Bones in Avid DNxHD

Bones is the first FOX show to be mastered using Avid DNxHD, the new high definition codec from Avid. The last two episodes of the season were the first to try out this new technology.

For you techies, here is why this tech is so cool:

As the only encoding format to maintain the eight- and 10-bit full raster of HD images, Avid DNxHD delivers the pristine quality of 10-bit uncompressed HD media – but at the bandwidth of standard-definition (SD) files.

This technology gives to image a quality we’ve never seen before. Most televisions are getting better and better, so the recording quality standards have got to go up too.

Gary Hall, Vice President of Post Production for 20th Century Fox Television, added, “We had discussed the merits of Avid DNxHD for some time, and decided to put it to the test on Bones. We even gave the post team a safety net to assemble in uncompressed if the need ever came up, but it wasn’t necessary. DNxHD is rugged and provides excellent image quality, even several generations downstream. Most television shows are shot and mastered in HD, regardless of whether the programs actually broadcast in HD. The challenge is how to maintain the superior quality of HD in post, while at the same time, managing the massive data size associated with creating an uncompressed HD master. Avid DNxHD solves this problem, making it the ideal HD format for television postproduction.”

Since Avid introduced Avid DNxHD in 2004, the format has been used in a range of high-profile film and television productions including King Kong, The Chronicles of Narnia, the XX Olympic Winter Games in Torino, American Idol and Late Night with Conan O’Brien.

Tags: avid, high def, dnxhd, bones, fox