Sony announces new Crystal LED VERONA, VP focused LED displays

Sony has announced four new Crystal LED displays called VERONA, designed for Virtual Production applications, introducing market-leading features such as Deep Black and Anti-Reflection Surface Technology, to further support filmmakers and content creators.

The newly developed Deep Black and Anti-Reflection Surface Technology delivers both deep black image expression and low-reflection performance that greatly reduces contrast loss caused by light from adjacent LED displays and studio lighting equipment. This innovative technology significantly reduces the difference in contrast between the image projected on the LED display and the actor(s) performing in front of it on set – blending virtual and reality in the most natural way, reducing time and cost required for post-shooting adjustments.

In addition to the extraordinary black levels and low reflection, VERONA achieves a high brightness of 1,500 cd/m2* and wide colour gamut covering more than 97% of DCI-P3* to reproduce realistic shooting locations. It also employs high performance LED driver ICs, which enable high refresh rated up to 7,680Hz, to drastically reduces scanline artifacts on the camera. Both new models, the ZRD-VP15EB/23EB and ZRD-VP15EM/23EM, are available in P1.56mm and P2.31mm pixel pitch.

For VERONA, Sony worked closely with industry creatives and incorporated their feedback to create an extremely purpose-built display that addresses the specific needs of the film, TV, and staging community. A new 1:1 cabinet is designed to help production crews quickly, easily and efficiently assemble a display that matches the desired stage size, with large easy grip handles, locating pins for easy alignment and a lever-type locking mechanism that can be operated without tools. VERONA not only adapts to studio spaces that are curved, hanging and stacking, but now the frames are stronger to support more weight by stacking screens up to 7 metres high. The LED surface and edges are protected by a surface technology and various protection mechanisms that protects it from damage during installation.

“We are delighted to announce four new cutting-edge displays built for Virtual Production filmmaking that are set to elevate the realism of Virtual Production and accelerate its growth in the film industry.” says Rik Willemse, Head of Professional Displays and Solutions at Sony Europe.

“Our pioneering Virtual Production technology provides comprehensive solutions that support and contribute to creators’ creative activities and allows them to make virtual sets without limits. We’re the only company who can support virtual production from end-to-end from a solutions and workflow perspective, which has allowed us to gain critical technical expertise. Because of this, we’re in a unique position to leverage our award-winning digital cinema camera VENICE and Crystal LED displays to offer the best possible Virtual Production Systems to studios of any size.” says Sebastian Leske, Head of Cinema Business Development at Sony Europe.

The new displays are compatible with controllers widely used in the industry. The ZRD-VP15EB/23EB works with Brompton Technology’s Tessera SX40, the ZRD-VP15EM/23EM works with Megapixel’s HELIOS Processing Platform.

The new models also see about 27%* power consumption decrease when comparing the new ZRD-VP15EB to the current ZRD-B15A model.

This launch follows the latest Sony announcement of a new Virtual Production Tool Set designed to tackle common problems with virtual production and to support quality In-Camera VFX. The Virtual Production Tool Set consist of the Camera and Display Plugin and the color calibrator, which uses Unreal Engine to connect the real and virtual worlds, achieving synergy between hardware and software to design, visualise and refine the virtual production shots already during PreVis and before going into the Virtual Production stage. In addition to filmmaking, TV and commercials, Sony’s Virtual Production technology is expanding across live and corporate spaces to contribute to the creativity of a wide range of content creation applications.

The new VERONA will make its debut at IBC on the Sony booth 13.A10 in Hall 13, from the 15^th – 18^th September 2023 and will become available in the market in Spring 2024.