Dell monitors & FCP

Is anyone successfully using Dell LCD monitors on a dual G5 to work in FCP? I'd planned on a pair of Apple Cinema Displays but now have the chance to get a big discount on Dell monitors. I'm assuming they should be HD-capable (although I rarely cut HD).

I've heard pros & cons from straying from Apple's products. If anyone has positive Dell monitor experiences with FCP, I'd love to know your thoughts, the model you use, if a different card is needed (I have an ATI Radeon 9600 Pro card), etc. Thanks for your insight!

Do a forum search. A lot has been covered on this subject many times over.

- Joey

When life gives you dilemmas...make dilemmanade.

they are a huge favorite here on the forum! buy them, use them, live them ; )

Before I posted, of course I did a LAFCPUG forum search on Dell monitors. That's why I'm even considering them over ACDs. However, I've read that Dell monitors don't handle HD well and often have a yellowish tint (even after calibration) when used with Apple computers. I'm guessing I should skip Dell pay the extra cash for Apple displays.

>I've read that Dell monitors don't handle HD well and often have a yellowish tint

HUH?????

where did you see that?

I use a dell 2405 as my regular HD tv . . . in addition to using it as regular desktop monitor and a HD monitor for FCP via the AJA HDP (and I use it on set somtimes in a similar way via the HDP)

David at Movies Rock in Toronto
[www.tofcpug.com]

You didn't read that here, my friend.

When life gives you dilemmas...make dilemmanade.

I have the 2405 and the 3007WFP, they both work great.

they work fine. I've never seen a yellow tint. HOWEVER - there is no way of controlling the brightness. There might be a piece of software out there which helps to control the brightness level, but natively - there is none.

They're not as pretty as ACD. And Dell as a company sort of sucks. I had an accounting problem with them which I finally just gave up trying to resolve. Wasn't enough money to cover the amount of time and phone calls it was starting to take to solve it.

Thanks for the info guys. Most of the negatives came from various forums, including the Dell site (strangely enough). Good to hear there's a strong endorsement from the FCP crew. That's what matters in the end, I suppose!

I think much of the mixed talk has to do with this: while a monitor like this can show exact detail, providing pixel for pixel accuracy of the HD image, LCD computer monitors in general are not so hot for judging color correction in fine finishing because of the different gamma and varied black level.

Another issue is the ability to show interlace material properly.

I use my Dell 24" mostly as a computer monitor and sometimes HD monitor via the component inputs. I love it. Make sure and get the "Ultra Sharp" version of Dell monitors. Dell also sells cheaper monitors that are not the "Ultra Sharp" line.

Computer monitors as a whole will not display interlaced material properly (ask Koz) which is why a Dell is not a good idea for an SD / HD reference. That's why a separate NTSC monitor is crucial for any & all TV work (ask anybody doing TV for a living). My Kona LHe / KL-Box currently runs 3 monitors simultaneously: a Dell 24", a Sony 17" and an NTSC reference monitor.

[www.aja.com]

It's the only way to fly, IMHO

- Joey

When life gives you dilemmas...make dilemmanade.

Your NTSC reference monitor is only useful for monitoring SD footage. Most likely, it does not have enough lines to display HD.

Monitoring HD is still a next to impossible task without spending megabucks for a huge cumbersome true HD CRT monitor capable of displaying the full HD. That's way so many are experimenting with compromises of various kinds.

I currently view my hdv one frame at a time on my old SD NTSC reference monitor because at least to the color and gamma is probably better than my computer monitor.

With fcp 6 I'm looking forward to at least being able to play my hdv out through fw to my NTSC so I can get RT preview and not just one frame at a time.

I hope this is still enough on topic to post in this thread. . . regarding the AJA HDP. Why are you using the HDP - is it only because you have to use the AJA card for uncompressed capture, and therefore need to add the HDP to get from the card into the Dell as component or DVI-D?

I have over 20 of the Dell monitors in my facility, which mostly consists of the earlier 2001FP and 2405WFP. I still like the 2001FP's because they're 1600x1200, which is a hair better real estate than the newer widescreen variants IMO.

I wouldn't have over 20 of these if I didn't like the first couple of them! ;-)

Marco Solorio | OneRiver Media | ORM Blog | Twitter | Facebook | Media Batch