{"id":20,"date":"2007-11-06T01:32:14","date_gmt":"2007-11-06T08:32:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hd4pc.com\/techblog\/2007\/11\/06\/hd-monitoring\/"},"modified":"2007-11-06T10:38:32","modified_gmt":"2007-11-06T17:38:32","slug":"hd-monitoring","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hd4pc.com\/techblog\/2007\/11\/06\/hd-monitoring\/","title":{"rendered":"HD Monitoring"},"content":{"rendered":"

There are not too many basic options when it comes to choosing an HD monitoring solution.\u00c2\u00a0 There are the old heavy CRTs<\/a> that many people swear by, newer flat panel LCDs<\/a>, and projectors of a few varieties.\u00c2\u00a0 Prices for all options vary from under $1000 to over $100,000 depending on what level of accuracy and features you need.<\/p>\n

The cheapest full resolution\u00c2\u00a0solution for viewing HD footage is definitely to use computer LCD monitors, usually 23 or 24 inch models, that have a native resolution of 1920×1200.\u00c2\u00a0 This allows 1080p content to be viewed pixel for pixel, but LCDs are inherently progressive, so issues based on\u00c2\u00a0interlacing will not always be visible on them.\u00c2\u00a0 Consumer LCD displays\u00c2\u00a0can be connected via DVI<\/a> or HDMI<\/a>, either directly to a computer graphics card, or through a hardware video I\/O card, like DVI on an RT.X2<\/a> or HDMI on a BMD Intensity<\/a> card.\u00c2\u00a0 DVI signal can also be generated quite efficiently from professional HD-SDI<\/a> signals, so through the use of an SDI-to-DVI convertor, LCD screens can monitor HD video content without a computer involved.\u00c2\u00a0 There are also professional level LCD video monitors that accept SDI signals directly.\u00c2\u00a0 Some of the more expensive options can use this to display the full dynamic range available with 10bits per color channel, that would be reduced if converted to an 8bit DVI connection.\u00c2\u00a0 The new Sony BVM-L<\/a> monitor is also supposed to correctly compensate for the display of interlaced content.\u00c2\u00a0 Cine-tal<\/a>, eCinema<\/a>, Panasonic<\/a>, and JVC<\/a> all have professional LCD monitoring solutions that are more affordable than Sony’s new top of the line LCD monitor.
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\nCRTs used to be the gold standard for HD monitoring, but they are becoming harder to find.\u00c2\u00a0 They have always been very expensive, but they usually\u00c2\u00a0have a much higher contrast ratio than other technologies, due to their deeper blacks.\u00c2\u00a0 CRTs have a number of disadvantages, including low power efficiency, susceptibility to magnetic interference, and offer arguably unhealthy levels of electromagnetic radiation to viewers.\u00c2\u00a0 Sony has stopped making most CRTs, so people are scrambling to get them through second hand channels before they all disappear.\u00c2\u00a0 I for one can see the contrast difference, but appreciate the benefits of newer flat panel technology.<\/p>\n

Projectors are becoming more popular for viewing HD material as the prices drop, and new technologies raise the picture quality.\u00c2\u00a0 Color grading certified projectors can be even more expensive than the older CRT solutions,\u00c2\u00a0but will provide a much larger viewing area, to better simulate\u00c2\u00a0the feel of a\u00c2\u00a0movie theater experience.\u00c2\u00a0 The brightness, color fidelity, and dynamic range\u00c2\u00a0are not as good in all but the most expensive products (>$50K), but the resolution and clarity is very high, even in the cheaper solutions. (<$5K).\u00c2\u00a0 The varying technologies powering different projectors provide vastly different results, depending on the price level.\u00c2\u00a0 Both DLP<\/a> and LCD<\/a> projection can have single imagers, using a color wheel or bayer pattern to achieve full color output, or three imaging chips, with one dedicated to each RGB color channel.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0Many of the cheap products on the market that advertise 1080p resolution, accomplish this with a single imager, limiting color\u00c2\u00a0accuracy.\u00c2\u00a0 LCOS<\/a> projectors always have three imagers, and currently offer some of the best color reproduction in their price range, at the expense of brightness.\u00c2\u00a0 Projectors scale all the way to 4K resolution with Sony’s SXRD<\/a> line, for those with unlimited budgets.<\/p>\n

There are also many consumer<\/a> solutions that can be used to monitor HD footage, including Plasma Panels, rear projection DLP and LCD\u00c2\u00a0TVs, and many of them offer 1080p resolution.\u00c2\u00a0 The biggest disadvantage of many of these options is the lack of calibration options, as well as support for\u00c2\u00a0professional digital inputs.\u00c2\u00a0 HDMI has been changing that recently.\u00c2\u00a0 The new deep color standard for HDMI 1.3 will push consumer displays past the 8bit barrier, and open up many more affordable options for high quality HD monitoring.<\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0Until then, my reccommendation would be to use an LCD for most editing work, and only look for a more expensive solution for the shorter period of time that you spend color correcting near the end of the post-production\u00c2\u00a0process.\u00c2\u00a0 If you really want to dive off the deep end, you can explore solutions that offer 2K or higher resolution, but I don’t intend to go beyond my 30″ LCD in that department, 8bit DVI\u00c2\u00a0limit or not.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There are not too many basic options when it comes to choosing an HD monitoring solution.\u00c2\u00a0 There are the old heavy CRTs that many people swear by, newer flat panel LCDs, and projectors of a few varieties.\u00c2\u00a0 Prices for all options vary from under $1000 to over $100,000 depending on what level of accuracy and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hd4pc.com\/techblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hd4pc.com\/techblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hd4pc.com\/techblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hd4pc.com\/techblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hd4pc.com\/techblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.hd4pc.com\/techblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hd4pc.com\/techblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hd4pc.com\/techblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hd4pc.com\/techblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}