Barco’s new 12MP monitor not for mammograms only

Mammographers and other readers of radiography who require a high-resolution display have an interesting new choice to check out: Barco announced it will begin selling a 33-inch, grayscale monitor with its highest resolution yet (12 megapixels) that also can display color images with great clarity.

In promotional materials, Belgium-based Barco makes the point that its new monitor, called Coronis Uniti, streamlines workflow by eliminating the need for multiple workstations or multi-monitor setups. It said the new system enables the integration of PACS and breast imaging and that it aligns with radiologists’ natural field of vision and corrects for ambient light, the idea being to ease eye strain and decrease ergonomic stress.

The company identified those issues, along with image quality, as the top concerns of 223 hundred radiologists from Europe and North America recently surveyed for Barco by The MarkeTech Group.

The Coronis Uniti supports calibrated color as well as grayscale, 2D as well as 3D and static as well as dynamic images, Barco said. Other features touted include trademarked technology called RapidFrame, which it said ensures quality of moving imaging, and a multi-touch pad for fast application control.

Asked by RadiologyBusiness.com about technical hurdles it had to clear in order to combine color with grayscale, a spokesperson credited various proprietary Barco innovations, including Per Pixel Uniformity “to provide uniform images across the entire display” and DuraLight backlight “to provide the film-like brightness of 1000 cd/m2.”

The spokesperson said pricing on the units will be available soon, as Barco’s distributors and channel partners make the product available for purchase. The price, however, is likely to be north of the company's current top-of-the-line 10 MP Cornis Fusion monitor, for which an Internet search turned up a price of $32K.