BERNARD REVIEW · REVIEW PLAYER · FILM, SERIES, ANIMATION · OPEN SOURCE MIT

Play. Compare. Decide. Without waiting for a frame.

The player, the synchronised session and web review, in a single tool. Built for heavy shots, it puts all of the workstation's hardware to work.

Join the beta Request a demo
RED footage as decoded: a glassblower behind a flame
The same shot, graded
A|B
A · RAW B · GRADED
A005 · RED · R3D
GPU DEBAYER · REC.709 · 24 FPS
00:00:02:00 IMAGES COURTESY OF RED DIGITAL CINEMA FRAME 1049
50 %
WHY NOW

Memory costs almost nine times more than in January 2025.

The answer is no longer to buy more. It is to make every byte count.

64 GB of DDR5: $144 in January 2025, $1,272 in August 2026¹
5 000 $for 256 GB in a workstation, against under $600 in January 2025¹
+485 %on 64 GB DDR5-5600 kits in one year: $191 in August 2025, $1,118 in August 2026²
¹ 64 GB DDR5-6000 kit: $143.99, lowest price recorded on 15 January 2025 (Pangoly); $1,272, category average price in August 2026 (BuySellRAM). ² Category average prices, BuySellRAM, August 2025 and August 2026.
THE INTERFACEDARK MODE · ALSO IN LIGHT AND CLASSIC
Bernard Review in Dark mode: RED A005 footage in A/B with the wipe handle, playlist on the left, inspector on the right, timeline below
01 · ALL THE HARDWARE AT WORK

Every tier of memory, in its proper place.

Where a typical player fills RAM and then waits for the disk, Bernard Review spreads frames across the graphics card, system memory, the SSD and the compressed cache.

VRAM · GPU The frame ring in the graphics card Frames already decoded stay on the GPU. The BC6H companion goes down to one byte per pixel.
RAM Smart RAM-Fit The whole playlist fits in memory: each clip gets the resolution that suits it, computed automatically.
PRECISION Half-float or 8-bit, your choice Linear half-float when you grade, 8-bit to halve RAM when you are only watching.
SSD NVMe A second cache on the fast disk What no longer fits in RAM is read back from the local SSD, never from the network.
NOVA · COMING SOON The compression cache A plate read once over the network is kept as NOVA, at about a third of the size, and read back at full speed.
ALL OF THE VIDEO, FROM THE FIRST SECONDScrub through a whole shot before it has loaded.
Free scrubbing. The playhead never stops to wait: if a frame is missing, the player shows the nearest one already loaded and replaces it the moment it arrives.Coarse to fine. The first and last frames, then one frame in 128, in 64, in 32… down to every frame. In a few seconds the shot is covered end to end.Look-ahead. When paused, the 48 frames after the playhead are decoded in order, so playback restarts without waiting. Adjustable from 0 to 600.
IMAGE SEQUENCES AND INTRA CODECS (EXR, DPX, PRORES, DNX)
LOADING PASSES■ new pass · ■ look-ahead
12345…▶
Every core, in the backgroundParallel decoding and bounded preloading: playback always comes first.
Camera RAW accelerated by the GPURED with OpenCL debayering, Blackmagic RAW, ARRI: no transcoding first.
Measured, not promisedA public benchmark against the players on the market, with an open method, will be published with the beta.
02 · FORMATS

Every format in the pipeline. Both ways.

Cameras' proprietary RAW formats play directly, with no transcoding. And anything that opens can be converted, on the workstation or on the farm.

RED
ARRI
Blackmagic RAW
SWFFLASH · VECTOR RENDERING
PLAYBACK
Camera RAWRED R3D with GPU debayering, ARRIRAW and ARRI MXF, Blackmagic RAW ImagesMultichannel EXR and AOVs, DPX, TIFF, PNG, JPEG, HDR VideoProRes, DNxHR, H.264, H.265, MXF, with audio AnimationFlash SWF, rendered as vectors at the resolution you need ReviewNOVA, Bernard Review's review format
CONVERSION
PlatesHalf or float EXR (zip, piz, dwaa), 10- and 12-bit DPX, 16-bit TIFF DailiesProRes or DNxHR, with burn-ins: shot, version, frame, timecode, status ReviewJPEG, and NOVA (coming soon), at about a third of the EXR size Colouras decoded, as graded on screen, or to the delivery space On the farmthe same conversion without a window, on the command line
03 · PIPELINE

From render to decision, without leaving the player.

