playback on monitor
 

Right now on my Mac I have one 20' monitor for editing and a Vizio tv monitor for playback (so I know what it will look like on a regular tv).
When I'm editing, the video on my Vizio tv monitor looks all pixelated and just plain bad.
When I play the video (raw) straight to the tv it looks great. But during editing and playback it looks like crud. If I change the setting to the preview/raw, it looks better but it's really small.

What am I missing here?

Anyone? Bueller?

Please tell us what sort of video format you are working with. DV or HDV? What program, Final Cut, iMovie, Premier? And I, for one, am not connecting the name "Vizio" with any particular type of TV. Is it a SD or HD monitor?

I would guess with the limited info you have provided that you have the wrong settings on your timeline. Make sure your timeline is in the same format as the footage.

Thanks William!

I'm working with DV and HDV on FCP 5.

I currently have one monitor, my 20' Apple, for editing. The Vizio tv is just for playback so I know how it will look on an actual television.

Under 'View' and 'Video Playback' I have 4 options:
Digital Cinema Desktop - Preview
Digital Cinema Desktop
Digital Cinema Desktop - Full Screen
Digital Cinema Desktop - Raw

During playback the video doesn't look as crisp and clear (on my playback monitor) as it does as when I'm viewing it raw on the same monitor. I'm wondering if there's a setting I'm missing.

How is your monitor hooked up? Is it firewire out to your deck or cam and then into the TV? that is the way I would recommend setting it up. But as for the pixelation it could be your render settings, if you are using Dynamic RT then FCP will automatically lower the quality of your footage so that it can keep playing back without doing a render... that could be it, make sure your timeline is fully rendered to see best quality.