Back in april 2010 I ordered the DP6 monitor from SmallHD. At this time I was looking for a monitor with many inputs, good resolutions so you can pull focus seriously, something rugged and finaly, a monitor that accept the HD-SDI input from my video camcorder, the Sony PMW-EX1.
At this time the market was trusted by big companies. Hopefully they do good hardware. On the other side, it’s pricy.
Few years ago I involved myself in creating my own LCD field monitor. While I had a good LCD panel, the electronic board, the G2DI from Winmate, was bad for handling HD-SDI signal. Also, the firmware was closed with no possibility to add anything fancy without either paying Winmate to do it or pay the developper kit…
I had the chance to work in the french movie industry and worked with the more expensive monitors, like the Panasonic BT-LH900, the best screen to date, and some of the ASTRO multi-purpose monitor for digital intermediate (which was my position at this time).
Then came an outsider : a company claiming it can do better and cheaper -> SmallHD
I made a long technical comparison of every monitor that could fit my needs. I’ll try to sum this up here. This roundup is not the one I made back in time but one up to date, now the DP6 is here. Some monitor or brands may be forgoten but they seriously can’t compete. Please comment if I’m wrong.
| Brand | Ikan | Ikan | SmallHD | Panasonic | Marshall | Swit | Carrion |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Modele | VX7 | VX9 | DP6 | BT-LH900 | V-LCD651 STX-3GSDI |
any | TCHD-01b |
| Screen Size | 7″ | 8.9″ | 5.6″ | 8.4″ | 6.5″ | 8.4″ | |
| resolution | 1024 x 600 | 1024 x 600 | 1280 x 800 | 1024 x 768 | 1024 x 768 | 800 x 480 | 1024 x 768 |
| Format | 16:9 | 16:9 | 16:10 | 4:3 | 4:3 | 4:3 | |
| external size | 9″ | 11.4″ | 6″ | 11.4″ | 8.8″ | 10.7″ | |
| HD-SDI input | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 (model C has 2) | |
| HD-SDI passthrough | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 (model C has 2) | |
| HDMI input | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | yes through adapter on DVI input. also have VGA input | |
| HDMI passthrough | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Componant | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| Composite | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| Flip Screen | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | |
| Markers | yes | yes | not yet, future upgrade | yes | yes | yes | |
| Focus help | Peaking ? | Peaking ? | Peaking Color Focus Assist |
Peaking | Peaking, focus assist |
Not realy, can use sharpness | |
| Exposition help | no | no | False Color, Histogram soon | Histogram / waveform |
False Color | no | |
| Freeze Frame | yes | yes | yes | no | yes | no | |
| Blue Screen | yes | yes | yes, also monochrome and negative | yes | yes | yes | |
| Buttons | lots | lots | 3 | lots | lots | some | |
| Quick Access Buttons | 2 | 2 | 2 | ? | 4 | yes (?) | |
| Power | 12-20V plug or XLR4 support for many batteries from other brands |
12-20V plug or XLR4 support for many batteries from other brand |
5-18V with small not locked plug external power, Canon batteries or special SmallHD batteries lasting 4h and can be charged while used |
11-17V XLR4 or V-Mount batteries | 12V XLR4 or many battery handlers | 12V | |
| Case | Plastic | Plastic | Aluminium, black « unibody » style | metal+plastic | plastic | metal | |
| Bundeled Accessories | none in standard version at the time, shoe mount adapter now | none in standard version at the time, shoe mount adapter now | flash drive for upgrade, power adapter | ? | none | none | |
| Existing Accessories | lots | lots | Sunhood, screen protection, cables, Canon battery plug, SmallHD Batteries, support arm, much more | Sunhood, house, rack mount | heavy duty protector, rackmount, arm… |
none | |
| Firmware Upgrade | yes, return to factory | yes, return to factory | yes, via USB key provided, MAC/PC compatible | no ? | no ? | no | |
| Price | 1049$ | 1149$ | 1299$ | 4800$ | 1750$ (2100$ normal price) |
1750$ with one HD-SDI | |
| Comments | One of my best choice for some time but wasn’t ready yet. Lower resolution than DP6. can downscale SDI to component HD, great feature ! |
can downscale SDI to component HD, great feature ! | the best known but really expensive | too low resolution to be considered | same panel as BT-LH900 = good quality Lacks specific features for cinema |
While writing this, I just noted Ikan already have a comparison chart, with the DP1, not the DP6. Of course, if you put the DP6 in it, you’ll see it have everything the Ikan have, plus better resolution.
