Imagine a world where a 42″ flat screen television can be folded and placed in your pocket, where curved panes of glass allow advertisements to follow you everywhere, and where a sheet as thin as a page of paper can be used as a touchscreen device. If Corning has anything to say about it, that day is coming – and sooner than you think. In fact, the glass-making company went so far as to release an entire video showing how these kinds of technologies will soon be affecting our lives. It’s pretty standard fare (with smiling people living all-too perfect, every-day lives) but does a good job of showing how a person’s life could be made better through a slew of flexible touchscreen devices. After watching these videos it may seem like the whole idea will be just a quick flash in the pan, but it’s not just Corning that sees this day fast approaching. Word has it that Sony is working on a portable folding OLED screen that is less than a millimeter thick, that LG is actually manufacturing flexible e-paper displays that are 19 inches across, and that Samsung has already created several flexible AMOLED displays that can withstand heat up to 400 degrees. With all of these companies investing so much into flexible displays, it’s obvious that they see this technology taking off.

Of course the question is how will this affect video? I know what you’re already thinking. We just got through updating our systems to edit in HD and now we have to design videos to play on a flexible surface? Yep. That pretty much sums it up if this technology ever really takes off – but it’s no reason to despair. Designing videos for flexible screens actually opens up a whole new world of possibilities. For example, if you had a screen that was bent into the shape of a ball, you could put a video of a spinning basketball or world globe inside. Flexible video surfaces would also make it possible to put moving ads in places that were once the territory of print. The inside of public transportation vehicles and domed ceilings could show video advertisements. Even windows on buildings could go from displaying the wonders of the great outdoors to the wonders of a new product. No matter what, all of these things could mean more paying jobs for all those involved in making video. Something almost any video enthusiast can rally around.

Videomaker has just handed out our first “Best of” award at NAB 2011. Out of the many monitors that are on display, we’ve chosen the Ikan Corporation as winner of “Best Monitor”. The product name: VX7e 7” HD-SDI Monitor w/ Peaking & False Color. At a cost of $1,049 we think it’s one heck of a nice monitor and worthy of our “Best Monitor” award at NAB 2011!

The VX7e introduces Peaking and False Color features to ikan’s popular VX series of HD monitors. The VX7e is equipped with both Monochrome and Color Peaking features which highlight sharp lines and stark contrasts for optimal focus control. The False Color feature utilizes a full spectrum of assigned color indicators, ensuring flawless shot exposure. The VX7e also provides every connection needed in the professional video industry including HD-SDI, HDMI, composite and component inputs. With a sparkling screen resolution of 1024 x 600 and features such as Moveable Pixel to Pixel, Blue Gun and Digital to Analog Conversion, ikan’s VX7e is the professional grade, on-camera monitor that you can’t work without.

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Reprinted from a Matrox Graphics press release

Matrox Graphics today announced the availability of the Matrox M9138 and Matrox M9148 DisplayPort graphics cards. Expanding the M-Series product line, these new triple- and quad-monitor cards offer a remarkable 1 GB of memory, and with support for independent or stretched mode at resolutions up to 2560×1600 per output, users can drive business, industrial, and government applications on an exceptional multi-monitor platform. Read the rest of this entry »