Had a chance to check out the Canon DP-V3010 4K Reference Display last night. It was, hands down, the nicest small screen monitor I’ve ever seen. If you’re one of the people who say “4K resolution doesn’t matter, blah, blah, blah…” I offer this monitor as proof that it does matter, regardless of display size, and it is very relevant if the panel on the display is nice enough.

Anyway, It’s a 30 inch monitor and does 4K DCI (4096×2160) as well as Quad HD Resolutions (as well as a high quality upscale for 2K and 1080). Color is beautiful… and is DCI-P3 accurate as well as Rec-709 accurate.

It’s just an amazing looking monitor… and if you’ve been confused about what the deal is with 4K and why it matters, well, I think this is the starting point for a convincing argument

Anyway, there’s only one tiny problem with it… it’s $30,000.

A slightly smaller problem is that it doesn’t take HDMI… you’re going to need to run a Quad SDI signal to it to run the 4K into it… meaning you’re going to need either the AJA IO 4K or BMD Ultrastudio 4K to really work with it.

So… basically… it’s expensive and still a bit complicated… but it also looks awesome.

As soon as the price point for a monitor like this becomes manageable (let’s say 5 grand), and HDMI becomes a legit option, 4K will officially become the standard we’re all working in.

Regular HD monitors started this way too… the good ones were really overpriced and complicated at first… so this is nothing new. It’s just a matter of time.

Anyway, for more info on the monitor, go here:

http://www.usa.canon.com/cusa/professional/products/reference_displays/4K_displays/dp_v3010

It’s worth checking out if you ever get the chance to see one in the wild.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Sam Mestman, FCPWORKS.

This blog post contains the personal musings of FCPWORKS’ Workflow Architect, Sam Mestman. Sam’s also a regular writer for fcp.co and MovieMaker Magazine, teaches post workflow at RED’s REDucation classes, and is the founder and CEO of We Make Movies, a film collective in Los Angeles and Toronto which is dedicated to making the movie industry not suck. If you’ve got any FCP X questions or need some help putting together a system, drop him an email at workflow@fcpworks.com and you can follow him on Facebook or Twitter at @FCPWORKS.

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