Flanders Scientific DM160 Released – Lightweight 16-Inch 10-Bit OLED Reference Monitor

Monitoring News

by Julian MitchellMarch 23^rd, 2023

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The DM160 from Flanders Scientific comes in at a slight 5.8 lbs (2.6kg) but with a full feature set. For your $4500, you’ll get a 16-inch 10-bit OLED HD panel. That kind of spec puts it in the critical color territory for production, post-production and HD broadcast. But what more does it offer?

The DM160 also features a third-generation Color Fidelity and LUT Interpolation Engine, searching for the highest and most accurate color reproduction and powerful look management. Working color spaces on offer are Rec.709, EBU, SMPTE-C, DCI P3, Rec.2020 Emulation (which means it doesn’t fully cover the Rec.2020 color space), native Wide Gamut, and custom user-generated color spaces.

All monitors in the DM series also offer additional gamma, peak luminance and color temperature toggles. The new color engine features tetrahedral LUT interpolation for greater accuracy and visual performance than hardware using trilinear LUT interpolation. The unit can also store up to 16 3D LUTs.

As part of an on-set color management system

A big selling point for the DM160 monitor is its integration into a dailies color setup. You won’t need a separate LUT management add-on, as you can see in the video below for Livegrade’s integration details. There’s also support from apps like FSI’s own DM Series IP Remote Utility, Pomfort’s Livegrade Pro, QTake’s Grade Module, and Assimilate Live Assist and Live Looks.

Other features include what FSI claims to be the world’s first real-time Waveform and Vectorscope transmitted directly from your monitor to your computer with no additional equipment needed. Also, you’re able to capture and save full-resolution reference still frames from incoming video signals.

Third generation focus assist

When activated this feature will highlight focus areas with a trace color; you can also adjust the sensitivity. The weight (transparency) of the focus assist feature can also be adjusted. The color of the focus assist trace can be adjusted from White, Black, Red, Green, Yellow, Blue, Magenta, and Cyan.

Other features

It’s worth getting a demo of the DM160 as the feature set is extensive, but some highlights we haven’t mentioned are:

• a second screen works in addition to standard loop through outputs allowing you to output clean and manipulated images simultaneously.
• Zero Delay Fast Mode for instant video processing on-set, studio, and post environments.
• Multiple image flip modes.
• Cross-conversion allows DisplayPort / HDMI / DVI signals to be converted to SDI for output.
• Real-Time Waveform and Vectorscope that update every frame.
• Several audio metering tools.
• Live side-by-side monitoring feature allows for mixed formats, mixed frame rates, and even mixed input types to be viewed together.

Price and availability

The Flanders Scientific DM160 reference monitor is available to order directly from the company’s website. Its official retail price is set at $4,500. By adding $195, you also get either a V-mount or Gold mount battery plate.

What do you think of the Flanders Scientific DM160 reference monitor? What features are you interested in and which ones are missing? Let us know in the comment section beneath the article!