The Pioneer of the LCD Monitors Transvideo
By Alexander Markelov

The progress in the field of LCD monitor production occurs very rapidly. About ten years ago the Transvideo Company produced the first in the world professional LCD monitor for the needs of TV and cinema production. This product was quite corresponding to the requirements of the television market of that time, what, obviously, provoked the interest to the company and demand for its production. In the following years the thin-film transistor technology, which allowed to increase the quality characteristics and construction of the LCD monitors, came to change the usual LCD technology. The made the strongest competition to the electron-beam tubes. However the LCD monitor had their technical problems connected to the fact, that, actually, they are the digital facilities, capable to form more qualified and stable image, comparing to the monitors on CRT. But in spite of the development of digital technologies, till recently that advantage stayed unrealized, as the LCD monitors connected to the signal source through the analogous cutoff point as the analogous CRT monitors. The double transformation of the digital signal occurred at first to the analogous form in the digital adapter and then back already inside of the monitor itself. As the bigger number of the TV facilities was equipped with the digital outlet an opportunity to co-ordinate digital and analogous entries and outlets appeared. That was exactly when the Transvideo Company made not only adapters for the digital video entry, but also the row of adapters for the other type signal. So there appeared the module 6" monitor, which had the changeable adapters for operation with any of the signals: composite/RGB/YPrPb/YC/VGA/SDI 270 Mbit/sec. Soon after that there appeared other models with entries of the different type video signals.

Without stopping the Transvideo Company enlarged the specter of produced products and took the position of the leader in that market segment. The needs of the cinema production have been prompting the developers to create the small and inexpensive transformers and transmitters of the video signal for a long time. The main assignment of these facilities was the provision of the video control of the filming process for the director. For that the small transistor is set closely to the source of the video signal and the transmitter is set directly on the Transvideo monitor. Having the monitor with the autonomous power supply with him, the director has an opportunity to move easily in the filming are. He can 'freeze' on the monitor screen some shots, show to the actors or operators their mistakes, say the desires. Such a way of work is now standard in the serious cinema production

During the last time the very fast development of the electronic cinematography can be mentioned. However the principles and methods of art filming in electron as well as in the classical variant generally stay the same.

That is why the row of the new electronic facilities produced by Transvideo for the classical cinema, for example, Frame line Generator (generator of shot frames and marks) or the format 4:3/16:9/1:2,35 transformer, are successfully used in the electron cinematography.

Without the marking of shot (field of image on the screen of additional monitor) it is almost impossible to film the art movies. However, sometimes the necessary marks are made on the monitor screen with the help of tape or just drawn by the pen. These methods. of course, also work but it is much more comfortable to use Frame line generator.

The generator of the shot frames and marks can be used in the monitors of any kind. It represent on the display up to three additional frames, one crossing and one marker. The frame brightness vary from white to black color. Besides, they can be continuos or dotted. The marker has the shape of the double cross, square or two perpendicular lines and is used for the selection of some specific spot on the image. That allows significant simplifying the process of the image formation in the shot. More over, it is easy to determine the area for the titles, subtitles, etc.

The chosen settings are saved in the electron memory of the facility, which doesn't depend on the external electric power supply or from the condition of powering battery.

Transvideo mudular 6" monitor

The line of offered Transvideo monitors starts from 4" and ends by 15". Each one of these models has few variants, defined by the specific of application. That can be a monitor with increased screen brightness or with increased resolution capacity. It is obvious that all these monitors can operate in the PAL, SECAM or NTSC systems. Depending on the fastening system and exploitation condition the are divided they are divided on the onchamber, studio or blocks of monitors for rack-mount. Besides, there exist the monitors for aviation and cosmonautics, underwater filming and other applications.

The smallest between the professional monitors is 4". It has green or black-and-white screen and is used for the set on the Stedicam system, in general. On the body there are two handles of brightness and contrast regulation. This is necessary and enough for the special applications. The high brightness of the screen (450 cd/m2) provides an opportunity to work even in sunny weather without the sun protection blind. It has the firm body, high shock proof and vibrostability, small weight (350 gr) and small overall dimentions (131x76x37 mm). If turn the monitor body 'up-side-down', then the function of automatic image rotation on the screen operates, and it gets into the normal orientation. The wide diapason of working temperatures (-30...+70° C) allows operating in cold as well as hot weather. The viewing angles are 130° horizontally and 105° vertically. The power tension is 10...30 V of continuous current or 90...270 V alternating current.

