AV Japan & SK: Weathering the Covid-19 typhoon

AV Magazine

The pandemic continues to play havoc with the naturally cautious approach to life and business of Japanese people. The country may have narrowly avoided slipping into recession for the second time in just over a year but an extension of emergency measures to stem a rise in coronavirus infections has dented the growth outlook and consumer confidence. 

pp33-36 https://www.avinteractive.com/digital-edition/#digital-edition-1

also https://www.avinteractive.com/features/territory-features/weathering-covid-19-typhoon-04-09-2021/

Analysts expected Japan's economy to grow 4.2% this year, as exports gradually increase due to a recovery of overseas markets, but that’s far lower than the 7% rates in other leading global economies. 

“There is volatility in the electronics supply chain,” says Samuel Recine, VP of Sales – AV/IT Group; Americas & APAC, Matrox. “Trade and politics remain complex. COVID-19 is still not entirely dealt with and will have lasting impacts. The strongest areas of the market will probably continue to be powered by enterprise, government, and industrial dollars while performance media at a distance will likely be a key area of growth.”  

As elsewhere, the live events business was impacted negatively in 2020 but products and services to help with remote work and collaboration have performed strongly. 

“COVID obviously had a negative impact on the majority of Japanese AV projects. Most of them have either shrunk in size, have been postponed or simply cancelled,” reports Ken Sampei, director of Mix Wave (a VIOSO and AV Stumpfl distributor).  

Michael Austin, Director of Sales and Accounts, APAC for Datapath says the country has weathered the storm “comparatively well,” with a few ‘soft’ lockdowns of varying degrees of restrictions. 

“Even with no ‘hard’ lockdowns, retailers have struggled and postponed investments in video walls, so unsurprisingly sales in this area have dipped,” Austin says. “There are some recent signs that this segment is picking back up, albeit slowly. 

He says business in Command and Control and similar applications has held up reasonably well. Many government projects have continued either as normal or on delayed schedules.  

“There has been a somewhat modest drop in the more signage - and presentation-focused corporate video walls. As Japan’s vaccination program progresses, there is reason to expect things to return to normal across all verticals. However, the extent to which the new ‘normal’ affects investments in corporate, public, and retail video walls remains to be seen. 

For example, Austin predicts larger video walls will be split into multiple smaller walls in different rooms or different locations, enabling multiple locations to be inter-accessible in terms of content and control. 

Hajime Kogai, GM, B2B Business Division spots momentum for work style reform in Japan, and predicts there the strong demand for remote technology and its improving efficiency will continue.  

 “For example, to effectively transmit information and carry out social activities while avoiding the three C’s (closed spaces, crowded places, close-contact settings), there is an increasing demand for large-screen, high-quality displays in various fields,” says Kogai. “Educational institutions, companies and government offices are also showing the need for video recording and distribution.” 

He points to demand for “remote-compatible” products, such as Sony’s AI-based Edge Analytics Appliance, which allows users to create video content in real time without the need for specialist training or additional staff or equipment. 

Shift to remote 

Corporate and education had to continue to operate during COVID-19 and made big technological and cultural shifts to remote productivity technologies.  

 “Not all of those shifts will be walked back,” says Racine. “Some of the changes are here to stay. The creative solutions that emerged for productivity and for entertainment monetization will have long-term enduring positive effects. The immense role that was played by IT staff in helping to deliver AV experiences at a distance will also have a permanent impact. It’s clear there are often multiple ways to assemble a solution.”  

One thing that hasn’t changed in the last few months is “the preference from Japanese AV users for high-end and high-tech based systems and solutions,” finds Sampei. Mix Wave is toasting a new distribution partnership with StagePrecision to tap this. 

“Online communication will become essential even for real events,” announces Koji Iida, Head of Marketing and Operations, disguise. “People will start to announce various products and services at their own online events. Companies will invest more in content production, such as setting up their own distribution and recording studios. Companies engaged in concerts and events will acquire skills and tools for recording and distribution, and their operations will become more complex.” 

