ASC Motion Imaging Technology Council
SSIMWave HDR Evaluation Working Group
The purpose of SSIMWave HDR Evaluation Working Group of the ASC Motion Imaging Technology Council is to assess, evaluate, and improve the preservation of the original creative intent of high dynamic range (HDR), wide color gamut (WCG), ultra-high resolution digital video imagery during its distribution and delivery, from grading suite to consumers, as judged by cinematographers and colorists.
The goals of the Working Group are -- to evaluate how well the original creative intent of HDR, wide-color gamut visual material is preserved during its distribution and delivery to consumer devices, as judged by the creators of that content; and
-- to calibrate the SSIM Plus Structural Similarity visual perception quality metric for HDR, wide-color, ultra-high resolution video material based upon feedback from professional cinematographers and colorists who produce and color grade such material.
To that end, the ASC Motion Imaging Technology Council has agreed with Dr. Zhou Wang and Dr. Abdul Rehman of the University of Waterloo visual studies lab and SSIMWave, Inc. to perform a series of evaluations comparing HDR WCG material as seen and approved in a color grading suite with that same material as delivered to consumer devices. Under their guidance, and with the cooperation of industry partners, the Working Group will set up testbeds where experienced DPs and colorists can participate in these evaluations to produce scientifically meaningful results.
These observations will also be used to evaluate and to calibrate how well the SSIM Plus perceptual quality metric software detects and quantifies the visually perceptible differences between an original “as created” source version vs “as-delivered” PQ-encoded HDR WCG content following transcoding, encoding, and compression, as judged by creators of that content. The usefulness of such software during the post-production process and even during production will also be evaluated.
The agreement between the ASC, the University of Waterloo, and SSIMWave, Inc. to perform these studies is described here.
For a more detailed description of the experiment design and methodology to be used, see the ASC SSIMWave Workgroup Test Details document.