D-Town TV (www.dtowntv.com) is a weekly podcast featuring Scott Kelby and Matt Kloskowski with the coolest tips and tricks out there for Nikon digital SLR cameras. Brought to you by KelbyTraining.com. This week Scott and Matt cover *The When, How, and Why behind the Color Space setting on your camera (Adobe RGB or sRGB) * Some tips on using the INFO display on the back of your camera* A look at battery grips and where they come in handy* Some D-90 tips for photos and video

Color space is something most people never have to deal with, and for good reason: like the fruit from that infamous tree, knowledge of color gamuts and response curves will eject you forever from the comfortable Eden of ignorance. Media professionals, however, like photographers, printers, and effects artists, absolutely have to know (and use) the differences between the popular color spaces, and one of the components for doing so is a display which supports those color spaces.

Why a pro would want to use a 42″ 1080p HDTV instead of a nice color-checked monitor is beyond me, but I suppose it can’t hurt JVC to offer such a device. Unfortunately, the fact that it doesn’t entirely succeed in its mission may be a death blow, as exacting professionals won’t exactly flock to a first-generation product that doesn’t do what it says.

I can be picky about colors sometimes, but since I distribute my images and media on the internet (as you likely do), that means fidelity is degraded and color space data cannot be relied upon to be used by another’s display or browser. We’re okay with that because we’re just doing it for fun, but if you’re a professional photographer and your shot is going to be on a billboard or displayed in a bunch of stores, your income depends on the quality of that image. Therefore color space is essential for them and their display better be capable of showing it. If there is, say, a lack of saturation in the greens, as there is in this JVC display, that means that it’s unfit for duty. You or I might use it for a year and never notice, but it’s their business to see it and I guarantee they will.

Add to this chromatic inadequacy the asking price of over $2300, and you’re looking at an expensive proposition that doesn’t entirely follow through. It doesn’t mean the entire concept is flawed, but I don’t see many professionals shelling out for something like this when they could be picking up a new lens, a better tripod head, or a tried-and-true monitor. Hopefully we’ll see more of these “color-accurate” TVs coming out, but I’d skip this introductory generation.

JVC today announced a new brand for LCD TVs in Japan [JP]. The first model of the badly named XIVIEW series is the LT-42WX7, a full HD display sized at 42 inches. JVC said they first want to target business customers with the new model, possibly followed by XIVIEWs for home use.

The new TV covers 100% of the sRGB color space and is able to reproduce 96% of the Adobe RGB color space. Other specs include a contrast ratio of 4,000:1, 450cd/m² brightness, 178° viewing angle and a 5.5ms response time. Buyers also get 2×10W speakers and 3HDMI interfaces.

Sales in Japan start at the beginning of next month. The LT-42WX7 will be priced at $3,700. JVC is yet to say if the XIVIEW TVs will ever make it outside the Japanese market.

Some people like big cars, some like big guns, and some like big monitors. If you’re a big monitor person, this 43-inch curved LCD with a 32:10 aspect ratio from NEC is right up your alley.

It’s wildly expensive at $8,000 but that just means you’ll see it in trendy shops, web design firms, and hedge funds all over the place. Actual specs include an 2880 x 900 resolution (double WXGA), 200 cd/m2 brightness, 10,000:1 contrast ratio, “wide color gamut with 100% coverage of sRGB and 99.3% coverage of Adobe RGB,” DVI/HDMI inputs, and built-in USB hub.

To put that in perspective, two $99 19-inch LCDs next to each other would give you the same resolution. But you don’t get the curve or the giant screen. That costs an extra $7,800 and “eliminates bezel and screen gap issues for increased productivity and decreased frustration.”

The NEC CRV43 will be available in July.

Full press release:

CHICAGO – June 4, 2009 – NEC Display Solutions of America, a leading provider of commercial LCD displays and projectors, today announced the 43″ NEC CRV43 ultra-widescreen specialty desktop display, designed for use in applications such as professional graphics, higher education, government, financial, command & control and home office.

The NEC CRV43 curved display can be seen at InfoComm 09 on June 17-19 at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Fla.