Rainbow II 5" multisystem monitor

5" Rainbow II is the multisystem (PAL, SECAM, NTSC) monitor with full digital processing of the signal. This model has the useful underscan function. Its use gives an opportunity to see the full area of the video shot on the screen. The display has the high brightness (350 cd/m2). Besides there is the function of image rotation horizontally and vertically (hand and automatically). The resolution is 320x240 pixels. The working temperature is -30...+70° C. The power tension is 10...30 V of continuous current at the power consumption of 12 Wt. There are video entries: 2xBNC, 1xHirose6.

This monitor is very reliable and comfortable for the application in the set of TV journalist.

6" Cinemonitor II was projected especially for the professional cinema production. It has relatively big size to look as the usual monitor, but still it is relatively small to have an opportunity for the set on the handle of the video- or TV camera. As all the Transvideo monitors, it has the high quality LCD matrix, protected with the special tempered glass, which doesn't decrease the parameters of the viewing angles and color rendition of the image. The display operates in three conditions: colored, black-and-white, green screen.

6" Cinemonitor II for cinema production

Except the 6" Cinemonitor II monitor permits the setting 'up-side-down', has the function of image rotation horizontally and vertically. It remembers three different settings of the image parameters. These opportunities are highly useful when operating with the professional crane or during filming with Stedicam. As it was mentioned earlier, 6" monitor has the changing back walls-adapters. All that doesn't mean at all that it is reasonable to buy the whole set of these adapters. It is necessary just to take into account that it is possible to use any of them, which has the following outlets: composite, RGB, YCRCB, Y/C; four switching composite; VGA and composite; Thomson 1657; composite and digital of 270 Mbit/sec.

Additionally to all that these adapters provide the set of the accumulator batteries of the following types NP (Sony, IDXm, etc.), Anton Bauer, PAG on the monitor. As the majority of other monitors of Transvideo Company, 6" Modular monitor has the comfortable user's menu, keyboard blocking and lots of other useful functions. The screen resolution is 756x556, brightness is 200 cd/m2. Power tension is 10,5...15 V when power consumption is 12 Wt. Weight is 990 gr. The diapason of working temperatures is -10...+55° C.

As to the 8,4" and 10,4" monitors, so these models are assigned for the professionals, that have very high requirements to the picture quality in conditions of the screen scansion. These monitors have the widen user menu, electric setting of exploitation parameters, 'stop-shot' function and an opportunity of operation in different formats 4:3/16:9/1:2,35. The display matrixes have the widen from the achievable for the professional LCD technologies viewing angle of image: 140° horizontally and 110° vertically. On the back wall there is the big amount of different video entries: composite, RGB, YCRCB, YC and digital of 270 Mbit/sec. The resolution capacity of the monitor is 640x480 when the screen brightness is 300 cd/m2.

Transvideo monitor module

For the studio application on the monitor body the signal lamp "record-air" is provided. On the base of the monitors of 6" and 8" for the TV studios the monitor block, which are set in the standard studio 19" bodies, are produced. In general technical characteristics of these products are analogous to the prototypes. The use of such block-panels with three 6" or two 8,4" LCD monitors in the block are extremely comfortable. They take little place, differentiate in high brightness and clearness, do not warm up and have very small power consumption.

For the filming connected with the use of the high-definition television cameras, the Transvideo Company had created the 15" monitor

15" high definition monitor

Transvideo monitors use example

It is necessary to mention, that all the row of the Transvideo LCD monitors has the big number of additional accessories. These are the light protecting screens (blinds) and different bracing devices, and the cases for rain protection, boxes for the underwater filming, etc. The power supply unit through the network for all the monitors are done for the tension of 90...267 V of alternating current with frequency of 47...440 Hz.

As you can see the specter of the proposed Transvideo LCD monitors is rather wide. These monitors been already chosen for and used by ABC News, CBS, CNN, NASA, Universal studios, etc. Now the choice is yours.

"InnKo Opto" Company.

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