Dell 24' HD LCD. They now have the 27". very popula woth the Vegas Pro crowd. Color and contrast match big screen 1080p LCD very close.

Michael,
My Dell Ultrasharp Monitors (24") arrived yesterday. I didn't have a chance to hook up my new MacPro yet before I went away for the weekend but I did hook up my EX-1 to the monitor via the component. It looked pretty nice, but I found that it was a bit noisier than on a nicer LCD, and in low light areas saw some very faint horizontal lines (this on 1:1 aspect). Have you ever plugged in the EX-1 directly to your monitor like that and noticed similar results? I wonder if it will look diferent when played through FCP.

BE

I have done this with my Dell 2405. It is one generation older than the current Dell 24" so I don't know if the results are the same. Anyway - using the component inputs gives a way way way worse picture than when playing back media from the computer. In my case that means Avid Media Composer. I find that I can judge colour and brightness/contrast pretty well when using the fullscreen mode in the Avid.

Benjamin, you're not the first one to report the lines in EX1-via-component image; I must say I'm not seeing anything like it on my Fujitsu-Siemens monitor.

The component in on the DELL 2405 is awful. Like you said, playback from your computer will be FAR better. Also, using an SDI>DVI adaptor blows away the component input on the DELL.

Michael - - How close do you sit to this monitor?!!
On a side note... have you seen 'Spinal Tap'? The scene in which the band members sketch plans for new stage props (they want huge Stonehenge-like things, as I recall), and when estimating the size they want, they put two little lines instead of one, next to all their figures. A classic.
Cheers,
Malcolm

good to know it is not my camera. I saw a similar thing on a cheaper Sony LCD HDTV through the component in. I went to the place I bought it and they hooked it up to their Sony HD CRT and it looked great through the component. I just tried the inputs on a top-end Sony LCD and it too looked great. I think it must be just cheaper monitoring that exhibits weird artifacts.

I use a JVC Tube HD monitor DT-V1910CGU - much better than any flat panel by far - HD SDI / Component / HD SD, almost 1000 line horizontal resolution -
perfect for grading and any field related issues ( not visible on flat panels of course )

I also use a JVC 26 inch HD flat display, but I must say it's normally OFF.

I suppose I should add that I have realtime full raster component output from my edit system in HD or SD - great with After Effects as well.

Paul

Scaling issue?
 

So related to the problem I mentioned earlier in this thread. I played back some footage on a high-end Sony LCD HDTV and it looks great. In 1080 modes. This is a 1080 set and the 720p footage has all these vertical lines appearing across the whole image. This was the reverse of the problem I saw at home when the 1080 stuff on my Panasonic plasma (720 set) would show vertical lines.
I really want to know if other people have seen this. The footage looks fine in FCP, but why is it scaling badly out of the component out?

BE

Video Card
 

I wonder why almost all are using the graphic/display card video preview.Why not use a HD video in out card like BM, AJA or even the Matrox MXO to preview
the video to an HD monitor/TV through SDI/Component. Will get true sharp
real colour. I know it is additional investment, though should consider.

rajiv

Editing HD
 

Hi

What I do with my canon xl h1 is this....capture from firewire to finalcut pro and whilst editing just leave the firewire connected but also have a normal tv monitor connected to the composite out connection from the camera. The camera converts the HD signal to normal SD. Hence you get to edit in HD and see your footage on a none HD monitor. Other way of doing it would be to have a HD monitor connected to one of your dvi ports on the back of a mac computer and choose to display the canvas on that second monitor. choose this in video playback section. Hope this helps.

Notice your in the west mids as well.

for those monitoring on a 24" Dell, did you ever tried to open it up to see if you can power it from a 12 volt source ?

I have a Samsung 244T and it seems the LCD needs many different power, like 24v, 13.6v, 5,4v....

making it difficult to power it from a (car) 12 volt battery....

Depends.

At home I am monitoring right now on a 23" Apple Cinema. Shut up- I already have the proper level of shame.

I occasionally use a Sony LMD 2450, which is a production 24" HD-SDI monitor. That's pretty nice but its still 8-bit. This is one monitor I plan on using in my edit suite and on set.

On one job I monitored on a CRT, I think that was hooked up via HD-SDI. It was 709 color space, and showed nice images.

Then I had a chance to watch some DI stuff on a Sony BVM L230. That's a 10 bit dual link HD SDI display. Suddenly I was Keanu Reeves: "Whoa!"

