Most professionals will tell you that in order to check color and other critical elements of an HD image, you should use an expensive, CRT-based monitor (see HD/Studio 6/21/05, "WYSI 'Not' WYG"). Martin Euredjian begs to differ.
As founder and CEO of eCinema Systems, Euredjian began making "reference grade" flat-screen TFT LCD monitors about two years ago, after years as a colorist and telecine engineer at places like Laser Pacific and Hollywood Digital. He even designed screening rooms there. He also planned and built the all-digital production facilities at the Los Angeles Film School, with more than $12 million in equipment, in 1998.
It was this background that taught him the realities of what goes on in a screening room/colorist suite and what's needed to accurately analyze HD images. For example, Euredjian says the screening room or telecine environment is just as important as the display itself. Placing an LCD display on a red wall might not be a good idea, as that red background takes focus away from what the display is showing. Comfort can co-exist with optimum viewing conditions, he says, recommending that final room-design decisions be left to the facility's technicians, those who will work in the room on a daily basis, and the type of clients being served.
ECinema's latest product, the DCM 23, has been designed specifically for critical picture evaluation, including HD, DI and digital cinema color grading, as well as on-set reference viewing. Capable of displaying images at up to 72 frames per second, it was introduced at the IBC conference in September and since has gained considerable attention for the Hollywood post community. The DCM 23 can be purchased with an optional "surround field light" that emanates from behind the display to compensate for varying room conditions. He said the light gives the viewer's brain a correct gray reference.
With a 23-inch active picture size (diagonal) and response time of less than 15 ms, Euredjian said the DCM 23 is guaranteed to work for 50,000 hours, although it must be re-calibrated in about half that time. Based on a comparison with a similar-sized CRT reference HD monitor at IBC, images appeared visibly better, but the DCM 23 costs about two-thirds less. In fact, the roughly $16,000 price tag for the DCM 23 is equal to the cost of changing a CRT monitor's tube, which must be replaced about every two years. Then you have to pay extra to have an engineer re-calibrate it.
Euredjian is so confident in his new patent-pending custom LCD technology design that he guarantees identical color viewing from one DCM23 to another, whether between two color suites in a facility or in remote locations, or he'll take it back. The monitor provides accurate viewing of intra-field motion on interlaced standards, while video is displayed at true frame rates for all HD standards, including native 1080i and 720p signals.
With the rollout of the DCM23 and eCinema Systems SLS1 Surround Lighting System, film and video technology suppliers and service providers will be able to finally offer their clients a monitoring environment that elevates their capabilities and supercedes their existing CRTs.
Customers ordering or purchasing DCM23 systems will also be offered an upgrade path to dual-link, the DI-centric 4:4:4 color resolution video standard that will be available in 2006.
The Los Angeles-based eCinema Systems also offers the EDP100A, an HD-SDI-to-DVI converter using Apple's 23-inch Cinema Display; the EDP200 advanced 3D lookup table display processor; and the SLS1, a high-accuracy surround lighting system for post-production.
For more information, visit www.ecinemasys.com.