Preview monitor
 

Hi, i currently have a dell demension 8200 with a ATI 9550 video card, and 1gig of ram.. What i want to do is have my dual monitor set up with a preview monitor so i can do accurat color correction, and a good preview other than on my monitor.. what do i need inorder to set this up, and what kind of monitor should i get, fyi, i like cheap but good quality stuff. Thanks for your help.

The best setup is to hook up a NTSC monitor to deck to computer. Any monitor hooked up to VGA/DVi on your video card won't be accurate for many reasons.

NTSC monitors are expensive, especially if you want one with SMPTE C phosphors (they are standard phosphors designed to be color accurate).

There are big risks buying used NTSC monitors... monitors can have any number of problems that the seller may not detect. You should definitely inspect used monitors if you want to buy a used one, and run some test patterns through it (you need a camcorder with S-video and/or RCA/BNC output). Ask for instructions.

2- The cheap route:
-Use a camcorder with analog-digital passthrough instead of a deck.
-For the monitor, get an industrial-quality monitor. JVC is one manufacturer that does this.