We were monitoring a mix of HDCAM SR and XDCAM EX on it. (I operated an EX as "C Cam") I could definitely see the difference- but d@mn the EX1 looks good.

I am also looking to add a low end 1080p SXRD projector to my suite at home as I am doing more and more stuff intended for theatrical screening. That's an 8 bit solution though.

If I plan on doing DI with 10 bit workflows, (which I do) then I need to seriously consider a high end CRT or the Sony BVM LCD.

I swear, being in this business is like having a railgun for your wallet.

EX1 monitoring live via computer/monitor
 

Hi,

Ok this might be a stupid question but is there any possibility to connect the EX1 to my computer or direct to my monitor? USB, firewire?

I have an LG L2000c monitor with DVI-D and D-SUB inputs. Im using Vegas Pro 8.

Sami

There's several way to do this, but, they all involve converter boxes for HD. You can use firewire for SD, only. If you have HDRack, it will recognize the firewire connection from the EX1. As for displaying HD, Aja, Black Magic Design, Video1, Convergent Design, Miranda all make converter boxes to go from component to DVI or HD-SDI to DVI. There are some pro monitors that will take HD-SDI directly.

ah, i should have mentioned that i would like to do this with my excisting gear.

Basically why I need this is I would like to see the full frame (the EX1 LCD crops the image slightly, correct?) to find the correct zoom settings for all my Canon FD lenses with my Letus Extreme. It would be more accurate if I had a way to monitor the whole area live. I can do it via record, speak the zoom settings into the mic and check in Vegas though so it will have to do.


Sami

Thanks for the info Brian. Yep west midlands, sunny Birmingham to be exact ;)

As a union 1st assistant, I carry my laser rangefinder everywhere. Personally I like the Hilti models, since they're fast, accurate to 1/32" at 2'-600', and durable. I just upgraded from the PD30 to the PD42. Stanley also makes one for $100 US which is very good, just lacking some of the higher end features (sight, triangulation, etc.). As far as monitors go, can anyone who has used the TVLogic LVM-071W describe the waveform feature? Is it a high resolution scope, or is it similar to the panasonic (which has atari-like resolution and can only be used for exposure). Is it possible to set it to fill the screen? I'd like to find something similar to the Astro 3014 that doesn't cost $12,000.

purchase a wallet that can hold a 24" lcd monitor, put inside a lcd monitor that has the input you need (several has components and hdmi now).
add a small 12V->110V converter and a small battery (nimh or li-ion).
put the wallet on the floor, open it , set the monitor a 45 deg, use the wallet cover as sunshade et voila. all this should not cost you more that 800$.
if you calibrate the monitor, you can even use it for color check.
2 good monitors samsung 225mw (22" and not full HD) and LG 246WH (24" full HD, best choice)

SpyderTV
 

If you have US$230 and run Windows this little gadget allows you to calibrate a television monitor. If you have a few more dollars and want to charge the neighbors for calibrating their TVs, then this package of goodies will do the trick.

I recently bought a 22" LG HDTV (720p) for our bedroom from Best Buy. I was stunned to find out that television calibration is an insider's business. Best Buy charges US$250 to calibrate a new television so I thought there'd be something I could purchase to do it myself. The Colorvision SpyderTV is the only device I've found so far.

I've calibrated and profiled dozens of computer monitors and find it frustrating that the larger television market doesn't have a good selection of calibration tools.

Sorry I'm just seeing this a month later! Thought I'd subscribed. I'm using two monitors, a Dell as computer monitor (DVI) and the BenQ as video monitor (HDMI). When not editing I can switch the BenQ to DVI and have a large extended desktop.

Lou...

Using the spyder cal tool to set up your TV will lead you astray. The spyder sets up monitor calibrations to represent/display a PRINTED page replica. Adobe calibrates to an RGB range of 0-255. NTSC monitors use a different color/phosphor mapping. Phosphors on a TV display RGB range of 16-235. In that case, the best you can hope for is to match a properly displayed colorbar pattern. Go to wikipedia to find out how to set up colorbar cals on your NTSC monitor.

Bill the Spdyder I used to calibrate my Computer Monitors has an NTSC calibration setting in the options (not sure how good that really does as I've not put it under severe scrutiny), and while I'm sure it's not perfect, I can use my production monitor for really high accuracy, however I think for HD, many folks are probably going to be pretty safe on a fairly well calibrated quality Computer Monitors. Especially considering how many people are watching on LCD TV's and computers these days. It's definitely something you do want to at least make sure you've watched on since so many do, and only more are going to over time.

