View Full Version : Field Monitors?


David Nussbaum
July 15th, 2003, 11:32 AM
I have an AG-DVX100 Camera and I was wondering how this monitor would go with it.

Bill Pryor
July 15th, 2003, 12:58 PM
I don't recognize that number, but assume it's a Sony 13"? Monitors aren't good or bad for any specific camera. You want to make sure it has blue check and under scan, as well as 16:9 if you plan on shooting 16:9, and BNC inputs. Audio input would be optional.

David Nussbaum
July 15th, 2003, 02:52 PM
yeah its a sony 13 inch. i think its rather old too, becuase it looks almost 80s.... though ebay had some good prices. (10 bucks...though shipping was 40)

Mark Moore
July 15th, 2003, 02:53 PM
I bought one of those monitors on ebay a couple of weeks ago (and just received it). I actually got it for $49 - the seller had like 16 of them. Right after I received it, I got a notice from ebay saying they had shut the guy down. Don't know why.

I haven't tried it out yet (GL1), as I'm moving (I hope next week) and I'm busy packing stuff up, so if anyone has one and has used it, please let me know how it is!

Mike de la Fuente
July 15th, 2003, 05:13 PM
I don't have experience with monitors either but I have calibrated my own TV sets for home theater use and may be able to shed a little light. The blue check is a mode that only uses the blue gun so you can calibrate part of the color when using color bars. On TV's, this normally isn't possible so you have to look through a blue filter, which is normally included with calibration discs like ISF's Video Essentials laserdisc and DVD.

Underscan shrinks the active area of the video to an area smaller than the actual visible part of the screen to insure you see everything captured on video. Usually, TV's are overscanned by manufacturers to insure every part of the physical screen is used. This results in the edges being cut off, which is why camera operators and editors use those safe title and safe action overlays to help insure important visual content won't be cut off on the viewer's TV. Overscan can usually be corrected on TV's, though most of the time only through a hidden service menu that usually isn't very intuitive - settings in this menu usually require a lot of experience in calibrating TV's and the purchase of the service manual from the manufacturer.

Boyd Ostroff
July 15th, 2003, 07:36 PM
<<<-- Originally posted by Mike de la Fuente : Overscan can usually be corrected on TV's

I thought so too, but on my Sony 19" and 27" WEGA's you can adjust to see somewhat more of the frame, but not all of it.

<<<-- Originally posted by Mike de la Fuente : though most of the time only through a hidden service menu that usually isn't very intuitive

For some fun (at your own risk) see the following link (http://209.145.176.7/~090/awh/how2adj.html#5)... but be sure to read all the precautions. You can actually do some pretty useful things to improve/modify your TV image this way. For example, you can shrink the vertical size of the image such that 16:9 will appear in the proper aspect ratio....

Christopher Go
July 16th, 2003, 01:04 AM
While I believe they have a new series of monitors which replace these, the Sony PVM8042 or PVM8045 are good field monitors. I see they have some on eBay but expect to pay considerably more than $50. They're more like $400+