$1099 Small HD AC 7" OLED is new Standard to beat

[jamesbridges]

Hey Jean,
That "plastic feeling" is because they are trying to keep costs down. The pro version is something close to $2500, I bet that has the same quality as the DP6

 

[Jake Wilganowski]

Ok small hd, I have my deposit down on the dp7 pro and would love to hear your responses to this...

 

[Jean Gerard]

Hey Jean,
That "plastic feeling" is because they are trying to keep costs down. The pro version is something close to $2500, I bet that has the same quality as the DP6

The plastic feeling is because the outside housing is all in plastic, the DP7 will be half in plastic and half in aluminium (Back to the roots which is a good thing)

But as the sun hood locking system is the same, I'm even more concern.
Right now, it's plastic to plastic and may work for time to time. But what about a plastic holding by aluminium with such small locking. the aluminium will win against the plastic and after 10 clip/unclip operation, you can be sure that the plastic will become rounded and will lock even less.

What I don't get is the business model they are applying.
Delivering non finished product, letting client pay first, and fixing later the issue, using the money spend on these prototypes item to go on the job. Some issue can be fixed by just downloading wich is simple, but the hood system is still not working at all.

Imagine this model apply to car industry : you received your ca but can't open the truck, call the car company and the answer is: "Yes we know about that, please wait 2 weeks to have it fixed with a small piece in plastic we will send by mail later"

If the client is complaining, we just go for a refund. What is the risk? none!


Well, I'm not sure this is a way to work as a customer point of view, but a super business model for them.


The DP6 is discontinued, so no way to get a cheap descent monitor anymore. Only a crappy super fragile one without hood, the DP7 is way more expensive and not available yet. So maybe time to look for other brand is any!

PS
The AC7 LCD IPS seems to be the only reliable option for the sun hood at least at it seems to be the same system than the DP6, but there is still these large holes at the rear making it very sensitive to outside weather condition.

 

[Nick Morrison]

Hello,

I did received my AC7 on the 1st of January and did some testing. It's the OLED HDMI and SDI version
First it's not a DP6 except for the menu which are very similar and screen resolution.

But all the strong aspect i liked on the DP6 are now plastic feeling,
Yes I understand the weight issue, but it really feel that it should never fall under any circumstance My DP6 is really a piece of rock, this one will be damage if I let it around some metal gear in a bag. the screen is not a bit inside as the DP6, but more like a Ipad mini style.

At first the firmware was a complete failure with huge difference between HDMI and SDI input, they now released a new one (3-1-3) which fix most of this.
Still my picture out of the box is super green and I trying to get it right without so much success. The oled black is black and huge improvement over the DP6 one for sure.

Another issue is the lost of screw hole on both side, that was super nice from the DP6 to rig it anywhere , now, it's look a bit more fragile and with less option.
they still also keep in place the HDMI connector close to the border, so you may need to cut some large HDMI plug to make it fit on it.

There are now 4 large hole on both side for letting the screen cool down (?), but make it very sensitive to the rain as you can see inside components from these. Yes the screen was never design to get under the rain, but the metal body was enough to cool it, now they need to make hole on the body, again, not that good to me. Even vertical, the bottom hole facing the sky all the way... You never know what to expect some day.


Last issue and that the main one... No Sunhood?! Ok, there is one, but no way to put it in place.
It's not obvious on their website, but they changed the 4 holes and quite strong system they had on the DP6 for a weird clip on the side system where half of a milimiter on the plastic is suppose to hold the tension of 15 cm neoprene fabric?! After making all my team member testing this, no one succeed and I ask also SmallHD to send me a video to let me know how they are making it holding more than 5 second and I still waiting for this one!
They said that they are working on extra piece to add to the system, but even with this new one, I can't understand such flaw in the design. As the DP7 announced monitor is sharing the same system, I'm very concern about having it working.
So you have to know that the AC7 is not coming with a working hood, be prepare to cut some paper if you are shooting outside!
As I adress these issue to them, they said they are ready to refund me (great!)

So overall, I'm clearly not impressed by this monitor at all. On the paper and the 3D view and wrong video you can see on the website, it's look superb in your hand, that's another story.

I'm still waiting some new deliver from them about the sunhood fixing system... Maybe you should also wait and see how this monitor will finally be designed. This is a non working prototype for now.

Jean

UGG. That sucks. I wanted this thing to be GOOD. Oh well.

 

[Doug Beatty]

The DP7 Pro was supposed to be released winter 2012 with software updates slated for Q1 2013. Obviously that has been pushed back. I haven't heard anything since putting down a deposit, but I hope they address the build quality when it finally releases.

