Sony bets on virtual production video wall market with Verona

Sony Crystal Led series grows with Verona, new range of panels designed to address the needs and challenges of virtual production studios to be presented at IBC 2023 (15-18 September).

The new Crystal Led Sony stand out for offering a new anti-reflective surface technology with deep black tones, which offers both intense blacks and a low level of glare. In turn, according to Sony, this greatly reduces the loss of contrast caused by light from adjacent LED monitors and studio lighting equipment. These two factors are key to significantly reducing the contrast difference between the image projected on the LED monitor and the actors standing in front of it on set, blending the virtual and the real in the most natural way.

The new Verona panels achieve 1500 cd/m2 brightness and a wide color gamut covering more than 97% of DCI-P3 to reproduce realistic shooting locations. They also employ high-performance LED driver ICs, which enable a refresh rate of up to 7680 Hz to significantly reduce camera scan line defects. Both the ZRD-VP15EB/23EB and ZRD-VP15EM/23EM models are available with a pixel pitch of P1.56 mm and P2.31 mm. They are also compatible with the industry’s most widely used controllers: the ZRD-VP15EB/23EB is powered by Brompton Technology’s Tessera SX40 processor, while the ZRD-VP15EM/23EM/23EM uses Megapixel’s Helios processing platform.

Designed by virtual production experts

To create Verona, Sony worked closely with industry creatives and took their feedback into account to create a very specific monitor that meets the specific needs of the film, television and theatrical community.

A new 1:1 cabinet has been designed to help production teams quickly, easily, and efficiently assemble a monitor to fit the desired stage size, with large easy-grip handles, locking pins for easy alignment and a lever-type locking mechanism that can be operated without tools.

Similarly, Verona not only accommodates curved, suspended, and stacked studio spaces, but the racks are now stronger to support more weight, allowing screens to be stacked up to 7 meters high. A surface technology and various protection mechanisms prevent damage to the surface and edges of the LEDs.

Sony, focused on virtual production

This release follows Sony’s latest announcement of the launch of a new virtual production toolset designed to address common virtual production issues and increase the quality of in-camera visual effects.

This set consists of a camera and monitor plug-in, and a color calibrator that uses Unreal Engine to combine the real and virtual worlds, achieving a synergy between hardware and software. All with the aim of designing, visualizing and perfecting virtual production shots during previsualization and before moving on to the virtual production phase.

In addition to film, television and commercials, Sony’s virtual production technology is expanding into live and corporate spaces to drive creativity for a wide range of content creation applications.