Imac as a video monitor?
 

I have a know it all aquatence at work who insists that I can use my old imac (g3 733 mhz) as a video monitor. Is this true? How can I make it happen? How would I calibrate such a thing? Eventually I'd like to buy a full on video monitor, but If I can use the imac for now, it would be awesome!

I suppose you could run firewire from your camera to your iMac and then use FCP or iMovie to view the camera feed (although I don't think it would be quite real time if the camrea or its subject is moving particularly fast).

However, I don't think it's a great idea. It would let you see what you're camera is pointed at (though there are limits to how far you can run firewire cable) but that's about all it will do.

You could run BTV Pro on it in full screen mode with a firewire connection to your camera. You would need to play around with the brightness and gamma controls to attempt to get it into the correct range for an NTSC monitor however.

It certainly wouldn't be as good as a real NTSC monitor but it might have some value. You can download a free demo version. Not sure how well this would work on a G3... it might be OK though.

BTV
 

Huh... I actually already have some software called "istop motion" with wich I can do pretty much the same thing... It never crossed my mind to use it in such a way though, but I bet it would work just fine.
Thanks, guys.

Re: Imac as a video monitor?
 

This is a very old thread, I know, but it asks a question which I need an answer to...

Can I run an HDMI feed to an iMac monitor? I believe the Mac in question is mini-display port. Anyone done this? I am feeding from a NanoFlash for a trade show display.

If the iMac has an older DVI connection, is it still possible?

Not a common problem, I've never run up against it, and there is not much info on the web that speaks to the issue...

Re: Imac as a video monitor?
 

I believe most iMacs are display out only -- you can't use them as monitors. The newer ones will allow input, though IIRC they won't allow you to change the display to 'full screen' so you end up with an image that is both letter and pillarboxed if you have a 1920x1080 source. As for connection types, there are cables with HDMI at one end and either DVI or miniDisplayPort at the other ... whether they will work or not with the iMac model you may have is another story.

GB