Dave

It's obvious from this discussion that the most basic calibration and setup of an HDTV or monitor is not mainstream. It should be.

What real world solutions are there for calibration & setup? Anyone?

Well, not to be a downer here, but really, if you want a fully reliable and accurate calibrated monitor, you need to just pony up the dough for an HD Production monitor ( and that's not gonna be cheap I guarantee it ). Otherwise it's just a bastardized option ( at least as far as I know, and I'd be happy to be shown wrong here because I'm having to use one of these bastardized options :) ).

Dave

But can they be easily calibrated? Everyone I've seen still requires third-party software/hardware to calibrate.

Greg and Dennis,
Looking at that Tv Logic LVM-071W it seems pretty impressive. Is it too heavy to mount on arms & rails? And is it good enough for Critical Focus if working with HD?

Thanks guys,
Lonnie

I just saw this almost a month later... the very short answer is a resounding, "yes!"

All monitors need some external hardware and/or software to calibrate. I am not sure if I am being pedantic here.

You have to set up the monitor using test signals and those have to come from somewhere. Remember the point of calibration is to make sure the image agrees with your other production equipment. You could generate the test signals in the monitor, but that isn't much different than just trusting the factory set up.

Usually in the field for production monitoring I calibrate the monitor using SMPTE bars from the video camera. I think the EX1 can display REC 709 bars.

In the studio I recalibrate the monitor using REC 709 bars generated on my NLE timeline and input to my monitor using my i/o interface.

Extra fun can be had by comparing the bars from the camera and the generated NLE bars on a hardware waveform monitor and calibrated monitor... because there is a good chance they'll be different. Always exciting this video business.

In higher end studios special test signal generators are used.

Other than that professional HD monitors do in fact have the necessary facilities to allow calibration. The one with which I am most familiar is the Sony LMD-2450WHD.

This features a waveform monitor, set up levels for analog signals, blue only mode, and monochrome mode. It also has separate controls for contrast, chroma, phase and brightness.

I hope somewhere along the way there I answered you usefully.

Best external monitor
 

Now that the EX1 has been out a while what have people found to be the best external monitor?

Is it possible to still have peaking on a component hookup?

Unfortunately, peaking and zebra information is not sent to the component output. This is a major oversight, but something we would appreciate in a firmware upgrade. I'd also like to see this information on the composite output as well.

For an external monitor, I've followed the low-budget crowd by using the Sony FX20 portable DVD player driven by a composite video input. I've also use my Sony Bravia 52" LCD TV.

Carrion ...
 

for a real deal check out the carrion.

I've tested the Carrion and it is really top notch. Here's an example of a shooter's product actually designed by a shooter. And a much better buy than a comparable Marshall.

Has he started shipping the monitor yet?

Asking if the Carrion monitor can be purchased? Yeah, I've had a Carrion b for a few months ("b" model adds a single HD-SDI in/out to the analog and DVI input options). Don't know what current lead times are like, my order took longer than the estimated 5 weeks to fulfill.

Isn't such a thing as a perfect monitor, but very nice, good price.

The Carrion b monitor really looks nice, but does anyone know a good source in the EU? After having bought my Letus direct from US, I'd like to avoid all the hassle and order locally...

Hi Piotr,

Last I heard was that Luis was shipping small batches and working on US retail distribution. I don't think he currently has an international partner.

Phil Bloom was talking about getting one at some point, but don't know if that happened.

Warranty may be a problem internationally as well.

George/

Will the HD SDI allow peaking and Zebra?

Negative. No peaking, zebra, histogram. Far as I'm aware, none of that gets fed out of any video output. Least my EX1 won't do it.

I've heard great things about the Carrion monitor and saw one at DV Expo last year.

Getting in touch with Luis is another story.

I've heard back from him once. Weeks after I emailed, and my questions on battery adapters still isn't answered.

However, he does make a great product from what I've heard. And what I saw was a great monitor. A little bulky, but very nice.

Hopefully you'll have an easier time getting in touch with him than I've had.

Jim

Check out one of these:

http://www.teletest.net/producttype.asp?id=3

Because they're from the UK, may make it a bit pricey for US folk. All monitors do PAL/NTSC.

But the SDI and HD-SDI inputs are cool, as is the fact you can run the monitor from Sony 970 batteries left over from your old PD150 or Z1.

And wireless options abound.