NASHVILLE — TNDV has enhanced color representation for live shoots on all three of its mobile production trucks, adding Sony PVM-1741 OLED monitors to boost color representation and contrast ratio while setting up cameras.
The mobile production company has purchased six monitors: Two for each of the company’s three trucks, used both on board and inside venues. The monitors give camera shaders, lighting directors, stage managers and other technical personnel an exact representation of video output quality in advance of live events.
One of the first successful projects included EntreLeadership, a live business and leadership event from financial wellness guru and radio host Dave Ramsey that was simulcast over the web from The People’s Church in Franklin, Tenn.. TNDV president Nic Dugger and his team deployed four monitors to confirm accurate color and contrast ratio measurements of the eventual live feed well before the shoot — ensuring that all involved were confident that the signal on the screen was an accurate representation of the image quality being produced.
“We had a monitor available for a producer and lighting director at The People’s Church. It was pertinent that when they looked at images from our cameras they were seeing the same quality as our shader,” Dugger said. “It’s not good enough to get a 32-inch consumer monitor and use an HDMI conversion brick. When you are in a controlled environment with hundreds of moving and conventional lights, the difference in one light color temperature or another light being out of focus can be the difference in how good the shot looks.”
“Not having accurate black levels leads to inaccurate shading, and makes the lighting team push light harder than what is required,” he said. “The ability to get those accurate, real-life black levels to the point where it looks like the monitor is off when you set up your cameras at zero IRE raises the overall quality. It’s a big hit with our shaders, who know they see the most accurate possible representation when they can detect noise at black levels and make adjustments.”
The PVM-1741 brought the cost of an OLED monitor down to the $4,000 to 5,000 range, compared to OLED monitors that advance on $20,000.
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