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How do I set up a client monitor?
Can anyone explain how I could set up a client monitor? I’ve been working with AE and video for a couple years now but it’s never involved outside decks or any of that. And I’m very concerned about not being able to see my AE comps in the YUV color space. I have absolutely no idea how to go about it. I’ve looked at Aja Kona cards, Blackmagic cards, Matrox MXO2 and all that and I have absolutely no idea what these things do. Is there a site or a book that talks about these things from the beginning? There seems to be a gap in the flow of info and any source of information on these things I find talk about them like you already know what they do. Help. (I’m working on a Mac Pro)
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6 Replies
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First thing’s first – you should not use S-Video (single cable) or composite video (yellow, white, red cables) for connecting to monitors when doing video work. The signal quality is very low and not reliable at all if you are using the set to judge colors, brightness etc.
A solid, cost-effective option is to purchase the $250 Blackmagic Intensity card which offers HDMI output. Connect this to any HDTV set and you’ve got a large screen suitable for client monitoring from afar. This setup will handle full HD.
Another option that will yield more accurate, reliable color/gamma would be to purchase an Aja card or the Blackmagic Pro card (my personal choice). The connectors these cards use for output are typically only found on moderate-to-higher end broadcast monitors, so be warned you can’t just go hooking these up to any old TV set.
Brendan Coots
Splitvision Digital
http://www.splitvisiondigital.com -
Wow, awesome. Thanks so much for giving me a direction. I’ll check out the Intensity Card until I get this mograph stuff paying for itself.
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Do you think the Intensity Card would be sufficient with which to begin experimenting with color grading? I’m just doing broadcast design and commercials.
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Color grading requires a high-quality monitor. If you search the FCP forum (and others) you’ll find many posts with opinions about monitors you can use for grading.
John
MacPro 8-core 2.8GHz 8 GB RAM OS 10.5.4 QT7.5 Kona 3 Dual Cinema 23 ATI Radeon HD 3870
ATTO ExpressSAS R380 RAID Adapter, PDE Enclosure with 8-drive 6TB RAID
24″ TV-Logic Monitor
Final Cut Studio 2 (up to date)Pro Tools HD w SYNC IO, Yamaha DM1000, Millennia Media HV-3C, Neumann U87, Schoeps Mk41 mics, Genelec Monitors, PrimaLT ISDN
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Thanks, I read it all. I think I’ll go with the JVC DT-V20L1U and the BM Intensity card for starters. Would connecting them via DVI be good enough? (JVC monitor has no HDMI input).
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The Intensity card only has HDMI ins & outs. You’d need an HDMI to DVI-D cable. However, I have no idea how that would affect the visual quality. You might post on the HD High-End forum and see what answer you get there. Perhaps there’s a dealer in your area (or anywhere) that carries both the JVC and Intensity who could test this out.
John
MacPro 8-core 2.8GHz 8 GB RAM OS 10.5.4 QT7.5 Kona 3 Dual Cinema 23 ATI Radeon HD 3870
ATTO ExpressSAS R380 RAID Adapter, PDE Enclosure with 8-drive 6TB RAID
24″ TV-Logic Monitor
Final Cut Studio 2 (up to date)Pro Tools HD w SYNC IO, Yamaha DM1000, Millennia Media HV-3C, Neumann U87, Schoeps Mk41 mics, Genelec Monitors, PrimaLT ISDN
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