Hi Greg, just to be clear the JVC uses an 8 bit lcd panel (I assume you are looking at their DT-V24L3DY?). Both the FSI monitor and the JVC utilize full 10 bit processing, but this is not the same as a full 10 bit panel.
When digging through the user manuals and specifications the following may be a useful guide for you (because there are many ways of expressing color depth...and they are often misleading):
1. First make sure you separate panel depth from video processing depth. If you are dealing with 10 bit material then there is no question that 10 bit video processing is a must have, no compromise, prerequisite for your monitor. The good news is that most decent quality professional monitors do process at this level or higher.
2. When dealing with panel depth look for the following information to know exactly what you are dealing with:
- 8bit panels can reproduce approximately 16.77 million colors. Sometimes 8 bit panels are referred to by manufacturers as 24bit (8 bit per RGB subpixel channel), if you see this know that they are the same thing.
- If you see 16 million colors or some number around there, but not quite 16.77 million, then you can be pretty sure this is actually a 6 bit panel using a dithering technique to 'simulate' more colors. Dithering is usually considered objectionable in professional applications because it tends to generate spatial and/or temporal image artifacts.
- 10 bit panels can reproduce approximately 1.073 billion colors. If you see a number shy of this, but around 1 billion, you can be pretty sure that this is an 8 bit panel using dithering to 'simulate' a 10 bit panel. Again, dithering may be okay for the home viewer, but is normally not desirable in professional applications.
- A native 10 bit panel is desirable and if you have the money that certainly is the way to go. However, you will not find a native 10 bit lcd panel broadcast monitor in the price range you mention. You can find a native 10 bit graphics or computer monitor, but it will not share the features or inputs found on the broadcast monitors you mention in your original post. Just as an example we will be releasing a native 10 bit unit in the future around the $9,000 price range (LM-2470W).
Sometimes you need to dig for the 'real' monitor specifications because marketing departments of course tend to focus on the best sounding numbers...this often leads to monitors with 10 bit processing, but 8 bit lcd panels, being touted as true 10 bit monitors. IMHO that type of marketing is a bit misleading, but that is not to say that 10 bit processing is not important because even with just an 8 bit lcd panel 10 bit processing is a distinct advantage for the professional environment.
Bram Desmet
FSI (Flanders Scientific, Inc.)
http://www.FlandersScientific.com
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