Culturally risk averse 

ProAV businesses and experts often seek to be "risk-free" and will spare no effort or pursuit to achieve this, says Iida. “Therefore, they are very demanding and time-consuming users for manufacturers. It is said, ‘If Japanese professionals are convinced, it will be accepted worldwide.’” For the same reason, they are particular about the accuracy of support and maintenance.  

There’s a “strong bias for quality products versus cost leadership” according to Racine and Kogai highlights domestic preference for Japanese brands. “In addition, the level of demand for the reliability of products and solutions seems to be extremely high,” he says. 

Of the AV channel, Austin observes that there are typically far more layers between the manufacturer and the end user, and that everybody seems more or less fine with this. In other markets, he says, downstream customers are more likely to try and cut out layers in search of better pricing, whereas Japanese customers value relationships and respect everyone’s role – even if it is just as a transactional reseller with minimal technical support capabilities. 

“Local preference for the familiar means that adoption of new technologies or design concepts can be painfully slow. This can include the somewhat ‘Galapagos’ ways of presenting and controlling content on command center video walls, the use of video matrix switchers instead of AV-over-IP for source distribution in larger installations.” 

Olympic spotlight 

The decision to hold the Olympics without spectators has taken a heavy toll on the country, with many scheduled related events and exhibitions being cancelled as a result.  

“Probably as a result of this, the spotlight will be on the parts of the event that contribute to broadcasting and the staging of the opening and closing ceremonies,” says Iida. 

There’s no escaping the public’s apathy and even antipathy to its staging while the country is in emergency lockdown.  

“I think the spotlight will be dimmed considerably,” says Austin. “Fewer, perhaps even no spectators, will be present to see the AV solutions being used, and there will be fewer public viewing stations given the concerns about social distancing.” 

Nonetheless, Japan is a very proud country, says Racine, and no effort will be spared to deliver the best possible Olympics experience worldwide. NHK, the state broadcaster, is producing the Games’ Opening and Closing Ceremonies as well as some athletics, badminton, football, judo and swimming, events in 8K UHD for Japan’s domestic consumption. 

 “If there is any area that will get showcased, it is going to be the delivery of highly produced content over internet protocol as both live production and content delivery will be powered heavily by IP-based technologies,” he says. 

While AV would normally expect an increase in demand stimulated by an Olympics showcase, “the reality is that for integration and installations, the recovery will most likely be seen once the Pandemic is over or confined,” says Sampei. “The situation will probably not improve dramatically until the country recovers.” 

 

South Korea  

 

Like Japan, Korea has avoided many of the stricter lockdowns imposed in the West, which has helped. Its economy shrunk 1% last year, the worst performance in over two decades but is bouncing back driven by exports of chips and electronic goods. 

“SK event companies have had a prosperous period during the pandemic,” reports Fang Liu, Pixotope's VP Sales & Marketing, APAC. “Ranging from private or corporate events to major national occasions, AR/VR/XR technology has been widely adopted in almost every production to maximise the viewer experience in the absence of an audience.” 

Among them the P4G Seoul Summit, where SK President Moon Jae-in gave a speech in an immersive environment rendered by Pixotope; and the 2021 V DIUM X KCON - a virtual concert produced in greenscreen using Pixotope. 

However, there’s a huge skills gap in the market – “there’s simply not enough human resources properly qualified to work on Unreal Engine,” Liu says. “The industry needs to invest in building up the necessary capital.” 

Liu goes on to note that some proAV manufacturers in the market have a “bad reputation due to their poor choice of local partners/resellers which provide inefficient support and services, “giving customers less security.  

“Naturally, this means that the manufacturer and the local partner need to have good communications, form a strong framework of collaboration, and build up long-term trust and confidence.” 

For its part Pixotope works with Donghwa AV, “a very early entrant to virtual production technology and one which has invested heavily in building up its Unreal expertise. 

Datapath finds its Korean partners including J inTech and Oneed to be “very professional, practical, and respectful – and not so dissimilar from Japan, attentive to detail,” informs Austin. “Unlike Japan, Korean customers are more willing to develop or integrate new technologies. This includes greater use of AV over IP such as the use of VNC agents and H264 encoders for source distribution across a solution network.” 

