How do I set up a LCD monitor correctly--Barry says no set-up

atlfilmguy

atlfilmguy

Well-known member
I was thinking it would be cool to avoid clipping in final renders of 720PN or other digital recoding by setting up a production monitor the "right" way. I have seen other people talk about this on here and I have asked my co-workers and I have asked teachers but noone seems to have it completely figured out.

I have the Marshall V-R70P-HDA monitor. I have read the article about how to set up monitors using the bars that the HVX200 gives out when you press the BARS Button
http://www.videouniversity.com/tvbars2.htm

What I find interesting is the section about the Pluge Bars. You are supposed to use the 7.5 and the 3.5 IRE bars to set black, 7.5 IRE is the pedestal in NTSC. BUT, Barry Green says in his HVX book that you should never use set-up (7.5 IRE as black) on your monitor because in the digital world you never use set-up. It is added in post right before broadcast.

SO I am really confused about how to rig my monitor. Do I use the pluge bars and set it to 7.5 IRE as black or let 0 IRE be black as Barry green seems to mean?

I am pretty sure when I use an analog monitor I use the instructions as stated right? But the whole no set-up thing is confusing the heck outta me.
 
Hi:

The thing that is confusing you is that you need to determine where your final output will be seen. There is no such thing as setup in the digital world, of course Barry is correct. Setup only matters in the analog video world.

If you are shooting digitally and posting in a digital editing application and posting your finished video as a QuickTime or Flash on the web, would you ever be in the analog world? No.

If you are shooting digitally and posting in a digital editing application and distributing your work as a DVD, would you ever be in the analog world? Probably not, although depending on your workflow, you could record the digital output of your editing system to a master using analog inputs on a DVD recorder. But if you authored on your system or another system from a digital file, no, correct?

If you are shooting digitally and posting in a digital editing application and submitting your work as a QuickTime or digital videotape master to the broadcaster, would you ever be in the analog world? No.

If you add setup in the digital world, all of your colors will be washed out and your blacks will be gray. Is that what you are going for? Personally, I wouldn't be.

If you were shooting to DV tape, editing digitally, then outputting to an analog format like Beta SP or VHS, then you would want to look into setup, but many analog devices automatically add setup on output. So in most cases, these days, shooting with a digital camcorder, you should NOT add setup. Listen to Barry, he knows what he talking about.

Not really that much to be confused about, you just need to know what your devices are doing. If you want black blacks, in 99% of cases you would not want to add setup. And you do realize that setup only adds the boost to the analog outputs, right? That the digital recording is still recording without setup because as we keep saying, there is no setup in the digital world.

Dan
 
Thanks Dan for your reply.

I do realize that set-up will not be added to any digital recording. It only gets added to analog outputs.

I may not have asked this question clearly:
With an LCD monitor attached to the HVX via the component output, and the bars outputting to the monitor, how should I set the pluge bars? --assuming I will stay in the digital realm.

Leave them where I can see all three, or adjust contrast and brightness to show only the 11.5 bar and the other two appear all black?

I think maybe I just let all three show, but it just seems wrong.

I REALLY appreciate your response.
Thanks for your time.
 
We don't appear to have Pluge bars on PAL HVX's, just a bunch of colour bars.

Is this as per a PAL standard, and how the hell are you meant to calibrate without Pluge bars?
 
PAL doesn't need pluge because it has a 0 set-up, not a 7.5 IRE. That's why PAL bars are different.

If you are using the HVX as a digital cinema camera, a 7.5 IRE will show you what the footage will look like with modestly crushed blacks, which is likely what the colorist will do anyway. It will also help keep you from underexposing. If you want to see the full range of exactly what the camera is capturing, you should be able to see a difference on the monitor between the 0 and the 7.5 block.
 
Thanks for that Prof. Coming from a digital film background, there's a lot of black art going on in the video realms.

I'd taken the pluge standard as defacto, as my MXO HD bars for PAL have a grey pluge aswell, and all calibration details in the manual are for this, but was confused that my HVX had only colour bars. The MXO has become my point of reference as I'm not used to broadcast monitors, rather monitors setup for log film work in Shake.

The pluge bars also make more sense to me coming from film, as they show you 'what's happening down there' in the blacks, rather than the PAL 'left a bit, right a bit' methods I've found detailed on the web, with no 'backup' reference to the black level with the PAL bars that the NTSC pluge gives you.

But... when in Rome, do as the Romans do, so I'm now looking at this calibration in a new light.


mc
 
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