BURBANK, CALIF.—VTP is a prominent reseller and integrator of popular professional products such as 4K cameras, displays, and many supporting content processing software and hardware tools.
In preparing for our most recent camera test for our 4K camera workshops last summer, we discovered that our HD plasma screens were no longer adequate for testing the images we were producing. One test sequence involved 70 successive visual effect shots, taking up more than seven minutes of screen time; for that we needed a large, flat panel display with ample full frame on to off contrast to view the visual effects at the intended BT.709 color, exceeding the current DCI standards for contrast.
Boland’s BVB55 monitor offers high contrast imagesCONTRAST IS KEY
When the Boland BVB55 first arrived at VTP for evaluation, we were immediately intrigued with its contrast and full-screen brightness capabilities. We believed that its contrast potential could support perceptual quantization using external LUTS for depicting increased dynamic range.
With its high contrast, we felt we could perceive the sharpness of the 4K detail we were seeing in the theater in the monitor’s native 1080p raster, or by viewing quadrants. Within its optimal viewing angles, we found that the Boland monitor was reasonably consistent with the sweet spots of gamma and gamut compared to our plasmas.
Moreover, we found it exceeded the contrast of our plasmas on full frame and large area brightness, and without the edge color motion artifacts or scene to scene brightness fluctuations that had shown up on the plasmas. These issues popped up when we were trying to determine if there were motion artifacts in the plasmas from the image sequence being observed, or if the problems were emanating from the content. The BVB55 responds in the direction of achieving tighter specifications with the use of external color calibration tools and hardware such as SpectraCal’s CalMAN Probe or Konica’s Minolta.
Among its many professional menu features is a 1:1 mode for HD, which is useful for spotting high-resolution images that may be improperly scaled for HD viewing without the appropriate filtering for the angles of hard edges.
GOOD TO GO
The lightweight Boland BVB55 is a workhorse suitable for production just about anywhere you can set up a viewing room, and no matter where you are in the production process. Most functions can use it in some way. It offers more consistency over smaller OLED panels, producing better images on its larger 55-inch diagonal panel size, along with the grades and look management that have been approximated on the set or that need to be applied to your content.
In professional hands, does something need to be perfect, or good? We believe the Boland BVB55’s signature characteristics can be weighted and that it can be an important “go to” monitor for interested professional eyes and practical considerations.
Chris Bone is the chief technology officer for Videotape Products (VTP), a hardware and media solutions sales and integration company. Chris is a graduate of the University of Southern California, with a degree in cinema production. He is an active member of SMPTE and a past president of the Society of Television Engineers. He can be contacted at 818-566- 9898.
For more information, visitwww.boland.comor call 949-465-9911.
