HD grading monitor shortlist

[Walter Biscardi]

[Catalin Brylla] “Re the Panasonic, you mention in several other posts that you have been using the TH (or TX) Plasma range as client monitors, and the colours looked very similar to the grading monitors, so you would recommend it as a low budget solution. Or am I missing something?”

Ah, the Plasma Screens. Thought you were talking about their LCD reference series.

Yes, if you have a way to properly calibrate them, the plasma screens are pretty good, but they have to be calibrated often. They have a floating white point which throws off the other colors. When you first get the monitor it will be really bright and really colorful so you have to go pretty deep into the menus to dial it in. I eyeball them to match up with our FSI monitors as they’re just for client viewing and we can get them remarkably close to the FSI’s.

The plasmas are consistently brighter and more colorful than the FSIs so I’m constantly fiddling with those controls to dials them back.

But if it’s all you can afford and you have a way to calibrate and reference the monitor to a proper image, yes the Panasonic Professional Plasma screens are beautiful displays.

Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Editor, Colorist, Director, Writer, Consultant, Author, Chef.
HD Post and Production
Biscardi Creative Media

“Foul Water, Fiery Serpent” featuring Sigourney Weaver coming soon.

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[Catalin Brylla]

Thanks for the clarification Walter. Just one more question: If I had the Matrox MXO 2 LE with calibration software, would this be an acceptable calibration solution for the Panasonic Plasma (if I do it regularly)?

I also looked at the JVC DT-V20L3D (same JVC as in my initial shortlist but 20″), and it is better value for money, the difference to the 17″ version being only £160.

So, if I can choose between a 42″ professional Plasma (Panasonic), a 20″ Grade 1 (JVC) and a 17″ Grade 1 (FSI). Hard decision. Do I go for screen size, connections (is there a real difference between 10bit HDMI and HD-SDI when monitoring HD??), or other criteria (???).

[Catalin Brylla]

By the way, what is the difference between full HD resolution (like the Panasonic TH offers) and 1:1 HD scanning (like the JVC and FSI offers)? Isn’t a full HD raster better than the scanning method?

[Catalin Brylla]

Ok, I have finally decided on the following setup:

Matrox MXO2 LE
(as I understand, in terms of output only it is as good as the Kona LHi; plus no one has reported any big technical issues re playback and monitoring the formats I use)

Panasonic TH-42PF11EK
https://www.panasonic.net/proplasma/specsheets/pdf/specsheet/TH-42PF11EK.pdf
(this is the European version, but I believe it is the equivalent to what people recommend as a Pro Plasma in the US, right??)
Connected to Matrox via HDMI

Possible addition:
Flanders LM-1760W
Connected to Matrox via HD-SDI

Here are my questions re this setup:

1) is it a decent setup for grading in FCP and Colour?

2) some people suggest to have an HDTV and a grade 1 monitor to check “real” colours and colours that consumers will see on their screens (my work is usually for DVD, maybe Blu-ray soon; broadcast and online video/broadcast); so, is this dual setup good/necessary, or can I just stick to one monitor (Panny or Flanders)

3) I am a bit confused about full HD raster: the Panny obviously has it, but the Flanders has only 1366 x 768 pixels with 1:1 scan. If I chose the Flanders, would this “1:1 scan” mean I can still see full HD? An is the size and contrast ratio of the Panny not an advantage over the Flanders?

Thanks. Hope to close the case soon, so I can go back to edit 🙂

[Mario Rubertis]

Catalin,

“Matrox MXO2 LE
(as I understand, in terms of output only it is as good as the Kona LHi; plus no one has reported any big technical issues re playback and monitoring the formats I use) “

As far as I know the MXO2LE is better than the Kona LHi in that it can actually calibrate your HDMI monitor, turning it into a true broadcast display. This truely opens up your monitor options. I use the MXO2 this way on my Sharp Aquos and it is perfect for FCP. You can’t go wrong with the MXO2, it is a great box. In my mind Matrox has really moved up to the big leagues..

Hope this helps

An Artist At Heart.
Life is made of moments…

[Walter Biscardi]

[Mario Rubertis] “As far as I know the MXO2LE is better than the Kona LHi in that it can actually calibrate your HDMI monitor, turning it into a true broadcast display. This truely opens up your monitor options.”

That feature does not “turn your HDMI monitor into a true broadcast display.” A “true broadcast display” does not have floating white points, noise reduction and other issues that are prevalent with consumer displays. Even our professional plasma displays have floating white points so they are not “true broadcast displays.” They have to be manually calibrated almost weekly to keep them close.

