Entry-level question: "Video monitors" vs. "Computer monitors"

[Vikram D'Mello]

Am in the market for a computer monitor to go with a new desktop computer. User level is advanced hobbyist / semi-pro. Primarily photo, secondarily video (HD) work.

I've come across this distinction between a "video monitor" - which appears to be in a different price league and for serious professional work only, and "computer monitors" - which is the bulk of the commercial market.

What exactly makes a video monitor that much better and more expensive, given the underlying display technology appears to be LCD for both?

More for my purposes: If I cap my budget at $400 ($US), am I better off going for a higher-end computer monitor or a lower-end video monitor? I intend to use this display for all computing purposes, including entertainment on DVDs. To that end, any specific brand and model suggestions would be very much appreciated.

Thanks in advance for setting me straight - VD.

[Jay Cowley]

you would purchase a video monitor for:

- colour accuracy
- wider range of inputs/outputs, including industrial-grade inputs such as HD-SDI
- highly configurable for calibration, cropping and setting aspect ratios.....etc

[Romuald Martin]

If you do mainly photo work a computer monitor will do.

Besides more capabilities, a video monitor is a must to review the quality if you deliver media for broadcast (TV or cable stations). This is especially important if your final product is video interlaced (computer monitors display progressive). Also will be needed for professional color correction.

[D.J. Ammons]

I use an HD computer monitor as my monitor #1 which displays my Sony Vegas main screen. I then use a HDTV as the second monitor both to view footage straight from the camera via HDMI and as the 2nd computer monitor to show the Vegas preview screen when editing.

While my HDTV is a consumer model and not for color grading I have to tell you that once I hooked up a high def calibration disc and adjusted the settings it has been spot on for editing based on viewing my completed DVD's on a 92" HD proejctor screen and a 42" LCD HDTV. I haven't tested it on a CRT television but am not concerned as the majority of folks have migrated to Plasma and LCD's so that is the displays I am calibrating for.

[Vikram D'Mello]

Many thanks for the edifications, all. This makes more sense now.

DJ: Your experience in particular is of interest to me. I realized I, too, have an HDTV (basic Toshiba consumer model). Will try your idea of using that as computer monitor.

To that end, I'm guessing it's best to use the provided HDMI input on the TV, right? In the past I have used it on the old computer with a VGA connection, and the display is quite terrible. The new computer video card (GTX 260) has a DVI output, but apparently it can send an HDMI signal using an adapter. Would it be better to use such an adapter with an HDMI-to-HDMI cable, or rather get a direct DVI-to-HDMI cable?

Thank you again - Vikram.

[Tim Polster]

You might want to check your NLE to see if it will send its output through your graphics card. A lot will not which defeats the purpose for video editing.

[Andrew Smith]

Failing that, get yourself one of these and you can use the included calibration facility to turn a regular computer monitor in to a professional quality video monitor.

Andrew

[Vikram D'Mello]

All inputs were valuable and considered - many thanks to all.

Ended up going for NEC's 24" EA241WM-BK. It truly is a joy to work with. Although not "professional grade", it is an absolute beauty, and much more than I need for my work - primarily photographic, with some video for supporting documentary projects and for audio-visual presentations.

Coupled with one of the members' handy "fixes", I'm also enjoying hardware-based GPU acceleration on Nvidia's GTX 260 with Premiere Pro (Mercury Playback Engine), so the real-time video editing experience is quite simply amazing.

Best to all - Vikram

[Vikram D'Mello]

thanks again to this forum - a worthy choice of reference i'm finding.

the setup is proving superb, hardware and software both.

nothing like seeing your edits occur without delay :-)

best wishes - vikram.