tv monitor

[Tom Meegan]

If you final product is going to be shown on a TV monitor, you should should view on a TV monitor as you work. Ideally a professional monitor, but a TV will work fine for non-critical applications.

If your work is destined for the web only, there is no need.

Take the firewire out of your computer to your DV camera or deck. Then take your analog outs from the camera or deck to the monitor.

In Final Cut…

View > External Video > All Frames

View > Video Playback > Firewire DV

View > Audio Playback > Audio follows video

View > Refresh A/V devices

Good luck.

Tom

[Tom Meegan]

Just a couple of thoughts that occurred to me as I hit “Post Direct.”

In Final Cut Pro go to…

Help > Final Cut Pro User manual.

See page 211 and 221 of Volume One for the most relevent information. This assumes FCP 5. If you have an earlier version, use search and type “external video.”

Successful color correction is dependent on monitoring. If you color correct on a device that does not share color space and gamma response characteristics with the monitors the viewers will see, you can expect a viewing experience that will not match what you intended.

That being said, if you are just trying to match a shot to known good footage, you should be able to get close with any monitor

[Harriet Ja]

Hi Tom , Thanks a lot for your reply

i didnt really get this one
“Successful color correction is dependent on monitoring. If you color correct on a device that does not share color space and gamma response characteristics with the monitors the viewers will see, you can expect a viewing experience that will not match what you intended.”

can you explain more please?
not sure if this is acoording to the tearm of use but could you please recomend a monitor for me? or what to look for?

thanks a lot that would help me very much

one more thing, when going through FW and then RCA or BNC to the monitor (meaning using the camera) does the quality and colors reain the same? !!!! meaning can i realy on what i see on monitor while working on the picture and the colors?!!!

[Tom Meegan]

“…could you please recomend a monitor for me? or what to look for?”

Who is your audience and what is your budget? If you are creating a family video, using a consumer television will be fine. If you are doing corporate video you can get away with it, but I would not recommend it. If you are doing broadcast or cablecast work, you probably need a professional monitor.

Critical monitoring is in a transitional stage right now, so a good monitor recommendation is fairly complex. Nine months ago I would have recommended a Sony L5 20″ or 14″, but Sony has stopped manufacturing them, and there is a growing realization that many consumers are not looking at CRTs anymore. However, these are still great choices so most video applications. Ikegami and JVC are still making good CRTs. If you are going to be doing a lot of work, I would suggest you do more extensive research on your own, particularly about flat panel displays.

“…when going through FW and then RCA or BNC to the monitor (meaning using the camera) does the quality and colors reain the same? !!!!”

FW will deliver the DV signal as it comes from FCP. Composite video is what is likely to happen to your video before anyone sees it, so any slight changes in color are actually very relevant since this is what people will actually see. The difference is insignificant in the environment you are likely to be working in.

Do some research about monitor calibration. This is very important and the ability to do a good calibration is a prime reason to upgrade from a consumer television to a professional solution.

This is a slippery slope, and unless you have a lot of time and money, and good reason to spend them, I would suggest you figure out how far you want to take the color correction. For instance I assume you don’t want to replace all the lights in your edit space, completely block the windows, and paint all the walls 50% gray. I also assume you don’t want to spend 35k on monitoring and a similar amount on external scopes.

If the color correction of you project is that critical, take it to a professional colorist.

Best,

Tom Meegan