Another busy week in color grading news. This just means I'll be putting together a few 'catch-up' Newsletters to send you for one or two Sundays in August.

I also have an idea for sending one or three 'special' emails between now and our September 9 return. I don't want to be too specific in case they don't materialize. But I am working on something...

So, here we are. Tao HQ is taking our annual Summer Hiatus. We are officially back to our normal publishing routine on Sunday September 9. Yet we are not going 'radio silent'.
 

Happy Grading!!!

See you in a week or two.

- Pat Inhofer
Colorist | Publisher | Mentor

Wait. What? Whose their expert? It's none other than friend of the Tao, Tyler Pruitt of SpectraCal. Truth is... I'm starting to become a believer.

Simon Jori, DIT, was responsible for on-set color management during the production of Deadpool 2. Pomfort talked to him about his experience and workflow.

Like the title says.
 

[video] An introduction to the concept of 'bit depth' and how it effects image quality. It's simplified to the point that I disagree with some of the terms used - but good enough to recommend to beginners wrapping their mind around an important foundational topic.

An interesting article about the cutting edge of live streaming UHD events. It's all about the bit rate and what can be achieved in real time. (via Jamie Dickinson)

The dynamic metadata alternative to Dolby Vision is profiled in this article. What's the state of HDR10+? How is it being delivered? And where?

You've seen items in this Newsletter about theatrical sized direct view LED displays. The DCI group just declared they are starting work formulating a specification for that display format. Details at the click.

New features and lots of bug fixes throughout the application.

[video] Brilliant. A powerful, inexpensive professional media player that serves as an introduction to the Scratch universe. AND - ProRes encoding on Windows. Grab it before Apple decides to pull the Windows licensing when they figure out Resolve and Premiere Users are using it to replace aging MacPros serving this transcoding duty.

New features include hardware-accelerated exports, RED and Sony Raw decoding improvements, plus additional format support.

This blurb says it all, "The rebel AV1 codec launched at NAB. Is it ready to use the force and go head-to-head with the galactic empire of H.264, HEVC, and VP9?" Lot's of data rate charts if that's your 'thing'.

This is a little (teeny) sad. In the early 2000's this bit of code made Tao HQ some nice cash. It was an essential part of our toolkit. But by the early 2010s it couldn't keep up - and it got squeezed. Fare thee well.

They've rolled out SOC2 TYPE 1 compliance, because the security of our client's assets is now essential. Great move.

[videos] As your humble Publisher brings together this Newsletter week after week - are there occasional standout items I think most of us in the craft should read? Yup. And this new quarterly feature on Mixing Light is my roundup, with extended commentary.

They're a Sponsor of this Newsletter. If you've been wondering about the Jellyfish, then read about it here in this Case Study. And learn why I'm a fan.

[videos] Colorist Dan Moran has his monthly round-up of inspiration - but this time he's avoiding the big names we all know, and is focusing on his favorite work from colorists you may not know. But should. And why.

[podcast] Team Mixing Light answers a question from a Member: As a professional colorist, should my goal be to standardize on Resolve Color Managment (RCM) or ACES workflows? And avoid non-managed workflows?

A good description of what's happening with the clock frequency of 2018 MacBook Pros, under load. And what the latest firmware patch is expected to solve.

This piece isn't a screed against Apple. It's a screed against asking ever thinner laptops to perform like unwieldy desktops. It all comes down to thermal load and heat dissipation. Interesting.

In case you're not in the market for the high-end MacBook Pro.

I'm offering this up to my DIT friends where size trumps all.

A good roundup of the new Kona cards and IO devices for interesting, non-DaVinci workflows.

I'm always fascinated about this side of the business. Click through to learn the plans of the suppliers of large panel TVs.
 

"Anything that increases visual bandwidth wins in the end". A short think piece about where display technology is going. And a link to an article about 'How Much Resolution Is Enough'?
 

[video] Shot on an iPhone, this video makes the case for the hummingbird being one of the most amazing creatures on this planet. Gorgeous.

Not funny.
 

A great way to spend your Sundays in August.
 

[video] Put on your headphones and listen to the Binaural recordings of the launch of that amazing Falcon Heavy with the two booster rockets coming back to earth and landing simultaneously. And stick with this, if you're not smiling after the last 30 seconds of those boosters landing - well, I've got nothing.