Was wandering through Best Buy today and after looking at their $160 Dynex 15" HD monitor, I bought one on impulse! Dynex® - 15" Class / 720p / 60Hz / LCD HDTV - DX-L15-10A (http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=9135376&type=product&id=1218054462302)

The cashier said "Wow, the 15" Dynex is actually in stock!" This thing looks pretty good to me. It overscans slightly on the component inputs (there's a preference you can set for VGA mode; not sure about HDMI) but not a big deal.

Native resolution is 1368x768 - does a great job for focus with my ex1. After tweaking the picture settings it looks nice.... very respectable next to my 46" Bravia LCD. You can also go into the service menus and have even more control over a number of parameters (press INPUT>2>5>8>0 on the remote).

I went out to the woods and played around for a bit this afternoon and used a Duracell powersource mobile 100 to power it. PowerSource Mobile 100 | Portable Battery Charger | Duracell (http://www.duracellpower.com/portable-power/portable-chargers/powersource-mobile-100.aspx)

I had it on for almost an hour with no problems, not sure how long it would run on this battery pack... probably somewhere between one to two hours. These units are made by Xantrax for Duracell and contain a LIon battery with inverter and AC outlet. The Dynex screen is rated at 30 watts.

I have been trying to build some custom presets for outdoor scenes, and this screen is going to make the process a lot easier. I can just cram it into a 15" laptop carrying case. A case for a 17" laptop would be a better match I suspect.

I unscrewed the mounting bracket from the plastic piece which fits into the base, then drilled one of the bolt holes out with a 17/64" bit and mounted on a small tripod I had using a 1/4" nut and washer - see photo below.

Anyway, I think this one is worth a look. Certainly a lot nicer image than you will get from composite input on a DVD player!

Boyd,

A couple weeks ago I was going through Best Buy and looked at the same thing, or an identical twin. I remember looking at the base and wondering what other mounts could be swapped in for it.

What I would like to know: What sort of mount/adapter did you use to put it on the tripod?

Thanks in advance.

No adaptor or mount was needed. As I said above, I just removed the plastic column which was screwed to the monitor's mount and drilled one of the existing holes large enough for the tripod screw to pass through. Adding some kind of quick release fitting would make it even better.

A picture is worth a thousand words....

This is a little better - found a threaded adaptor in my trunk of old cameras inherited from my Dad. Of course there are plenty of other ways to do this.

Looks good.

I have done the same with some Viewsonic N1630w models and they are working out well.

The are televisions not computer monitors which makes a difference.

They only cost $189 and have component & HDMI. I have not looked for a service menu, sounds like a good thing to find.

For a mounting I purchased some 3/8" thick steel from Lowe's, cut it to the shape of where the monitor meets its stand and added 1/4-20 tapped hole.

I use a Manfrotto super clip to attach them to tripods.

Happy camper.

I have not looked for a service menu, sounds like a good thing to find.

For any kind of television, try googling your make and or model number along with "service menu" and you will be amazed if you've never seen something like this. But be REALLY careful because on some models there is no "restore default" command and you can mess things up.

I had hoped the service mode on this one would let me adjust the image size for underscan, but it doesn't. Gives you a lot of control over the colorimetry however, even lets you tweak the response curves of the normal menu controls.

This one is curious also because it has an RS-232 "service port". I wonder if the tv is actually running linux and if that is a tty port?

If anyone is interested, the following bag is just the right size for this monitor. Got one for $30 at Staples: 15.4" Laptop Messenger, Black, SOLO Classic Collection (http://solocases.com/item.aspx?id=1010)

The tag says "Style: NY10-4050".

I picked up an Element FLX-1910 at Sears for around $200.

Has an HDMI input, a VGA input, an S-Video input and even a component input.

And it also doubles as my studio TV for watching TV during down times. :)

And it works great with this stand:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/504173-REG/Delvcam_DELV_LCD1_DELV_LCD1_Combo_Stand_.html

Cool - that's a nice stand! The Dynex will also work with VESA mounts. But I am happy with my free solution for now. :-)

But you are also talking about a 19" monitor. What attracted me to this Dynex product is the small size (15" screen) which makes it very transportable and able to fit in a cheap laptop case.

But you are also talking about a 19" monitor. What attracted me to this Dynex product is the small size (15" screen) which makes it very transportable and able to fit in a cheap laptop case.


Bingo - which is precisely why I was looking at it a couple weeks ago.

I obviously didn't read your first post very well, Boyd.
Thanks for the followup and picture.

Hi Boyd, do you know if i could find a similar Pal model(50 hz)?I live in Eu...

thx

Marcus,

Dynex is a "store brand" which is sold in the Best Buy chain of electronics stores in the US. According to their site, they can only ship to addresses in the US and its possessions. Doing a quick google search I found several possibilities, but it seems likely that LG actually manufactures the Dynex televisions for Best Buy.

