about field monitoring

B

brettdc

Member
I've got a question that i feel may be a bit stupid, but this is the site one goes to for good answers to stupid questions

A friend and i have done a lot of work with the dvx with good results and we have recently bought a mac pro and are about to acquire a hvx. We've been learning about scopes etc and want to know more about field monitoring

this is our stupid question

Can you and if so how do you connect a consumer 1900x1200 lcd monitor to the hvx. I assume its through a laptop to monitor out.

what are the benefits to working with such a screen?

any answers are good answers
 
DV Rack is a great solution for the PC.

Check it out at http://www.seriousmagic.com/products/dvrack/index.cfm

I am not sure about the possibility of running it on a mac pro, however.

EDIT: It works through the camera's firewire port and not only monitors but captures footage direct to disc as well. It even takes 1080 24p and removes duplicate pulldown frames so that you are essentially recording only 24 frames per sec as if in native film mode.

Otherwise, for a field monitor I believe you would hook to the component output jacks on the camera and not even go through the laptop.
 
Last edited:
If all you want to do is monitor what the cam sees, just take your componant or composite video out of the cam, straight into the monitor. Only use the computer if you are capturing, or using something like DV Rack.
 
thanks for the smoking quick replies, I'm deep into a all night editing session so I've got the window refreshing to keep me amused.

I've heard good things of this dv rack software so I'll definitely check it out. We're running a mac platform but I'm originally a windows lad so I'm quite happy to run windows in the field if it does what i want.

I'm happy it is easy as running component out into component in to run a field monitor. I'm going to geek out now and ask a technical question

Its my understanding that you can't run a 1080p signal over component? this is more just a question to add to my understanding as from what i gather its better to shoot 720p then uprezz properly to 1080p when the situation calls for it.
 
The Dell 24" 2405 or 2407 LCD computer monitors have analog inputs, namely, composite, s-video and component. The HVX has composite, s-video and component outputs. HVX component out to Dell component input would yield the best image quality.

Now as for quality, the Dell 24" LCD has poor quality A/D (analog to digital) conversion. These is a lot of visual noise and crawling seen in the HVX image displayed. So if you want to use it for tweaking the camera settings, I would say it would not be a good idea because of the noise in the image displayed. Now if you are like me, want to use this Dell LCD monitor for framing and focus, I find it is good enough. This is what I have and it works for now, though it will be replaced in due course. The cool thing is, I already had 2 of these monitors for my editing suite, so it is a bonus I can use them with the HVX as well, whilst not perfect.

Perhaps other users have a better suggestions for dual purpose LCD monitors available out there.

EDIT: I use DV Rack, there is slight delay in FW, so for fast pan/tilt, I use the Dells to frame up, etc. Secondly, in the HVX menu, you have a setting that allows for component out as 720 or 1080, make sure you set it to match the relevant HD mode you are recording.
 
Last edited:
brettdc said:
Its my understanding that you can't run a 1080p signal over component? this is more just a question to add to my understanding as from what i gather its better to shoot 720p then uprezz properly to 1080p when the situation calls for it.
Click to expand...

Any kind of progressive footage has to be embodied in an interlaced signal if you are wanting to use the NTSC signals that the camera can output. If you use either the component jacks or the firewire port, you are using an NTSC (or PAL) signal. 1080pa can be output in a 1080 NTSC interlaced signal from the component jacks and monitored accordingly.

In the HVX's native film mode, the camera bypasses having to wrap the frames into NTSC and works more like a film camera in that it just captures full frame images at the specified frame rate and leaves it all unwrapped. However, the only way to monitor with a seperate device is to use the NTSC (or PAL if it applies) signals.

I would advise to shoot 1080 when you need a 24, 30 or 60 frame rate and shoot 720 when you need variable frame rates that will give you the ability to overcrank and undercrank for great looking slow motion and subtle speed changes. You can only do these variable frame rates in 720 native film mode.

Hope this helps :)

EDIT- My particular logic would be that if I were doing mostly close up shots without a lot of background detail and I needed to do quite a bit of variable framerate shooting, I would do the whole thing in 720p for consistency through and through. However, if I had wide landscape shots or shots with background detail that I wanted to show as clearly as possible, then I would shoot those shots at 1080 for the improved resolution that this setting can add in this camera.
 
Last edited:
Thanks for alll your replies, the only problem in getting a really comfortable chair to edit in is that if your close your eyes for a few seconds....BANG, its the morning. I'm going to wander off and digest this information now, cheers
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top