HYPERVSN holographic systems are popular in Japan and SK,  where people are able to appreciate the really colourful and futuristic 3D images and videos our dev ce’s project,” says regional manager Timo Yorsh. “It is somewhat in their cultural code that they are used to being surrounded by illumination and neon in the street. “For our technology to be properly appreciated, it is important to see it live. Hopefully, by September- October the vaccination rates will be high enough that crowds will be drawn back to stores.” 

 

 

 

 

VR May Not Be the Future of Entertainment, But…

NAB

https://amplify.nabshow.com/articles/vr-may-not-be-the-future-of-entertainment-but/

Be honest, have you ever seen any virtual reality you’d actually recommend to anyone? And yet VR and its extension as the gateway to the metaverse continue to command breathless excitement among the Technorati.

Two recent articles offer contrasting sides of the argument. In one, self-described futurist and influencer Bernard Marr, attempts to show that all our experiences will be touched by the virtual sooner rather than later.

In another, Sean Monahan plays devil’s advocate and pours water on the whole Metaverse project as being the singular ambition of megalomaniacs (with Zuckerberg playing the part of Sauron).

Both are right. Here’s why.

Marr argues that we are moving inexorably closer to a future in which the virtual and real worlds become inseparable, and one in which entertainment plays a key role in the transformation.

There are dozens of examples, he says, and selects a couple. The first are VR visitor experiences. You can’t visit a museum or gallery now without being offered a virtual tour which varies in complexity from simple 360-degree walkthroughs to highly immersive experiences.

There are VR tours of the National Gallery in London, virtual zoo experiences, virtual safaris like the Illuminarium, and, of course, VR theme park rides.

Marr also points to the use of VR in live sports. The IOC offered a 8K VR feed from Tokyo. BT Sport is to stream curated feeds of UEFA Champions League soccer matches this season in 8K VR. Marr says this type of “best seat in the house” application will skyrocket in the future.

“VR is already being used to improve the viewing experience for fans and create realistic training simulations for athletes, and now innovative developers are working on VR-based esports,” he says.

While caveating that VR is unlikely to entirely replace traditional forms of entertainment in the near future, Marr predicts, “Very soon, anything you currently do for fun — including cheering on your favorite sports team, visiting the Mona Lisa, or playing a game of frisbee with your friends — could be possible in the virtual world as entertainment and VR become more integrated.”

I agree — these options will increasingly be made available. But whether people will actually want to engage with media, learning and other experiences this way is another matter.

That’s the central point made by Monahan in The Guardian. The LA-based writer and trend forecaster predicts that the metaverse won’t happen.

He points out that the technology and the concepts for the Metaverse and VR have been around for decades. Neither had taken off, despite billions of dollars being pumped into the gear, for the simple reason that we all prefer actual reality. The gear is clunky, the experience tedious and uncomfortable after more than a few minutes.

“VR — and AR after it — have run into a continual problem: people mostly like reality. My question for metaverse boosters is this: what does the metaverse add to everyday life?”

Coming out of the pandemic, “which has reminded everyone that a Zoom call is very much not the same thing as hugging your mom,” Monahan is skeptical that Zoom-fatigued workers will be interested in leveling up to working in the metaverse.

He is more sympathetic to the crypto community’s nascent interest in the metaverse. The promise of crypto, it seems to him, is its potential to spark decentralization in an already overly centralized world.

“The question that crypto seems to face most pressingly is: Why should crypto matter to everyone? If crypto is to be truly revolutionary, then it will have to give an answer that formats digital life down to a human scale, not up to a megalomaniac’s.”

There’s no doubt the virtual — augmented or total simulacra — will overlay an increasing amount of our experiences from learning to entertainment to work. The tech and the experiences will improve. But there is a huge gap that should not be underestimated between the jargon and aims of tech leaders and media futurists and VR’s grass roots appeal for whom an actual real world experience is infinitely superior.

 

Infinite Variations on a Theme

NAB

The computer programming behind a streaming video art installation which will never repeat itself may have wider application in games or film.

https://amplify.nabshow.com/articles/infinite-variations-on-a-theme/

The live stream of Infinity played out online for two weeks last month. Rather than playing in a loop, the video’s parade of digitally created colorful characters was created to continually shape shift and move (run, skip, dawdle) — ostensibly for eternity.

