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The whole idea of "reference monitors" seems incredibly fishy to me. I've never heard of this and I highly doubt that studios are paying $42000 for monitors as

The whole idea of "reference monitors" seems incredibly fishy to me. I've never heard of this and I highly doubt that studios are paying $42000 for monitors as was claimed at WWDC. Can anyone confirm that this is real and not just a framing tactic?

tomschlick 7y ago
They are real: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayrbWKSFN88 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayrbWKSFN88
itsaidpens 7y ago
It's real, and it's an awful workflow editing via "proxy" - imagine cleaning your apartment through grease-smeared glasses and you're only able to take them off and see your work when your guests are already knocking at your front door.
CharlesW 7y ago
FWIW, the target audience for the Apple monitor will absolutely know what reference monitors are: https://www.newsshooter.com/2018/09/15/sony-bvm-hx310-reference-monitor-ibc-2018/ https://www.newsshooter.com/2018/09/15/sony-bvm-hx310-refere...
kgwgk 7y ago
Not as expensive, but not cheap either: https://www.omegabroadcast.com/sales/sales-catalog/monitors-viewing/reference-monitors/?sort=pricedesc&limit=100&mode=4 https://www.omegabroadcast.com/sales/sales-catalog/monitors-...
stuart78 7y ago
It is true. Here [0] is a representative example, the only one I could find with a price. Correct color matters tremendously in film production, and getting accurate representation of that is quite expensive. [0] https://pro.sony/ue_US/products/broadcastpromonitors/pvm-x550 https://pro.sony/ue_US/products/broadcastpromonitors/pvm-x55...
michaelt 7y ago
A friend of mine once owned a small film company, and I visited them a few times. They had a guy called a 'colourist' - a specialist in color grading' [1] - and he had a screen which (subjectively) seemed to have an extremely good picture. I was assured it was very expensive. Of course, there's still good cause for skepticism: Manufacturers will gladly co-opt any term to make their products sound better, as the wealth of 'studio monitor' speakers and headphones shows. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_grading https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_grading
imperialdrive 7y ago
I handled tech for 'Hollywood' companies for years. In a broadcast operations center, or a less-than-handful number of transfer houses, would monitors costing 10K+ be found. Average cost of ingest bays would be minimal with 12" or less screens for doing a little QC on intake. Edit bays would be dual screens costing 1-2K a piece from 1999-2010, then gradually less as LCDs matured. Color calibration was taken seriously, but not to a science level. 500 for a calibration device and run it 2x a year. Money went to chairs/couches/desks, then other room aesthetics. Never spent more than 5K on a single workstation, and at that price point were nearly fully loaded. Storage is where it gets steep now. Apple used to offer solutions, but they were baaaaad. I still say, good for Apple releasing this gear. They employee a lot of bright people so this really can't be a fail. It sure looks pretty too.
- simonh 7y ago
  Broadcast is completely the opposite end of the pipeline from where you'd find reference monitors. They'd be used during production and editing, particularly by colour specialists.
la_barba 7y ago
I think its just like 'reference' or 'studio' headphones. Ideally you wouldn't want the output device to 'colour' the reproduction of the underlying media, but in practice you'll see a variety of studios where products across all price points were used. Of course if you netflix the movie on an uncalibrated monitor that has poor color accuracy, then its all a wash anyway.
nyjah 7y ago
This is such a great comment. I don't know why you are getting downvoted or at least its grey. You said it, I was thinking it, but too afraid to ask / felt stupid for not knowing. But all of the responses to this question are examples of $20,000-$30,000 not the $42,000 that you specifically reference. And there are people here claiming to be professionals saying that they indeed DO NOT use $42,000 highly specialized displays or even $20,000. Good point and BS meter.
brokenmachine 7y ago
Don't know how true it is but when I was researching before buying a new TV, there were people who supposedly worked at movie studios that claimed to be using LG OLEDs as reference monitors. I think there'd be very few places that could justify the cost of a 42000 monitor when current 4k TVs are measurably accurate after calibration.
nkristoffersen 7y ago
Reference monitors (video monitors, and audio monitor reference speakers) are expensive due to tight QC specs and accuracy tolerances. Examples: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?setNs=p_PRICE_2%7c1&Ns=p_PRICE_2%7c1&sortType=default&ci=2199&srtclk=sort&ipp=24 https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?setNs=p_PRICE_2%7c1&Ns...

tomschlick 7y ago

They are real: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayrbWKSFN88 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayrbWKSFN88

itsaidpens 7y ago

It's real, and it's an awful workflow editing via "proxy" - imagine cleaning your apartment through grease-smeared glasses and you're only able to take them off and see your work when your guests are already knocking at your front door.

