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help with future HD monitoring set-up
So it’s almost time to be looking at a complete HD set-up. The transition from DV will mean a few purchases, so I was looking to get some advice if possible.
It seems the blackmagic card is a no-brainer (would be nice if eventually it had DVCPROHD support on PC). However the monitor always seems to be the biggest issue. It seems LCD’s are great – but I’m told time and time again not to use them for colour correction. At the moment if you do intend to do CC then there is no choice but to buy a HD CRT – which is out of my budget range (space too!) and it doesnt give 1080 lines either…. So I have a question about the Blackmagic card for monitoring.
It says on their site that you get simultaneous HD and SD output. Has anyone used this? Does this mean that you get both an SD and HD output at the same time? If so, my thoughts on this would be to have 2 monitors connected, 23″ LCD for the HD output, and a standard small CRT with an SD output going to it. I’m thinking that the additional SD CRT could be used to monitor colour correction more accurately, whilst using the LCD as the main viewing monitor.
Could this set-up work with the blackmagic card? It would be an inexpesnive way to edit HD and also have fine control over the colours.
alternatively, with the introduction of HDV and the HVX, will there be more affordable and accurate HD monitoring solutions available by the end of the year?
thanks
Karl
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5 Replies
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Yes, you can view an SD downconvert at the same time as the HD version, which you can use for what you suggest on the Decklink. Although, being the heretic I am, I don’t think the LCD is so bad that you can’t do a very good CC on it indeed.
Graeme
– http://www.nattress.com – Film Effects for FCP
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Karl,
You don’t need to compromise and buy a LCD which is not suitable for serious CC. A cost effective option is to get either the Sony PVM-14L5/1 or 20-L5/1 CRT’s which are multi format monitors. You can view HD via the analog YRB inputs right out of the box. The monitors alone are less expensive than buying a Cinemas display and HD to DVI converter box (either the Blackmagic or Ecinema version).
Next purchase a video card which can output HD or SD YRB analog outputs and you can view that output on the monitor.
Do the right thing for your workflow and don’t experiment with LCD’s only to become disappointed later.
Tony Salgado
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Tony’s right. Get the sony crt monitor and don’t look back. Hurry though, as soon as the current batch is sold out they are gone forever. SOny has stopped maunfacturing the PVM L5 series. I have a 20 L5 and it’s a great HD and SD monitor. The 14′ is much more manageable if you are going to be taking it on shoots. The 20″ is a monster.
Jeremy
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G5 Dual 2Ghz <> 4GB RAM <> FCP 4.5 <> Kona 2ATTO 42XS <> Huge Systems 1.25 TB 4105 Fibre
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With good calibration and profilation it is possible to make lcd show almost as accurate colors than crt.
Still for a few months it will be messing with Look up tables and all that stuff, but soon we will get displays with VESA’s new DisplayPort interface. With it we will get past the 8bit color barrier And at a same time lcd quality is increasing, so that it really can show more than 8bit colors. -
thanks for all the responses everyone!
Good to know the blackmagic does indeed have dual outputs, but maybe there are other options to consider also.
My workspace wont really allow for the big HD CRT monitors; as Toki says the next year could be the most interesting so far in terms of LCD development.
Karl
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