YouTuber Compares Apple Pro Display XDR to $43K Sony Reference Monitor, Says It's a 'No Go' for Professional Colorists

[MacRumors]

Apple charges $5,000 for its Pro Display XDR and has described it as a display designed for professionals, even claiming that it can match the performance of some professional reference monitors on the market that sell for much more.

Vincent Teoh, a TV reviewer at HDTVTest, recently tested Apple's Pro Display XDR claims, comparing it to Sony's BVM-HX310 reference monitor, which uses dual-layer LCD technology and costs over $40,000.

Prior to pitting the Pro Display XDR against the Sony HX310, Teoh does in-depth testing of Apple's display, measuring brightness, contrast, and color accuracy, with the testing demonstrating some of the faults in the Pro Display XDR.

There were problems with contrast and color accuracy at peak brightness along with "so-so" screen uniformity, leading Teoh to call the reference mode of the Pro Display XDR suitable for content consumption rather than content creation.

Teoh then compared the Pro Display XDR to the Sony BVM-HX310 reference display as the Sony display is the one that was mentioned when the Pro Display XDR was unveiled. The Pro Display XDR struggled to keep up with the Sony display, and Teoh said that it is not a viable cheaper reference monitor for professionals.

It appears that Apple's marketing team may have been a bit overzealous in calling the Pro Display XDR the 'World's best pro display.' [...]

Compared side by side with the Sony HX310, the Pro Display XDR exhibits a number of shortcomings, particularly in dark scenes such as localized luminous fluctuations, blooming artifacts, as well as noticeably grayer blacks.

For a monitor to be used as a reference for commercial color grading, there can be no doubt whatsover about the picture on screen.

Let's say J.J. Abrams is looking over your shoulders and wants a bit more lens flare in a particular scene. Can you be 100% sure that the VFX you're adding in post will be reproduced accurately when watched on other displays? With the Pro Display XDR, there's no way you can tell.

"I think the Pro Display XDR is a no go for any serious professional colorist," he concluded. "At the end of the day, the Pro Display XDR is just an IPS display with 576 full array local dimming zones that happens to carry Apple's logo and costs $5,000."

He questions whether it's fair to judge a $5,000 monitor against a $43,000 reference display, but points out that it was Apple that made that comparison first at WWDC. "The Pro Display XDR doesn't deliver anywhere close to the consistency and accuracy demanded of reference monitors."

Teoh's full video on the Pro Display XDR is well worth watching for those who want to see the full testing details prior to making a purchase.

(H/T Matthew Panzarino and The Loop)

Article Link: YouTuber Compares Apple Pro Display XDR to $43K Sony Reference Monitor, Says It's a 'No Go' for Professional Colorists

 

[cmaier]

It’s a weird beast

 

[dannyyankou]

A monitor that costs 9x more is better? Wow.

 

[Baymowe335]

I think the comparison is somewhat valid, but thinking it's actually going to perform like a $43,000 monitor is expecting too much.

It's an outstanding display, for the price.

It was probably a little rich for Apple to have compared it to such monitors.

 

[johnalan]

It’s an exceptional monitor at its price range. Comparing to this high end monitor from Sony is Silly.
Despite Apple doing so in its own presentation.
It’s not possible to produce 40K of monitor for 6.

 

[diego.caraballo]

He's right on spot about J.J. Abrams using too much lens flares...

 

[turbineseaplane]

He questions whether it's fair to judge a $5,000 monitor against a $43,000 reference display, but points out that it was Apple that made that comparison first at WWDC.

I am glad that is pointed out, because it is Apple themselves that brought this type of scrutiny in comparison by positioning the product how they did.
[automerge]1581622762[/automerge]

Comparing to this high end monitor from Sony is Silly.

No it isn’t. Apple themselves decided to bring that comparison into the mix.
It is completely fair

 

[Freida]

I love Vincent! He is awesome and I'm happy to see this.
As others mentioned it may not be fair to compare these two but it was Apple that started it so if Apple makes a claim like that then they have to deliver and clearly they haven't.
So, if Apple knew that they can't achieve the same quality as the Sony one then why include it in the first place?
Regardless, here we are and now we know. Simple as that.

