Why HDR Production Monitors Matter, Part I
Why HDR Production Monitors Matter, Part II
Why HDR Production Monitors Matter, Part III
Why HDR Production Monitors Matter, Part IV
Atomos: Outlook
The forecast for Atomos, which designs, manufactures and distributes monitor/recorders which range in price from USD $299 – $6,499, with a gross margin of around 45%, is looking bright indeed. Strong earnings, substantial growth in website visits, which rose +7.6% in April 2021 and sales of the recently introduced Neon lineup of monitor/recorders offer just a glimpse of why Atomos is on solid footing.
The announcement of the Ninja V+ – the first 8K monitor/recorder, Ninja Stream and the H.265 codec for the Ninja V, along with new product launches planned over the next 18 months, including gaming, more ProRes RAW integrations and possible partnerships with Disney, Zoom, Netflix, Twitch, Cisco and others, further contribute to a positive outlook for the company.
ProRes RAW, a high-performance video capture standard first integrated by Atomos, has already been implemented in 32 cameras, including Nikon, Canon, Panasonic and Fuji, and that number is expected to increase to 43 by December 2022. Monthly activations have increased by around 450% over the last year – phenomenal growth which is only expected to continue, with an anticipated 2,683 monthly activations by the first quarter of 2023.
Atomos launched its lineup of Neon monitors in the first quarter of 2021, contributing around USD $1m in sales for the first half of the financial year while the world was still reeling from the pandemic. Atomos is struggling to keep up with demand, as both the Neon 17 and Neon 24 are on backorder.
Atomos monitor/recorders give professionals a faster, higher quality production system that enables the use of existing cameras in the production of cinematic quality content usually reserved for $100,000 equipment at a fraction of the cost, and used by social media, YouTube, TV and cinema content creators.
Atomos attracts a large online presence across all social media platforms, with year-on year website traffic for the period from January to April 2021 up 112.5%. This growth is expected to continue as the popularity of the Atomos brand increases. Atomos has built somewhat of a cult following since its products were used in the filming of popular movies, including the latest releases of Pirates of the Caribbean, James Bond and Star Wars franchises, as well as streaming TV shows like Earth at Night in Colour. Opportunites for paid partnerships with directors could further drive penetration in the professional and entertainment sectors.
Atomos is consistently rated as the number one camera monitor, prized for its affordability, size, features, ease-of-use and warranty. Atomos ranked the number one bestseller among 419 monitors at B&H. Key competitors that regularly rank below Atomos include Blackmagic, SmallHD, Ikan, TVLogic, FeelWorld, PORTKEYS and Lilliput.
Atomos enjoys unique advantages in several key areas: they’ve built partnerships with Apple, Adobe, JVC, Sandisk, Sony, Western Digital and others; licensing agreements with RED.com and others; advanced R&D capability; in-house proprietary technology and intellectual property; strong brand recognition; a developed distribution network; and a highly experienced management team.
Why HDR Production Monitors Matter, Part I
Why HDR Production Monitors Matter, Part II
Why HDR Production Monitors Matter, Part III
Why HDR Production Monitors Matter, Part IV
The Daejeon Chronicles 
What’s your thoughts on using a calibrated OLED TV for HDR grading in consideration of burn-in risk?
Good question! I made a video about that very topic here: https://youtu.be/jbxToQhyqHE My advice is to do as much editing and color correction using the scopes as possible; to leave static images on the TV as little as possible; and where necessary, to crop out large areas of strong highlights using the transform tool so they don’t cause permanent burn-in. I can assure you that every Sony BVM-X300 reference monitor suffered from permanent burn-in and colorists were probably all too eager to switch over to the BVM-HX310! An OLED TV is still going to be far cheaper than an Asus ProArt PA32UCX or Apple Pro Display XDR and it should give several years of service before image retention becomes a problem. If I can figure out a way to grade on the new Macs with Apple Silicon, that would be the way to go, as burn-in is a real concern.
At this time (3/11/2023), the ASUS ProArt Display PA32UCG-K, which is better and brighter than the “UCX”, can be had for $3k to 3.5K.
At this time (3/11/2023), the ASUS ProArt Display PA32UCG-K, which is better and brighter than the “UCX”, can be had for $3k to 3.5K.