Upgrade to HD & External Monitoring

I have been monitoring via fw to consumer cam to monitor, since i have been editing.

I am now looking at other ways to monitor as i will be going to avchd soon. I also would like to get a capture card.

My question is.....
Does a capture improve the capture?
Does monitoring improve with a v-card?
Is there a monitor that with effectively monitor both sd and hd?

Question 3 is there because i have seen sd on an hdtv and it doesn't look the same as sd on an sd monitor. On hdtv sd looks kinda muddy and if my monitor is for hd then it would SEEM as though i wouldn't be able to CC as well because the hdtv hardly ever shows sd as good as my current sd ntsc broadcast monitor.

Thanks.

""" What you do with what you have, is more important than what you could do, with what you don't have."

> > > Knowledge + Action = Wisdom - J. Corbett 1992 """"

From what source? Generally any digitally connected camera gives you the best possible signal you'll get from pre-recorded footage. Only live footage can in some cases be improved with a direct capture card.

Noah

Final Cut Studio Training, featuring the HVX200, EX1, EX3, DVX100, DVDSP and Color at [www.callboxlive.com]!
Author, RED: The Ultimate Guide to Using the Revolutionary Camera available now at: [www.amazon.com].
Editors Store- Gifts and Gear for Editors: [www.editorsstore.com]

>Does a capture improve the capture?

I'm sure it does. Actually, if you mean capture card and whether it improves the quality, no.

It depends on what format you are working with. On some formats, you NEED capture card. Usually it's mastering to a deck that requires deck control and SDI/HD-SDI/3G-SDI. None of this a consumer camera can provide.

>Does monitoring improve with a v-card?

No if you are working with DV. But if you're comparing it with the composite outs from your consumer cam... Yes. You can't accurately grade on a composite signal.

>Question 3 is there because i have seen sd on an hdtv

The word is "HDTV". Get a broadcast mon. Try looking at FSI.



www.strypesinpost.com

>Generally any digitally connected camera gives you the best possible signal you'll get from pre-
>recorded footage.

Ah Noah, there's that gotcha I realized when I was answering one of the OP's post a while ago... On most consumer cameras, to get that signal out to a monitor, that interface isn't a professional one (usually composite)...



www.strypesinpost.com

I'm assuming we're talking about cameras with HDMI, component or HD-SDI which are becoming more and more common. I'm typically a big fan of sticking with the on-board compression. But with capture units like the AJA Ki Pro and an HD-SDI connection say on a Sony EX1 you can greatly improve over the built-in compression when capturing a live signal.

Noah

Final Cut Studio Training, featuring the HVX200, EX1, EX3, DVX100, DVDSP and Color at [www.callboxlive.com]!
Author, RED: The Ultimate Guide to Using the Revolutionary Camera available now at: [www.amazon.com].
Editors Store- Gifts and Gear for Editors: [www.editorsstore.com]

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Does a capture improve the capture?

Compared to Firewire? No.

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Does monitoring improve with a v-card?

Yes. (Please note that "v-card" means something else. Don't abbreviate, okay? It just confuses people.)

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Is there a monitor that with effectively monitor both sd and hd?

Depends on what you mean. Bear in mind that the fraction of televisions out there that are SD CRTs is declining. So the odds are fair and getting better that any SD content you churn out won't be seen on an SD CRT anyway. Everybody knows that SD on an HD LCD doesn't look as good as SD on an SD CRT, but that's becoming increasingly irrelevant.