Portkeys MT22DS Monitor (IBC 2023)

During IBC 2023 we visited the Portkeys booth and looked at several products including the newly released (after IBC) Portkeys MT22DS 21.5″ monitor.

Portkeys MT22DS

Portkeys is known for its different lines of on-camera monitors (including the two new 7 monitors we covered here yesterday). The MT22DS is the first studio-style production monitor from the company and it brings some interesting features to the table (or your production cart).

The screen has a 21.5-inch, 10-bit panel (we are not sure if this is a true 10-bit or 8-bit + FRC) with a resolution of 1080p and a 1000:1 contrast ratio.

Impressively for a screen of this size, it has a maximum brightness of 1,000nits which means that it can be used outdoors (although probably not in direct sunlight). According to Portkeys the screen is factory color-calibrated for 100% coverage of Rec.709.

When it comes to connections, the monitor is equipped with dual 3G-SDI inputs, 1 x GPI input, 1 x HDMI input, 1 x HDMI output, and 1 x 3G-SDI output with cross-conversion from every direction. Interestingly the monitor has two XLR outputs with Phantom power.

One of the main features of the monitor (and the reason for the DS in its name – which stands for “dual screen”) is the built-in split-screen monitoring functionality where you can monitor two video inputs simultaneously (including one vertical and one horizontal for example).

The screen includes different tools such as Waveform, Vectorscope, Anamorphic, Peaking, ARRI False Color, etc. as well as 3D LUT monitoring and 3D LUT SDI output capabilities.

One feature we really liked was the front function buttons which can be assigned to different tools (there is also 4 buttons and a scroll wheel in the back).

When it comes to power you have two V-mount / gold-mount battery plates on the back (you only need one battery to power the monitor and it is hot-swappable). More interestingly are the two built-in Sony NP-F battery plates with pass-through power to power wireless video receivers (basically if you have one or two wireless receivers you don’t need another battery, the V-mount battery for the monitor will power them, we have seen this on small monitors but this is the first large monitor with this capability that we know of).

The monitor comes with a nice VESA arm and there are also a lot of 1/4″ 20 threads and a handle for carrying the monitor (we are not sure if there will be a hood or a carrying case for this monitor at this point).

Pricing and availability

While the monitor was still under development during the show, it was released and is available for around $1750.

Ensure not to miss any of our IBC 2023 videos and articles on our special show coverage page.

Special thanks to our sponsors for IBC 2023: SmallRig, Ulanzi, Godox, Zhiyun.

Iddo Genuth

Iddo Genuth is the founder and chief editor of LensVid.com. He has been a technology reporter working for international publications since the late 1990's and covering photography since 2009. Iddo is also a co-founder of a production company specializing in commercial food and product visual content.