I had very high hopes that this would be built like a tank, but now I'm wary. Maybe they can step in and say something about the delay and where they are headed with the DP7. I have no doubt they are trying to make it right, but the lack of updates is disconcerting to say the least.

 

[Steven Chill]

I was playing with the AC7 HDMI monitor recently, and was quite impressed even built in plastic.

Can you use the word, light. Yes, light. IPS screen was completely exceptable but OLED would be better.

Colors were accurate and focus was very good used with Epic cameras.

 

[Dan Kanes]

After having held an AC7 OLED - it's more than acceptable quality for its price point.

The Dp7 monitor is a premium grade monitor and will be built as such.

no idea if the sunshade is any good. Every professional and amateur shoot I've ever been on use a hoodman.

AC7 both OLED and IPS versions are shockingly good, and these guys build them in America.

to the rest of the world that means nothing right now, but actually I was impressed even with the lighter plastic construction of the AC series.

I have no doubt the DP7 will be a smashingly good pro monitor.

As for the people worrying about the plastic - again - you could buy a used dp6 - but seriously the Dp7 is going to be a complete re-envisioning of what an onboard monitor can even be. Seriously - complete philosophical evolution.

 

[paul engstrom]

Interesting... we received a couple AC7 OLEDs and were underwhelmed. VERY dark with little control. Neither picture brightness nor sharpness were as good as our DP6 monitors. Not even close.

 

[Jake Wilganowski]

Paul, can you tell us any more? I was a little concerned about the oled's brightness. The marketing says oled's "appear" bright since the blacks are so deep. Is there a "backlight" feature on oled's or is that strictly a LCD feature? Is there a sharpness adjustment in the AC7? What did you think of the color?

 

[Jean Gerard]

some picture first

some picture first

Paul, can you tell us any more? I was a little concerned about the oled's brightness. The marketing says oled's "appear" bright since the blacks are so deep. Is there a "backlight" feature on oled's or is that strictly a LCD feature? Is there a sharpness adjustment in the AC7? What did you think of the color?

Good morning,

Here are 2 pix to illustrate a bit why I'm not happy. I would love to spend more time to show a real test but need t wait feedback from SmallHD as they wrote me they are working on it. same camera, same setting, all screen aligned to be on the same focus. The moire is due to the size of the screen, please do not take to much care o this.

Pana HPX250 preview monitor (sharpness -5), DP6 HDMI input (sharpness 20) and AC7 OLED SDI input Firmware 3.1.3 (Sharpness 20)

Black level are at Low here on the AC7

Black level are at high here on the AC7

First thing is the white balance shift between high and low level (!)
Second is the lack of details on the corner of the black heating aluminium gear for example.
Even the white part of the paper roll show less detail on the burned part.

Last thing is the softness of the AC7, even turning the sharpness at full, still far from DP6.

No, I'm not impressed. More expensive than DP6, Less latitude, soft image, super fragile, reflective screen,...

I surely need to do some better testing with way more equipment, hope to do this later this week

Regards

 

[Gabriel Scindian]

Hey Jean,
That "plastic feeling" is because they are trying to keep costs down. The pro version is something close to $2500, I bet that has the same quality as the DP6

It is a very different feeling from the DP6 which is very rugged. The AC7 OLED screen visually is good to go but the build quality has me concerned. Do not be rough with it.

 

[Gabriel Scindian]

Good morning,

Here are 2 pix to illustrate a bit why I'm not happy. I would love to spend more time to show a real test but need t wait feedback from SmallHD as they wrote me they are working on it. same camera, same setting, all screen aligned to be on the same focus. The moire is due to the size of the screen, please do not take to much care o this.

Pana HPX250 preview monitor (sharpness -5), DP6 HDMI input (sharpness 20) and AC7 OLED SDI input Firmware 3.1.3 (Sharpness 20)

Black level are at Low here on the AC7

Black level are at high here on the AC7

First thing is the white balance shift between high and low level (!)
Second is the lack of details on the corner of the black heating aluminium gear for example.
Even the white part of the paper roll show less detail on the burned part.

Last thing is the softness of the AC7, even turning the sharpness at full, still far from DP6.

No, I'm not impressed. More expensive than DP6, Less latitude, soft image, super fragile, reflective screen,...

I surely need to do some better testing with way more equipment, hope to do this later this week

Regards

The DP6 and the RED 5 Touch seem brighter

 

[Jean Gerard]

The DP6 and the RED 5 Touch seem brighter

Yes they are, but this is a Panasonic HPX 250 preview screen , not the RED touch 5

The HDMI input on the AC7 look a bit brighter (not showed in the pictures)

Regards

 

[Jake Wilganowski]

Jean thanks for your input. I'm hoping you have a bad panel, because obviously that is not good. I'd be very upset. I have a deposit down on the dp7 pro. I really like the dp6 and gave found settings that give me a fairly accurate image while sacrificing brightness. I really hope the dp7 pro series lives up to the build quality of the dp6 and addresses the color issues. I hope you get your monitor issue resolved, small hd is known for their customer service. Would love to hear how it all works out after more testing...

