Wide gamut IPS monitor for video?
 

No doubt this has been covered at some point here.....
I work both in video and still imagery, and am looking for a new second monitor for my editing needs. I know for critical color an IPS wide gamut monitor is the obvious choice for my still work. But will this also be a good choice for video use? I have found a HP IPS monitor which fits my budget and connectivity needs.... but have read that wide gamut monitors can be troublesome (obviously they need to be well calibrated) with non-tagged images. That's okay, I only work in aRGB for stills. What effect (if any) will the wide gamut have on video signals using the HDMI input? This monitor states it covers 102% of NTSC color space.
Thanks for any comments or advice!

Re: Wide gamut IPS monitor for video?
 

Hi there.

Is it the ZR22 or ZR24 or $2500 Dreamcolor?

With 102% of NTSC (similar to sRGB), that is a near perfect amount. The more you get over 100%, the more saturated reds usually are. For example, the Dell U2410 has a gamut far over 100% and greatly suffers from highly saturated reds and a pinkish tint. On a high-end LCD such as the Dreamcolor or Eizo CG243W (which I own), their NTSC gamut is 100%. (although the Dreamcolor reverts to a higher percentage when not fed a true progressive & RGB signal; thus, making it look more like the cheaper Dell)

Do you already have a calibrator and/or a way to profile your monitors? With a good calibration and then a good profile, you can get fairly accurate colors.

HD video uses Rec 709 as its gamut while NTSC is like Rec 601 for SD video. I believe the Spyder can calibrate your monitors to Rec 709 through its software. This sort of calibration is called 'software' whereas 'Hardware' calibration is something used in the high-end monitors where the monitor itself stores and implements the adjustments. Hardware calibration allows a monitor to be used with any video device and use the stored color adjustments. With software calibration, the computer software is storing and making all adjustments through the graphics card; so, its not as accurate as hardware calibration.

For you, I suggest this workflow: saving a color space preset with sRGB (or did you mean Adobe RGB) for photo work and also saving a Rec 709 calibration for video work. The software from the Spyder should allow you to do this and the hardware calibrated monitors such as the Eizo allow you to store these calibrations in the monitor; so, its just a couple button pushes to switch between various color spaces.

Re: Wide gamut IPS monitor for video?
 

Thanks for your input, Steve
Sorry to take so long to reply myself, but I've been on a shoot out of town for a while.

The monitor is not the Dreamcolor, it is the HP LP2475w. I bought it specifically because it had HDMI and component inputs, but forgot that the camera I am using does not have HDMI out. That's okay, because the component out works just fine.

The reds are extremely oversaturated (with still images, but not too bad with video). I think I'll get a Spyder for calibration. Do you know if the Spyder 3 Pro has the rec 709 calibration in the software, or is that available only in the Elite?

One thing about this monitor, I don't think I can save the profiles on the monitor itself. I haven't had the time to play with it too much, and haven't even installed the software (not sure if I need that with a mac) but it seems I can only change profiles from my computer. I can see the differences switching between profiles on my monitor when connected to my computer, but when my camera is connected, changing profiles does not seem to do anything. Not sure what that's about either....

Re: Wide gamut IPS monitor for video?
 

The ASUS ProArt Series PA246Q Black 24.1" 6ms P-IPS Height/Swivel/Pivot Adjustable LCD Monitor.

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$439.99 with free shipping until 5/19 with that coupon code.

Reviews:

ASUS PA246Q ProArt 24” IPS Monitor Review

Asus PA246Q ProArt 24-Inch LCD Monitor Review - HotHardware

John

Re: Wide gamut IPS monitor for video?
 

After reading the canucks review, there are some major flaws for color critical applications such as really poor color uniformity. Not to sound snobbish, but this uniformity issue is why my Eizo CG243W cost me over $2,000.

Also, people should realize that most if not all affordable '10 bit' LCDs are not real 10bit panels but 8bit panels with FRC (Frame rate control). This has become very common with Dell and NEC using FRC in many of their LCDs under $1500 such as the 30" Dell. To give an idea how much LCDs cost with real 10bit panels, look at the 17" Panasonic BT-LH1710W at $2895, Flanders LM-1770W at $2695 and 24" Flanders Scientific LM-2461W at $4995. (FYI, both 17" LCDs use the same panel)

I would like to know how it interfaces with calibration software and what settings are available for calibration and how they are stored, ie software calibration via GPU or hardware.

I hope prad.de does an extensive review because they are the best for 'Pro' monitors. And their review helped me make the final decision on the Eizo versus the HP Dreamcolor and an LG 10bit LCD.

No matter what, other manufacturers must follow ASUS and produce high quality 24" LCDs (Dell, NEC, Eizo, HP).

Thanks for the heads up on this ASUS. If I didn't already have the Eizo and Panasonic 1710w, I would seriously consider adding this ASUS to my main editing/grading rig. Although, I will most likely add 2 of these to my next workstation (Mac Pro) when I get it this summer to use with Smoke and DaVinci Resolve.

Re: Wide gamut IPS monitor for video?
 

I just got the ASUS ProArt based on some good reviews. I'm wondering if anybody else has gotten one and gotten good results with it? I have a Mac Pro 3,1 with a Quadro 4000 graphics card. I color balanced it with a Spyder 3 Elite, and according to it's comparison, it matched up well with rec 709 and sRGB color space.

I like the old fashioned style of the monitor, have yet to really test it out. I'm also using an old Apple 30" Cinema Display,which I like a lot but it is older technology, though it is just as good as the day I got it in 2006. I'm hoping the ASUS will provide me better reference for my color correction than the ancient Samsung TFT it replaced or the Cinema display. I haven't done any critical tests with it other than it has no dead pixels or changing color casts. The Spyder software measured drastic luminance variance as noted in the review, and the areas of darkness matched the review. To my eye it's hard to notice, but jury is out there.

If I had a more critical viewing environment and output devices I'd consider the more pro monitors such as the Flanders or others, but for now I was just looking for an upgrade and a pretty good deal.

Does anybody have a recommendation for room lighting? I've heard recommendations of 'daylight' color, 6500K but there are a lot out there (CFLs) and I'm wondering if anybody has an opinion.

Thanks much.