The unique NEC CRV43 curved display provides a much wider field of view and greater dynamic range with its double WGXA resolution (32:10 aspect ratio). The user’s taskbar is extended natively and setup is made easy to configure with one input. These features make it an ideal solution for simulation, digital imaging and command & control.

“The NEC CRV43 curved display provides an excitingly immersive viewing experience for any type of user,” said Keith Yanke, Director of Product Marketing for NEC Display Solutions. “Its lightning-fast response time coupled with its seamless curved screen provides enhanced comfort, decreased frustration and increased productivity. The monitor eliminates the bezel and screen gap issues that have complicated users’ work environment for years.”

The NEC CRV43 curved display includes the following features:
* Seamless curved screen, which eliminates bezel and screen gap issues for increased productivity and decreased frustration (according to Center for Human-Computer Interaction – Shupp et al, presented at Graphics Interface 2006)
* 2880 x 900 double WXGA native resolution
* 200 cd/m² brightness
* 0.02ms Rapid Response
* 10,000:1 contrast ratio
* Wide color gamut with 100% coverage of sRGB and 99.3% coverage of Adobe RGB
* Single link DVI-D and HDMI 1.3 input connectors
* USB 2.0 connectivity for easy use of peripherals
* Front panel controls
* On Screen Display (OSD®) and software-based GUI, which enables advanced display control options

The NEC CRV43 curved display is backed by a 3-year parts and labor warranty including the backlight and will be available for July 2009 shipment with estimated street price of $7,999.

[via Akihabara]

By Shane McGlaun

It hasn’t been too long now since HDMI specification 1.3 came on the market and it’s already time for another specification to drop. I am glad to see that the HDMI Licensing company doesn’t sit on its laurels when it comes to adding new features to HDMI.

The full specification is due to be available for download no later than June 30, 2009. Until we can see the full specification, we do know a few of the features that HDMI 1.4 will offer. One of the most interesting is an HDMI Ethernet channel that allows HDMI connected devices to communicate at 100Mbps without needing another cable. An audio return channel is also featured in the spec along with support for 3D over HDMI.

Supported resolution gets a boost with support for up to 4096 x 2160 at 24hz and 3840 x 2160 at 24/25/30Hz. The new spec supports expanded color spaces as well like Adobe RGB. A new micro HDMI connector is also part of the spec aimed at making 1080p connections available for portable devices. The new connector is 50% smaller than the existing HDMI Mini connector is.

[ HDMI.org ]

Announced back in January at CES, JVC announced today that the LT-42WX70 LCD “monitor” is now shipping for $2400. JVC is marketing the 42-inch LCD 1080p/120Hz HDTV in the hopes that it will snag photographers using a DSLR who might be shopping around for a high-end “monitor”. Sure, it displays 96 percent of the Adobe RGB spectrum and includes 52 image quality tweaks, but do photographers really need a 42-inch “monitor”?

WAYNE, NJ, May 26, 2009 – Establishing a new category in flat panel TV design, JVC today announced the availability of a super slim LCD TV monitor that features a color space that is wider than a typical HDTV’s.

The new JVC Xiview LT-42WX70 is a 42-inch class (42.02 inches diagonal) 120Hz 1080p LCD TV monitor that targets digital imaging professionals and enthusiasts using high-end digital SLR cameras, allowing them for the first time to see the subtle colors, details and textures of their images faithfully reproduced.

The monitor features expanded color space capacity encompassing 100 percent of HDTV broadcasting’s (sRGB.904) color space and a coverage rate of 96 percent for Adobe RGB — a color space for still photographs taken on high-definition digital SLR cameras — to provide accurate reproduction of both video and still photographs. The LT-42WX70 also features 52 picture-quality adjustment properties for tweaking both still and video images source-by-source to the exact colors and tones the user prefers. In addition, JVC’s GENESSA Picture Engine produces video images without blur, color bleed or noise for clear images with smooth movement.

In addition to its advanced display technology, the LT-42WX70 offers JVC’s groundbreaking design. The super slim monitor measures just 1-5/8 inches deep and is supported by an elegant, curved pedestal-style stand and the rear of the monitor is finished in metallic silver without any visible vents or assembly screws, making it ideal for settings where the rear of the set is visible.

