Panasonic BT-LH1700WP or Sony PVM-14L5/1

[Walter Biscardi]

I still love my Sony PVM L5’s and will not sell them. If you have the opportunity to purchase one and it’s in excellent condition, I don’t see why to pass up on it.

If you can’t get it, then the Panny’s are the way to go.

Walter Biscardi, Jr.
https://www.biscardicreative.com
HD Editorial & Animation for Food Network’s “Good Eats”
HD Editorial for “Assignment Earth”

“I reject your reality and substitute my own!” – Adam Savage, Mythbusters

[Rennie Klymyk]

I don’t own either monitor right now but thought I’d offer some food for thought.

Thanks to the bkm-143 hd-sdi card you can add hd to the pvm crt monitor for about $1500.00. The BT-LH1700WP has it all built in so they are in the same price bracket when equipped for hd. Tough choice…

The pvm is 4:3 – 16:9 switchable so with your HVX footage you will get a larger viewing area on the wide format BT-LH1700WP monitor. 16:9 on the pvm will give you a 11″ X 6″ picture to view (measuring the bezel of my bvmd-14h5u which should be about the same as the L5) I would think the BT-LH1700WP would have about a 15″ X 8.5″ actual picture which is a noticable difference in actual viewing area.

I’ve used a lot of 13-14″ monitors and really liked the 20″ ones but now I’m down to 14″ ones and with a 16:9 aspect ratio they seem like 8″ monitors to me and the 20″ seem like 14’s when you pop a wide screen bezel on them. For that reason a PVM-20L5/1 would be worth the extrea cost over the 14″

When you consider the actual area of the viewing surface 11″ X 6″ =66 square inches.
The The BT-LH1700WP at let’s say ……………………………..15″ X 8″ =120 square inches.
That’s almost double the actual size of the image you are looking at.

[Walter Biscardi]

[Rennie] “Thanks to the bkm-143 hd-sdi card you can add hd to the pvm crt monitor for about $1500.00. The BT-LH1700WP has it all built in so they are in the same price bracket when equipped for hd. Tough choice…”

Actually that’s incorrect information. You CAN add an HD-SDI card if you so choose. But the PVM monitors accept HD via Component right out of the box. We run both of our PVM L5’s via Component with all our HD work.

[Rennie] “When you consider the actual area of the viewing surface 11″ X 6″ =66 square inches.
The The BT-LH1700WP at let’s say ……………………………..15″ X 8″ =120 square inches.
That’s almost double the actual size of the image you are looking at.”

It’s not just about image size, it’s about accurate color reproduction.

Walter Biscardi, Jr.
https://www.biscardicreative.com
HD Editorial & Animation for Food Network’s “Good Eats”
HD Editorial for “Assignment Earth”

“I reject your reality and substitute my own!” – Adam Savage, Mythbusters

[Rennie Klymyk]

[walter biscardi] “It’s not just about image size, it’s about accurate color reproduction.”

It isn’t just size that matters eh, (believe me, I know) but from what I’ve been hearing about the BT-LH1700WP since it came out is how accurate it is and it was suitable for color grading. Panasonic claims “Faithful color reproduction – closely matches chromatic ranges of CRT monitors” Do you see a noteable difference between these two monitors color wise? (BT-LH1700WP or Sony PVM-14L5/1)

[walter biscardi] “Actually that’s incorrect information. You CAN add an HD-SDI card if you so choose. But the PVM monitors accept HD via Component right out of the box. We run both of our PVM L5’s via Component with all our HD work.”

Thanks for pointing that out Walter and I’m glad you caught it, I don’t know why I thought it was built in, I’m confusing it with something else.

So by sending the pvm analog hd via component from your card you would get an sd image on the crt but the color is good enough for grading and the colors equate well – back into hd color space. Or am I missing something here, like the analog component inputs on the L5/1 are analog auto switching sd/hd as well? I’ve always considered this monitor to be sd unless you had the optional hd card. I’ve just tried to find this out but can’t find the info on line.

