While looking on the broadcast Sony site for something else, I stumbled upon a FAQ for their LUMA LCD monitors:

http://bssc.sel.sony.com/BroadcastandBusiness/markets/10007/docs/LMDDealerKit_FAQ_Sheet.pdf

The beginning part is interesting reading for those considering LCD monitors. For those of you not familiar with my short rants on the new popularity of LCDs for production work, this might be good reading.

Executive summary is that even Sony admits that their Luma monitors are only good for so much. They still suggest CRTs for certain types of work (judging accurate shadow detail, etc). For a company replacing most of their professional CRT monitor line with LCDs, this was a surprising document.

Hey Nate,
I'm curious if you'd had experience with the higher-end LCDs, like:
http://www.ecinemasys.com/products/dcm23/dcm23_intro.htm ecinemasys - bills itself as a high-accuracy reference-grade monitor

or cinetal
http://www.cinetal.com/cine%2Dtal.com/

Martin Euredjian (the guy behind the ecinemasys LCD) claims that his LCD has lower black level than the Sony.

I'm not sure, but I think both were at the last NAB. Both should be at the next NAB.

Nope, I haven't. I know that the both purport to perform to a higher level than the Sonys. I have however seen quite a few ACD/HDLink combos, and they leave a bit to be desired in my opinion.

I'm sure the eCinema works just great, but if I had $15k in the budget for something like this, why wouldn't I just get a BVM-D series? I suppose entire facilities that spend lots of time and money keeping their CRTs tuned might be interested, but it does nothing for me personally...

Glenn, you a colorist?

The ecinema display should display full HD resolution, whereas the BVM CRT will not display the full resolution.

http://www.ecinemasys.com/products/edp100/edp100_lcd_vs_crt.htm

The ecinema monitor is also designed to compete with the $60k Sony BVM monitor (the largest one) [plus calibration device, which the dcm23 claims not to need].

The ecinema display should display full HD resolution, whereas the BVM CRT will not display the full resolution.

Doh. I forgot about that. That's important. Also, I'm sure they're working on doing the same thing with a 30" LCD for 2K DI work.

Don't get me wrong, I'm very interested in seeing LCDs develop for pro work. It's just that the "good" pro ones will be out of range for folks like me for a while, while older but still very useable HD CRTs will make their way into the used marketplace for some time to come.

I just picked up a BVM-D9H1U field monitor for cheap because the guy wanted to move up to the Panasonic 17" LCD for field work. Hey, I'll take that!