What will I gain with 2 monitors for editing
 

Hi all,

I've been doing some editing for a bit now using:
Dell 4600
15-inch LCD
Radeon 9800 Pro graphics card
250 MB on board
300 MB external
Premiere Pro 1.5

I've never used a second monitor... I know this sounds extreemely newby of me, but.... what will i gain by using a second monitor... and how do I set this up?

Thanks so much
Nelson Cardoso

Two words Nelson my boy...

"Real Estate"


You get more 'land' for your properties. In other words, you can enlarge your view screens and windows... stretch your timeline across two monitors, etc. Until you use two monitors you really can't appreciate how much you get out of it. Sure, I ocassionall work on my laptop, but I'm MUCH happier spreading a project across two monitors on my desktop.

And that's true of most of the NLE's. (I cut on Avid)

do I have to do anything special?
 

Other then connecting the monitor and changing my properties, do I need to do anything else?

Thanks
Nelson

I have a 128MB DDR ATI Radeon 9800 Pro with 1 x Dell 2405 and 1 x Dell 1905 flat panel displays. Adding a second display was very straightforward, essentially plug and play. Go into display settings to decide pixel and colour settings. You also decide which display is #1 and which is #2. You can also change orientation between portrait and landscape. I tried portrait for a while with the smaller display but reverted to landscape.

There is no doubt that a second display can transform the editing experience. I use Edius and it is much easier to use with a second display.

I only cut in Premier Pro for a month or so after it was released before switching to Avid, so I'm not sure about it's dual monitor features. I did, however, use FCP for a project and it actually gave me the ability to use the second monitor for a full screen preview of my edit. Perhaps Adobe will give you a similar option? I don't believe Avid does… anybody?

Peace,

More space means less clutter and task switching, and that translates into increased efficiency and a more pleasant experience. Once you get a second monitor, you won't go back.

Does your 9800 have dual output? If not, you will need another video card.

Emre is correct! I use two with PPro, and I love it. You can also open other applications on the second monitor, like PPro on the main and Audition or After Effects on the other.

Just remember that you can't have PPro expanded to full size or you can't separate sections or pallets.

Mike

Great Setup! I have the exact same display setup, which IMO is the BEST bang for the buck 8 bit dual setup. I've played with the recent 2407WFP rev 3; and it does NOT compare with the 2405, the contrast is ridiculously too high, and the gamma is all screwed up when handling overlays. Also, the 8 bit 1905FP is wayyy ahead of it's 6 bit 1907FP successor.

I use PP2.0 extensively across to monitors and I dont believe I have that problem, but I do use UltraMon, so perhaps that is why.

On that note, anyone editing on the PC i would 100% recommend ultramon or any other multi monitor management software.

Yes. UltraMon! They used that in an office I worked at a while back, and I couldn't remember the name! Thank you, Michael!

I wonder if that will solve my dual screen issue in Avid??

Thanks again, I'm gunna try it!

Timothy,

Which version of Avid are you running, and what EXACTLy is the problem?