It’s the work of Universal Everything, a UK-based “remote-working collective of digital artists, experience designers and future makers.”

A “world’s first,” as described by the studio in a press release, the video is composed entirely by generative technology, where an infinite number of characters walks across the screen, showing their unique personalities that have all been devised in code. Their characteristics have been based on people and elements from fashion and nature, producing an endless gallery of unique personalities.

The video can be still be viewed on the Universal Everything website which also displays, in the bottom left-hand-side corner, the number of characters that have been generated, and each given individual names such as Miss Dungy, Miss Clementi and Mx Radovich.

Generative design is a design exploration process. According to Autodesk, designers or engineers input design goals into the generative design software, along with parameters such as performance or spatial requirements, materials, manufacturing methods, and cost constraints.

“Each character is a random combination of parameters but crafted within aesthetic rules we directed,” explains Matt Pyke, the founder of Universal Everything, at Fast Company. “To use generative design means designing the seed.”

The seed began with a coding system that grew simulated hair onto motion capture data. The designers then observed the wide variety of figures that ensued and shaped characters by simulating — then randomizing — colors, hairstyles, and gaits. Soon enough, “an endless parade of personalities emerged,” Pyke says. “It is our role as designers to craft the rules of the seed to ensure every outcome feels alive and natural.”

Can viewers interact with the parade of characters and influence their behaviors and style? Can body-tracking cameras capture people’s movements and let them become part of the parade? The gaming industry is a clear contender for generative technology — Pyke even suggests “unique video game characters for every user.”

The studio is currently experimenting with different versions of the film for public spaces and venues.

Creative Director for the film was Matt Pyke, with Unity developer Adam Samson and sound by Simon Pyke.

“We love the idea of infinite storytelling,” Pyke says. “Just a world that exists forever.”

 

When the VR Office Plugs Into the Metaverse

NAB

Fed up with Zoom office calls and Microsoft Teams meetings? If remote work life is here to stay in some form it could do with an upgrade and VR could be it.

https://amplify.nabshow.com/articles/when-the-vr-office-plugs-into-the-metaverse/

Google and Microsoft are among companies developing the next level of video telepresence for the enterprise as NAB Amplify reported in “Who Will Be the First to Develop a True Hologram?”

The next big thing looks to be the concept of a shared virtual collective, better known as the Metaverse, accessed through VR headsets.

“VR is on the cusp of taking its place as a new standard in professional and personal communication,” suggests a blog post from VR office designer Arthur. “It could become as ubiquitous as email, thanks to the combination of remote work and the increasing quality of VR headsets.”

Christoph Fleishmann, the founder and CEO of Arthur, believes VR meetings will soon become standard. It may take less than a year, or it may take five. Regardless, for now, they’re still emerging.

There’s a widespread acceptance that video calls for at least some degree of colleague collaboration is an inevitable legacy of the pandemic. To date there’s been no truly effective substitute for the intimacy and trust generated by a conversation in physical space.

Now we do, at least according to Fleishmann. “Presence is what VR delivers in any space where you can sit down and put on a headset. This is a game-changer for remote work. After a series of VR meetings, remote workers will feel like they know their teammates on a fundamental level and vice versa. Rather than seeming like hired contractors, remote employees will feel like the integral team members they are, which is deeply important to the bottom line.”

Fleishmann has a virtual office app to sell but his ideas are not lost on Rob Enderle, president and principal analyst of the Enderle Group. Writing in ComputerWorld, he suggests that the remote meetings of the near future could actually be superior than face to face interaction.

“The driver for in-person meetings isn’t the meeting itself but the side conversations, meals, and social interactions that typically surround them,” he says.

In the virtual office environment people can actually have more privacy in terms of interacting with colleagues than in an actual room where there’s no escape for those wanting to challenge managerial authority.

“For deeper engagement without the larger audience knowing about it, you could open up a separate one-to-one video chat and have on-going side chats with one coworker or maybe a close-knit subgroup that is also in (but doesn’t have to be) the meeting.”

Enderle believes the pandemic and the popularity of remote work “show the need for a well-developed Metaverse.”

