Astora Digital Builds HDR, Virtual Production Workflow Expertise in China with Help from AJA ColorBox posted: 17/10/2023
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.
advertisment --
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.
advertisment --
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.
advertisment --
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.
advertisment --
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.
advertisment --
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.
advertisment --
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.
advertisment --
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 on-set HDR color grading. And after setting the desired HDR style, we only need to make minor adjustments to the ColorBox's conversion parameter.
In addition to using its video assist system for film and television production and post, Astora Digital also taps it for live broadca
Most recent headlines
09/11/2025
Dalet today announced a transformative leap forward for media operations: Agentic Artificial Intelligence (AI) that unifies the Dalet ecosystem under one natura...
15/10/2025
Across the world, early-career reporters are interrogating systems that shape daily life, from mortuaries and classrooms to the corridors of legal education and...
15/10/2025
St. Louis Blues Pay Tribute to Ozzy Osbourne in New Pregame Open VideoThe NHL franchise worked with production firms 2WEI and 4th Floor CreativeBy Mark J Burns,...
15/10/2025
Cobalt Digital, G3DVu, Proxima Vision, and Telos Alliance Renew Premier Sponsors...
15/10/2025
By Paige Bethmann
Before my grandmother passed away in 2019, I went to visit her in the hospital where she'd been for a few weeks. When I arrived, the nurs...
15/10/2025
Two years ago, Spotify set out to grow the entire publishing industry by making ...
15/10/2025
People turn to DJ for a listening experience that feels personal, dynamic, and j...
15/10/2025
Las personas recurren a DJ para vivir una experiencia de escucha personal, din m...
15/10/2025
Rock legend Bruce Springsteen and luminary actor Jeremy Allen White came togethe...
15/10/2025
At Spotify, we're all about supporting rising talent and helping them connec...
15/10/2025
New SBS Documentary Series THE CANCER KILLERS Premieres 4 November on SBS & SBS ...
15/10/2025
SBS celebrates the Festivals of Lights with bold, illuminating stories across th...
15/10/2025
One of humanity's most profound questions continues: Is there any place in our galaxy suitable for life beyond Earth? NASA intends to find out, with the hel...
15/10/2025
eds3_5_jq(document).ready(function($) { $(#eds_sliderM519).chameleonSlider_2_1({ content_source:......
15/10/2025
Scality, a global leader in cyber-resilient storage software for the AI era, today announced the advancement of its comprehensive AI ecosystem certification pro...
15/10/2025
The Hollywood Professional Association (HPA) today unveiled key highlights of the 2026 HPA Tech Retreat, scheduled for Feb. 15 19 at the Westin Rancho Mirage Go...
15/10/2025
At NAB Show New York 2025 (Stand 244), Interra Systems will showcase the future of media QC, monitoring, and captioning, highlighting its award-winning, AI- and...
15/10/2025
Grass Valley today announced that RMC BFM, part of the CMA-CGM Group and France's third-largest private media group, has chosen Grass Valley's productio...
15/10/2025
Appear, the global leader in live production technology, will demonstrate how its powerful hardware and software innovations are shaping the future of hybrid, s...
15/10/2025
Rakim to Join Berklee's Hip-Hop Hall of Fame at Signature Series Concert The rap icon becomes the latest inductee, following luminaries such as Roxanne Sh...
15/10/2025
Berklee Brings Live Music to the Head of the Charles Student artists will perform on multiple riverfront stages during the 60th anniversary of the world's...
15/10/2025
CobbTV, the government access television channel for Cobb County, Ga. recently acquired an automated playout system from Pebble, a global provider of automation...
15/10/2025
OSLO, Norway Appear, the global leader in live production technology, will demonstrate how its powerful hardware and software innovations are shaping the future...
15/10/2025
NEW YORK The NBA is making major changes to the NBA App and NBA TV as it takes control of them from TNT Sports, which has long managed the league's digital ...
15/10/2025
SAN MATEO, Calif. In what promises to be a major expansion of interactive features and personalized content on the DirecTV platform, the operator and Glance hav...
15/10/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. Roku has launched changes to its user interface (UI) that the streaming platform says will better showcase original programming on the platform...
15/10/2025
LOS ANGELES Software-defined data storage and data services provider OpenDrives has elevated Alex Dunfey to chief technology officer, responsible for driving th...
15/10/2025
Abu Dhabi, UAE October 15, 2025: Space42 (ADX: SPACE42), the UAE-based AI-powe...
15/10/2025
Sheldon Nichols and Will Trickett to find and prepare more classic cars for budget conscious would-be owners from Wiser Films
UKTV have recommissioned the clas...
15/10/2025
Wednesday 15 October 2025
Nick Cave
JPEG (275 KB)
Explore the creative univer...
15/10/2025
Wednesday 15 October 2025
From breaking up with your partner to quitting your job - new polling shows some messages are just too scary to send
Over a fifth (...
15/10/2025
Rohde & Schwarz unveils compact MXO 3 oscilloscopes with 4 and 8 channels: Advan...
15/10/2025
Back to All News
Revenge Series The Resurrected' Captivates Audiences Across Asia
Entertainment
15 October 2025
GlobalTaiwan
Link copied to clipboard
...
15/10/2025
Back to All News
Bringing the Best in VFX and Virtual Production Together as Eyeline
Jeffrey Shapiro
CEO, Eyeline
Business
15 October 2025
GlobalCanadaInd...
15/10/2025
Deployed by Astound Business Solutions, Harmonic's Primary Distribution Solution Ensures Outstanding Video Quality and Seamless Ad Insertion at the Edge
SA...
15/10/2025
Collaboration extends a trusted relationship as RMC BFM invests in scalable, fut...
15/10/2025
Series coming in 2026 stars Tom Vaughan-Lawlor, Justine Mitchell and Jason O'Mara released today
RT today released first look images of new comedy-drama ...
14/10/2025
SVG Europe Summit 2025: All Sessions Now Available to Watch on SVG PLAYNetworking event that preceded IBC2025 shone a light on elite live sports innovation acro...
14/10/2025
SVG Sit-Down: Author Rich Podolsky on Writing Madden & Summerall: How They Revo...
14/10/2025
SVG All-Stars: Michael Reiners, Coordinating Producer, FloRacingThe Illinois State grad steers a vast schedule of motorsports events at tracks across the countr...
14/10/2025
Content protection: Getting the right management for your DRM By Neal Romanek
Friday, October 10, 2025 - 10:11
Print This Story
Eluvio power the EPCR'...
14/10/2025
As League Takes Over Ops, NBA TV and NBA App Add 60 Games, Weekday Studio Show, ...
14/10/2025
Time and effort: World's largest student-led broadcast prepares to go On Air...
14/10/2025
(L-R) Guest, Kimberly Robinson Jones, Geeta Gandbhir, Pamela Dias, and Takema Ro...
14/10/2025
Lossless ist jetzt mit Spotify Premium verf gbar.
Verlustfreies Audio war eine...
14/10/2025
La qualit Lossless est disponible sur Spotify Premium.
Le format sans perte de...
14/10/2025
For the seventh edition of Spotify and FC Barcelona's artist jersey series, ...
14/10/2025
Spotify is committed to bringing the best listening experience to all our users, and that includes parents and families. That's why we're expanding mana...
14/10/2025
Since its debut, the Spotify Original podcast Caso 63 has been more than just a story; it's been a cultural sensation. The science fiction thriller captivat...
Astora Digital Builds HDR, Virtual Production Workflow Expertise in China with Help from AJA ColorBox posted: 17/10/2023 
