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Buyer's Guide | List
of broadcast monitor manufacturers  |
| Library: Black Level | How to calibrate a broadcast monitor to color bars | Scaling Artifacts |
eCinema Systems - Their DPX line of LCDs (estimated ship Fall 2008) offers true black reproduction (see the black level article) with a >15,000:1 contrast ratio.
Sony - Makes the de facto standard reference monitor in their BVM line of CRTs (now being discontinued sadly). Their CRTs are being replaced by their BVM-L line of CRTs.
Ikegami - Makes broadcast-grade CRTs and LCDs.
Barco - Barco is re-entering the broadcast monitor market with their RHDM-2301 LCD. $27,500 list. Integrated calibration probe tailored for the monitor. Colors match very closely with Barco CRT. Can use scanning backlight technology to reduce motion artifacts (this causes a small amount of flicker). Minimum 800:1 contrast ratio.
Cinetal - Makes the Cinemage, known for its software capabilities that add various monitoring options and 3D LUTs.
DT-V24L1DU - 24" LCD, 1,000:1 contrast ratio, <$4k street price
FX series (24") - ~$5,545 for 24" model. 1000:1 contrast ratio, 10-bit panel.
FX series (40") - ~$9K for 40" model (depends on configuration). 1200:1 contrast ratio.
PRO series - A step up from the FX series, these monitors support 4:4:4 input and optional 3-D LUT and waveform capability.
BVM CRTs - The de facto standard for reference monitoring. No CRT is capable of displaying full HD resolution.
PVM CRTs - Various models at various price points. Cheaper models do not have SMPTE C or EBU phosphors. Geometry and resolution slightly worse than BVM CRTs.
BVM-L - Touted as a "CRT replacement". $25k list without input cards (actual price will be higher). Colors match very closely with BVM CRT. Wide gamut with support for xvYCC, EBU + SMPTE C + Rec. 709 primaries. 500:1 contrast ratio.
Luma LCDs (various models) - Only model with at least 1920x1080 pixels is the LMD-2450WHD (24"). ~$3,800 street with HD-SDI input card. Contrast ratio - ?..
Ikegami produces a range of CRTs and LCDs for many different applications.
Their HLM-2400 ($4,300 street) is a 1920x1080 panel with 1000:1 contrast ratio.
Korean manufacturer. Makes field monitors to 57" monitors. Reputation for good viewing angle.
This Japanese company offers a range of products from field monitors to a 4K (3840x2160) display. Many of their products support waveform/vectorscope monitoring.
Makes field monitors and studio monitors. Does make 720p monitors but does not make 1920x1080 monitors.
UK-based manufacturer.
Australian manufacturer.
Various models - This company intentionally leaves the primaries uncorrected in their wide gamut displays. Boland claims that standard primaries (e.g. SMPTE C, Rec. 709, EBU) are not desirable in reference monitors as consumer LCD displays are moving towards wide gamut. *I highly disagree with their approach as it is not suitable for accurate monitoring.
Tamuz - I found out about this company when they harvested my email from the SMPTE directory.
Their MXO product connects to the DVI port on Macs and drives an Apple Cinema Display. The MXO does support deinterlacing. No HD-SDI input. It also saves money as it does not require a HD-SDI card to drive the monitor.
Does not deinterlace interlaced signals. Interlaced movement will have a venetian blind effect.
Some of the manufacturers listed above also make small monitors for field use (e.g. Sony, Panasonic, Ikegami, Astro, etc.).
Small LCD monitors for field use. From 2.5" to 9.2".
Carrion line of LCDs. See discussions on reduser.net for user experiences with their monitors.
Adobe OnLocation (previously DVRack)
This is not a hardware monitor but a software product that lets your laptop monitor signals over firewire (i.e. DV, HDV).
HP
Dreamcolor display - 10-bit panel, 1000:1 contrast ratio, wide gamut.
HD2441W - no HD-SDI input.
Field emission technologies - This Sony spinoff is seeking to enter the master monitor market. Their field emission technology is similar to SED (Wikipedia articles: SED FED). A FET representative I spoke with at NAB 2008 indicated that they were looking for financing to build their plant.
OLED - see the Wikipedia page on organic light-emitting diodes. OLED promises very high contrast ratios but size remains a challenge until the production process can produce larger panels.
This site is maintained and run by Glenn Chan.