Sony is now shipping the $24,999 TRIMASTER HX 4K 30.5″ BVM-HX3110 professional monitor to filmmakers. This monitor was announced in 2023 to replace the popular BVM-X300 4K OLED monitor ( ). The HX3110 is the one of the few models on the planet that can compete with the liquid-cooled Dolby Pulsar monitor for displaying HDR images with exceptional image quality by displaying HDR images with 4,000 nits brightness.
HDR and limitations of OLED monitors
Filmmakers need an accurate 4K grading monitor to edit and deliver 4K masters to streaming services like Netflix, DCPs for theaters, and 4K grading monitors for televisionDCPs for theaters and UHD masters for 4K UHD Blu-ray discs. The growing popularity of Dolby Vision high dynamic range in movie theaters has increased the demands on these calibration monitors. In addition to a wide color gamut and accurate colors, a minimum brightness of 1000 nits is required. Studies by Dolby suggest that at least 10,000 nits are needed to match the human eye’s response to real-world scenes.
Only a handful of monitors are capable of serving as Dolby Vision HDR mastering monitors, such as the popular Sony BVM-X300 OLED monitor https://pro.sony/ue_US/products/broadcastpromonitors/bvm-x300-v2 capable of displaying 1 000 nits. OLED displays are not able to continuously display high-brightness images without burning out, which occurs when images remain unchanged for an extended period of time. A shadow of what was displayed remains even when the image changes, and this problem occurs more quickly at high brightness. Like OLED smartphones, X300 monitors may experience “burn-in” after two years of use.
Innovations Sony BVM-HX3100
The BVM-HX3110 uses technologies shared with this year’s Bravia 9 HDR TVs to achieve the new 4,000 nits brightness standard for Sony monitors and TVs. An LCD panel can display images at high brightness levels without burning out, but its structure allows light leaks and produces dark gray blacks. Sony is tackling this problem in several ways with the HX3110. The first is the use of dual LCD panels, one monochrome and the other color, according to a Sony representative at Cinegear LA 2024. The second is the use of a full-array backlight that only illuminates areas specific areas that need light, unlike a traditional backlight which illuminates the entire screen from the back of the LCD. The third is an advanced anti-reflective surface coating.
Visually, the range of contrast between the darkest shadows and specular highlights results in a delicious image vibrancy that exceeds what Sony’s reference OLED monitors can produce. Players who simply want to enjoy HDR movies at 4,000 nits can purchase a 4K UHD Blu-ray movie mastered at 4,000 nits, a Sony 4K HDR Blu-ray player, and a Sony Bravia 9 4K HDR HDTV.
Features and specifications
As a $25,000 monitor, the HX-3110 comes with all the expected features and connectors, including on-screen scopes, 3D LUTs with HDR/SDR conversion, quad view input image using different display/LUT/transfer settings, and IP support for ST2110, NMOS, SNMP and much more.
The display has been designed to maintain stable picture performance up to 45 degrees off-axis, allowing multiple directors to collaborate from a single monitor during editing. An optional license for high-speed pixel response allows the monitor to be used for sports and other scenes with reduced motion blur.
The 30.5-inch display has a resolution of 4096 x 2160 pixels, 1.07 billion colors, a panel frequency of 120 Hz, an adjustable color temperature of 5K to 10K, and support for BT.2020/BT.709/EBU/SMPTE-C/DCI-P3/S-Gamut3/S-Gamut3.Cine color space. The monitor weighs 64 pounds (29 kg) and measures 30 3/4 x 20 1/2 x 9 1/8 inches (77.8 x 51.9 x 23.0 cm).
