Garnering some serious attention on the NAB showfloor is the new Dolby PRM-4200 Professional Reference Monitor, which the company claims couples the accuracy of CRT monitors with the versatility of flat-panel displays.
The new 42-inch monitor is the world’s first LCD-based video reference display that, according to Dolby, accurately reveals true and deep black levels with higher contrast across the entire color spectrum, and provides an unprecedented luminance range and level. It uses a backlight comprised of red, green, and blue LEDs that are modulated individually on a frame-by-frame basis. The LCD panel is also modulated in realtime as part of the dual-modulation process, and the whole thing is expected to be available later this year.
“From broadcast audio to digital cinema, Dolby looks at the critical points in the entertainment chain that will ultimately deliver a compelling entertainment experience for the audience,” said Jason Power, Senior Director of Marketing, Broadcast, Dolby Laboratories. “In creating our new professional reference monitor, we took a really close look at the video side of content creation and leveraged our expertise in imaging and manufacturing to produce a true next-generation reference display.”
Other key features of the Dolby PRM-4200 Professional Reference Monitor include: extended dynamic range, making it the first reference monitor that is capable of displaying the dynamic range that the latest digital cinema cameras can capture; DCI/P3 (digital cinema) colour gamut support, that provides the ability to perform cinema color grading without the use of a digital projector; colour accuracy across all luminance levels; and the ability to emulate any other display device so all content preparation and quality evaluation can be done on one monitor.
