I have a couple of OK monitors to do my editing on. I dont have any problems with them, But i would like to feel secure that my color corrections are done as true as possible. I wanted to know if anyone had some suggestions for me on how to go about looking for a client monitor that could give me the most accurate color.

Do i get an lcd monitor? Do i get a hdtv? What are my options and what dhoulf i look out for. Thanks.

M.

I own the Samsung UN46B8000 46 inch LED backlit LCD HDTV. Unbelievable. 5 Million to 1 contrast range, 1080P, 240 Hz refresh rate. Many advanced settings available in sub-menus. I'm specing the 55 inch version as client and conference room monitors. As close to a CRT quality picture as I have seen in a flat screen display.

Thanks Larry. i should probably carlify what i need though...

I have a small office where my setup is. I currently have a 30" SD CRT tv. It is not connected to my Avid. Right now im just doing fullscreen playbacks on my monitors. The Samsung UN46B8000 is well out of my range.

What i wanted to know is, what are my best options as far as color correction goes. I dont trust my lcd monitors. So that leaves me looking at other possibilites. I do not care about asthetics of the product, just the most accurate colors for televion broadcast so that i can feel confident about what i am exporting.

Should i connect my SD CRT? If so, will i be able to view HD from my AVid on it?

Should i purchase a used HD CRT monitor?

Or should i be looking at a high quality HD LCD telivision like you suggested?

Thanks again.

Marc

You need a monitor that can be calibrated. The most consumer grade lcd/tv-sets can not be calibrated precise enough. Example a class1 Sony monitor has a range from 0-1000 for (r,g and b gain and bias). The most consumer displays have values from 0-15 and have'nt even a bias option. So if you want precise colors you'll need a expensive class1 monitor + periodical calibration (twice a year or each time you start a bigger project). You also need the right illumination of the room (correct color temperature, etc.). Calibration is normaly done with professional probes (like a Thoma TF-6).

regards,

Udo

Marc:

IMO, for critical line monitoring and color grading, a CRT based monitor is still the way to go. Sony does still offer a multi-format CRT HD monitor, but it's not cheap - approx. $17,000. So depending on your budget, you may want to look into used CRT based pro monitors.

Marc, it depends on how "accurate" you want your monitor to be. The professional CRT monitors made by Sony that are used for film are very expensive. They have specific phosphorous specifications to give correct colors. If the samsung is outside of your budget then forget about a professional CRT.

Personally I would stay away from used professional monitors. In most cases they been used for many hours. To be within the specified tollerance as prescribed by the manufacturer, you need to replace the tube and several capacitors. But you could be lucky and find a good one.

If your budget is limited, lets say $2000, a high end LCD is the best you can do. The samsung Larry suggest is a top of the line model. I would love to have one of those. But if I had to buy a monitor now it would have LED technology and 200Hz (pal) 240Hz (NTSC) with some kind of motion compensation. Sony calls it motionflow, samsung auto motion, don't know about the others...

I hope that helps

The Samsung monitor I have listed at $3,100 - I got it for $2,700.

I have been very pleased with Panasonic's BTLH2600W for both SD and HD monitoring.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=&sku=435205&Q=&is=REG&A=details

For what's it worth.

Bill

Samsung also has a 32 inch version of the LED monitor listing at $1,599.

Larry Rubin:

Samsung also has a 32 inch version of the LED monitor listing at $1,599.

And that's a model I would go for.

All very well buying a monitor but you may need an Avid box to make it work and if you think $2000 is expensive for a monitor you would be shocked at the price of an Avid box!

how are you all getting to see HD while editing - through your graphics card via DVI, or something else? I have a production monitor for SD work via firewire but no way to look at HD in real time. can I do this with an FX1700?

               - sasha

Hi,

The cheapest you can go is 7K for decent HD monitoring with media composer. First you'll need a mojo DX that costs 5k (7k is supposed to be the normal price but there's promotions) because no matter what monitor you'll buy the full screen playback from the DVI output of your graphic card is nothing like a true video signal, it's just an RGB overlay for preview purposes. Meaning color won't be accurate at all, interlaced footage will have to be displayed as single field only (half) and motion will be poor (repeated and deleted frames). 

The most affordable HD (1920x1080) professional monitor would be the JVC DTV24, that's 2K for the model without SDI. So 5K plus 2K. I first bought a good consumer LCD but crushed blacks and lack of controls was really a problem.

So my personal experience is buy trying to cut costs I  buyed at first a second graphic card (that gave me a 3 monitor set up for FSP) and a consumer 24' LCD. I did edit some progressive HD formats jobs with that set up and it was not great but ok (as long as no other media was mixed but progressive HD), no way to color correct that way but I didn't care as we always have a finishing guy that does the AE work and color correction on another station and on non avid softwares. But to get decent monitoring while editing (no matter what media or mix of medias we use on projects) we ended up buying the DX and the JVC.

So by trying to cut costs we ended spending something like 1K more for gear we do not use anymore... You might want to wait a few months though (if you can afford to) and see if Avid comes up with a cheaper output box... 

Good luck.

I agree the Mojo DX and the JVC is the best solution for quality monitoring at the best price.

Thanks guys,

Not what i wanted to hear but exactly what i needed to. Im just a poor independant filmmaker that cant spend anything more than 2k right now. So, i will just outsource the colour correction to a post production facility than can do the job right.

Thanks everyone.

Marc