True broadcast displays are those that are designed for professional application to broadcast specifications. Panasonic, FSI, eCinema, TV Logic, JVC are some of the folks who make “true broadcast displays.”

You can create a Blue Only display from FCP if you really want. The Aquos probably makes a nice client monitor, but as a “true broadcast display” it’s just not there.

Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Editor, Colorist, Director, Writer, Consultant, Author, Chef.
HD Post and Production
Biscardi Creative Media

“Foul Water, Fiery Serpent” featuring Sigourney Weaver coming soon.

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[Walter Biscardi]

[Catalin Brylla] “2) some people suggest to have an HDTV and a grade 1 monitor to check “real” colours and colours that consumers will see on their screens (my work is usually for DVD, maybe Blu-ray soon; broadcast and online video/broadcast); so, is this dual setup good/necessary, or can I just stick to one monitor (Panny or Flanders)”

You have no control how consumers set their televisions. Visit 10 houses and you’ll see 10 completely different television setups because people can fiddle with the colors, brightness, etc… I always notice the color are way too hot and the blacks are way too dark on almost every friend I visit with LCD or Plasma displays.

Always take the broadcast display first, you can add a consumer TV later.

[Catalin Brylla] “3) I am a bit confused about full HD raster: the Panny obviously has it, but the Flanders has only 1366 x 768 pixels with 1:1 scan. If I chose the Flanders, would this “1:1 scan” mean I can still see full HD? An is the size and contrast ratio of the Panny not an advantage over the Flanders?”

You do know that 720p is HD and that is 1280×720. So that’s full frame HD. For 1080, the display scales down the image so it fits perfectly on the screen. The 1:1 scan switches the display to show 1080 pixel by pixel so you can check the entire image.

The FSI Video Manual walks you through this feature really well along with all the features of the monitor.

https://www.flandersscientific.com/index/videomanual

Look at Chapter 5e1 for the Pixel Mapping feature overview.

Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Editor, Colorist, Director, Writer, Consultant, Author, Chef.
HD Post and Production
Biscardi Creative Media

“Foul Water, Fiery Serpent” featuring Sigourney Weaver coming soon.

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[Catalin Brylla]

Thanks a lot for the link, Walter. Now I really understand what the 1:1 scanning is all about. When I said the Flanders does not do full HD I meant 1080i cause in UK this is more common than 720p.

Walter, you are saying that you see hot colours and dark blacks on consumer LCDs and Plasmas. This happened to me on my last project. Does this mean that when I grade (with a grade 1 monitor) I should slightly desaturate and increase the blacks? Do most consumer screens over-saturate and over-contrast?

Any other comments about the above hardware setup?

Catalin Brylla
Filmmaker – Editor – Lecturer
http://www.catalinbrylla.com
Mobile: 07789004745
Skype: cbrylla

[David Roth weiss]

[Catalin Brylla] “when I grade (with a grade 1 monitor) I should slightly desaturate and increase the blacks? Do most consumer screens over-saturate and over-contrast? “

Catalin,

Even the most expensive monitors in the world, if they are not properly calibrated, will cause even the best colorists to fail at their job. So, while consumer monitors often do come from the factory with extremely vivid settings set as the default, that’s not a problem with the monitor, that’s a problem with the editor who doesn’t properly calibrate it before using.

If your monitor is not setup to accurately reference proper values of luma (white), black, chroma and hue, any colorist using it will simply be guessing at what their work product will look like.

So, when you ask if you should desaturate colors and increase the blacks during grading, the answer is no, because you’d be fixing the symptoms, not the source of your problems. The answer lies not in fixing the video, but in fixing the monitor.

And, when you ask, “do most consumer screens over-saturate and over-contrast,” the proper answer is actually no, because any monitor that hasn’t been calibrated will have issues, and broadcast monitors are no different in that regard.

David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor/Colorist
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los Angeles

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[Catalin Brylla]

Thanks for the advice, David. But can I not assume that the normal consumer will actually not calibrate their TVs in their living rooms? Most people are just happy with the vivid colours, and do not bother to monitor. So, when I grade something that is going to be watched on consumer TVs (from DVD, not broadcast), should I not cater for that, knowing that TVs are very vivid, like you say? Isn’t this the reason why many sound mixers listen to the final mix on crappy TV speakers to hear what a consumer would hear?

Catalin Brylla
Filmmaker – Editor – Lecturer
http://www.catalinbrylla.com
Mobile: 07789004745
Skype: cbrylla