CharlesW 7y ago

FWIW, the target audience for the Apple monitor will absolutely know what reference monitors are: https://www.newsshooter.com/2018/09/15/sony-bvm-hx310-reference-monitor-ibc-2018/ https://www.newsshooter.com/2018/09/15/sony-bvm-hx310-refere...

kgwgk 7y ago

Not as expensive, but not cheap either: https://www.omegabroadcast.com/sales/sales-catalog/monitors-viewing/reference-monitors/?sort=pricedesc&limit=100&mode=4 https://www.omegabroadcast.com/sales/sales-catalog/monitors-...

stuart78 7y ago

It is true. Here [0] is a representative example, the only one I could find with a price. Correct color matters tremendously in film production, and getting accurate representation of that is quite expensive. [0] https://pro.sony/ue_US/products/broadcastpromonitors/pvm-x550 https://pro.sony/ue_US/products/broadcastpromonitors/pvm-x55...

michaelt 7y ago

A friend of mine once owned a small film company, and I visited them a few times. They had a guy called a 'colourist' - a specialist in color grading' [1] - and he had a screen which (subjectively) seemed to have an extremely good picture. I was assured it was very expensive. Of course, there's still good cause for skepticism: Manufacturers will gladly co-opt any term to make their products sound better, as the wealth of 'studio monitor' speakers and headphones shows. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_grading https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_grading

imperialdrive 7y ago

I handled tech for 'Hollywood' companies for years. In a broadcast operations center, or a less-than-handful number of transfer houses, would monitors costing 10K+ be found. Average cost of ingest bays would be minimal with 12" or less screens for doing a little QC on intake. Edit bays would be dual screens costing 1-2K a piece from 1999-2010, then gradually less as LCDs matured. Color calibration was taken seriously, but not to a science level. 500 for a calibration device and run it 2x a year. Money went to chairs/couches/desks, then other room aesthetics. Never spent more than 5K on a single workstation, and at that price point were nearly fully loaded. Storage is where it gets steep now. Apple used to offer solutions, but they were baaaaad. I still say, good for Apple releasing this gear. They employee a lot of bright people so this really can't be a fail. It sure looks pretty too.

simonh 7y ago
Broadcast is completely the opposite end of the pipeline from where you'd find reference monitors. They'd be used during production and editing, particularly by colour specialists.

la_barba 7y ago

I think its just like 'reference' or 'studio' headphones. Ideally you wouldn't want the output device to 'colour' the reproduction of the underlying media, but in practice you'll see a variety of studios where products across all price points were used. Of course if you netflix the movie on an uncalibrated monitor that has poor color accuracy, then its all a wash anyway.

nyjah 7y ago

This is such a great comment. I don't know why you are getting downvoted or at least its grey. You said it, I was thinking it, but too afraid to ask / felt stupid for not knowing. But all of the responses to this question are examples of $20,000-$30,000 not the $42,000 that you specifically reference. And there are people here claiming to be professionals saying that they indeed DO NOT use $42,000 highly specialized displays or even $20,000. Good point and BS meter.

brokenmachine 7y ago

Don't know how true it is but when I was researching before buying a new TV, there were people who supposedly worked at movie studios that claimed to be using LG OLEDs as reference monitors. I think there'd be very few places that could justify the cost of a 42000 monitor when current 4k TVs are measurably accurate after calibration.

nkristoffersen 7y ago

Reference monitors (video monitors, and audio monitor reference speakers) are expensive due to tight QC specs and accuracy tolerances. Examples: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?setNs=p_PRICE_2%7c1&Ns=p_PRICE_2%7c1&sortType=default&ci=2199&srtclk=sort&ipp=24 https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?setNs=p_PRICE_2%7c1&Ns...