Leader Electronics has chosen BVE 2018 as the UK launch platform for a major addition to the feature set of its LV5490 4K high dynamic range waveform monitor. The instrument now provides full direct support for ITU-R BT.2408-0 ‘Operational practices in HDR television production’. Published in October 2017, the ITU document provides initial guidance to help ensure optimal and consistent use of the Hybrid Log-Gamma and Perceptual Quantizer techniques specified in ITU-R BT.2100.
The LV5490 4K/HDR waveform monitor supports preconfigured settings to ensure the reference levels are correct for both PQ and HLG production. A 75 per cent HLG or 58 per cent PQ marker is also displayed automatically on the waveform monitor graticule. This represents the reference level, enabling the vision engineer to ensure that any object placed at the centre of interest within a scene occupies the appropriate signal range and that sufficient headroom is reserved for specular highlights. Also now added to the LV5490 is system gamma Optical-Optical Transfer Function functionality for HLG and Sony’s SR-Live for HDR production technology.
Leader’s LV5490 offers 4K, UHD, 3G, HD and SD test and measurement features in a half-rack-width by a 4U portable unit with a full high definition 9-inch front-panel monitor. It provides all the capabilities needed to implement the full potential of high dynamic range in both HD and UHD. Signal displays such as video waveform, chroma levels, colour vectors, bar-graphs, noise, video patterns, quad-3G phase, data tables, camera picture output, colour chart, multichannel audio levels and surround-sound vectors can be viewed simultaneously in a user-customisable layout. If a specific element requires detailed attention, this can be selected quickly for viewing at higher resolution or full-screen. The Leader CINELITE HDR toolset also comes as a standard feature of the LV5490, allowing easy assessment of relative exposure and overall luminance during production. A focus-assist option allows highly accurate on-set adjustment of camera focus to match the ability of 4K and UHD formats to handle very precise image detail.
Additionally on show at BVE 2018 will be the LV5333 portable 3G waveform monitor. Designed for HD and SD signal monitoring, this now supports five methods of displaying log-based gamma curves: Hybrid Log Gamma, Dolby PQ, Arri Log-C, Canon C-Log and Sony S-Log3.
Hybrid Log Gamma (ITU.BT2100): Jointly developed by the BBC and NHK, HLG is an open royalty-free approach which specifies the system parameters essential for extended image dynamic range television including system colourimetry, signal format and digital representation. The LV5333 comes preconfigured with HLG presets of 50 per cent and 75 per cent reference. This reference can be adjusted to satisfy productions requirements.
Dolby PQ (SMPTE ST 2084): Developed by Dolby PQ is a license-based proprietary standard. It uses SMPTE 2084 EOTF and can go as high as 10 000 nits peak brightness. The LV5333 comes preconfigured with PQ presets of 1 000, 4 000 and 10 000 nits reference. This reference can be adjusted to satisfy productions requirements.
Log-C: Used by Arri when encoding images on its cameras. Log-C curve is a set of curves for different exposure indices. The LV5333 supports exposure indices of 200, 400, 800 and 1 600.
C-Log: Used by Canon when encoding images on its cameras.
S-Log3: Developed by Sony this being introduced across the company’s range of broadcast and professional cameras and monitors.
Compatible with over 20 HD-SDI/SD-SDI formats, the Leader LV5333 is designed for deployment in studios or technical areas, or attached to a camera tripod. The integral 6.5-inch XGA TFT LCD screen can also be used to display video signal waveform, vectorscope or the video image. Cinelite, Cinezone, histogram, gamma display, gamut and level error display functions are included as standard. Additional features of the LV5333 include cable length display, external timing display and field frequency deviation display. SDI-embedded audio can be extracted and two user-selectable audio channels sent as an AES/EBU stream to a BNC output. The levels of up to eight audio channels can be checked using on-screen bar displays. User-configurable multi-display combinations within the LV5333 allow easy inspection of signal parameters. Full-screen displays can alternatively be selected to allow a detailed review of specific elements.
Leader Electronics Corporation develops, manufactures and sells electronic measuring instruments in Japan and internationally. Leader products, including 4K HDR waveform monitors and rasterizers, are specified for research, development, broadcast, production and service applications. Since the company’s establishment in 1954, Leader has contributed innovative measurement technology for sectors of industry such as home appliances, television broadcasting and mobile telephones.
Progressing with measurement technology as the basis of its business. Leader has evolved its products and supporting services to meet the demands of each era and will continue to pursue various forms of value provision into the future. Leader test instruments are high-precision, reliable, easy to use, compact and accountant-friendly. Leader innovations include the world’s first 4K waveform monitor (the award-winning LV5490) plus the intuitive Cinelite and Cinezone monitoring tools which allow creatives to make optimal use of available dynamic range and luminance.
Manufacturing quality is built into Leader products every step of the way. Only the finest parts are used for optimum reliability. At each production run, sub-assemblies are separately tested before they are integrated into the finished product which is then further tested. Less than 0.1 per cent of all Leader products made are ever returned for warranty repair or adjustment.
