External Monitor or LCD TV?
 

I'm looking for a external monitor for Pr so I can edit with more ease and I'm not sure what to go for? Is there Pros/Cons for each?

I'm look at a LCD Monitor with Freeview in? Samsung SM2333HD 23 inch Wide 5ms LCD TFT Monitor with: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics & Photo

I bought a 24" dell monitor for this and it really helps. The two things you need to watch for are 1) does it have a DVI (or VGA) input? and just as important 2) What is the aspect ratio and native resolution of the monitor.

If you go with a computer monitor, which tend to be cheaper here in Canada, you'll want to make sure its 16:9 and not 16:10. I would also suggest you get one that has a native resolution of 1920x1080. I find that using ones with a lower resolution really degrade picture quality when looking at video.

Alan

Thanks Alan. I always thought displaying on a TV was better than a computer monitor but was unsure the reason why...

Also whats the best way to setup Pr for the external unit?

I'd like mirror copy of the output screen I see and when I preview I'd like both of the screens to play the image?

Hey David :)

I should qualify my past post a little. I only use the second monitor for non colour critical work. So depending on your workflow a TV monitor may be better. Also, if you are working with interlace footage, you may be more comfortable with a TV monitor as well since computer monitors are progressive.

So you you should base your decision on what your primary work is. Broadcast? 4:3? 16:9? etc.

I'm using CS3 on a PC and my video card has dual DVI outs. So one goes to my main monitor and the other to my second/preview monitor. My desktop is set to utilize both screens when not using Premiere which is also why I like using a computer monitor. Once you have Premiere going, take a look at the top right tab on the program monitor window. Open that and at the bottom there you'll see 'playback options'. That screen will have an external monitor selector (can't remember the exact term) which will list all of the monitors you have connected to your system that it knows how to use. Then you just select whcih monitor you want to use for preview. As soon as that is selected, when you are in Premiere the contents of the prgram monitor will be displayed full screen on the second monitor (not gui or other elements).

Hope this helps. Let me know if you have any more questions.

Alan

Once again thanks Alan.

Most if not all my work is YouTube based and I do little colour corrections at the moment. I'm using the expensive Dell 24" TFT as my main monitor so I think another Dell 22/23/24" monitor will be fine, and no doubt cheaper than a LCD TV.

My GFX card is the Nvidia 3700 which has 2 DVI ports so I wont have any issues connecting another TFT.

I'll reconnect my smaller Dell monitor and test the setup within Pr tomorrow and report back.


David