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Monitor upgrade situation
I have a old and dying 30″ Apple cinema (getting some dark areas, but still usable) and a small 12″ Sony broadcast monitor hooked up through a AJA Lhe
I’m looking to upgrade. But I don’t know which one to swap out.
The 12″ broadcast monitor is too small to color HD on.
I would like to just swap out the computer monitor and replace it with a new <$1500 quality lcd monitor for color correction, but I understand it doesn’t work like that.So I could keep the old 30″ a while longer and swap out the crt, or rather keep both but add another…
But in order to use a dreamcolor, or something comparable, for color with my setup, I’d also have to buy a SDI to DVI… which costs about $600 right? And dreamcolor alone is at the limit of my budget stretchAlso, I’m looking at the NEC PA271W-SV which is cheaper. But I’d still need the SDI to DVI adapter I believe.
With about $1500 to spend, is a quality plasma my best option? Or is there still a professional solution availible.
Current Prices:
NEC PA271W-SV – $1500
HP Dreamcolor – $1400 (used)
AJA HDP2 SDI to DVI – $600 -
26 Replies
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[Cade Muhlig] “NEC PA271W-SV – $1500
HP Dreamcolor – $1400 (used)
AJA HDP2 SDI to DVI – $600”You’d probably want the Dreamcolor “Advanced Profiling Solution” as well ($350).
We’ve graded four features on the Dreamcolor, and subsequently screened a couple of them in high-end DI theaters — the color accuracy is remarkably good.
Digital Workflow/Colorist
You should follow me on Twitter here. Or read Is FCP X a professional app? on our blog. -
[Cade Muhlig] “I see now that the dreamcolor has component inputs, therefore I could plug it directly into the Kona LHe.
Do I lose quality by going analog like that?
I could save $600”I’ve never tried on ours, but IIRC the Dreamcolor’s on-board color engine doesn’t work when using the analog inputs, so that’s a no go.
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I see now that the dreamcolor has component inputs, therefore I could plug it directly into the Kona LHe.
Do I lose quality by going analog like that?
I could save $600 -
So monitor + calibrator + adapter looks like about $2200 total if I can get the monitor used.
Any cheaper solutions?
We’ve got an old Z1U lying around. I think I’ll sell it -
[Cade Muhlig] “So monitor + calibrator + adapter looks like about $2200 total if I can get the monitor used.
Any cheaper solutions?”Not really. You could go with a standard desktop display and an HDLink, which you could load a LUT into, but if you’re looking for accurate color you’ll open up a huge can of worms trying to get it that way vs. just using the Dreamcolor’s integrated system.
Digital Workflow/Colorist, Nice Dissolve
You should follow me on Twitter here. Or read Is FCP X a professional app? on our blog. -
You will want to install an AJA HDP2. You would connect your Kona HD-SDI output to the HDP2. Then connect a DVI to DisplayPort or HDMI cable to the Dreamcolor.
If you want to take advantage of the color management of the Dreamcolor, you are required to give the monitor strictly an RGB and a Progressive, nor PSF. In addition, it does not have a good scaler.
By having the HDP2, it will do all the conversions and scaling for you. Since there is a delay with all the processing, there are also audio outputs so that everything stays in sync for monitoring.
https://www.aja.com/products/converters/converters-hd-hdp2.php
Jeff Bernstein
Digital Desktop Consulting
Apple Pro Video VAR
XSAN Certified
MetaSAN Master Reseller323-653-7611
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Yes,
That’s exactly what I was looking at
Thanks for your professional advise guys.
I know what I want now, just have to wait for the budget -
Another option would be to swap out your LHi for a cheaper card that will give you a compatible HDMI output to use directly with the Dreamcolor or maybe a Panasonic Pro Plasma that you can calibrate using ISFccc (have a look for a V25, you might be able to get one pretty cheaply).
Cheers
Andy -
Well actually I’m using a hackintosh, and I have a ati graphics card that has a display port out and an hdmi out. Would this work?
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No. Thats a “display” output, not a “video” output ie it appears as a extended desktop monitor output to the OS but not as a broadcast video output to the NLE.
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