 

[julesme]

Come on Apple, release an XDR Pro for real professionals. Tagline: “What’s a monitor?”

 

[alexandr]

well that's that - i'll have to pass!

 

[ruka.snow]

Random person on YouTube. Let’s hold of for real reviews.

 

[sdreamer07]

I'm a bit confused. I get that as a creator you want the best you can do. Makes sense, you want that extraordinary lens flare, add it in and you'll see it on an expensive reference monitor. But us consumers that are going to just be watching what you did will never see that slightly increased flare because our panels generally are exponentially worse than what you just created it on. Didn't that happen with GoT? They can see all the dark details on their reference monitors, but when it hit consumers, we couldn't see squat. So what is it referencing to if the majority aren't even using what is considered a reference?

 

[itsmilo]

A monitor that costs 9x more is better? Wow.

well Apple said it themselves soooo

 

[PickUrPoison]

This is consistent with pros I’ve heard from. Not good enough for a colorist or mastering.

However, there are other roles in the upstream pro workflow that this monitor can fulfill. Other uses outside video/film as well.

 

[BarrettF77]

Vincent is great and always fair in his thoughts as I follow him on his reviews. He also has a great sense of humor if you catch it.

But Apple gave themselves all the rope needed and the monitor does well, but the price is ridiculous for a monitor. The Sony is a perishable item and is meant for reference usage, but it is also what others are calibrated against.

Those saying otherwise, aren't into A/V...

 

[maflynn]

It’s an exceptional monitor at its price range. Comparing to this high end monitor from Sony is Silly.

Like you said, Apple opened the door by marketing against those very same monitors. This is so much out of my league I don't have an opinion one way or another but I can't say the result is all that surprising.

With that said, I've not heard any complaints on the monitor and every YTer I've seen has loved the monitor.

 

[Kevin2055]

Did they compare the stands?

 

[turbineseaplane]

Did they compare the stands?

lmao. Good one

 

[xitongzou]

Random person on YouTube. Let’s hold of for real reviews.

He has over 150k+ subscribers. Not exactly a 'random' Youtube person. Plus Youtubers do a better job reviewing tech than 'real' reviewers (who are 'real' reviewers anyways?). I find that Youtubers like Dave2D, Linus Tech Tips, MobileTechReview, MrMobile etc do a way better job than those editors at Verge, Engadget, Gizmodo, CNET, etc anyways

 

[Azeroth1]

His comparisons are reasonable. They did market it to compete against those higher end products at a much cheaper price.

I don’t have the knowledge to know if his feedback overall is true or not, but I do agree that Apple made those comparisons so it would seem fair to use that as a reviewing point.

 

[4487549]

The most accurate, and hilarious, view to date.

 

[turbineseaplane]

Glad to see some sanity in here.

Apple decided to make this comparison, otherwise few would be doing so, other than out of curiosity and for fun.

The Cupertino hubris knows very few limits.

 

[TacoChowder]

Everyone saying "of course" to this:
Who is the apple monitor for? What user needs a monitor that expensive BUT also not a colorists monitor?

 

[konqerror]

But us consumers that are going to just be watching what you did will never see that slightly increased flare because our panels generally are exponentially worse than what you just created it on.

First, colorists grade for a wide variety of media, particularly cinema, where the viewing conditions and projectors allow for much better color.

Second, the point of dynamic HDR, particularly Dolby Vision, is also to allow video to be graded to a very high reference standard. Playback devices, particularly mobile devices like the iPhone, sense ambient viewing conditions and know the gamut of their displays, read the embedded metadata which describes the intent of the image, and adjust the colors as appropriate. By grading to a high standard, this allows media to be future-proofed as consumer display technologies improve.

 

[ersan191]

I mean the thing only has 576 dimming zones - it was never going to compete with something that has per-pixel dimming. Not sure what Apple was thinking with their marketing.

It's probably more than enough for a lot of people in various industries though, just not colorists.