Okay, this thing has to be one of the coolest products we've seen on Kickstarter. Arovia's Spontaneous Pop-Up Display, or SPUD, is a 24" HD display that collapses down like an umbrella, weighs just 2 lbs., and has HDMI and wireless connectivity. SPUD uses a specialized projector system and innovative optical design to project HD images that don't require dim lighting or a long projection distance.
Though its native resolution leaves a bit more to be desired from a professional filmmaking standpoint, this pop-up display seems to have a lot of important features that indie shooters look for when searching for a monitoring solution. Check out Arovia's Kickstarter video for SPUD to learn more.
Here are the tech specs for the SPUD:
Credit: Kickstarter
Credit: Kickstarter
Though not technically marketed directly at filmmakers, SPUD actually has a lot of features that would benefit them. It's lightweight, compact, portable, has an HDMI port, and delivers an HD image on a huge screen. The downfall, though, is that its native resolution is only 720p, which for some of you may not be a huge deal, but for others, especially those shooting 4K who need precise control while monitoring, this may not be the solution you're looking for. Furthermore, it doesn't look like there's much, if any, control over calibration. (Also, I imagine SPUD would be useless outdoors during even a moderate amount of adverse weather conditions.)
Besides, there are a handful of really excellent external monitors out there—Convergent Design and Atomos offer some of the best on the market with the Odyssey 7Q+ and Shogun Inferno. However, comparing these pro-level monitors and SPUD is really like comparing apples to oranges, so in the end you kind of just have to ask yourself if you want to spend upwards of $2000 for a 7" monitor that does some truly amazing things, or do you want to spend $400 on a 24" display that is super portable and might be sufficient for monitoring.
But maybe touting it as a potential external monitor was my mistake. Maybe it's good simply for what it is: a portable display. If you want to watch some dailies or just need an extra screen to edit, write, or plan your project on, SPUD does seem very well-suited for that.
If you want to learn more, head on over to Kickstarter and check out SPUD's campaign, which has already raised almost $300K (original goal: $33K).
Source: SPUD—Kickstarter
