question about color correcting with an accurate monitor

[Walter Biscardi]

[zeech26] “Right now I am editing with an apple cinema display 20″ and I have an older memorex television (5 years old) connected through my deck which I have been using to get an idea of what it will look like on a TV, and as a second monitor.

I am planning to reproduce this doc. and hopefully show it on the big screen, so, my question is, to color correct SD video, am I blowing it by using this as my monitor?”

if that’s all you have, then that’s what you have. Ideally you want to use an industry standard like the Sony PVML5 series or the new Panasonic 1700/2600W LCD screens.

At the very least you could go down to your local electronics store and pick up a CRT that has S-Video or Component input. A 5 year old TV will definitely have some color drift and bleed in it.

Another alternative is a Panasonic Pro 42″ plasma screen. The new “9” series of these screens is very good at displaying SD video, much better than my “8” series 50″ model. Those run about $1,300 right now and I use them alongside our Sony PVML5 monitors because the colors are so close.

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 know your budget but if you look in cow classified I saw a PVM that is 16:9 -20″ SD for “any reasonable offer”. Why not email the poster and talk, it would be good for your needs and would be an awesome viewing area. Also below that is a pvm-14L1 for $300.00. I think you can get those new for about $500.00 at B&H so maybe you can deal on that as well. They look like they are in your area and may be possible to get quickly. Sony crt’s are the best and pvm line is decent with smpte or P22 phousphors. The pvm-“M” series is getting pretty old so you could be getting something that is worn out in that model. You’ll probably pat $40.00 a day for a rental. Walter’s recomendation is the best as it will carry through into the hd future but if you are limited by budget these sd monitors can be usefull for some time yet.

“everything is broken”

[Boyd Mccollum]

In additon to Walter’s suggestions, you should make sure that whichever monitor you are using is calibrated for color/tint/contrast/brightness/sharpness. You can do a quick search on the internet to get the information you need on how to do this. To get your color/tint correct, get yourself some blue gel and look through that when adjusting your bars. You should be able to get the gel from lighting supply house or camera store. There are also calibrating DVDs available for setting up home theatre systems – check with your local Radio Shack/Electronics store – that walks you through proper set up of your monitor. Some of these DVDs come with the gel you need. You can also run bars straight out of FCP.

[David Roth weiss]

[walter biscardi] “The new “9” series of these screens is very good at displaying SD video… I use them alongside our Sony PVML5 monitors because the colors are so close.”

Walter,

I agree with you on both counts. I’m really amazed at how good Pany made these monitors this time around. There is precious little difference between a 9 series plasma and many broadcast monitors other than a slight tendency toward the red zone.

DRW

PS – The red zone is for immediate loading and unloading.

[Bruce Greene]

Jesus,

For sure do not use the 5 year old tv!

Unless you are going to buy a broadcast monitor, and have it calibrated (for white balance, not just color bars) you’re kind of working in the dark.

So I’ll go out on a limb and make another suggestion: Buy a computer monitor calibration light meter/software for your Apple Cinema display. Something like the Greytag/McBeth Eye One Display which costs about $240. Calibrate your screen to D65 color temperature. You won’t have to worry about setting color or tint on your calibrated computer screen at all and so the color bars will not be used.

The drawback of this approach is that FCP does some weird things when displaying DV/DVCAM video. You’ll notice that the color shifts when you pause playback, and I would only trust the image when paused. That said, you can at least pick a good looking frame as a reference and match to it. Even if you’re not spot on your color, you’ll at least get a consistent look (provided you have the skill at color correction), and this look will be close enough to correct for most purposes. I would also suggest using using the waveform/vector scope tool in FCP to make sure your black and white levels are correct.

One final note: Normally video is displayed on a tv monitor set to a “gamma” of 2.2. However, the Mac used to be traditionally set to a monitor gamma of 1.8 and the FCP / Quicktime software I think (not 100% sure) assumes that your computer monitor is set to a gamma of 1.8. Apple then programmed into the DV playback a correction to the 2.2 gamma video footage. So I would start by calibrating your Apple Cinema Display to a gamma of 1.8 to use to color correct your project.

I actually color corrected an entire feature film last year in FCP using a Sony 9″ professional broadcast monitor and even that monitor was not perfectly white balanced when new from Sony. And neither was my Panasonic 17″ HD LCD broadcast monitor (they seem to come from the factory a little on the green/yellow side).

One final tip: do all your color correcting using the “color correction” tools in FCP. Avoid the “contrast/brightness” controls and any others whose name sounds like a control knob on a tv.

And one final note: I wish Apple would fix the FCP software so that we could be confident that the image we see on a calibrated computer monitor (because they are so easy to calibrate using software like the “EyeOne”) is a good representation of the image and the average joe could color correct in FCP with some confidence.

Best of luck with your project.

-bruce

[Zack Hill]

Thanks very much bruce and everyone for your helpfull comments. I think that the calibrating tool is a great idea, and a bit les expensive than a 1500 monitor. I am going to do some research on the information you guys have provided me. Thank you very much again!
jesus
http://www.zeechproductions.com