Connecting TV as External Monitor

[Shane Ross]

Well, if it is DV or DVCPRO HD:

#8 External Monitor Viewing.

Shane’s Stock Answer #8:

A simple path is mac > firewire > camera or deck > rca cables > tv

Then start up your camera and tv, then open fcp.

Then go View > External video > all frames
VIEW>Video playback should be Apple firewire NTSC (If you are using an NTSC set)
VIEW>Audio playback should be Audio follows Video

Techinially, this should send synched video to your TV

If for some reason you can’t view your timeline on your external monitor, there are a few things to try:

1) Make sure that the camera/deck is connected and powered on BEFORE you open FCP.

2) In the Final Cut Pro menu select AUDIO/VIDEO Preferences and make sure your signal is being sent out thru Firewire DV.

3) Go to the menu and select VIEW>EXTERNAL>ALL FRAMES.

4) Click in the % box above the image and select FIT TO WINDOW.

5) Go to VIEW->refresh A/V devices

6) Make sure the Log & Capture window is closed

If you want it to play in both the canvas and the external monitor you need to go to the FINAL CUT PRO menu and select AUDIO/VIDIO settings and make sure MIRROR ON DESKTOP is selected under the PLAYBACK OUTPUT section

If ANYTHING ELSE, then you need a capture card.

Shane

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[Walter Biscardi]

[Phil Scaife] “Just a quick question. I’m about to grade a short film and would like to make sure I’m getting the correct usage out of my grading by using my t.v as an external monitor rather than relying on my computer monitor.”

First off, a regular TV is going to show you worse color reproduction than a very good computer monitor. When we all talk about using an external monitor for grading, we’re talking about professional CRT and LCD displays. Such as the Sony PVM series. You can also pick up a professional Panasonic Plasma display for HD work and get very good color reproduction there.

But to truly know what you are grading is accurate, you need a monitor capable of proper calibration in some form.

[Phil Scaife] “So with 2 monitors already connected to my mac how do I connect a third viewing screen, the t.v of course?”

Depending on your Mac you will require an internal card such as the AJA Kona series or an external box like the AJA Io series. What you get depends on your computer and what format you’re trying to view.

Walter Biscardi, Jr.
https://www.biscardicreative.com

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[Rennie Klymyk]

We really need a little more info on your set up. Shanes stock answer should get you set up on your tv though. Once you have a picture on your tv you should set the color and brightness with color bars from the drop down menu on the bottom of the viewer window. Here’s a link.

https://www.videouniversity.com/tvbars2.htm

These folks have a nice simple way of explaining things too:

https://www.rule.com/techtip.cfm?techtipID=21

Hopefully you have a decent tv. Broadcast monitors with smpte or P22 phousphors (more accurate and more stable) and finer resolution (for closer viewing) are meant for this work and some of the newer lcd screens are adaquately accurate. Once you use a proper monitor you will never go back to a tv.

[Philip Scaife]

Thanks for the advice guys really appreciate it.

I’ll let you know my set-up. Obviously been an aspiring editor doesn’t do any good to my finance so I’m working from a very limited set-up nothing special.
One last question, I have as a second monitor a Iiyama ProLite E2200WS 22in Widescreen. Is this monitor good enough to complete my grade or do I have to take my heavy Mac to the Post house where I work to use a proper broadcast quality external monitor? (would like to avoid transportation unless absolutely necessary), you may think I’m mad but we only have Avids at our facility, the boss don’t like Mac’s.

Cheers