Video Preview On A Plasma HDTV

[Thaxter Clavemarlton]

You need a video card that can output HD.

There’s an example of one which’s ad is here on this forum.

To the left of this message, click on the top black box (above AJA ad.)

(Blackmagicdesign.)

[Don Greening]

[joseph Wilkins] “Also any solutions that do not require my camera would be great to know!”

You’re looking for something like this:

https://www.blackmagic-design.com/products/intensity/

– Don

[Ben Holmes]

I’m guessing you’re not a broadcast user (since you’re using a firewire camera and -uh- you’re asking this question) so you could connect your TV to your unspecified Mac using a DVI or VGA to DVI or DVI to HDMI cable and then when the Mac sees the TV as a second monitor, under View/External Video, select secondary display cinema preview.

There are a 1001 ‘buts’ in this answer – the TV needs to be of sufficient resolution, and that needs to be supported by the Mac video card etc etc. Also, this will not be a properly scanned output, so it may have some interlace issues (to say the least). You may be able to get sound via a mini-jack to RCA audio cable, but beware of audio sync issues compared to firewire.

That said – and broadcast snobbery aside – I often do this when showing clients videos, and it can look great!

Have fun.

Ben

[Joseph Wilkins]

Great feedback… Another question… how do I preview full screen on my Apple Cinema Display? I have a brand new Powerbook and am running a Cinema display. What if I wanted to edit on my powerbook monitor and preview full-screen on my cinema display/?

Thanks

[Ben Holmes]

Joseph

I would recommend having a good look in the FCP manual, as many of your queries can be answered there.

If you plug a Cinema display into the DVI port of your MacBook Pro (which is what I assume you mean by Powerbook) you will find the option to select a secondary cinema display preview in the external video section of the view tab, as I previously mentioned.

Ben

[Don Greening]

[joseph Wilkins] “What if I wanted to edit on my powerbook monitor and preview full-screen on my cinema display/?”

Just to add to Ben’s post, if you’re editing on a Mac laptop you won’t be able to use the Intensity capture card I referred you to in my previous post. That’s for desktops only. However, I do know that my 17″ Macbook Pro wll support up to a 50″ plasma TV as a second monitor. I tried my own Samsung plasma out with my laptop because I was simply curious. You’ll need a DVI to VGA monitor adapter for this available at places like Radio Shack. You can also buy a DVI to HDMI adapter as well, if that’s what you need.

And as Ben pointed out, you can choose to monitor your picture with a connected Apple Cinema Display using the “Cinema Desktop Preview” function within FCP.

– Don

[Joseph Wilkins]

OK.. so is that the same as using the black magic card? Apart from the clarity and color accuracy am I going to get the same kind of image on my plasma TV going straight from my laptop as I would if I plugged my G5 tower into a black magic card, then went to my plasma TV?