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decklink/sony pvm 14L1
I’m a newbie, planning an animated project for the web and broadcast tv. I got a great deal on a used Sony PVM14L1 monitor (doesn’t have SDI) and was told I need a card to view my animation on it. I’m a mac person and primarily editing in After Effects (but might use FCP HD.) I’ve heard about decklink, and wanted to know the appropriate model I should get. Is it the Decklink PRo or Decklink SP? I’m on a budget and won’t be outputting here (will take the final product to a post house.) I’d just like to be able to monitor my stuff as I edit.
And sorry to my newbie-ness, but could someone please explain the difference? Thanks. -
10 Replies
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the Sony PVM-14L1 is the cheapest pro monitor Sony makes, and it’s a COMPOSITE VIDEO ONLY monitor. This monitor is designed for VHS dub systems, and quick check applications. It has no SDI, no option for SDI, and does not even have analog component inputs. In my opinion, you would be better off with a consumer TV that has analog component inputs. Of course, there are countless other monitors on the market, including in the Sony line. But the PVM-14L1 is the bottom of the barrel.
Bob Zelin
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Yeah, I know about the L1, but what decklink card will work with it on a dual core g5?
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Hi Kisia,
You need a PCI-Express (PCIe) card to work with a Dual Core Power Mac G5. Current, your options are the DeckLink SP and the DeckLink Extreme. These 2 cards can switch between composite and component outputs.
regards
Kristian
Blackmagic Design -
thanks, Kristian.
If I use the SP PCie and ultimately upgrade to a PVM L2 (like I said, I’m currently on a budget and got my L1 for dirt cheap) will the SP PCi e still work? I’m never planning on getting a deck in here–have a really good bargain post place to do outputting to–the decklink will just be used to monitor production (mainly color since I’m doing animation) -
I urge you to purchase the Blackmagic Decklink Extreme. At $895 list, it’s an incredible value, and you can do SDI work with it. The monitor price is the least of your worries – you should not purchase a card based on your monitor – you should purchase a card on the type of media you work with, and the Decklink Extreme will work with digital VTR’s – so you can charge MORE MONEY, and get higher end clients that will pay you MORE MONEY. This will quickly pay for your better monitor. The Decklink Extreme is the right purchase for you – the SP is a dead end product. Analog is going away very quickly.
Bob Zelin
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Thanks, Bob. I don’t have clients and most likely never will. I’m an independent 2D animator. Don’t work with film. Just uncompressed animation in AE and Flash. Don’t have a deck here for outputting. The only reason I need a monitor is to check the colors for NTSC so it doesn’t cost me a fortune in post. So I’m pretty much currently not concerned with HD or even SDI. And price, for me, is a determining factor. If anything ever changes for me, workwise, I’ll start exploring better cards/monitors. Right now, the concern is simply being able to view animation on my monitor.
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Most people today at home have consumer TV sets that have analog component inputs. This means that if you are an insurance salesman, an auto mechanic, a school teacher – and you want to watch movies at home, you get a $100 DVD player from Wal-Mart, and a consumer TV that has COMPONENT VIDEO INPUTS so you can see a good quality picture, from the DVD that you just rented from Blockbuster Video Rentals. Only grandma has an old composite video only TV set at home.
Now, you are a PROFESSIONAL – so I hope that you have the same expectations as an insurance salesman, and auto mechanic, or a school teacher – and you want to have a decent TV at home so you can watch QUALITY VIDEO. Sports fans, or music fans want to see their favorite socker or football game, or rock concert in GREAT QUALITY, and so they connect their cable TV box to the COMPONENT INPUTS of their consumer TV monitor.
Again, you are a PROFESSIONAL that makes his living doing professional animation for the professional video industry. I assume that you have
standards for yourself as high as a school teacher, or even a hockey fanatic that wants to see a good quality picture.Get any damn TV with COMPONENT VIDEO INPUTS on it, and you can see a teriffic picture – even from the Decklink SP – in component video. Use that PVM-14L1 for your VHS dubbing rack – just the way it was intended to be used.
There was a great commercial on VH-1 music television a while ago. It was a young black kid, who had no money. He rode on his bicycle from pay phone to pay phone, trying to get out as many quarters as possible, to save up to get a beat box (drum machine from Roland, etc.) so he could start composing music. And he goes to a pawn shop, and gets some cheap drum machine from the money he barely collected, and starts to compose music. He had no money, but found a way to do it – because he had the drive inside him to make it happen.
You can do the same.
Bob Zelin
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Ok, I understand why I should get a monitor that has component inputs, but why do I need SDI, either on the monitor or card (you mentioned the extreme vs. the sp) if I don’t have a deck, output everything in a post house and generate all the images I use on my computer, ie, don’t use film or dv for anything?
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Hi,
Based on the discussion above, the DeckLink SP PCIe card should be fine for you. You specifically need the PCI Express (PCIe) version of this card. The older DeckLink SP card is compatible with the earlier PCI and PCI-X Macs. Your dual-core G5 uses PCIe so that’s why you need the latest card.
Bob was suggesting you go for a card with more digital connections so that your card would potentially be more useful than just for monitoring and to avoid having to buy another card in the future if you moved from analog to digital. However if you really are fine with analog output, then the DeckLink SP PCIe card will enable you to switch between composite and component analog video output and also has XLR analog audio output. Furthermore it has a single SDI output which means you could output digital video with embedded audio to some other device, eg a Digibeta deck. The capture side is of little interest to you but it will capture from component or composite analog devices such as a VCR or the analog output of a camera.
You don’t need SDI now but, if you ever do, you would at least be able to output SDI video and audio using the DeckLink SP PCIe card.
The broadcast TV that most people still watch on their home TV’s is simply composite SD video so your Sony PVM 14L1 is still quite useful. Bob’s comments about using a consumer TV with component analog input are also valid as the component output from DVD players is much better quality than the composite analog video transmitted by broadcast TV.
Regards,
Luke Maslen
Blackmagic Design -
Thanks for explaining it, Luke. Before I got the PVM L1, I spoke with tech people from not only ProMax & B&H, but also a tech person from Sony, who felt that for my purposes, currently, the L1 would be fine. So I was pretty surprised to read Bob’s comments. Down the line, if I ever end up making tons of money, I’ll get a bigger, better monitor, but for now, it’s good to know it wasn’t a total waste of money.
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