Grading + Location Monitor HD Help Needed

[Ashley Briggs]

Hi,

I need a monitoring solution to these issues (background of my shooting style underneath);

Grading in post.
Focusing on set - or for focus puller.
Precision camera set up (knee etc) prior to shoots for very different 'looks' + camera\lens evaluations etc.
Focusing / directors monitor / general whilst in harsher locations.
All round production monitoring when in the studio or non-harsh locations (ie for other crew such as art directors and for general camera-dept compositional and checking).
Exposure monitoring with at least wavelength controls. Vector would be excellent.
Lighting aid on set.

These are all important.

I have about £3K set aside for this. My current thoughts are;

JVC DT-V17L3D LCD 17" Monitor HD.... together with a SmallHD DP1.

2 monitors for separate jobs, then maybe coming together on certain 'big' shoots.

Considerations;

They have to be 'tough' and industry spec.
Probably last 5-8 years (technology, and to a degree build quality).

[I mostly shoot on Ex1 and / or Lumix GH1 + 35mm lenses. I shoot on other formats including F900r's at times. I take a lot of pride in my work, and its mostly short films and artists films - so very 'visual'. Rather embarassingly though I have never monitored that much - especially in post. Although I do use hired in field monitors and have a mostly used On Location (tethered to a laptop + time delay = very annoying). Its probably always HD now. I currently use a 1yr old iMac 24" and a macbookpro 15". FCP Studio.

My questions;

Is this overkill?
Do I need anything else to go with a DT-V17L3D to give me great images whilst using FCP on either of my apples? (Connectivity).
Is a DT-V17L3D good enough for grading?
How tough, weather proof etc is the DP1?
Anything worth mentioning other than the JVC? CRT even - although HD?
This JVC has a contrast ration of 600:1. There is a new model out with Vector monitoring and a CR of 900:1. Is that worth £1000 extra that they ask for?

Thanks for any replies. I am a bit lost on this subject and any help would be really great.

Thanks, Ash.

[Andrew Dean]

My questions;

Is this overkill?
Do I need anything else to go with a DT-V17L3D to give me great images whilst using FCP on either of my apples? (Connectivity).
Is a DT-V17L3D good enough for grading?
How tough, weather proof etc is the DP1?
Anything worth mentioning other than the JVC? CRT even - although HD?
This JVC has a contrast ration of 600:1. There is a new model out with Vector monitoring and a CR of 900:1. Is that worth £1000 extra that they ask for?

Here are my random thoughts...

The DT-V17L3D isnt full 1080. Its 1440x900. I'd be more concerned about the monitor downsampling HD than the contrast ratio.

As to the toughness/weatherproofness of the DP1. Its not weatherproof. The jacks are on the top and the screen isnt sealed waterproof. I've had some drizzle on my screen with no drama, but if it was washing down, i'd hide mine away. As for toughness... I don't know how to gauge that. I mean... what abuse are we talking about? The screen is just a screen, its a little bit recessed behind the screen bezel, which will protect against some impact, but its still just a LCD screen. So no matter how tough the case is, the screen is the weak link. If you drop the dp1 screen down onto a metal spike, i reckon you'll have problems.

The DP1 case feels really secure to me. Nothing loose inside and nothing obvious to snap off. I have to admit that If i dropped my dp1, Assuming no damage to the LCD I'd be optimistic that she'd still work (although i wouldn't be too shocked if something inside jarred out of place). But I haven't dropped mine, and I can't think of anyone that has dropped theirs, so not sure what that is worth.

I have no experience with these, but people seem to like the matrox MX02 to output from final cut to a monitor. It claims to have "broadcast accuracy" on "consumer LCDs", but thats hard to quantify. Adjusting Hue and Sat is meaningless if the monitor doesn't have smooth linear color curves to start with. However, if there is a monitor people agree is great with the mx02, i'm keen to hear it too. Mostly i've just seen people talking in theory vs. a strong endorsement for the mx02 and a specific monitor.

I suppose you plan to use the 17" on set, because the smallHD does not have wavelength controls. I've said in other posts that I find the smallHD great for focusing and good enough for color/contrast shooting. I'm used to the monitor and have tweaked the setup enough that I can tell by the screen what i'll get back in post.

They have to be 'tough' and industry spec.
Probably last 5-8 years (technology, and to a degree build quality).

So... I'm not really sure how to quantify "tough". I'd expect the DP1 to be rugged in the rough, but it hasn't come up. One nice part is if you are shooting off the smallHD battery, it would be simple to tape something over the whole monitor to shield rain.

Lasting 5-8 years... Thats a pretty tall order. If you can tell us what the connection standards will be in 8 years, it'll make it lots easier to predict how monitor will stack up..
Heh. HDMI is growing... but some people are betting on SDI. hmm.

Hope that helps, or stimulates somebody with better info to answer!

Cheers!
-a

[Ashley Briggs]

Andrew,

That's useful. Thank you very much for your reply.

In terms of hard wearing - I'm always concerned about pro-sumer design build quality (ie my Letus extreme is pretty shocking build quality and would never trust it on a long or pro shoot). So your answer is useful - thank you.

Its the Matrox question again I guess. That'll be the weakest link in this set up. The LCD is not full HD-res yes, but then my iMac has is full frame res to check focus etc, the LCD would be more to check colour etc.

More research needed I guess...

[Steve Kalle]

Having just researched a monitor for production, I decided on the Panasonic BT-LH1710. It has waveform and vectorscope and is designed for heavy field use. Its 10 bit and has HD-SDI.

I would stay away from JVC. I had planned on getting their 17" or 20" LCD w/ HD-SDI but all of their models still for sale are 3+ years old and all others are discontinued. It doesn't appear JVC is putting much effort into their LCD business.

The other 17" LCD I considered is Flanders Scientific.

PS I also have an EX1.

[Ben Crosbie]

Might also want to look at the Flanders Scientific models. Their 17" models get rave reviews.