Sony Crystal LED VERONA Displays and Virtual Production Toolkit Announced

Virtual Production

by Julian MitchellSeptember 13^th, 2023

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Earlier this year at NAB in Las Vegas, Sony bolstered their status in the virtual production world by introducing advanced tools. These included new Crystal LED panels and virtual abilities for the Unreal Engine. The new LED VERONA Displays will have their debut at IBC and should be available in Spring 2024. Let’s look at the details.

VERONA comprises four new LED displays marketed under their Crystal brand. They are mainly designed for the nascent virtual production market or ‘Volume’ as these stages have become known.

Sony Crystal LED VERONA’s features

The new screens, ZRD-VP15EB/23EB and ZRD-VP15EM/23EM boast deeper blacks for more genuine contrast and better anti-reflection performance, avoiding any loss of contrast on virtual production walls from other LEDs and any craft lighting used on the stage.

Any adjustment needed on the displays, like contrast loss, usually means colorists grading the footage live and then rendering it back, or the footage would have to be re-graded externally. 

Other new features of the displays include higher brightness levels and a color gamut that covers 97% of the P3 cinema color space. Refresh rates are higher at 7,680 Hz, and pixel pitches decreased to 1.56mm and 2.31mm.

Pixel pitch importance

For virtual production volumes, the lower the pixel pitch of the displays determines how close your cameras can be to the video wall before resolution suffers. A screen with a 1.56mm pixel pitch puts your camera’s distance from the volume at around three meters. A 2.5mm pixel pitch puts your camera at eight meters from the wall.

A smaller pixel pitch means your stage can be physically smaller while still delivering the same visual results. Smaller volumes with the same video playback performance could significantly impact set-up costs for the facility itself.

Tool-free locking mechanism on Sony VERONA

Based on industry feedback, Sony has built VERONA to be a highly stackable unit. A new cabinet design uses locating pins and a lever-type locking mechanism that is tool-free. Sony claims that the units are more robust with this type of connection and will support heights of several meters.

Virtual Production Toolkit 

Also new for IBC is Sony’s Virtual Production Toolkit. The kit is a series of software products that act as a failsafe for working with LED volumes. 

There are two parts to the toolkit. The first is a camera and display plug-in for Unreal Engine that works in several ways. It’s a Previs tool. As it’s part of the Unreal Engine, you can start to simulate shooting scenarios. To help with this, you will see a mannequin-like figure within the Unreal Engine scene, capable of generating reflections when you turn on the virtual lights. You rehearse your planned shots, save the settings, and then export them to your real Venice camera.

Deciding on an exposure setting or lens choices ahead of your shoot should give you a better sense of accuracy than before. “Fix it in pre,” they’re calling it.

Moiré alert

Another part of the toolkit is a Moiré alert. Moiré is a big issue when you shoot in LED volumes and can ruin a shot. For instance, it’s a problem mainly for CMOS sensors when shooting highly repeatable patterns on clothing or brick walls. But Sony’s new tool warns you when Moiré is about to appear, a by-product of how close the screens are and their resolution.

There’s also a new Color Calibrator that claims to reduce the calibration time of a camera against an LED volume from two hours to just 15 minutes.

What do you guys think about Sony’s new products? Are you planning on going to IBC this week? Share your thoughts with us in the comment section below!