 

[pieterstathis]

we ordered 2 of these AC-7 monitors and returned them within 2 weeks.

they are made primarily of plastic not milled aluminum to keep costs down.
they are not nearly as robust as the DP-6 which we love.
the picture is naturally darker being OLED, but this is not necessarily an advantage out in the field.
we found our DP-6's were much better for pulling focus even though smaller in size.
with sharpness dialed all the way up in the AC-7, the DP-6 is clearly sharper.

OLED technology doesn't have the ability to control brightness, saturation, contrast, sharpness, etc.. to the same degree as LED DP-6.

in summary, the AC-7 definitely DOES NOT OBSOLETE the DP-6 -- not even close.

 

[Jake Wilganowski]

Man, can someone from small hd please comment on here? Geez....

 

[Hrvoje Simic]

The plastic feeling is because the outside housing is all in plastic,

Outside is plastic because this is a cheaper and lighter alternative to the main model. Which was most likely requested by the user base in product development phase. Roughly 200 grams less hanging from a camera make a huge difference with handheld, due to inertia and weight balance. Carbon version would cost more.

Is there a "backlight" feature on oled's or is that strictly a LCD feature?

No backlight on OLED, it's emissive technology.

with sharpness dialed all the way up in the AC-7, the DP-6 is clearly sharper.

It's the same 720p resolution on 7.7" and 5.6" panels.

 

[Kyle Wullschleger]

Add me to the list of surprisingly unsatisfied OLED customers. I remember a lot of positive comments about SmallHD's OLED displays at NAB last year... however, these AC7's are far from it. The first firmware helped... but its no where near satisfactory. Returning mine this week.

And to be sure - I LOVE the DP6. And I'm still pretty sure I'll love the DP7 Pro High Bright when its released.

 

[Paul Cook]

Bummer - I was thinking of upgrading my DP6 to the new entry level DP7 as aside from the plastic build, I had heard it was a better panel. 8bit vs 6bit, sharper, brighter and of course 1 inch bigger which I figured would help my shoddy vision when it came to better focus pulls. Sadly this doesn't seem to be the case. Perhaps there are a few issues that need to be ironed out but it would be good to get a response from Small HD. There once was a time they were all over the many different forums and only to happy to contribute.

 

[Reed Phillips]

Update from SmallHD

Update from SmallHD

Hi guys - we have noticed that a few people have had some issues with the new AC7 series monitors. We would like to address these issues one by one for you since customer satisfaction is ultimately our most important goal. The idea behind the AC7 is to give you a premium grade display panel option with all of the SmallHD functionality you have come to love in a platform that anyone can afford. We maintain a very tight control on the assembly process here in the USA, and because of this we are able to check and address things that other companies would just steamroll over. The DP7 will be our premium grade panels with an unprecedented ground-up re-envisioning of what a monitor can be.


We've seriously addressed all of the issues that people have noted and all the AC7s coming off the line have undergone these measures. Additionally, anyone that has an early AC7, should be getting an email today containing details of a 100% free hardware upgrade program.



You send it in (2-day shipping, paid for by SmallHD), we upgrade it and have it back out the door to you in 24 hours or less, and you will have it back in 2 days (anywhere in the US).


As for durability - Like I mentioned above, the idea was to provide a premium display in a form factor and platform that would make it as affordable as possible. The DP7 is built like a tank - the AC7's distinction was the premium display with a lower price tag, for the real display junkies out there. The OLED display is NOT an inexpensive one. However, the plastic body actually does a fine job of standing up to the rigors of the production environment, while at the same time being extremely light weight (something many of our customers strongly advocate). We will be releasing a video shortly with some abuse tests.


Finally, thank you for your patience. OLED technology is new, and we are at the mercy of the enormous manufacturers of this technology who don't pay much attention to our relatively incredibly small volumes. We are a small company that tries to provide the best technology we can get our hands on at a reasonable price. We take customer satisfaction extremely seriously, and I can only apologize for everything that has happened up to this point, and only promise that we will only get better.


I'm very confident that you all will be extremely pleased with the upgraded units that are now shipping, and the upgraded ones that you will get in days to come. The few beta testers that have seen the upgraded units have been nothing but thrilled with the improvements.

Thank you all for your candor. Again I apologize for the inconvenience and I hope you give us the opportunity to earn back your trust and respect.