But if you visit LG's site, the smallest screen which they sell themselves appears to be 19": LG Televisions (http://www.lge.com/us/tv-audio-video/televisions/index.jsp). So my guess is that you cannot purchase this monitor outside the US, unless LG is making a similar model which another company puts their logo on.

Thank you my friend!
:(

Hi Tim
I am in Pal area and i mostely shoot 25p 50hz can I use Viewsonic N1630w
Ramji

Hey Boyd,

Any ideas on being able to power that screen with a bigger battery? A battery with some sort of charge indicator?

I think this has more juice:

XPAL Power | Products : XP18000 (http://www.xpalpower.com/us/products/xp18000/)

18,000 mah but no wall socket plug.

I'm looking for an LCD I can throw into a laptop bag at a comparable size as yours. Maybe even a little larger depending on power consumption.

If a 17in laptop screen can run on batteries I wish a TV/Monitor lcd could too =/. Thoughts anyone?

A 10inch lcd4video is $300! Is the cost high because it's self powered or because it's made for video?

A 10inch lcd4video is $300! Is the cost high because it's self powered or because it's made for video?


Yes, because it's made for video.

It's also why some of us are using portable DVD players as monitors. It's self powered AND it's relatively cheap, as in roughly half your $300.

Native resolution is 1368x768 - does a great job for focus with my ex1.
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Boyd,

With the component video interface that you are using:

1. How sharp is the television monitor compared to the LCD on the EX1 camera?

2. Is there a setting in the service menu of the Dynex to sharpen it more if necessary?

3. Are you using the Dynex for adjusting exposure on the camera as well?

Some of the user comments about the product at the Best Buy site are a little scary:

Example:

"Looks and feels cheap. Picture quality is grainy, colors are faded, and the viewing angle is extremely limited. This is the worst product I have ever purchased at Best Buy."

----

For anyone interested, there is a "Laptop Stand" in the Walmart store for $20 in the section with the "furniture" as part of their back to college items. It is portable and works as a monitor stand. It has a quick-release/tilt for the table as well. Height is 36 inches. Top is 14" x 18". Although not as tall as a tripod, it works for me on shoots where I have to sit and also serves as a portable projector table.

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=11062628

John

Hi John,

Well, it cost $160 so I would keep that in mind when evaluating the quality. Yes, the viewing angle is pretty narrow. For the price, I think it's quite good but obviously everyone has their own ideas of cost/value.

1. It is certainly sharper than the camera's LCD screen, but the small size of the built-in LCD tends to give it more apparent sharpness since the pixels are so tiny. The Dynex monitor makes it quite easy to judge focus IMO. It has almost 4x as many pixels as the built-in LCD.

2. Yes, there are shapness settings. I don't have the monitor here at the moment, but I think you can set them using the regular menu's without even needing to dig into the service menus.

3. I think it would be hard to use this kind of consumer monitor to adjust exposure, especially outdoors with a lot of ambient light. You can try calibrating it using color bars, which seems to help. But I think zebra's and the histogram are a better way to judge exposure.

I have not used this monitor a lot since it's just one more thing to lug around and setup, but find it a useful addition to my kit for those times when I want something better than the camera's LCD screen. This monitor can give you a much better idea of picture profile settings in the field than the camera's LCD screen.

Richie: You could power this monitor with anything that provides regular 120v AC. There are a number of possibilities, but I have not looked for anything specific beyond the unit that I mentioned. I have a larger Xantrex unit which would probably run that screen for a whole day, but it's pretty heavy to lug around.

Note to Marcello - I have moved your question to a new thread since it really didn't belong here. See: http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/sdtv-hdtv-video-monitors/465103-need-15-17-pal-monitor-solution.html

I have been using a 19 inch Dynex for about a year now, first with my HV20, and the FX1, and now with my Canon 5D. While you won't confuse the image with that of a high end Monitor, it certainly fills the bill for the purposes Boyd recommend, and I will be checking ou the 15 for a bit more portability. Thanks for the recommendation.

Can somebody suggest a solution for me? I live in a PAL country and I'm looking for a portable (15-17") complete solution (monitor + battery + stand). My needs are for outdoor and really I think that brightness is important. It should be usable in full sun situations without consistent reflections. Any ideas?

Marcello: as I said above, I have moved your question to a new thread here: http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/sdtv-hdtv-video-monitors/465103-need-15-17-pal-monitor-solution.html

Please use this new thread since it's really a separate topic - your needs will not be met by a cheap unit like this.

Sorry.. I didn't understand.. seemed quite on the subject to me.