Question re" mac editing setup/ext. monitor...
 

Hello everyone,

This is my first post here, though I've been reading the posts for quite a while and found them immensely helpful. My question is this:

I'm trying to set up my Mac Pro (FCP Studio 5.1.4) for use with an external monitor for post production work (color correction, etc). My Mac currently has two LCD Computer monitors attached and I'd like to add an HD CRT TV. I'm trying to spend as little as possible, so I was thinking about getting this:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/cont...goryNavigation

My camera is the Canon XH-A1 and my question is... during editing can I just use the 1394 out of my mac to my XHA1 and then just use the video or component out of the XHA1 to the external HD monitor or do I need some sort of 3rd party external card to use an external video monitor while editing?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Luke

Since HDV (at this juncture anyway) can't play out FW in RT your options are a 3rd party card and hooking up your video monitor to the card via SDI, component or in the case of the BM Intensity HDMI (I think, there was some discussion however about whether that card will playout in RT). There is also the Matrox MXO which is a box that connects to your second DVI port and gives you a full resolution SDI or component signal out of the box (but no capture capability).

I use the MXO with a Macbook Pro and love it.

Ouch!
 

Thanks for the reply. That MXO looks really great, but a thousand bucks is way out of my price range right now, especially after all the money I just spent on the Mac Pro, Final Cut Studio and the camera - is something like that my only option for monitoring my footage on an external monitor? If so, I think I'm going to be pretty disappointed....... what about if the display isn't real time.... then is Firewire an option...? I mainly just want some way to accurately see the color correction process as I'm doing it. Other than that I can just edit on the computer LCDs.

Thanks in advance,

Luke

That TV you listed has a HDMI input, so a simple $40 DVI to HDMI adapter or cable may work. I say "may" because HDCP is a consideration, and the TV may not accept a non-HDCP signal.
Of course, you already have two LCD monitors, so you may not have a spare DVI output on your graphics card.

True, I don't have an extra DVi as they're both used by my monitors. What about using the LCDs normally and when I need to do color correcting, just detaching one of my LCDs and hooking up the TV w/ the HDMI adapter? Also, is there any way to find out if a TV will accept non-HDCP? From the looks of your post, it seems like this is a must for using as an editing monitor....

Color correcting? Then use the FireWire still output. Neither LCD or DVI to HDMI are going to give you a truly accurate picture. Close but not dead on.

Oh thank god! That sounds like exactly the sort of solution I was looking for. Could someone point me to any information on setting this up? I presume this way I could do what I'd originally planned - use firewire from mac to the canon xha1, then the component from there to the TV. If I could get that to work for color correction, even if it was only for still images, that'd be wonderful!