“That’s why I think the next evolution of video collaboration tools will go beyond the virtual, much as Arthur is now, and incorporate tools to better address building and advancing personal relationships.”

The industry needs to take relationship building more seriously, he argues, if we genuinely want to replace in-person meetings with something remote.

“It’s time to step up and create, finally, a complete solution so we can get on with work in the new post-pandemic world.”

Remote work is of clear benefit to cost reduction and sustainability in terms of business travel. Fleishmann imagines companies sending their global clients a headset to participate in virtual meetings. The only hassle involved is handling time zone differences, which, unfortunately, isn’t unique to VR.

Soon we won’t have to accept this, he argues. VR meetings, Fleishmann writes in a separate blog post, have the immersion factor of in-person meetings without the spatial requirements. “Exactly one piece of technology is required to display any media that’s necessary. Unlike video calls, there’s no distraction potential, given that the display occupies the entire visual field, blocking out Slack, Twitter, or whatever else.

In-person meetings will still be crucial in some circumstances. However, those circumstances might be rarer than you’d suspect. This means that firms embracing VR will reap major productivity gains through “having the ability to conduct immersive, global meetings whenever required.”

 

Is VR The New MTV? Ask Lady Gaga

NAB

Lady Gaga takes viewers behind the scenes during the filming of her surreal video for Chromatica song “911” in a new virtual reality experience via the CEEK VR app.

https://amplify.nabshow.com/articles/for-cc-is-vr-the-new-mtv/

The 360-degree CEEK VR experience was captured on set in Valencia, California during the filming of the Tarsem Singh-directed short film.

“The stylish, fever dream-like visual finds the pop star waking up in a desert and heading to a town where she stars in a series of vignettes featuring oddball characters,” describes Rolling Stone. Things are not what they seem in the end as she later comes to after a bad accident and encounters the same characters in a different light.

The VR experience highlights various scenes from the set, with Gaga and a couple of the other cast members appearing in elaborate, colorful costumes.

When the video for the single was released, Gaga said on Instagram, “This short film is very personal to me, my experience with mental health and the way reality and dreams can interconnect to form heroes within us and all around us.”

Of course, Gaga is not the first artist to wade into the VR pool, as an article at The Latch points out. The trend has steadily gaining popularity since YouTube and Facebook enabled posting 360-degree videos back in 2015.

Gorillaz “Saturnz Barz” video, for example, has been viewed 24 million times since it was posted in March 2017.

The trend has also proven useful during the pandemic for music festivals such as Splendour in the Grass, which offered up a VR version in July 2021 after it was cancelled due to the COVID-19 situation in Australia.

A mind-boggling 38-years ago, the hype generated around the budget busting video for Michael Jackson’s “Thriller,” directed by John Landis, sealed MTV’s position as a major cultural force, revolutionized music video production, popularized the making-of documentaries, and drove rentals and sales of VHS tapes (arguably also helped disassemble racial barriers for black artists).

The Latch writer Lyndsey Rodrigues asks whether something similar might happen with VR.

“So much of art is about being seen as cutting-edge and cultivating something unique that your audience can find an emotional connection to that they would not be able to find anywhere else. It’s going to be interesting to see how musicians continue to break the mold and engage their fans in out-of-the-box ways and what role VR could potentially play in that.”

The ‘911” 360 VR experience is available at CEEK.

 

HDR Picture Monitoring: Fifty Shades Of Blue

InBroadcast

DPs and crews wanting to maximise HDR’s potential need to ensure the nuances of HDR delivery are accommodated at every stage in the pipeline.

http://europe.nxtbook.com/nxteu/lesommet/inbroadcast_202108/index.php#/p/22

 
High Dynamic Range is part of the UHD specification and has arguably grown quicker than that of 4K resolution as a piece of the pie. HDR enhances the visual quality of any resolution format, broadening the range of contrast to ensure more picture detail along with higher brightness screens. Broadcast engineers and shaders, lighting directors and DPs as well as colorists need to know what they are looking at on set when capturing HDR which is where monitoring comes in.

“HDR offers a huge step up in image quality, especially when paired with 4K resolution,” says Simon Hall, Senior Technical Sales Specialist, Blackmagic Design. “DPs and crews will want to maximise its potential, but will need to ensure the nuances and subtleties of HDR delivery are accommodated at every stage in the pipeline.”