Other considerations for you joslyn20 are:
You would still benifit by the larger hd monitor for evaluating things like focus and depth of field of the hd video.
The BT-LH1700WP runs on 12 volts, has an anton bauer adapter available from panasonic and a viewing hood which would make it very usefull in the field when shooting with your HVX200.

[Joslyn20]

thanks for the responses walter and rennie. i think i will go the pvm route based on previous posts raving this monitor for dvcprohd as well as sd. thanks again!

[Walter Biscardi]

[Rennie] “So by sending the pvm analog hd via component from your card you would get an sd image on the crt but the color is good enough for grading and the colors equate well – back into hd color space.”

Wrong. The monitor is auto switching between SD and HD via Component. You can read the specs on the monitor on any website and see that it’s a true HD monitor no matter how you feed it.

Walter Biscardi, Jr.
https://www.biscardicreative.com
HD Editorial & Animation for Food Network’s “Good Eats”
HD Editorial for “Assignment Earth”

“I reject your reality and substitute my own!” – Adam Savage, Mythbusters

[Joslyn20]

thanks for the wonderful info walter! makes my decision a lot easier. just curious, when you say true hd, does that include seeing the hvx’s 1080p mode? i know the monitor has 800 lines but how does translate for 1080p? thanks once again. =)

[Bill Marcellus]

I have both the PVM-14l5 and the BT-LH-1700WP and use them side-by-side on a daily basis. I am running the PVM from the component outputs of the Kona. The LH-1700 is driven via one of the SDI outputs of the Kona.

The color rendition of the PVM is perfect but the LH-1700 does an excellent job as well. I was prepared to be unimpressed with the image quality and color reproduction of the Panny but have been very plaesantly surprised from the first moment I fired it up. Although I edit in HD, the inevitable downconvert to SD for broadcast is a daily fact of life. Amazingly, the Panny delivers a PERFECT display of SD material with none of the jagglies on graphics, etc. that we have become accustomed to when viewing SD material on a LCD or Plasma monitor. It is interesting to see SD properly displayed on an LCD monitor.

My advice would be to go with the PVM first to be assured of color accuracy. Get one while/if you can!

If you can afford it, the Panny is an excellent second monitor and would be more than acceptable as your primary grading monitor. Obviously, the blacks aren’t truly black but they are pretty close- much closer than on any other LCD I have seen. And the onscreen waveform overlay on the LH-1700 is a useful addition to the daily workflow.

That’s my two cents worth.

Bill

[Walter Biscardi]

[joslyn20] “thanks for the wonderful info walter! makes my decision a lot easier. just curious, when you say true hd, does that include seeing the hvx’s 1080p mode? i”

I would assume that would work fine. We don’t work in 1080p nor do I know anyone who is working in that format.

Walter Biscardi, Jr.
https://www.biscardicreative.com
HD Editorial & Animation for Food Network’s “Good Eats”
HD Editorial for “Assignment Earth”

“I reject your reality and substitute my own!” – Adam Savage, Mythbusters

[Marco Solorio]

I couldn’t agree more with Wally on this. If you find a good deal on an L5 with little hours… GRAB IT! The L5’s are quickly becoming the rare jewel in professional edit suites. There’s no way I’d part with mine. If my building catches on fire, I’m grabbing a 20L5 and running. Screw the hard drives!

And yes, in reference to the other posts, the L5 will *definitely* auto-switch between different SD and HD resolutions on the analog YUV connectors. Besides all the common 1080 formats, it’ll even support 720p60 at full frame-rate. Try it out… shoot or conform a 720 clip to 60p and watch it play at 60 FPS. Ohhhh ahhhhh.

The L5 is truly one of the rare, “best-you-can-get-if-you-can-get-it” editing tools.

Damn you, Sony.

Marco Solorio  |  OneRiver Media