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Sony PVM-740 OLED Monitor

Think of all the technological advances that are perpetually “just around the corner.”  Nuclear fusion energy comes to mind, as do flying cars and Cool-Whip that tastes like the real thing.  I guess that list has just gotten shorter, though; I have a real, functioning Organic Light Emitting Diode video monitor in my hands!  The Sony PVM-740 7.4” field/studio monitor was pretty popular at NAB 2010, and the potential advantages of OLED technology have had a lot of us drooling since it was announced about…what, 15 years ago?  (KIDDING.)

Here’s a good textbook definition of what separates OLED from the much more common LCD technology, courtesy of Wikipedia:

“...OLED displays do not require a backlight to function. Thus, they can display deep black levels and can be thinner and lighter than LCD panels. OLED displays also naturally achieve higher contrast ratios than either LCD screens using cold cathode fluorescent lamps (CCFLs) or the more recently developed LED backlights in conditions of low ambient light such as dark rooms.”

Think about that for a second - basically, instead of having to be back- or front-lit, OLEDs create their own light. When they are on, they are on, but when they are off, they are really OFF.  Black levels - or the lack of them - have always been my top gripe about LCD monitors. (Of course, not enough to haul a tube monitor around on shoots anymore.)  Blowing a backlight through what is - even when “black” - a semi-light-porous screen means that panel will never be totally “black.”  Prove it to yourself - turn on your flatscreen LCD, feed it a black signal, close the curtains and turn off all the lights in the room.  Gray will be your reward.  The PVM-740 passed the black-room test with, well, flying blackness.  It might as well not have been turned on at all.  An impressive start to be sure, but…

In the real world I rarely work in a totally black room (it just doesn’t make good TV.)  While the PVM-740’s 10-bit 960x540-pixel screen makes a stunningly lifelike picture, when set up at the preset levels (helpfully noted by little triangles on their respective menu pages) the monitor was just, well,  too dark.  When I fed SMPTE color bars into the PVM-740, I had to turn up the brightness several notches before any of the PLUGE bars even made an appearance.  Of course, adjustments like this are only opinion unless your monitor includes a “blue-only” mode -  which, happily, the PVM-740 does.  Other features include very low power consumption at 27 watts, a Sony V-mount battery plate on the back, and a waveform monitor that can be displayed on any of the four corners of the monitor.  Inputs include HDMI, HD- and SD-SDI, and composite video, and the PVM-740 can even accept 3Gb/sec HD-SDI as well.  And if your SDI signal has embedded audio, up to eight channels can be displayed on the screen.

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It’s really great and smart monitor

Posted by precision2010  on  07/10  at  12:43 AM

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ah so nice and lovely, i always love all Sony products but i guess this one is soooooo sexy :p

Posted by MoviesBlaster  on  07/10  at  03:53 PM

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Our PVM-740 is set to D65 (6500k) with EBU colour space (as recommended for PAL Australia zone) but it appears as if the camera’s LCD is default to 9300k as it’s much cooler. Even changing 740’s colour space to OFF (the panel’s own colour space) didn’t change things markedly. I also tried SMPTE-C, ITU-709.

It doesn’t seem right, because the LCD panels on the cameras are pretty accurate - at least in terms of what I see playing a finished DVD on our 42” Sony Bravia displays.

Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)  on  08/20  at  09:46 PM

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