, a leading technology and ser...
14/04/2026
Berklee Celebrates Prince's Legacy in Two-Night Signature Series Event Directed by Tia Fuller, the Prince Project (April 16-17) brings together more than ...
14/04/2026
Arooj Aftab Is Anything but Predictable The singular artist explores the juxtaposition of grief and joy, dark and light, in her distinctive sound.
April 14, ...
14/04/2026
Appear launches include XM estate management and new X Platform processing enhancements to add density for next-generation hybrid & IP workflows, X5 is also now...
14/04/2026
Addressing the needs of a new generation's viewing habits, Synamedia launches GO Shorts. The AI-powered module turns existing catalogues into TikTok-style ...
14/04/2026
Vubiquity, an Amdocs company and global leader in technology-led media services, will be showcasing a new end-to-end streaming solution in collaboration with El...
14/04/2026
LiveU today announced a significant expansion of its collaboration with Sony Corporation, introducing integrated support for Sony's file-based workflow solu...
14/04/2026
Open Broadcast Systems (https://www.obe.tv/) has announced that BBC World Service has selected its decoders for IP Television distribution. The high-quality, lo...
14/04/2026
Blackmagic Design Announces DaVinci Resolve 21
Brie Clayton April 14, 2026
0 Comments
Major update adds new Photo page bringing Hollywood's most a...
14/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
14/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
14/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
14/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
14/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
14/04/2026
Wowza will return to NAB Show 2026 with a set of live demonstrations focused on how video infrastructure is evolving for a new generation of AI-powered and oper...
14/04/2026
Stegawave Debuts Real-Time Forensic Watermarking to Tackle Piracy in Live Sports...
14/04/2026
Living in Boston: A Guide for Incoming Boston Conservatory Students From navigating the T to balancing school with professional gigs, a current student shar...
14/04/2026
Just What Is Genre These Days, Anyway? Understanding the business and art of genre-bending in 2026.
April 13, 2026
By
Bryan Parys
Illustration by Jack Fla...
14/04/2026
Lenora Helm Hammonds Is Turning Passion Into Plan A The dean of the Professional Education Division has seen the industry from all sides. Now shes bringing it...
14/04/2026
How Michelle Zalabak Found Her Dream Career in Music and Finance The Warner Music Group deal analysis manager helps determine what artist catalogs are worth a...
14/04/2026
New Company, Tamu Radiance, Combines FOR-A's Video Expertise and Tamura'...
13/04/2026
Telos Alliance has announced that J nger Audio has joined the EBU ADM Implementers Group (ADM-IG) as a founding member. The group is focused on advancing ADM an...
13/04/2026
Grass Valley will demonstrate its Alliance Partner ecosystem at NAB Show 2026 (Booth C2408, Central Hall, April 19-22), showing AMPP integrations across live pr...
13/04/2026
Media Links will exhibit at NAB Show 2026 (Booth W2033), demonstrating IP transport solutions for live production including hitless protection technology, Xscen...
13/04/2026
NBC Sports has announced a programming, distribution, and sales partnership with...
13/04/2026
FloSports has promoted Chief Operating Officer Jayar Donlan to President, effective immediately. In his new role, Donlan will lead the company's commercial,...
13/04/2026
PanCam Pictures, the documentary production company founded by Paul Camarata, us...
13/04/2026
Mimir will exhibit at NAB Show 2026 (North Hall, Booth N2850), demonstrating its cloud-native media production platform with new capabilities including Mimir Cu...
13/04/2026
BBright has announced that its IP Gateway now supports the Reliable Internet Stream Transport (RIST) protocol. The addition will be introduced at NAB Show 2026 ...
13/04/2026
Net Insight has been awarded a development project through the European Space Agency's Navigation Innovation and Support Program (NAVISP), with co-funding f...
13/04/2026
intoPIX will exhibit at NAB Show 2026, marking the company's 20th anniversary. The company will demonstrate its JPEG XS compression portfolio and IPMX-appro...
13/04/2026
Starting from scratch, the team built an in-house content platform comprising ga...
13/04/2026
Here's a look at some of the new products and updates, along with audio-centric conferences, that attendees will find next week at the show
When the 2026 N...
13/04/2026
Avid will launch new integrated newsroom capabilities for Avid for News at NAB Show 2026 (Booth N2226, April 18-22), demonstrating how Avid Content Core connect...
13/04/2026
Synamedia has announced a new version of Quortex PowerVu, an IP-native, software...
13/04/2026
Mediaproxy has developed a suite of AI-powered tools for brand and advertisement tracking, integrated into its LogServer compliance logging and analysis platfor...
13/04/2026
Disguise will demonstrate its media servers and software at NAB Show 2026, appearing across five partner booths in Central Hall: MRMC, B&H, Planar, CarbonBlack,...
13/04/2026
OpenDrives is introducing OpenDrives Edge at NAB Show 2026, a hybrid cloud-edge performance accelerator for distributed video and rich media workflows. The prod...
13/04/2026
The show will deploy 18 cameras across two sets and the draft floor, including a...