Sony CAPRI LED Panel for Virtual Studios Offers Affordable Option

The world of virtual production continues to expand as do the needs for new forms of LED panels that play an integral part in the production work. That need is one reason Sony is rolling out Crystal LED CAPRI, a new LED panel that has a brightness of 1,500 cd/m², a dot pitch of 2.5mm, an anti-reflective coating, and a wide viewing angle of 170 degrees.

The Sony ZRD-VSF25FB can be stacked as tall as seven meters.

“As we look at the evolution of our business, and we’ve seen just dramatic growth in our professional display business overall and we’re definitely seeing the evolution of LED and specifically crystal led into our business,” says Rich Ventura, Sony Electronics, Vice President, Professional Display Solutions. “Capri is a natural extension of our VERONA line and gives our customers an option at an aggressive and cost-effective price point.”

The CAPRI series combines high refresh rates of up to 7,680Hz to reduce scanline artifacts and ensure smooth, fluid motion. Complemented by coverage of more than 98% of the DCI-P3 color gamut, the displays accurately reproduce lifelike images. Additionally, the new models feature anti-reflection capabilities to mitigate the impact of reflection from lighting equipment.

Using the same controllers and featuring the same luminance as VERONA allows the CAPRI LED wall to be used together with the VERONA LED wall, for example, the VERONA as the main wall and the CAPRI on the ceiling.  The CAPRI panels can be self-stacking or self-hanging as tall as 7 meters.

“We’re also seeing and evolution of how the products are being used and more mixing and matching of LED pixel pitches all over the world,” adds Ventura. “And we’re seeing some amazing projects in places like the Middle East, Canada, and Europe.”

CAPRI also reflects an expansion of the virtual production environment which only five years ago was focused on movie sets. Ventura says universities and corporate clients are undergoing a revolution in virtual production and the rental staging market is also transitioning to virtual production.

Jason Metcalfe, Sony’s Crystal LED Portfolio business manager, says CAPRI easily folds into a Sony virtual production solution that includes cameras as well as a new motion tracking system that Sony launched at NAB.

“And we have software tools included in our virtual production tool set that are making the pieces work better together, bringing efficiencies to the space,” he says. “They’re assisting both in pre-production, asset creation, and planning.”

Metcalfe says that CAPRI (along with Verona) gives those looking to do virtual production in a temporary facility rather than a permanent install a new option that can withstand the rigors of being on the move.

“They have a more powerful driver which increases things like refresh rate, and they are more durable in case they are bumped or dropped,” he says. “And these features are based on direct customer feedback.”

Both VERONA and CAPRI are supported by third-party LED controllers like Brompton’s Tessera SX40 and Megapixel’s HELIOS, alleviating the need for additional training and maximizing uptime. That’s a first for Sony, and something Metcalfe says has been received positively from customers who said it was important to allow operators to not have to learn a new controller.

“We see Capri and Verona being used in the same spaces,” he adds. “A back wall that will be on camera a lot will need to look as good as it can so we may look at VERONA to maximize contrast and color gamut. But then displays on the side or ceiling contribute to the environment but CAPRI might fit in. The goal is to have the same hardware and specifications for existing structures [to use these displays].”

As a part of Sony’s Virtual Production Tool Set, a compilation of resources to help improve pre-production and on-set workflows, the Color Calibrator ensures the visualized colors before the shoot match the colors that appear in dailies. In addition, the Camera and Display Plugin combines technical information on the cameras and LED pitch to aid in predicting and addressing aliasing during pre-visualization and on-set. Version 3.0 of the Virtual Production Tool Set, planned for fall 2025, will provide Off-axis color shift compensation capability exclusive to select Crystal LED series, including CAPRI, VERONA, and B-series. By using camera position information, this feature will correct color shifts due to curved or angled installation, in real-time, significantly reducing color correction and editing in post-production.