Display for Working with HD

Please forgive me if this has come up before; I did a search and could not find the answer to what I feel should be a very basic, common sense question.

I'm purchasing a new Mac Pro and will be working with HD material for the first time. I have run into a question as I am picking my displays and want to make sure I don't buy something I'll later regret. There's no way I'll be able to afford the Cinema displays and some of the Dells I'm looking at specifically say they're HD resolution, while others do not.

What is the minimum screen resolution for working with and viewing HD? Thanks all...

We're building out a new edit suite, and since we can't get Apple 23" Cinema Displays any more (dammit), we ordered a pair of Dell 2408s.

The Dell's are far better anyway.


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not really sure what youre asking. if youre talking about computer monitors - pretty much ANY modern retail monitor will work for FCP in HD.

if youre talking about "monitoring" your end product on a 1:1 pixel ratio then yes, youre talking a whole other set of rules. there are only a few monitors that will display the full HD pixel res. two of the most popular being the apple 23 and dell 24.

and from there you need to be aware of how youre feeding the signal. im not sure if desktop cinema preview right out of FCP to a monitor will display full HD res or not, but you could look into something like the matrox MXO that will send an HD signal to a capable monitor like an apple or dell. OR you might look into a black magic intensity card and monitor out to a consumer TV via HDMI. again, most of this of this not is going to be absolute broadcast accurate. but it will be way better than just using a simple connected computer monitor. and WAY cheaper than higher end options.

Thanks to all for the advice...Yes, Wayne, I meant computer monitors. I think a Black Magic card will be in order for external monitoring.

ive bought a lot of monitors this year. and to be honest, the apples were often the worst of the bunch. which is sad. but each monitor has its good and bad points. the older dell 2405 ultrasharp is about the most popular. some have complained about the 2407 and 2408 models.

what you'll give up with many of the cheaper monitors like acer, samsung, hp and gateway is consistent brightness at various viewing angles. and for me, thats where the dells really come out the winner.

This question is very timely for me and one of my buddies. We're now seeing several monitors (Samsung, in particular) that have HDTV tuners built into them along with the usual computer inputs. This begs the question of which kind of monitor is best for checking your color, gamma, etc. if you are simply trying to produce an "accurate" final product. If I could afford one of the frightfully expensive HD monitors, I'd buy one. But, that ain't gonna happen.

So, here's the question:

Can a "computer" monitor, which I assume is built to display something like an AdobeRGB colorspace and a different Gamma range, be used safely for color grading and output?

Or, if I bought something like the smallest Sony Bravia XBR (32", as I have limited space), would it be a better choice, albeit more expensive ($995).

Or, would something like the MXO/MXO2 paired with one of these cheaper computer monitors be the best compromise?

Thanks,
Dave

The MXO was optimized for the 23" Apple Cinema Display, now illogically missing from Apple's lineup. Shane has described it working great with one of the better Dell's, too.

- Loren
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Works better on my Dell 2405 than on the Apple...


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MXO2 will be at lafcpug Jan 28. Might ask them about it.

Michael Horton
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>im not sure if desktop cinema preview right out of FCP to a monitor will display full HD res or not

No it doesn't. I'm trying to work on one. It's a 17" LCD broadcast monitor connected via DVI (yes, I've been telling them to get at least a BMD Intensity since yesterday), and i really do not recommend working off these.

The resolution off the digital cinema desktop preview is definitely not good for finishing. Footage starts banding and going soft the moment I touch it with a 5 foot pole, and when I'm finally seeing the show off the calibrated broadcast monitors on HD-SDI feeds at the tape facility, i realize I'm only getting the colors right 2 out of every 5 shots.

So make sure you dig in for the right monitoring equipment.



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Does the Dell 2405 take sdi in? Does it take hdmi?
The tech specs I found online only mention composite and component.


best,
Adam Duplay

No SDI, no HDMI...Component, Composite, SVideo. Dude, it's a COMPUTER monitor...shocked that it has Component inputs. The Apple only has DVI in...that's it.

Look at the specs for the MXO...It works off of your DVI port and sends a broadcast signal via DVI to the computer monitor. It also happens to have SDI out, and component and composite in case you want to use it on a broadcast monitor...where it also works well.

Here, I wrote an article on it.
[leaders.creativecow.net]


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Let me ask if this would work; Install a Blackmagic Intensity card in my Mac Pro and using the HDMI cable to a Samsung T240HD HDTV monitor. How well would this setup work for preview monitoring using FCP?

Here are the specs on the Samsung monitor: Click Here

Thanks,

It would work, that's for sure. But I have never actually used HDMI for monitoring myself. My edit systems have always had SDI outputs that went straight into an SDI monitor. HDMI supports YCrCb 4:2:2 at 10 bits, so in theory, it should be identical to monitoring over SDI. Of course, your average monitor with HDMI input probably won't be as good as your average monitor with SDI input, but at least in principle, it should work well.

yeah, it would work. the question is how accurate is it. but in reality, monitoring to any current non-crt monitor is dubious as far as accuracy goes - at least at the sub $5000-$10000 level. id imagine there are only a handful of folks here working at that level...

>Here are the specs on the Samsung monitor

Whatever you do, make sure you SEE the monitor before buying, better if you've worked off it. Specs always tell you one thing.



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wayne granzin Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> yeah, it would work. the question is how accurate
> is it. but in reality, monitoring to any current
> non-crt monitor is dubious as far as accuracy goes
> - at least at the sub $5000-$10000 level. id
> imagine there are only a handful of folks here
> working at that level...

That's not all together true. I have a 52" Panasonic Plasma connected via HDMI to an MXO2 and it works great. Its a bit quirky but the MXO2 lets you adjust and control your HDMI monitor exactly like you would a broadcast monitor. Controls for hue, chroma, contrast, brightness, and blue-only are provided.

If you don't need any level of color control then for the money the Intensity card is great but if you need to manage color and almost all the same inputs and outputs as the Kona3 then you can't beat the MXO2 for the money.

I'd also recommend the Dell 30" monitor. They are great for editing, you'll wonder how you ever editied without it.