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Broadcast Monitors for FCP
I apologize in advance if this question has been answered many times before. I’ve been searching around the web for information on broadcast monitors and thought it would be best to ask directly.
As the post house I’m currently working at is (finally) getting into broadcast HD, some of our gear may need an upgrade as well. While things like hard drives, computers, software etc are being taken care of, my big concern is broadcast monitors. We all have SD broadcast monitors right now, and I don’t think any of them are upgradable to HD. I’m not sure if the powers above me are too concerned about having broadcast monitors when we already have LCD or Plasma consumer tvs in each room. I’m trying to compile a list of why we need broadcast monitors for each room, and I’d appreciate it if anyone had some notes to add.
A little background on what we do:
We’re an in-house editing facility at an advertising agency. We work on many of the commercials, often from offline to online, outsourcing for heavy compositing, special effects, etc. We also generally transfer (colour correct) out of house at a transfer facility. Generally (with very few exceptions), the colour correction we do is for client videos etc, in which a broadcast monitor would not be necessary. We also do a lot of adapts, videos, digital signage etc.
We run final cut pro, with Kona3 cards.
So I’m trying to figure out if broadcast monitors are a “nice to have” or a “need to have” and I’m trying to compile evidence to support it. If anyone has some good resources for me to look in to, I’d also appreciate it.
I know that a broadcast monitor is necessary, but in what ways are we currently in position to be viewing things improperly?
• colour
• 23.98p to 29.97 conversion (on the fly)
• anything else?On a second note, would something like this be a good solution?
http://www.flandersscientific.com/index/LM1760WI’d love to hear the opinions from people here on why it is necessary (or not) to have a broadcast monitor in every suite. I’m also curious as to the difference between a professional broadcast HD monitor and having the HD footage play on my LCD computer monitor at 100%.
Thanks again.
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8 Replies
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[Gerrit Van Dyke] “On a second note, would something like this be a good solution?
http://www.flandersscientific.com/index/LM1760W“That would be the PERFECT solution. or the 24″ model. Great image, built in scopes…shows interlacing, which is rare in an LCD.
That’s my vote.
Shane
GETTING ORGANIZED WITH FINAL CUT PRO DVD…don’t miss it.
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def -
I’ll leave all the talk about the technical to the qualified engineers, I come from the producing stand point.
If budget vs quality is the issue and expectations are low you can survive without a broadcast monitor and rely on your LCD computer monitor. Although, there are situations in which you’ll regret not having a broadcast monitor.
I come from a time and place where after spending several hundreds of thousands of dollars on production and/or equipment and countless man hours to produce a quality project, it was not wise to skimp on a few thousand dollars in order to see the completion of a successful project.
I use this monitor for broadcast, web and DVD projects and find the scopes and other features very nice to have, even if the project is not broadcast. It can also be used on location as a production monitor, clients really like seeing a quality image while on location production.
Shane makes a good point about seeing or not seeing interlacing on your computer screen .
Michael Harrington
Mac Pro, Dual Quad-Core Intel Xeon 2.66 GHz, 12 GB, FCP7, Snow Leopard, ATI Radeon HD 4870, 30-inch Cine Display, 4 – 1TB internal, 1.25TB Esata, Numerous FW 800 external drives, MX02Max, FSI 17″ Broadcast Monitor, Black Magic Mini Sync Generator, Mackie 1402 & Event 20/20 monitors. -
You are Right Michael.
The truth is that the “generalization” of Color Correction is something quite new (in the pass we used CC almost only for movies that where badly telecined or so).
The truth is that with average low quality of TVs, CC was not critic.
Today we enjoy much better quality screens and Color Grading has become more a need.
Best,
rafael -
Your Kona3 Cards will down-convert the HD sequence to an SD image on your CRT’s…
Works for editorial anyways.Chris Tompkins
Video Atlanta LLC -
Does your agency do any print work?
Would they let a piece of print go out without a proof? I doubt it. A monitor is to video what a proof is to print.
Tell the bean counters that one and they’ll understand.
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All the FSIs are excellent. We run 5 of them here.
Yes, broadcast monitors are essential for viewing correct colors and levels for broadcast work. You already have the Kona board so you’re set to connect. Without the monitor, you simply cannot accurately gauge your picture quality.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Editor, Colorist, Director, Writer, Consultant, Author, Chef.
HD Post and Production
Biscardi Creative Media -
“Would they let a piece of print go out without a proof? I doubt it. ”
Great point Jeremy.
Just to confirm, the difference between previewing on my second computer LCD monitor with the FInal Cut Pro canvas @ 100% and using an actual broadcast monitor is:
• A computer monitor won’t show interlacing
• A computer monitor can’t be properly calibrated for broadcast
• A computer monitor may not show an accurate representation of the framerate of what will play on air.(For instance if I’m playing a 24p sequence in FCP), I can see properly what the picture will look like at 29.97 on my broadcast monitor.
• Without a broadcast monitor, you can’t accurately gauge quality. (so for instance, if I were to scale up an image, I may enlarge it too much (or not enough) because I’ve inaccurately assessed the quality.Are those four points correct?
To be honest, when I originally proposed the idea of purchasing broadcast monitors, I thought they’d be much more expensive than these.
Thanks for your help everyone. I really appreciate it.
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Those are all great points. Accuracy is the key, from resolution to gamma to frame rate to color.
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