I need to buy a really good Widescreen HD compatible monitor for colour matching and output from our edit PC. Size is not essential, but anything above 20' would be fine. I have a budget that stretches up to £2000 if necessary. Ideally I would prefer to keep it around £1000 and spend the extra money elsewhere.
Finally I still feel that CRT's provide the best option re colour matching (i.e. multi camera footage), however I haven't followed the latest developments in monitors and I'm open to being convinced that LCD's are just as good.
I believe the Panasonic BT-LH1700 gets some good reviews for HD NLE. You've got to decide how you're going to drive it from your NLE though.
Only 17" though!
20' is pushing it a bit! :D
Anyone have thoughts about this option;
http://www.creativevideo.co.uk/public/view_item_cat.php?catalogue_number=jvc_dt-v1710cg
The JVC looks good although I wouldn't deal with Creative Video again and I know of at least one other on this forum that wouldn't either.
Just hope that you don't have a problem once the box has been shifted.
Claire,
I have dealt with Creative Video on a few occasions - their service has been perfectly reasonable, the stock is genuine UK stock, and they have good demo facilities. I have not had any issues post-sale - what problems have you encountered?
I know it is smaller than mentioned, but look at the Sony 8.4 inch field monitor - it is wonderful (£1920 + VAT)
From what I've seen of the JVC monitors they're pretty good for the money though the 16:9 letterbox is a bit small, and it certainly lacks the 'Cor WoW' factor when the client walks into the room.
Being CRT the picture is more natural than flatscreens for both SD and HD, which is an advantage but you probably need to couple it with a domestic flatscreen to check how the programme will look in the modern sitting room. There's also no audio sync issues which makes everything a bit simpler.
Ikegami also do CRT HD monitors but I think they're more expensive.
fwiw there's a newly published EBU spec for production monitors (wherein our esteemed moderator gets a namecheck) which may give some ideas of what to think about. It's all a bit of a minefield just now.
http://www.ebu.ch/CMSimages/en/tec_doc_t3320-2007_tcm6-50985.pdf
I won't comment on why i wouldn't , but claire has definately got someone else who would prefer not to deal with them again .......
Could someone PM me about Creative Video, I would rather go in eyes wide open. Thanks.
From what I've seen of the JVC monitors they're pretty good for the money though the 16:9 letterbox is a bit small, and it certainly lacks the 'Cor WoW' factor when the client walks into the room.Being CRT the picture is more natural than flatscreens for both SD and HD, which is an advantage but you probably need to couple it with a domestic flatscreen to check how the programme will look in the modern sitting room. There's also no audio sync issues which makes everything a bit simpler.
Ikegami also do CRT HD monitors but I think they're more expensive.
fwiw there's a newly published EBU spec for production monitors (wherein our esteemed moderator gets a namecheck) which may give some ideas of what to think about. It's all a bit of a minefield just now.
http://www.ebu.ch/CMSimages/en/tec_doc_t3320-2007_tcm6-50985.pdf
You are so right about the'mine field' aspect. On the one hand I need something quite quickly for colour work, but on the other hand I just know I should wait longer until the whole HD(V)/LCD market unfolds more and I'll end up with a monitor with greater longevity.
I spoke with an old respected engineer colleague of mine yesterday. He now runs his own production company making stuff for ITV. His view was that CRT is still (currently) the best option for colour balancing. However I keep running into people that tell me LCD is almost there. So there we have it, a mine field.
I guess I'll just buy this JVC now and spend a few years regretting it!
There's no single right answer to monitoring at the moment, I don't think. The only real way to be sure is to go and look at them and satisfy yourself which combination of features and compromises is best for you. Also what comes as standard what's an option. Unless you never, ever do SD work I'd strongly suggest you see what both the JVC CRT and eg the Panasonic LCD look like at SD as well as HD and 16x9 as well as 4x3 or vice versa.
I won't comment on why i wouldn't , but claire has definately got someone else who would prefer not to deal with them again .......
That's three of us then.
Hi Nodydog!
I have just bought a Dell 24" which I am very pleased with, from PC Nextday (Basingstoke) they had a special which is sometimes repeated. The total cost was a fraction under £500 which included both VAT and P&P.
The Dell has inputs for DVI--D, SVideo, Composite, Component, VGA. I have it set up from the computer so that it receives output from my RT.X2 on DVI-D and a copy of my Computer screen on VGA. I cant speak highly enough of it.
Mike
eek, i bought two 24 inch dells last month for just over £400 each. I bought them from a company on ebay. They were sealed in their boxes and I have already have the warranty activated. Have to admit, I love them.
The Panasonic BT-LH1700WE is a superb HD monitor, the integrated waveform monitor is very useful and it offers the best range of inputs - All as standard!
However it does not really flatter SD material, so if your HD aspirations are not short-medium term you may prefer the look of a dedicated SD monitor OR the JVC DT-V1710 which does a better all-round job for SD and HD even though the BTLH1700 blows it away on HD performance.
Thanks guys, all very useful advice. Now my head is really spinning! :-)