Hi!

I will buy a new computer and even a new monitor. My proposal is:

Proposal 1

Buy a Nec SpectarView 2090 and then later buy one more.

Proposal 2

Buy two cheap monitors for example Samsung 20" Wide 205BW and then later a videomonitor for example JVC DT-V17L2DU.

 Proposal 3

Buy a 24" monitor for example HP LP2465 an then later a videomonitor for example JVC DT-V17L2DU.

Which proposal should you choose? What kind of monitors are you apply, both monitor to the computer and videomonitor

/Jesper

Hi Jesper,

I would pick Proposal 2 or Proposal 3, because you need a broadcast monitor for color correction.  I don't have a strong preference between 2 20" monitors or 1 24" monitor.

good luck,
Carl

 Personally, I would go with option 2 because I like the extra real estate of 2 screens, especially when I need to have multiple bins open simultaneously. Makes for less clutter.

Hi!

I'm more about to buy option 2 or 3.

I have read that if you have two monitors, like proposal 2, and are working in After Effects with 1080i material that the whole compwindow doesn't fit. A part of the window disappear. So who is it with the splice between the monitors if you place them beside of each other?

/Jesper

what about Dell monitors?  I'm looking to get the 24inch for the 

new HD setup.

thanks

Mike

I've got a Dell 24" and a SD monitor which works great for me. I'm happy with 1 big screen for workspace, but most of what I do is short films etc so there's not a whole lot of media in any 1 project. If you're doing docos or series and there's going to be a lot of bins & media to deal with a second monitor may be necessary.

After Effects is great on the 24" by the way.

 you should take a look at

Acer AL2016WBbd Black 20" 5ms Widescreen LCD Monitor's. I realy dont think you can beat these for the price. Whats great about them is they offer the same resulation found on 22inch monitors 1680 x 1050 but at a 20inch size. Meaning the pixels are packed closer together giving you a richer cleaner look.  here is the link at newegg for them read the reviews every one loves them!

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824009108

so in other words do number 2

they offer the same resulation found on 22inch monitors 1680 x 1050 but at a 20inch size

I think that is true for most 20" displays, and that is exactly the reason that I went for 2x 22" rather than 2x 20 or 2x24. The pixel pitch of all widescreen monitors, except for the 22" (1680x1050) and the 26/27" (1920x1200) is so small, that everything on screen becomes tiny. The 26/27 ones are just physically too big for my setup.

My old Mitsubishis did 1024x768 on 20", and that was so much easier for my eyes.

So are you saying that as its not a good idea for editors to get the 20inch monitors? I wil be buying a pair myself in the next month or two. Dose it making editing harder?

Well, it is all a matter of personal preference. But to me, moving from 1024x768 on the Diamontrons (2x20 4x3 tubes) to the LCDs (2x 19" 1280x1024) meant that everything on screen became a bit smaller. Then last year, when I wanted to have bigger monitors (preferably wide screen), I was not too keen on moving to 20" WS, because they are not much bigger than the 19", and have about the same pixel pitch. Moving to 24" WS meant going 1920x1200, which has about the same pixel pitch. I figured out that 22" WS and 26/27" WS monitors have the bigger pixel pitch (less pixels per inch of screen).

Some quick and perhaps not 100% accurate ballpark calculations:

a 10 pixel wide object will measure

0,1705    inch or    4,3301    cm on a    20 inch CRT (Diamontron)
0,1527    inch or    3,8798    cm on a    21 inch TFT
0,1296    inch or    3,2909    cm on a    19 inch TFT
0,1038    inch or    2,6355    cm on a    20W inch TFT
0,1141    inch or    2,8990    cm on a    22W inch TFT
0,1089    inch or    2,7673    cm on a    24W inch TFT
0,1180    inch or    2,9979    cm on a    26W inch TFT
0,1021    inch or    2,5943    cm on a    30W inch TFT

 Thanx for that info,

What is the best way on a budget to calibrate the monitors to get a true and accurate color from them?

creativethinker:

What is the best way on a budget to calibrate the monitors to get a true and accurate color from them?

Sadly, 'true and accurate color' on a budget is a contradiction in terms and properly misleading. You will, of course, be able to make hardware calibrations on any type of display (inc. CRT) that conform to a specific profile. TN panels (high-reactivity, poor viewing angles) are generally tricky because hardware calibration references only one small part of the panel (usually the centre). The result is fidelity within the limits of the panel technology (16.2m interpolated colors as opposed to true 8-bit, hue shifting, saturation / contrast falloff etc). What you end up with is a display only the central part of which 'accurately' represents a quantised approximation of some of the colors available to your video system. Which is all a bit rubbish and a pleasant wander up the garden path. None of this accounts for ghosting / tearing by the way, which isn't color-critical, but hardly desirable.

Aside from hefty 10-bit NECs or proper broadcast monitors, good old CRTs are still the best (and relatively cheap) option. They exhibit few, if any, of the innate disadvantages of cheaper TFTs and calibration is staightforward.

I hope this isn't too disheartening. There are options for you. If I'm mistaken in any details here, I'm sure I'll be corrected shortly!