WHAT SDI Monitors are people using?

[Blair S. Paulsen]

The problem with the Sony OLEDs is the flicker.(snip)

Good news, Sony has finally responded to those who complained about the flicker on the PVMs (and didn't consider buying the BVM version for 6x the price to get rid of it a reasonable alternative ;-).

Do your due diligence, but from what I gather the new PVMs offer the current "flickery" option, OR, a smoother rendering option you can select if you so desire. FWIW Sony's engineers were perplexed that users who kept insisting on seeing exactly what was being captured, balked at a display that did just that. Damn users ,-)

In any case, if you do decide to go with the Sony PVM OLED I advise you to sort this issue out with your vendor up front. Not sure as of what date/serial number the new units had the fix on board. (If you bought one before the fix, IIRC, you have to return the monitor to your vendor or a service center.) Mitch Gross at AbelCine would be a good resource on this topic, hopefully he'll post the scoop here before his phone/email blows up...

Cheers - #19

 

[Jean Bernard]

This is good info, I am in the market for a good client/director monitor, but now overwhelmed with choices. May have to wait for NAB for some live demo & Flanders 17 upgrade! But in the meantime, I think this calls for a monitor shoot out if people are interested? Just a thought!

 

[Jeff Garton]

I like the TV Logic 5.6. I frankensteined a small mount with an ET speedy clamp on the end so its a quick mount around the camera top or handle where I have 19mm mounting points.

I get very tired of israeli arms, which can be ungainly and unnecessary on such a small camera.
I got the Panasonic Batt plate for it. The smallest Panasonic batts (100mAh) weigh about 1/20th of a pound and run the monitor for an hour plus. Worth it to me to have one less cable on the camera. It also allows it to be repositioned more quickly or even passed off to a client or director.

Besides the amazing black levels of the Sony 17" OLED the other great advantage is that it is actually 1080. All other monitors in its size and price range that I'm aware of are 720, so for checking critical focus it is a plus. Before this I used a 24" monitor to get 1080 resolution, and it didn't play well with battery power. The fix is indeed available for the flicker, I am told it does introduce a slight softening of the image. Mine is off to Abel Cine tomorrow morning, so we'll see. Good news is that it can be turned on or off in the menu.