1 · THE FARMThe render arrives as it isMultichannel EXR, AOVs, RED, ARRI and Blackmagic RAW. No transcoding.
2 · THE VERSIONSThe Version BoardEvery version of a shot gathered together, ready to step through on B.
3 · THE SEQUENCEThe contact sheetThe whole sequence at a glance, colours matched across shots.
4 · THE REVIEWTogether, liveIn the studio or remotely, annotations and notes on the picture.
5 · TRACKINGThe notes go backNotes and annotated frames exported, ShotGrid and ftrack IDs on every shot. Direct connectors coming soon.
SCRIPTABLE END TO ENDEverything the interface does, a command does too.The player answers a local API in JSON lines: open, play, compare, grade, export, collect notes. On the command line, in Python, or without a window on the farm.
# the farm: an export without a window
$ bernard-review --export --preset dailies_prores_lt \
    --source A005.R3D --output dailies/A005.mov

# the pipeline: the player driven from Python
c = BernardClient(port=5599); c.connect()
c.request({"cmd": "open", "path": "A005.R3D"})
c.request({"cmd": "set-ab-view", "mode": "wipe"})
c.request({"cmd": "export-notes", "output_dir": "notes/"})
Open source, MIT licenceCommented code, complete documentation, an API described command by command.
MIT · © AARTS LAB
Windows and LinuxThe systems of farms and workstations. macOS coming soon.
WIN · ROCKY · UBUNTU
04 · SESSIONS

One tool for the whole review.

The player, the synchronised session and review in the browser, together. What used to take three tools fits in one, open to every artist, every supervisor, every client.

IN THE STUDIO · LOCAL NETWORK The whole team on the same frame, each at their own workstation The supervisor drives, the artists follow playback in real time on their own files, at full quality. Everyone points, annotates, and can take control. No internet needed.
BETWEEN STUDIOS · ENCRYPTED RELAY Two studios, one screening room Each studio plays its own files at full quality. Only the playback commands cross the relay, hosted in the EU by Hetzner.
GUESTS · BROWSER The director joins with a simple link They see the pilot's picture live, point with the laser, annotate, talk and write. No account, nothing to install, and a watermark with their name.
RED footage of Los Angeles at dusk, annotated during a session
GM LA SV +9
● LIVE · PILOT: GM · 12 PARTICIPANTS
D004 · RED · frame 1017 · following playback in real time
Session notes 4 / 11 SHOTS REVIEWED
A005 · v006APPROVED
OK for delivery.
D004 · v004 · frame 1017TO REDO
Towers: too dense, lift the shadows. Keep the warmth of the sunset.
Paint-over of frame 1017 attached to the notePAINT-OVER · FRAME 1017
GM · 00:00:42:09 · paint-over attached to the note
D005 · v002IN PROGRESS
Being reviewed right now by the whole team.
To production tracking FTRACK · FLOW · KITSU · COMING SOON
Playback followed liveThe pilot's frame, clip, layer, grade and A/B comparison, on every workstation.
Notes taken while watchingStatus, comment and paint-over, attached to the clip, the version and the frame.
Reviewed shots, trackedThe session knows what was seen, approved or sent back, and keeps it.
The baton is passedAny participant can drive, with one click from the host.
05 · NOVA · COMING SOON

The original grain, at a third of the size.

Our review format keeps the grain, the blacks and the negatives, and reads at reduced resolution in linear light. Fewer bytes to store, transfer and keep in memory: the direct answer to the price of memory. Readable in Nuke through our plug-in.

EXR · SOURCE · 800 %
NOVA · q97 · 800 %
The size of a shot, by chosen qualityMEASURED ON REAL PLATES · q97: DARK PLATE, 24 FRAMES · q92: ALEXA 4.6K PLATE
Original EXR
100 %NOVA q97 · faithful
37 %NOVA q92 · review
29 %NOVA q85 · light
to be measured
q97: no visible difference from the EXR, tracking precision preserved. q92: everyday review quality. q85: for remote review and working archives.

Designed for TPN requirements.

Request the security file
The studio accountOn Studio, sign-in with Google Workspace or Microsoft, with two-factor authentication.
A watermark per viewerName, e-mail and address of whoever is watching, never the host's.
An audit logWho came in, when, from where. Never the content of the exchanges.
Hosted in the EUHetzner (Germany, Finland), GDPR. Or on your premises, with no internet access.
BETA PROGRAMME · 10 STUDIOS

Try Bernard Review before anyone else.

We are opening 10 places to animation and VFX studios, and to independent supervisors, to prepare the release with us.

What you getPlayer builds before their release.Free online sessions throughout the beta.A direct line to the team, and a say in the priorities.A founder's price at release.
What we ask of youRegular feedback: a short session every two weeks.The bugs you run into, as soon as you see them.Never your images: you test on your own workstations, nothing leaves your studio.
How to applyWrite to us with the studio's name, its size, your tools (tracker, formats) and your systems.The player will stay free and open source (MIT). Public downloads open at release.