Building grading system: What the pros say, low budget realities & true accuracy you can get.

[Sascha Haber]

Hello,

besides the fact that this should be in the other forum, 95% is getting you far.
Some thoughts:
1. I would not do a Hackintosh, I would go PC or wait a week for the new MacPros.
2. You are right about the Plasmas, the a jumpy , burn in, drift and you need to babysit them a lot.
3. You are right about the LCD, they are affordable, easy to calibrate and suck in black level.
4. The Intensity will only get you half way, I would suggest an Ultra Studio, or Extreme. Dont forget the card also handles audio out
5. What do you plan to charge ? As a freelancer, working on other peoples system you can charge between 400 and 1000. They will charge double or triple that to their clients.
If you plan to do it cheaper, in the long run you harm the industry, hurt your bank account and spoil the client.
If you charge a good price, you can afford a proper Screen.
But if you are only doing viral stuff that ends up on youtube, any screen will do.
Oh, and plan to buy a second system with an UltraScope…the internal scopes will not make you happy, and it looks sooo much better on the table 🙂

A slice of color…

DaVinci 8.2.1 OSX 10.7.2
MacPro 5.1 2×2,4 24GB
RAID0 8TB
GTX 470 / Quadro 4000
Extreme 3D+

ICA Instructor
https://www.icolorist.com/Sascha.html

[Gabriel Bergeron]

Hi Sascha,

Thanks for your answer

2+3. What would you suggest then? LCD or plasma?
I hear a lot of people say plasma all the way but the babysitting makes me weary.
Any LCD to recommend for better blacks?
Am I right in my thinking that a plasma/LCD TV is a better choice for reference monitor in the sub-$1000-$1500 vs. a computer monitor.

4. Why is the Intensity getting me halfway there? Color space? What else?
How about a decklink studio? I’m opened to other companies as well.

5. Don’t worry, I won’t be hurting the industry or myself. The plan for the first year is to learn the ropes doing low budget short film/videoclips. I did lots of training already but not a lot of projects. Get the work out there and then further the client base (and upgrade the system + my fees as well).

• What about the subject of creating a custom LUT for the reference monitor? I don’t quite understand why would I need a LUT for it. I won’t be able to generate it with the Xrite display 3 right?

p.s. sorry about not posting in correct forum

[Stig Olsen]

Hi,

Its a lot of threads about all those topics.
Stay away from LCD, and check out the Panasonic BT300-series.

[Gabriel Bergeron]

Yes there are. And I searched a lot and read enormously before posting.
I couldn’t find answers to my specific questions.

And also since I read so much, I couldn’t find a definitive answer for my monitor.
You say stay away from LCD, but this thread mentions some nice LCD options (the samsung) but it’s 2 years old. https://forums.creativecow.net/thread/223/19327

And also since the monitor is to be used as a reference monitor, I’ll have floating white points with a plasma which seems like a dealbreaker.

[Stig Olsen]

There are no perfect options, unless you are willing to pay more. I recommend Pan BT300, or OLED PVM for middle end.

[Joseph Owens]

[Gabriel Bergeron] “I’ll have floating white points with a plasma which seems like a dealbreaker.”

Speaking of things that float.

You are looking for a reference monitor. No consumer monitor, whether it is intended to be a home entertainment display or a PC user interface is equipped to show the truth — they are all trying desperately to show the image as “good” as it can possibly be. Most professional colorists bring home a new *TVset* and the first thing they do is shut everything off. All the enhancers, improvements, contrast compensation… makes one wonder what we do for a living if you have to do all that fixing as an end user. (When I still see 4×3 stretched out to fill a widescreen — yeesh!)

What you are proposing to do is to fold up a newspaper to make a boat to sail across the Sheep Meadow pond. Its an investment, I suppose, in your didactic experience. Good! But its only going to last a short period of time before you start realizing that “that’s not the way it was when I left that scene”. Haul out the probe. Again. It obviously won’t *do* if you want to go shark fishing in the Indian Ocean. As the good sheriff said, “We’re going to need a bigger boat.” And you’re thinking I’m Robert Shaw…. making an unpleasant noise at the town meeting….?

Check out some of Flanders’ economy models. If you can’t afford the (2461)Grade 1 model, the 2140/2340W are still great values — built in scopes, audio disembedding, every input known to man — you will spend almost as much building a Mousetrap (*tm Ideal Toys/Hasbro) to convert the image six-ways-from-Sunday to get it to -what is still- the wrong display.

jPo

You mean “Old Ben”? Ben Kenobi?

[Gabriel Bergeron]

Guys, I understand where you come from, that you’re pros and you can’t go halfway into this stuff. And I agree with you. But I’m not a pro yet. I’m trying to build something that will allow me to practice and practice in order to become a pro. Please take this in consideration.

Next year or in two years when this will be getting really serious and I’ll feel it’s the time to become a pro and charge accordingly, I’ll get a Flanders and upgrade my gear.

The goal now: get as accurate as possible with a display under $800
My budget realities can’t be changed.

For now, I’m asking your help with this, even if it might not be the ideal pro solution. But it will be perfect for me for the next 2 years.

I simply want to know what if I shall go the LCD or plasma route, and if so which model would best serve my needs. If plasma’s white floating point is truly a deal breaker, then which LCD models should I look into?

Can you help me?
I also have unresolved questions in the above posts.

Peace!

[Sascha Haber]

Sorry we could not assist you to your full satisfaction 😉

A slice of color…

DaVinci 8.2.1 OSX 10.7.2
MacPro 5.1 2×2,4 24GB
RAID0 8TB
GTX 470 / Quadro 4000
Extreme 3D+

ICA Instructor
https://www.icolorist.com/Sascha.html

[David Mclaren]

Your asking guys how make a ford drive like a race car. News its not a race car its a ford.

1 You shouldn’t use a domestic monitor for your grade monitor it will drive you nuts and the clients.

2. You will never raise your rates once your in the industry!! Why would your clients ever pay more than they did last year just because you want new gear ….WRONG.

3. The only thing you have in this Industry is your name you get a name for the guy who tries to grade on the directors home TV. Your done forget it you have no more career.

4. There is only one chance in this game do it right or don’t do it. Not saying this to be mean but these are the realities of the industry don’t waste your money on all the other stuff.

[Gabriel Bergeron]

Did I not make myself clear when I said the plan was to practice and practice the first 1-2 years and THEN get after clients. I won’t be a pro in the first 1-2 years, so I won’t have real clients. I’ll grade friends projects and I’ll help out some people with their short films and stuff like that.

So your methodology is to get your training, then buy expensive equipment, then that’s it you’re a pro?
I’m sorry but that’s not how it works for me. Although I’ve had great training, I feel I need at least a 12-18 months window to learn the craft through and through by doing small projects.

I’m trying to do it right. I see too many people jumping right in after their training and it’s way too soon in my opinion. Sometimes it will hurt them.
I’d expect you to support that and help me out to find the best budget solution for my first 1-2 years practice window.

Instead, you’re just kicking me in the face.

I’m still very opened to some people getting what I’m saying help me out.

cheers