1080p hdtv Monitoring via final cut pro
 

Im considering to purchase a 1080p HDTV to use as my second display with final cut pro on my mac quadcore, i was just wondering if anyone out there has a similiar set up and how well it's worked out for them. I will be editing sony ex1 footage at 1080p resolution and would like to use it for near acurate colour correction as i can't afford a hd broadcast monitor right now and my current setup is firewire out of my computer passing through a 1080i vtr deck to a jvc SD broadcast monitor and i know this is not outputting what i should be looking at. any help would be welcome.

Daniel, I'm hoping to do the same... just waiting till I have a few extra dollars. Which TV are you considering???

well they have this tv on offer which seems like a great deal but im really not too sure what to expect and if it will be of any use:

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Produc...xt%3E1080P.htm

The things that are important to me are:
1) Can it be calibrated reasonably accurately and easily???
2) Can it display the full video frame???
3) How will it connect to my mac???

For 1, most TVs these days can do this, but I would check avsforum for this particular TV as I'm not familiar with it.

For 2, Most TVs will enlarge the picture so that only about 98% of the full frame is visible on the screen. You need a PC mode that will show the entire frame and can be switched to from the source you are planning to use. You’d have to do some digging to see if this is possible for this set. Also I would try to get a demo of this to see that it’s actually possible… I’ve seen TVs that don’t do it very well.

For 3, The TV listed obviously has the connections, but which do you plan to use and can you get that type of signal out of you mac??? I would try to keep the signal digital from start to finish… I know you can always connect via component, but to my way of thinking even that is not optimal.

As for me, I’m looking a bit smaller and with a different focus… based on what I’ve read so far the Dell 2408 LCD looks to be able to meet my needs listed above. Besides, I don’t have the room for a 40” set and I usually do a screening on my 50” Samsung DLP in the living room before I let anyone else have a gander at it. Also, I’m planning to drive out HDMI via a Blackmagic Intensity card. But I’m sure your requirements are different.

Mark

There some good points to think about, i would really like to demo the set but with the argos store its a catalogue thing so nothing is ever on display. The card in my mac supports 1080p monitoring so i was planning to hook it up via dvi to hdmi so hopefully i wont be losing any signal on the conversion out.

I wasnt aware about tv's enlarging the picture, that really is quite worrying but im ok with that seeing as i can always feed a signal to my sd monitor which has underscan so i can always make sure i know whats on the screen.

Like you also mentioned, the main focus for me is that it can be calibrated, all i want to do is grade my footage using magic bullet and know that my clients are going to see more or less what im seeing when they view it on their hd sets or standard crt's. My biggest fear is a misguided judge on contrast as theres nothing worse than your footage being too washed out when viewed by others because of the monitor your using has a 'unique' refernce point for black levels. Thats my real concern for a hdtv purchase

The picture enlargement thing is called overscan. Search on that in the forums for more info. As to calibration check out the calibrating monitors thread if you haven't read it yet:

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=7095

115 posts and growing, but well worth it.

Mark

I did some more research and my conclusion is that by hooking up a hdtv to act as a second monitor won't be much different from looking at another computer monitor if its going via the dvi out on a graphics card. It seems people are using special hdmi/component cards to get television colour space outputted to a hdtv.

The Matrox MXO will do exactly that. It will take a DVI output from your Mac and drive a display while doing a colorspace conversion to YUV. As a bonus, the MXO has drivers that allow routing the audio out of the DVI connector so the box can be hooked to audio monitors. This keeps the audio and video in sync as you view it. They recommend the Apple Cinema display. I have seen this box in action and it does a respectable job for non critical color grading.

-gb-

im curious, does the mxo really allow fluid playback of 1080p video from the final cut timeline without rendering?

Be-careful doing this. I bought a 42' 1080p television to do just that. I plugged it in via dvi-hdmi. The resolutions never matched. I went through 3 T.Vs before I found one that worked. Its funny, the one that worked was a wal-mart top seller. The VIZIO. I bought that T.V because it was made of sony parts.

Thanks Stephen. First post and have such valuable advice, much appreciated.

I second the Matrox MXO. Very sweet

Clay

mx02 out in 6 weeks!
Allows sdi recording to mbp too.
hot hot hot!

I'm looking at the new Black Magic Intensity HD Extreme which allows SDI input/output for connecting to a Sony PVM14L5 for color correction, HDMI in/out for connecting HDTV, and XLR audio outs for monitor speakers. It is on expensive end at around $950, but solves a lot of my connection needs. It does occupy 2 slots but only plugs into 1 PCIe connection. I believe this card was announced at NAB2008.

Tom

FCP HD output
 

Daniel,

You may also consider a black magic card and an off-the- shelf HDTV, such as the Vizio suggested above. I took my HV20 to Circuit City recently and found all of the LCD computer monitors (with HDMI in) looked horrible showing HD. The only HDTV I was satisfied with was the new Samsung 32" 1080p set-around $899 on sale. Colors looked great- very sharp.

Mike Jensen
Jensen Wedding Films
www.jensenvideo.com
916.334.9999