There were displays for every size and need at the 2012 NAB Show, with some of the most spectacular vying to become the evaluation-critical reference monitor replacement for venerable, but eco-banished CRTs.
Boland Communications unveiled its new SE series of LCD monitors, available from 15 inches up to the 70-inch HD70, grade 1, 10-bit native high-end client monitor. For outdoor productions, the company showed its 42-inch DayBrite model HD42LDB with LED backlight.
Bill Stellmacher of California State University - Los Angeles takes a closer look at the JVC DT-E21L4U monitor. The TLM-170H (desktop) and TLM-170HM/TLM-170HR (rackmount) monitors from Datavideo are 17.3-inch, HD-SDI high-quality reference designs for program output monitoring during productions.
This year, the Dolby PRM-4200 Professional Reference Monitor was shown with support for content shot at a rate of 48 fps and an optimized accuracy check-up called Display Calibration Services.
Ikegami’s new HLM-912WR 9-inch monitor features a high-resolution LED-backlit LCD panel that is equally suited for rackmount or portable applications and can also serve as a large viewfinder for studio or field production.
JVC showcased its JVC DT-E21L4U 21-inch monitor and added the DT-V21G11Z 21-inch HD monitor to its high-end Vérité G Series of professional LCD monitors driven by mercury-free, white LED backlighting. That lets the DT-V21G11Z consume 20-percent less energy than CCFL-illuminated LCD displays.
Spencer Doran (R) shows the Marshall V-LCD56MD monitor to Paul Tanofsky from Frontline Communications.Marshall Electronics’ V-LCD5.6-PRO is a 5.6-inch color monitor with built-in speaker and reverse image function equipped with sound, color, contrast and brightness controls. Marshall also presented their 3D-241-HDSDI, a 24-inch 1920x1200 LCD monitor with a circular polarizing system using a 3D Xpol opti-cal filter.
The new BT-LH2170 from Panasonic is a 21.5-inch LCD production monitor with native 1920x1080 HD resolution and advanced 3D assist features. The LH2170 offers a 3D look-up table (LUT), high brightness (250cd /m²), high contrast (1000:1) and applies 10-bit image processing to each RGB color.
John Baisley of Panasonic discusses the company’s new monitors. The PBM-3G Series of native full HD resolution LCD monitors from Plura Broadcast, ranging from 7–55 inches, features dual 3 Gbps input, intelligent con-nection for calibration alignment and adjustable colorimetry and gamma correction. Multiple monitors can be managed by Plura’s centralized wall control system.
Shuichi Matsumoto (L) of Japan Cable Labs checks out the Sony BVME250 OLED monitor with Graeme Buchanan of Sony.Sony continued to propose OLED as the replacement technology for the most demanding of monitors by displaying its current OLED models as well new OLED panels and sizes in development. These were offered in three series: the PVM-740 (7.4 inches), PVM-1741 (17 inches) and the PVM-2541 (25 inches). Sony also brought their step-up BVM F series of OLED reference monitors, which includes the BVM-F170 (17 inches) and BVM-F250 (25 inches), used for technical image evaluation.
For prevention against security risks of Wi-Fi monitoring, Transvideo introduced its CinemonitorHD RF product that consists of an 8-inch Evolution Super-bright monitor with an integrated Titan HD/SD receiver to take in HD/SD SDI, HDMI or composite video wirelessly via encoded RF signals.
Sung Cho (R) shows Matt Harkins from San Francisco State University the new TVLogic XVM-175W 17-inch post production monitor.TV Logic added two new color-critical full HD 10-bit models to their XVM line of grade 1 LED backlit monitors: the 17-inch XVM-175W intended for on-set DIT/QC monitoring; and its larger brother the XVM-325W 32-inch reference grade monitor. Both models include A/B 3G and dual-link SDI inputs, component/composite, HDMI and DVI inputs and waveform/vector scope displays.
All three of the new reference monitors introduced by ViewZ at the NAB Show, the 18.5-inch VZ-18.5PM, 21.5-inch VZ-215PM, and 24-inch VZ-240PM support 3G with ultra-wide dynamic range and features 12-bit processed backlit LED illumination and accessible jog-dial menus to display a selectable range of color temperature and gamma settings.
Wohler Technologies brought their new DVM-2443 four-screen monitoring system that provides advanced test-and-measurement features in a standalone 2RU configuration. The DVM-2443 MPEG video monitor incorporates four 4.3-inch 16:9 ratio LED backlit displays for convenient at-a-glance monitoring of program content from MPEG-2/4 ASI streams, as well as PID table metadata, waveform and vectorscope overlays and audio level meters.
