Sony shipping $34K BVM-HX3110 premium 4K HDR grading monitor with 4,000 nits maximum brightness for filmmakers

Sony is now shipping the $34K 30.5” BVM-HX3110 TRIMASTER HX 4K Professional Master Monitor to filmmakers. The monitor was announced in 2023 as a replacement for the popular BVM-X300 4K OLED monitor. The HX3110 is one of the few models on the planet that can match the liquid-cooled Dolby Pulsar monitor in displaying HDR images with a brightness of 4,000 nits.

HDR and limitation of OLED monitors

Filmmakers require an accurate 4K grading monitor to edit and deliver 4K masters to streaming services such as Netflix, DCPs for movie theaters, and UHD masters for 4K UHD Blu-ray discs. The growing popularity of high-dynamic range Dolby Vision in theaters has increased the requirements of these grading monitors. Besides a wide color gamut and accurate colors, a minimum brightness of 1,000 nits is required. Studies by Dolby suggest that at least 10,000 nits is needed to match the response of the human eye to real-world scenes.

Only a handful of monitors are capable of serving as a Dolby Vision HDR mastering monitor, such as the popular Sony BVM-X300 OLED monitor capable of 1,000 nits. OLED displays are unable to continuously display images at high-brightness without burn-in, which occurs when images remain unchanged for an extended period. A shadow of what has been displayed remains even when the image changes, and this problem occurs more quickly with higher brightness. Like OLED smartphones, X300 monitors can experience burn-in after two years of use.

Sony BVM-HX3100 innovations

The BVM-HX3110 employs technologies shared with this year’s Sony Bravia 9 flagship HDR HDTVs to achieve the new 4,000 nits brightness standard for Sony grading monitors and TVs. An LCD panel can show images at high brightnesses without burn-in, but the structure allows light leakage and results in dark-gray blacks. Sony addresses this in several ways with the HX3110. The first is the use of dual-LCD panels, one monochrome and one color, according to a Sony representative at Cinegear LA 2024. The second is the use of a full-array backlight that lights up only specific areas that need light, unlike a traditional backlight that lights the entire display from behind the LCD. The third is an advanced anti-reflection surface coating.

Visually, the contrast range between the darkest shadows and peak specular highlights results in delicious image vibrancy exceeding what Sony OLED reference monitors can produce. Readers who simply want to enjoy 4,000 nit HDR films can buy 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 $34K monitor, the HX-3110 comes with all the expected features and connectors, including on-screen scopes, 3D LUTs with HDR/SDR conversion, quad-view of input image using different display/LUT/transfer settings, and IP support for ST2110, NMOS, SNMP and more.

The display has been designed to maintain stable picture performance up to 45 degrees off-axis, so multiple filmmakers can collaborate off one monitor during edits. 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” display has a 4,096 x 2,160 pixel resolution, 1.07 billion colors, 120 Hz panel rate, adjustable 5K to 10K color temperature, and BT.2020/BT.709/EBU/SMPTE-C/DCI-P3/S-Gamut3/S-Gamut3.Cine color space support. 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).