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Mackbook Pro (Early 2011) + Davinci Resolve (Lite) + HP Dream Color Z24x – Doable?
Hi,
Just wondering if anyone has an idea of how to make these 3 things work together: Mackbook Pro (Early 2011) w/thunderbolt port + Davinci Resolve (Lite) + HP Dream Color Z24x
I’m basically looking for the cheapest way to make this setup work. I must warn you, I’m quite new to all of this hardware tech and have never personally used an in/out device before. I do know that I require one though. I’ve heard that the Aja T-tap plays well with the Dreamcolor, but not with Resolve. Is this still true? I’ve heard there are problems between the Blackmagic Ultrastudio Mini Monitor and the Dreamcolor. Is this still true?
Also, I am in the UK and cannot find anywhere to purchase the new HP Dreamcolor Calibration Solution (the one released in tandem with the HP z24x & 727x)
https://www8.hp.com/ca/en/products/oas/product-detail.html?oid=5225568#!tab=features
I’m not sure why they sell this separately (and not apparently in the UK) as the dreamcolor seems pretty useless without it. It also sounds like that for the z24x it’s the only supported calibration device! Do you need to use the new calibration device for this new generation of dreamcolor monitors, or will the older generation calibration device work as well?
Will 3rd party calibration devices not work with the z24x?
Any other cables or pieces of equipment or software I would need to make this work?
I know this isn’t the ideal grading setup and it would be better to get a Flanders Scientific or something, but my budget is very low. Thanks for reading!
Film Editor, London UK
http://www.scottclementseditor.com -
7 Replies
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Scott, I’m not an expert on dreamcolor, but I’m not sure why it wouldn’t play nice with any hdsdi feed into it. (It might not play nice with certain types of formats…psf for example, but that would cross over from any device feeding that signal)
Resolve will only recognize Blackmagic hardware, so the AJA isn’t going to do you any good. My first resolve build involved a cheap Blackmagic card to feed hdsdi/sdi into the monitor. I think the card was 120 dollars or something like that. Just a very simple decklink I/O card. It should fit in an open slot in your Mac. (I still use that card on one of my systems, several years later…money well spent)
Black magic also has the thunderbolt mini monitor devices. I know another guy who uses that. Not sure if it is only hdmi out or if it has hdsdi. For that matter, not sure if the dream colour you are referring to has only sdi, or other options.
Glenn
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Thanks, Glenn.
It’s difficult to sort out the info on the net that is relevant to the brand new Dreamcolor monitors and what was relevant to the models released 6 years ago. Apparently, an issue with the old models was that they had an absolute requirement for RGB/4:4:4 and blackmagic devices required a very expensive piece of hardware called the HD Link Pro in order to deliver this. The HD Link Pro was referred to as the “band aid” by its detractors. The AJA T-Tap delivers RGB/4:4:4 without a “band-aid”. However, if you go with AJA, of course this means you can’t use resolve.
Film Editor, London UK
http://www.scottclementseditor.com -
Just looking at the specs for this thing. I assumed this was a broadcast monitor, but it looks to be just a computer monitor. Inputs are DVI, HDMI and Display port. There is no mention of any restrictions for signal or frame rates. At my old facility we had a dream color broadcast monitor, with full SDI inputs. Those devices will typically spell out quite clearly what you can and can’t feed into it. I see no reason why you would have issues with any computer display into this. If you are buying this thinking its a colour critical monitor, you may be mistaken… but I’m sure it would take an HDMI signal out of the blackmagic mini monitor device.
Glenn
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Hi, Glenn.
I think that HP Dreamcolor “broadcast monitor” at your old facility was probably the LP2480ZX model. It was considered by many to be “just a computer monitor” as well – not a broadcast monitor. It was the first generation of Dreamcolor monitor. The Dreamcolour z27x and z24x are the next generation models that just came out a couple months ago. There is a lot of controversy surrounding their use for colour critical work. That is what HP designed them for (in collaboration with Dreamworks) and many respected filmmakers and colourists do use them for grading. The Dreamcolor definitely has its detractors, but their criticisms don’t 100% make sense to me and it sounds just like professional snobbery – similar to the way Avid Editors called FCP classic incapable of “professional” editing for years after it had been proven otherwise. Bu then again, I’m not a professional colourist. I’m just going by the opinions of people I trust.
Here’s an interesting article on the old HP Dreamcolors: https://library.creativecow.net/articles/garchow_jeremy/HP_DreamColor_CRT_Replacement.phpFilm Editor, London UK
http://www.scottclementseditor.com -
No Dreamcolor monitor has ever had SDI inputs. They have always had only DVI, HDMI, DisplayPort, and VGA inputs. Most users fed them by having SDI out of a computer, fed through an AJA Hi5 SDI to HDMI converter, which preserved the 10 bit SDI signal and allowed proper use of the Dreamcolor color engine. Some used a Blackmagic HDLink, but the DVI version of that box did not pass 10 bits and the DisplayPort version was not generally available when the Dreamcolor was first released.
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Thanks Mike, I checked with an old co worker who actually worked with the monitor…He confirmed we ran SDI out of the computer, to a convertor hidden behind the monitor, and fed it what he thought was a DVI signal.
Glenn
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Why is this not on the DaVinci Basics and Configuration forum or does no one go there anymore?
jPo
“I always pass on free advice — its never of any use to me” Oscar Wilde.
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