It can be a tricky balance. He adds, “A scene perfectly lit for SDR may look completely incorrect when checked for HDR. Monitoring is critical in achieving this, however cost can play a factor.

“Which colour gamut is monitored will depend on the deliverable file, so HDR formats can use either P3-D65 or Rec.2020. To have accurate HDR monitors throughout the production pipeline that show the EOTF ST2084 at a 1000 nit+ level could potentially be expensive.

“When it comes to delivery, HDR is a 10bit system, so it is recommended that files are recorded in 12bit to ensure enough colour volume and dynamic range for the delivered file. This rules out certain cameras and codecs, and 8bit sources, as unsuitable.”

HDR files have to be delivered in a specific format with the correct embedded metadata for the file to trigger a consumer display into HDR. Also it has to be either trim pass metadata, which profiles the image in an SDR gamut and gamma, or a separate grade for SDR has to be delivered.

Blackmagic Design offers a complete workflow solution for HDR. Blackmagic RAW is a 12bit file with colour gamut greater than the Rec.2020 profile.  On-set monitoring and recording with Video Assist, which offer 2500nit HDR monitoring, with support for 3D LUTs and HDR scopes. DeckLink capture cards, UltraStudio playback devices and Mini Monitor offer external HDR monitoring. In post, DaVinci Resolve Studio allows for monitoring and grading of HDR content, and can deliver files for Dolby Vision, HDR 10+, HDR 10 and Hybrid Log Gamma files.

“Currently the biggest challenge for on-set HDR monitoring is a lack of affordable and set ready equipment that supports true 10bit and higher HDR,” says Colin McDonald, Product Manager Cine Products at Vitec Group’s Creative Solutions. “Many of the current approved HDR offerings are incredibly expensive and physically prohibitive for on-set use. Additionally, since so many of the current offerings come from different manufacturers, there is no shared workflow experience. Creative Solutions is working hard to provide a complete end-to-end HDR solution for customers at all production levels. 

Creative Solutions – which comprises brands Teradek, SmallHD and Wooden Camera – is rounding out HDR workflow with new releases like the Teradek Prism Encoder / Decoder, which is built for robust, high-bandwidth remote video streaming, supporting up to 4Kp60 10bit HDR. The Bolt 4K family of products support true wireless 4K HDR video transmission. Finally, the upcoming SmallHD Vision series of monitors will meet the DolbyVision HDR spec for monitoring, and standardise on-set HDR with a rugged and portable form factor.

Whether integrating HDR into a live production or monitoring HDR footage on-set, you’re often working with various camera and HDR formats, as well as SDR footage that must be incorporated into the final output or product.

“In live production, it’s essential to be able to quickly and easily convert between SDR and HDR, various HDR formats like PQ and HLG, and camera log formats,” says Andy Bellamy, product marketing manager, AJA Video.  “In an on-set environment, camera log formats must also often be converted to BT. 2020, ACES or other standards commonly used in postproduction. This helps to ensure that the integrity of the image is maintained as it moves throughout the signal chain. Without the right combination of technology, these tasks can tasks can prove difficult.”

AJA offers a range of solutions to address these needs, including FS-HDR with Colorfront Engine technology, which helps professionals bridge conversions between camera log formats and SDR sources to HDR formats, from SDR to HDR to bring non-HDR camera feeds and materials into HDR programming, and HDR to SDR in situations where SDR is a final deliverable — all in real-time.

“Our HDR Image Analyzer 12G waveform, histogram and vectorscope monitoring solution can also prove incredibly useful in giving production and post teams the confidence that HDR production and mastering are consistent and predictable,” says Bellamy. “For simpler on-set HDR monitoring needs, we also develop the Hi5-4K-Plus Mini-Converter, which enables professionals to feed HDR10 and HLG footage to cost-efficient HDMI displays.”