Flexible High Technology from JVC
Depending on the source signal – video or stills – the user selects a color mode from among Wide (the TV’s color space), Normal (ITU-R BT.709; HDTV standards), x.v.Color (xvYCC extended gamut), sRGB (same primaries as HDTV) and Adobe RGB. sRGB and Adobe RGB color spaces are exclusive for viewing digital still images. Digital photos taken using the Adobe RGB colors space and displayed on the LT-42WX70 in the Adobe RGB mode will be reproduced with colors faithful to the original.

The monitor encompasses 100 percent of the sRGB (which is equivalent to HDTV for video signals) color space and a coverage rate of 96 percent for Adobe RGB, allowing the LT-42WX70 to fully reproduce the deeper reds and bluish greens that are a characteristic of Adobe RGB color.

To fine-tune the color for different sources, the LT-42WX70 features 52 on-screen image-quality adjustment properties that allow fine-tuning of colors, tint, gamma, and more, which can be memorized per source for future use. For example, individual color management settings of red, yellow, green, cyan tints and colors, as well as skin tone tint can be adjusted on-screen using the supplied remote controller.

JVC’s Individual Gamma Adjust System calibrates each panel’s grayscale tones to gamma 2.2 to ensure displaying consistent and faithful colors regardless of the set or manufactured lot. This extra effort is put in because color consistency between the source and display are essential when reproducing photos that are taken on digital SLR cameras or video from different sources.

Breaking new ground in performance for both moving as well as still images
To further ensure the best possible video quality, the set uses JVC’s new high-quality GENESSA Picture Engine with 12-bit (x RGB = 36-bit) for truly accurate and natural colors. The Real Bit Driver processes in 12-bit, and so up-converts 8-bit HD broadcasting and DVD signals or 10-bit Blu-ray signals into 12-bit Deep Color signals, regardless of the quality of the source signal, to achieve videos with smoother gradation.

To compensate for color bleed and color drift caused by the gap in the source color format and the LCD’s color space, the Chromaticity Point Conversion Circuit in the engine matches the colors so they are deep, natural and accurate.

120HzClear Motion Drive III (100Hz for PAL video signals) in the engine reduces blurring on LCD TV, helping to make images with rapid movement clearer and smoother using a high-precision interpolation algorithm. The 3D real time, motion-estimated Hadamard noise reduction is applied to eliminate noise while suppressing blur. Picture signal frequencies are also divided into 16 sections and noise reduction performed per section to produce images without noise while maintaining the realism and sharpness of the original picture.

Slim and lightweight at just 1-5/8 inches deep, the LT-42WX70 features a stylish black leather-like texture on its slim bezel that also helps to reduce glare. The flat rear panel is completely finished in metallic silver without any visible assembly screws or vents, providing a clean, attractive design and allowing for greater placement flexibility. To support the monitor, the supplied stand has a center pillar that curves toward the front of the panel. The stand features a three-step height adjustment to further broaden installation possibilities and the TV can be easily removed from the stand for hanging from a ceiling or wall. In addition, the monitor comes equipped with a slim detachable stereo speaker module that runs along the bottom of the panel. If an external sound source is to be used, the speaker module can be removed, giving the monitor an even sleeker, cleaner appearance.

An intuitive graphical on-screen display is easy to use via the included remote, and touch-panel operation makes essential operations available at the front panel. The remote can control other devices connected to the display via HDMI CEC.

The ENERGY STAR 3.0 compliant LT-42WX70 features an array of connectors for video and still image viewing, including three HDMI CEC terminals, D-Sub 15pin with component video, and an audio input jack. This allows the user to easily perform various operations such as checking images by connecting directly to an SLR camera compatible with HDMI or component connector, editing stills on the large 42-inch screen by connecting it to a PC via a D-sub 15-pin, or even do a round of on-screen checks in accurate colors prior to outputting images to a high-resolution digital photo printer and thus save on expenses.

The monitor measures 39 x 28-1/4 x 1-5/8 inches (W x H x D) and weighs 26.4 pounds. Mounted on its stand, the total weight is 41.8 pounds and depth is 6-3/4 inches.

The JVC LT-42WX70 is available now and is priced at $2,399.95.

JVC