connecting television set as my monitor
 

im editing with final cut pro 4,
and im using my camera as my dv deck.
i am trying to connect my television to view my work as a monitor
does anyone know how to do this, or what i need to be able to connect it
i just want to be able to view it on the tv, while i work..
im not really using it for color correction or anything.
thanks

I'm pretty sure connecting your tv to your video card is the only option. Depends on what connections your computer card and television have.

I have two 20 inch monitors I use when I use my vegas 6 that connect to my video card. I also have my 42 inch plasma I use to preview my work. I think that's what your trying to accomplish. I use a s-video cable to attach my plasma to my computer.

Hope this helps, it works for me.

Connect your camera via firewire to the computer. Connect the video out (s-video, composite, component - whatever your camera has) to your TV. Put the camera in deck or vcr mode. Start your NLE program and the video should appear on the TV. There may be a setting within your NLE to activate this function.

Duane

That would work, but you'd sure log a lot of extra hours on your camera.

Mark, surely just having a camera turned on will have no negative effect? It's not like the heads would be used?

Another option is a bidirectional firewire A/D converter box such as those from Canopus or ADS. I have a Canopus ADVC-110 that works like a champ. Note: If you go this route you do need to make sure it's bidirectional - the lower-priced converters are one-way only, allowing you to capture DV from an analog source such as a VCR but they don't go the other way, converting DV back to analog for monitoring.

I really don't think that will be much of an issue. Like Chris said, you aren't putting any wear and tear on the mechanical parts. I've used my VX-2000 for this for extended periods and it's still going strong after 4 years.

However the only concern might be running the camera plugged into an A/C adaptor for long periods of time. We've seen reports here of camera that have been damage by line power spikes when connected to the power line. I always run my Z1 on battery power and use an external charger. Of course I'm just paranoid about this because the Z1 is a pretty expensive camera. :-)

Steve's suggestion is a good one too. You can get the ADS Pyro box pretty cheaply. Another possibility would be connecting a DVD recorder to your Mac via fireire and hooking a monitor up to that.