HD monitoring solutions for color grading

djkarn105

djkarn105

Well-known member
So I'm increasingly working with HD material and that means that I really need to find a decent color monitoring solution. I've currently been using an NTSC monitor hooked up to a cheapo cam-corder via firewire which has worked fine for DV and ok for HDV but I can't play back any other codecs through the monitor and I know that the HD colorspace is a different beast than SD.

I've been looking at options and it seems like the happiest medium between price and performance is a Matrox card hooked up to my HDTV but that's a little bit out of my price range at the moment so... the question is:
would it be worth it for me to get a calibration tool like the spyder or pantone in the mean time, or will my NTSC monitor be sufficiently accurate compared to an LCD (Samsung 22") with one of those calibration tools. Or should I take money I would have spent on a the calibration tool and rent a rig for any projects that need it/

I have two projects coming up in the next 6 months that will need a good amount of color grading so I need a stopgap solution in the interim.
 
There is the Holly Grayl: Sony CRT HD Class1 Studio reference Monitor.
300 pouds, over $50000 (no typo).

Then there is the Sony class1 TFTs with MEU processor box
cheaper but not in your budget.

Every other flat monitor/TV/Plasma

Forget it for grading. Most of them only show 6 bit - renderd to 8 if your lucky.
You never know what you get.

Best bang for the buck: used (they don´t make them anymore) Sony 24" 16:10 Wide Flat Screen crt triniton computer monitor. Full HD capable/RGB input andwhatnot. Model: Sony GDM-FW900 (search Ebay) they go for around $200.

We use them since years as reference monitors in grading - they calibrate very good.

Frank
 
does the monitor itself calibrate or do you mean using one of those tools like the spyder is very effective with that monitor?
 
I'm a big fan of my JVC HD Broadcast Monitor. Great black levels for an LCD. Check out their line, very good value (especially on a budget).
 
Are you talking about hooking the GDM-FW900 up via vga? Would it perform better hooked up to an I/O interface using the RGB input?
 
You don't need anything to calibrate a monitor except access to color bars and if possible have a monitor that can display the blue gun. Engineers have done it like that for years... Remember that the post production insider joke is that NTSC stands for " Never Twice the Same Color"...LOL

Any good plasma/LCD HD monitor will do. If you want to get fancier you can get one of the Panasonic pro monitor, which have become quite popular in post production houses.
 
Ted Spencer said:
You might want to check out the Matrox MXO (Mac only, and best with an NLE like FCP).
Click to expand...

That is my plan eventually but for the time being I'm not sure if an NTSC monitor is more accurate or a calibration tool like the spyder would be equally accurate for grading HD
 
djkarn105 said:
That is my plan eventually but for the time being I'm not sure if an NTSC monitor is more accurate or a calibration tool like the spyder would be equally accurate for grading HD
Click to expand...


NTSC broadcast monitor would be better... A spyder will only make the computer screen accurate to what a computer screen should be. However, editing software (and Color, After Effects, etc) doesn't display accurate video on a computer screen. So the image you see will still not be correct.
 
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