Color and Mastering for Digital Cinema

7Color Encoding forDigital Cinema Distribution

This chapter will describe the derivation of the color encoding and decoding matrices for digital cinema distribution. By the nature of the matrix math involved it is somewhat technical and probably of most interest to those interested in delving into the theory behind the color conversions.

The X′Y′Z′ DCDM encoding is a non-linear encoding, but it is based on the XYZ linear, additive, color encoding system defined by the CIE in 1931. Television is also a non-linear R’G’B’ encoding that is based on an RGB linear, additive, imaging system. The mathematics of dealing with color conversions between different additive display devices, whether television or digital cinema devices, is the same. The concepts ...