Sony Professional has today announced that 25,000 professional TRIMASTER EL OLED monitors have been shipped worldwide since the launch of the range in 2011. Having seen a surge in demand  for OLED monitoring in 2013 in particular, the company’s BVM and PVM series  monitors have been installed in several high-profile production facilities this  year, including dock10’s studios and X-Factor finals  facility Fountain Studios, as companies jump on OLED  technology’s superior image quality.

In response to increased demand for  high quality images from vision operators and lighting control technicians,  MediaCityUK’s dock10 studios – home to productions such as Series Two of The  Voice UK – has announced that it invested in 30 Sony OLED monitors over the  course of the year. Having previously relied on hired kit, the new additions  have been installed in the vision galleries and Studio Manager positions, and  are soon to be in each of the facility’s edit suites, which are predominantly  used for children’s and sports production.Sony’s monitors were chosen after a  rigorous head-to-head assessment process, where products from six different  suppliers were tested by an independent review group, including technology  staff from the BBC. The final selection was made in part due to the superior  viewing angle of Sony’s products, as well as their excellent image quality,  with a BVM-E250 also being bought for a newly created Grading suite.

John O’Shaughnessy, Head of Technology  Operations at dock10, said: “Our engineers unanimously agreed that OLED screens  would be the best replacements for our plasma and TFT LCD monitors. We looked  at products from several manufacturers, scoring them against a number of  criteria, and Sony’s came out on top, providing our editors with the  exceptional image quality they need.”

With an increasing number of  productions being shot using more than a dozen cameras at Fountain Studios,  Chief Engineer Craig Church undertook a refurbishment of the vision control  room, including an upgrade of the monitors from the existing CRT screens.  Having consulted with the lighting director and vision engineers, Craig opted  for three of Sony’s BVM-F170A monitors, and two PVM-1741As, to ensure that  teams would be able to enjoy the superior colour rendition of Sony’s OLED  screens. The monitors were purchased through leading broadcast equipment  supplier Visual Impact.Craig Church, Chief Engineer at Fountain  Studios, commented: “The vision control room is a critical position for  lighting directors and vision engineers who work on large-scale live shows such as Britain’s Got Talent. In order to provide the best images possible, we  wanted a better alternative to LCD screens, which don’t provide the same  vibrant colour or black level that OLED does and Sony’s monitors fitted the  bill perfectly.”

Dave Cheesman, North Region Sales  Director at Sony, added: “This year we’ve seen a significant uptick in customer  demand for OLED monitoring equipment across the production and post-production  markets. As well as dock10 and Fountain Studios, Sony’s OLED monitors have been installed in three new BT Sport studios at the Queen Elizabeth II Park in  London, demonstrating the increasing need for the highest image quality  possible.”