external monitor

[DVX100Shooter]

I know I should not be doing this but I have a brand new 14 inch flat screen tv hooked up to my system that I can view video with when the DVX is hooked up to it. I only use this tv for this purpose and I do not watch television programs on it. Also, this is just temporary until I can get a video monitor. My question is, can I get away with doing some color correcting or color enhancing using this set up only for the time being? I was going to send color bars to it so I can calibrate it. Is it even worth doing? I probably won't be getting a real monitor until sometime in late April or so.

[jt53787]

The best way to color correct is not by your monitor as much as the scopes that are provided with FCP. This will keep your work consistent. If you go by your TV then you will not have the look you want when it is transfered to another TV. But if you use the scopes then you can get as close as possible to keeping a consistent look across most tv sets.

There is a great training guide at http://www.kenstone.net/fcp_homepage/cc_legal_fcp3.html on how to use FCP for color correction as well as using the scopes to do so.

Hope that helps you out.

[lurch]

if you can calibrate the thing [ brightness, chroma, contrast,] could you use it even though its a plasma?

[lurch]

is it a plasma? dont know where i got that from

[Phil]

He talks about legal limits. Has anyone ever heard of that before?

Also...DVXShooter asked, if he uses color bars to calibrate, will it be ok? my 10 inch lcd could be used the same way in the field, right?

[DVX100Shooter]

I have hooked my camera up to my portable DVD player with a 7 inch screen just to see if it would work and it did. I have not attempted to use it as a monitor though.

[Jive]

Well, there are field monitors and there are field monitors.

A field monitor for broadcast work has the necessary sharpness, as well as the controls to calibrate the image to see precisely what the camera is recording. *Most consumer LCD monitors are mostly valueable as field monitors to monitor composition. *They are also useful when the camera's viewfinder/screen is not accessable (when the camera is on a steadycam or crane, etc.)

Also, I'm not sure if consumer LCDs crop off the borders of the image like consumer televisions or if they show the full frame. All pro monitors have the ability to show the underscan.