Ikegami was showing a new DCI 4K (4096×2160) monitor with HDR capabilities. It has a 31” diagonal and is based upon LCD technology. It will have quad 3G and 12G SDI inputs, plus HD/3G SDI and HDMI 2 inputs. The company plans to have it offer wide color gamut but no specification was offered.
Two versions will be offered: with and without HDR. The HDR version will have to have a direct backlight with dimmable zones, but no details were available. It will support a peak luminance of 2000 cd/m² however , potentially making it suitable for grading. This was shown in the booth in an HDR/SDR side by side demo.
The monitor will support the PQ EOTF as well as Ikegami’s inverse on the iLog – its camera capture gamma (OETF) curve.
The company was also showing its UHK 430 camera that is coming soon. This is a 3-chip 4K broadcast camera that will support its iLog OETF, which can go to 1200% of the standard gamma curve luminance levels. It will also support HLG and inverse PQ. HD models with the same capability (HDK 97C and 95C) will be offered too, allowing broadcaster to consider acquiring and processing HDR in 1080 resolution.
Analyst Comment
As mentioned in our report on Sony (Sony Debuts New 55” Professional Monitor), in broadcast monitors, any kind of image processing in the monitor has to be considered very carefully. That makes using a dimmable backlight is a real challenge as changes in the image may come from the backlight and can mislead users. That is why, as far as I know, Sony has not used dynamic backlights in its studio monitors so far. Eventually, I suspect, this will be solved by having formal test patterns and requirements for such monitors. (BR)