Flanders Scientific is introducing the XM312U as one of the world’s brightest commercially available professional reference displays. The XM312U is a 31" UHD resolution HDR and SDR monitor equipped with 12Gbps SDI inputs. The unit qualifies as a Dolby Vision mastering monitor. A peak luminance over 5,000cd/m2, support for both PQ and HLG EOTFs, multiple color gamut selections, and a contrast ratio in excess of 5,000,000:1 make the XM312U ideal for a wide variety of demanding HDR workflows.

“For HDR projects our industry is typically requesting either 1,000nit or 4,000nit deliverables from colorists,” says Bram Desmet, CEO. “Up until now our 3,000nit capable XM310K was one of the few solutions available that allowed colorists to grade well over 1,000nits, but it still fell a bit short of that critical 4,000nit deliverable threshold.

"With the XM312U, we set out to address that limitation and deliver something to our clients that can take them to that 4,000nit goal and beyond, while also offering some key improvements to other performance benchmarks.

“We are excited to see what clients can do with the XM312U and what higher luminance mastering options will do for HDR content creation in the years to come.”

LogiColor is a newly developed colour management system aiming for accurate and stable colour reproduction on TVLogic monitors. According to the firm, it’s not just a new firmware with improved functionalities, but an “innovation inside the whole colour processing pipeline to control monitor colours.” It is based on the WonderLookPro algorithm and covers not only design and manufacture, but also customer support.

LogiColor is onboard TVLogic’s LUM-series monitors including the LUM-310-CI all powered by a new colour signal processing engine in 24bit linear RGB. It achieves correct calculation and flexible support for various colour standards, gamuts and EOTFs.

“In order to compensate the non-linearity of the display panels' colour reproduction, a new processing method is introduced to achieve correct and stable interpolation. Thanks to this new process, the monitor uses the full power of the LCD panel more than before.”

The Postium OBM-X Series is the South Korean company’s most advanced displays for UHD/4K HDR Grade 1 and Grade 2 Reference monitoring. The 31” OBM-X310 is a Grade 1 monitor compatible with Dolby Vision, HDR10 and HDR10+, HLG and others.  The 24” OBM-X241 is for QC and HDR production monitoring. Both utilize native 4096×2160 LCD panels with a maximum HDR luminance of 1000 nits.

According to Postium, the unique dual cell panel structure of the OBM-X310 allows for light output modulation at an individual pixel level. This panel structure eliminates pixel light leakage to adjacent pixels that often results in a “halo effect” and allows for uniform gradation of grayscale and colour with black level details that are “highly accurate and free from visible artifacts related to imprecise local-dimming pixel luminance errors.”

3D LUT import is supported for colour matching between individual displays as well as using customized ‘looks’ that have been created in third party color-grading applications.  In addition, the OBM-X series has built-in Camera Log to Linear conversion LUTs from various camera manufacturers including Log-C, C-Log / S-Log2, S-Log3 / J-Log1 and more. The LUT-converted content can then be output to downstream devices/monitors via the SDI loop out.

“The single biggest challenge in monitoring HDR onset is the current limitations in terms of the panel technology,” says Wes Donahue, VP, Sales & Marketing,  Eridita Marketing. “With HDR being based on Rec. 2020 colour space and demanding minimum and maximum simultaneous contrast requirements, there are very few technologies available that can render both the colour gamut and the contrast and luminance range required. No monitor can currently achieve all of the Rec. 2020 colour space. And only a few can handle the luminance and contrast required for true HDR.”

He highlights that Konvision has announced a new 31” OLED monitor – the KUM-3110S - that will reach more than 99% of DCI-P3 and 80% of BT2020. It has a max luminance of 540 nits. So, while it cannot reach the top luminance levels required for color grading, with a 1,000,000:1 ultra-high contrast ratio and 0.0005 nit deep. “It can reproduce incredible black details – which should make it very useful for on-set HDR monitoring,” he adds. The new OLED should be shipping in 4Q21.

 In addition, Konvision’s KXM-3120QD is a mastering 8K monitor for a wide range of HDR workflows. The 31" monitor has a dual-layer LCD panel which offers 1000 Nits brightness and 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio. Its equipped with 4x12G-SDI inputs and built-in HDMI 2.0 interface, quad link supports up to 4x 4K 2160 60P and supports various cameras’ HDR Log curves and SDR Log curves, S-Log, C-Log and Log C.