Computer Monitor or T.V?

capitalP

capitalP

Veteran
I've read alot on this topic about creating a secondary display, I'm about to make the investment. My question is in your opinion what is the best choice?

1. Should I buy a Flat screen Computer monitor and use that as a secondary display.

2. Or by a 13'' T.V with a cheap mini DV camcorder and use that via fire wire for display?

I wanna be able to have the truest color and image quality to my actual project I'm editing. So do you guys think I should go ahead with the T.V because sometimes the Computer Monitor doesn't really give you accurate picture.

The main reason I'm leaning towards the T.V is for when I do my CC: Base on you guys opinions I will make my decision soon. Thanks.


p.s my budget is under $300 for everything.
 
Given your criteria, the TV is the best choice.

But you can use your DVX in the chain with no fear of any kind of wear.
 
Thanks David, good to know I don't have to worry about wear and tare of my DVX, but I think I should also invest in that cheap MINI DV camcorder for behind the scenes stuff and playback...

Thanks again for the quick response.
 
Hey I would also suggest the TV. I was lucky enough (for a 16 year old) to have purchased a Mini DV Deck,160 GB HDD, and DVD Burner combo unit and use it as a passthrough for my preview moniter. I have a 15inch LCD TV hooked up and 2x19inch Flat Screen CRTs for my actualy editing computer. The set up works flawlessly. If you have more questions about studio gear on budgets I can probably give you a hand if you want.

oh..and if you have another camera as a firewire pass through. You might at some point need another camera for a second shot with a project...then you'dhave one.
 
For SD work, I would go for a CRT TV over a LCD... mainly so you can spot interlace flicker. Many SD viewers are going to be watching on CRT, which will exhibit that.

2- While having just any TV will show you a lot of things you won't see on a computer monitor (i.e. overscan), consumer monitors are kind of like mystery meat. They have lots of cheats to make the image look "better". The main things to watch out for:
A- Some will make underexposed images look ok.
B- Some have flesh tone "correction". This is because the hue on the TV may be a little off, so flesh tones would look off. The TV compensates for possible inaccuracy by squeezing colors close to flesh tone to flesh tone.
So if your flesh tones are off, it's hard to tell. You'll also get color inaccuracy for colors close to flesh tone.
C- Colors aren't close to the reference standard (SMPTE C for North America / NTSC). If you display pure red/green/blue, it won't be the same color of another monitor's. Consumer TVs also typically have a very high color temperature... whites are too blue-ish.

To make the most of your TV, a basic thing you can do is to calibrate it.
Some instructions are at the following site:
http://www.videouniversity.com/tvbars2.htm
*The blue gel trick actually doesn't work very well at all. You'll still see some light from the green phosphors. There is a slightly better method where you use an alternate color bars pattern, which I show on my DVD.
**However, you may sometimes just be better off just eye-balling it. I haven't really looked into which method is most accurate.
 
Edweirdo said:
I had the same question last year, and switched from a LCD tv to the Toshiba Flat screen CRT. For its price its awesome, great color and good adjustment controls, 16:9 mode and SVideo in.
Ed
Click to expand...

Hey Ed,

I picked that one up, too.

Did you have any problem getting it to be bright enough to see the pluge bars?

I wound up taking in my cam (pre-DVX) with some bars on tape and running it through the display model at the local Wal-Mart. It was the only one that went bright enough to see them clearly and then set it up correctly and I bought it.

capitalP, Ed's correct on that one. It's a good starter "monitor" and cheap too.

You can always "go pro" down the road.

sincerely,



ian
 
yes actually I noticed that as well. When I calibrated it to bars from Vegas, I could just barely make out the pluge bars. It was very faint but I did see it. Perhaps it was the blue gel I was looking through since it obviosly doesnt come with a blue only switch.

what it lacks there it makes up in plenty other areas...for $130 its a steal until you save for an actual production monitor.
 
Just make sure you correctly calibrate it using SMPTE color bars so you will get an accurate output for accurate color correction.
 
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