The conclusion here is that the Ikan is cheaper with almost the same features. Actualy, back in april, the Ikan wasn’t released yet. Moreover it’s a big company, and as many others, they tend to release a new product and switch to the next one, meaning no improvement will be done. That’s another point for SmallHD. It’s a brand new (young) company with motivated people and few products : they have to be the best and will make it. Moreover the DP6 have the best resolution of all monitors.
I finaly decided to pre-order the SmallHD DP6, the new 5.6″ monitor (6″ external size) in April. The plan was to receive it late june to use it on the next short movie we done in july.
SmallHD came through some troubles with parts of the monitor and had to delay the release to late august. Most of the time, when this kind of thing happen, companies just refund and that’s it. NOT SmallHD.
They offered either to get refund OR get the monitor later PLUS a discount coupon on the store. I think the amount was dependent on the delays, early pre-orderer like me had almost 10% of the total price. GREAT.
UPDATE : SmallHD also paid interrests to people asking for a refund !!!
I finaly received the monitor in Quebec, Canada, where I was travelling. I had to trash the box there, so no picture of it. It’s a small box with the monitor well packed and secured in foam… good work.
But… oups… they forgot the battery !!!
Two emails and a week later the battery arrived at home, in France. Thanks !
Actualy I wasn’t able to use the DP6 until I get back to France. At this time the SATIS, the french biggest show for broadcast, cinema, lighting… was starting. I went there with the DP6. I had some tests with many camera like the Canon 5D, 1D or D60 or with Sony and Panasonic camcorders. I was about to test it on the ARRI Alexa but there was seriously too many people there… 
Back at home I emailed SmallHD with all the improvements I think they can do on the SP6, like the « false color » feature existing on the Marshall monitors. I had a really quick answer from them (thanks Reed) and entered the Beta Testing group.
I’m now running the 1.2.1 BETA version of the firmware which includes the False Color feature.
Here are some pictures of the DP6 connected to the Sony PMW-EX1 using the HD-SDI cable.
The latest firmware version adds also a startup splash screen
Even if the pictures are not that good, let’s review the DP6 functions :
- Default
There you can see the picture out of the EX1, configured with informations like battery, TC, sound. You also have the DP6 format selection, in green, on the top right of the image (SDI, 1080p).
- Focus Help
When you activate the Focus Assist mode, using the right switch, the image changes to a « night view » where only the in focus points (edges) are in white. It’s almost the same as the EX1 feature where you have red (or any color configured) edges on the picture. Having the black backgorund for out of focus helps a little bit more. I’ll come back later with any comment on using this feature on stage.
- False Colors
False Color is the new way to display your exposure on the screen. You can see all range of colors depending on the exposure if your scene. Black is for dark areas, then blue, orange, green, then white.
As this is a Beta version, I don’t have the real mapping between colors and real intensity, but I’m sure SmallHD will release it soon. Whatever, avoid yellow or white. This function is default on the middle switch of the DP6, which can now be used as a quick access switch.
- Menus
The menus of the DP6 are arranged around the screen.
Top left are the image parameters, like color mode, contrast, brightness. Then the Advanced menu gives more screen control. Then Input menu gives the input selection : SDI, HDMI, YPrPb or Composite. Composite is using the green component input.
Last right menu is System to change backlight, USB power or reset to factory.
On the lower of the screen is the Misc menu with the menu opacity, the language (only english for now) and the version display.
Then the Picture In Picture (PIP) menu. It seems you can’t have SDI and HDMI at the same time for the moment. Will have to check that again but, eh, I never used the PIP feature of any of my screens
Latest menu is in the lower right and is the Preset menu. With the latest firmware you display it by turning the wheel from outside the menu. There you can select one of the 10 presets, PLAYBACK or DSLR REC menu. Both last are used with Canon 5D/7D as the display mode of these DSLR are not 16:9 compliant.
My DP6 is equipped with the battery and the screen protection. The DP6 have a neoprene protection sleeve. It also have a neoprene sunshield you can plug on the four corners of the display in few seconds.
See pictures under.
