Portkeys PL5 Monitor with Live Streaming Capabilities Released

Monitor News

by Jose PradaYesterday

Portkeys recently launched the PL5, a compact and lightweight 5.4-inch monitor with live streaming features via its USB-C port. The PL5 has HDMI input/output ports and monitoring tools and works with a single Sony NP-F battery. Let’s take a closer look!

Live streaming has become an essential part of content creation, and many manufacturers are incorporating that feature into their gear. As social media platforms grow as the main channel of video consumption, streamers need tools to produce videos with reliability and quality. Portkeys has just launched the PL5, a monitor whose differential aspect is the ability to stream videos via the included USB-C port. 

Portkeys PL5, plenty of tools on a budget

The PL5 is a compact and lightweight monitor (154.5g/5.45oz) that features a 5.4-inch 10-bit (8+2 FRC) touchscreen display with a resolution of 1920 x 1152, a maximum brightness of 500nits, a 1000:1 contrast ratio, and a 178° viewing angle. As you could have guessed, with 500nits, the monitor’s purpose is not precisely to shine under sunny exteriors or similar situations. It has a minimalistic design with only one On/Off switch, one switch to lock the screen and the user interface, and one battery release button at the top of the monitor. There are two 1/4 “-20 mounting points with locating pins at the bottom and right sides of the monitor.

Regarding power and connectivity, the PL5 takes Sony NP-F-style batteries. Portkeys assures one Sony NP-F 550 battery can power the monitor for over two hours, while the USB-C port can power the unit externally if users need a longer running time. The monitor has a 4K DCI 30p HDMI video input port, one 3.5mm headphone jack, one 3.5mm microphone input, one HDMI output port, and one USB 3.0 Type-C video output port, both supporting resolutions up to 1080p60. There’s also a USB-A port at the bottom for future firmware updates and loading custom LUTs.

PL5 works with the latest Portkeys operating system, MOVNORM OS. It features the most common monitoring tools we can find in average monitors, plus other interesting ones like a color grader, crop tool, image flip, etc. These are some of the available tools:

• 3D LUT monitoring with 3D LUT HDMI and USB-C output capabilities. Custom LUTs can be loaded via the USB-A port at the bottom of the monitor.
• Customizable False Color with 13 different colors, including ARRI False Color.
• RGB and Luma Waveform/Histogram exposure tools. There is also an adjustable Zebra tool.
• Anamorphic image de-squeeze with all the standard ratios (1.33x, 1.5x, 2.0x) and the possibility to enter a custom aspect ratio from 0.25 to 4.0.
• Stretch leg tool: when shooting vertically, you can stretch the bottom part of the image. The stretch leg tool feature can be sent to the HDMI output.
• Image Capture and Image Overlay. Image Capture takes a snapshot of the HDMI video input (combined with a LUT if desired) and saves it to the monitor’s memory. Then, users can set the transparency/opacity of the Image Overlay., which is helpful for shot matching (continuity) or a quick overview of the day’s shots.
• Peaking and Zoom functions to nail focus easily.
• Framing tools: crosshair, check field, guides, grids, rectangle crop.
• Audio meters.
• Monitor adjustments: backlight, contrast, color temperature, sharpness, chroma, brightness, tint, HDR HLG, OSD Flip mode.

Live streaming: a differential feature.

Although the PL5 is a complete monitor for those looking for a compact solution on a budget, it will attract buyers thanks to its streaming capabilities. Users can connect the PL5 to a computer via the USB-C port and broadcast it to any platform via OBS. On top of that, it offers enough tools to tweak the image, including:

• The ability to apply a 3D LUT to the output video.
• A 360° color grader to adjust the Hue and Saturation of a select part of the image.
• Contrast, sharpness, brightness, color temperature, and tint adjustment.
• Built-in image flip.
• Free rectangle cropping to create a zoomed-in close-up shot inside the image.

Price and availability 

The Portkeys PL5 is now available for $239 / €265.42. The monitor ships in a safety box and includes a sunshade, a set of rubber covers, a USB key, a full-size to full-size HDMI cable, a Portkeys MH-2 monitor mount, a USB-C to USB-C cable, and a USB-C to USB-A cable.

For more information, please visit Portkeys’ website here.

What do you think about the Portkeys PL5? Are you currently looking for a live-streaming solution? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!