Finally an affordable hd monitor
 

I have a Sony HVR-V1U hd video camera after searching high and low I finally found a monitor that works for under $600 dollars first I purchased from Sewell Direct a 7in Xenarc monitor I bought the model TSV -702 bECAUSE IT HAS 1000 NIT MOST monitors only have 400 or 500 this is the brightness level. This particular model has a touchscreen which the Xenarc folks are currenty removing for 30 bucks .Anyways I tried the HD Fury solution of course monitor would not recognize it then tried Mayflash also same problem so after extensive web searching I was lucky enough to find a small box made by AV Tools The AVT-3310, For less than 100 dollars it has s video in and composite video in smaller than a pack of cigarettes and has a vga out which interfaces on my Xenarc monitor uses a 3.3 volt power source very sophisticated box it upconverts s video to 800x600 and 1024x 768 and 1280x1024 actually a small recessed switch allows you to choose either SVGA,XGA OR SXGA LOOKS FANTASTIC ON A 7IN MONITOR THE BOX CAN BE FOUND AT AVTOOLS ON LINE .I NOTIFIED THE FOLKS AT AV tools and Xenarc and needless to say they were very excited about my discovery. Check the resolution of the expensive Marshall field monitors 800x480 and cost prohibited my monitor has a 18 month warranty 16x9 or 4x3 lots of bells and whistles the tech rep said it would greatly reduce glare if I removed the touch screen hope you folks looking for a great LOWCOST hd monitor look ito this the resolution I am able to view is SVGA 800X600 XGA 1024X768 AND SXGA 1280X1024 XENARC ALSO SELLS A CHEAPER VERSION WITH 500 NIT WITH VGA CABLE www.sewelldirect.com www.XENARC.COM and http://www.avtoolbox.com/upconpage.shtml

Thanks for sharing Craig.

How much do you think the picture would improve if you used a compnent to VGA adaptor?

Like this one - http://www.ramelectronics.net/audio-.../prod1365.html

It seems a shame to use S-video for HD monitoring.

Welcome to DV Info Net, Craig -- do you have any pics of this thing in action?

Everyone here understands that an S-Video cable can only transmit NTSC/PAL and NOT HD, right? Composite and S-Video are fairly useless for monitoring HD.

Dan

After experimentation with portable DVD players with composite video in, 800x480 8-10" LCD displays are better than the on-board 3.5" LCD display.
For $200-300, you have a portable monitor that is superior to the LCD. When better LCDs arrive, we'll be sure to jump on them.

I'm intrigued by the 702tsv. Spent the morning researching it. My main use is as a framing monitor for my advantajib, so the 1,000 nits is pretty exciting. I hear a lot of people saying that anything less than full 1:1 pixel representation is "useless for focus", and that sure does seem like uninformed melodrama. Absolutely a true 1920x1080p 7" lcd would rock the house, but i can get a lot more information out of the composite out of my camera than the built in viewfinder or lcd.

I'm confused why craig needed to buy an outboard uprezzer when the 702tsv has composite as well as s-video inputs. It seems that the monitor squishing the video to 800x480 makes more sense than using an outboard device to scale to 800x600 then have the monitor squish that to 800x480.

Am i missing something?

I too don't understand the whole "cheap monitors can't focus" argument.

Marshall Electronics sells their 7" V-R70P-HDA, specifically for focusing HD cameras. They charge $1500 for it... and guess what?

Other than already having HD input, it's the same resolution LCD component. 800x480.

The Lilliput monitors seem like the way to go. I'm currently looking at this:

https://www.xenarcdirect.com/product...cat=254&page=1

and

http://shopping.netsuite.com/s.nl;js...2&category=865

Seems like my Canon A1 can output SD monitor RCA straight to the monitor, then the monitor will adjust accordingly to fill the 16:9 screen.

If I'm wrong correct me, but it seems absolutely comparable to the Marshall, as long as I can deal with down-rezzing "prior" to the screen.

The "down-rezzing" is what makes it hard to depend on for focusing. Many "HD" model monitors have a "1:1" pixel mode that blows the image up so you can see the center of it with each pixel in the image the camera is creating being represented with a pixel on the monitor...which is the only way you can focus. Down converting to SD is removing the high frequency information from the image...which is exactly the stuff you need to see if you're focused.

I know that many videographers use an SD monitor in the field, but there is a lot of "slop" within the range of what will appear focused at a low resolution vs. seeing the HiDef image...which is why HiDef looks so much better in the first place.

I think it's silly too. I bought a $120 7-inch LCD tv on Ebay and it's fine for focusing. Focus/defocus is relative. You can see when an image is sharpest. That's all you need if your sure your camera is working properly.

I recently rented the Marshall for an extended shoot and eventually I stopped taking it out of the travel case since I could focus quicker with the camera's focus assist. The monitor was good for the director although. Outdoors it was useless without a shade and even with one it was difficult to use in sunshine or bright haze.

None of these smaller LCDs seem to have better than SD horizontal resolution so their use is subjective. I have a Philips portable DVD that is about as useful in the resolution department as the Marshall was although the Marshall is easier to move about. You can't mount portable DVD players on the camera either.

A resourceful Andrew has listed some hardware to make this mounting easier:
http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showpost....&postcount=114

The portable DVD player is a little bulkier than I'd like, but it it includes the battery.