9 Inch Field/Director/Student/Client Monitor with SDI Connector...

Chris Messineo

Chris Messineo

Veteran
I love my AF100 and I even love the focus in red feature. I'm not looking for a monitor I can add to the camera and use for focus.

What I need is a small (about 9 inch) monitor that I can connect to the AF100 through SDI (I need to run a long cable so HDMI is a bad choice) that will allow a Director, Students, or Clients to watch what is being shot. It does not need to be battery powered.

With my old camera I used a 9 inch Ikegami for the job, but that does not have an SDI connector.

The big challenge is, I'm trying to find something under $1200.

Does anyone have any suggestions?
 
Thanks for the suggestions, I will look into these as another option.

I've been researching actual production monitors, but it looks like I would need to be willing to spend about $1,500 to $2,000 for a viable option.
 
How long a cable run do you need? I have used a 25 foot HDMI cable off a HDMI splitter to feed a 19 inch HDTV for client preview with no problem.
 
David W. Jones said:
How long a cable run do you need? I have used a 25 foot HDMI cable off a HDMI splitter to feed a 19 inch HDTV for client preview with no problem.
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Really. That's cool.

Maybe I should be looking at monitors that can handle an HDMI connector. I assume they would be cheaper. But would it suffer in quality?
 
Some Computer monitors (Full HD) Multi media style offer multiple input choices and excellent color.

Cheaper than TVs because they have no Receiver etc.
 
amosrafaeli said:
HDMI is not reliable
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What does that mean? Do you mean the color won't be true. If so, as long as it is close, I can live with that. I am really using this so students can watch what is being shot.

Also, I realized, I like being able to have my lcd and viewfinder on which means the SDI has to be off, so if I understand correctly, I would have to use HDMI for monitoring (if I keep the lcd and viewfinder on).
 
I have no idea what he means by HDMI is not reliable.
I use HDMI in my little corner of the world all the time, I enjoy having an on-camera monitor SDI or HDMI, and at the same time have found that inexpensive HDMI HD TVs make great disposable client preview monitors.

You might do a test. Order a 25 foot HDMI cable off Amazon, then take your camera and cable to some place like Best Buy and test it with the size HD TV you think would be big enough for previewing by the students.
I'll bet it will be more than acceptable for that use.

Good Luck!

Dave
 
worth considering

worth considering

to be clear, i do work as s rep for ikan. my opinions expressed here are not affiliated with ikan corporation.

with that being said, chris:

i believe the idea that HDMI isnt reliable comes from issues stemming from the handshake authentication (between devices) that must occur for the HDMI signal to be output and then displayed. not all peripheral devices handshake so well (some are made shotty or with little logic on the board).

in the grand scheme of things, HDMI, along major brands, shouldnt be a problem. a concern you raised is correct--the viewfinder on the camera will go black and be unusable once the HDMI cord is inserted (because of that handshake). now, if you just go burn $500+ dollars on a large screen yourself and everyone else can see, then youre solved.

but because of my own disinterest in proprietary mediums, id stick with SDI. how many people are you showing to at a time, and the distance between your rig and where theyre sitting?
 
dradikan said:
the viewfinder on the camera will go black and be unusable once the HDMI cord is inserted
Click to expand...

I thought the opposite was true. With an SDI connector I can't have the lcd and viewfinder. But with an HDMI connection I can keep the lcd and viewfinder on.

Can someone confirm which is correct?
 
HDMI is not reliable because it's a consumer type of plug that isn't made to be plugged in and unplugged several times a day and will eventually wear out. I was on a shoot where we went thru 5 HDMI cables in one day. HDSDI is a more solid reliable solution.
 
I guess it just depends... I have been on many shoots in my 35 years in the business and have found there are generally two kinds of people on the crews I have worked with. Those that treat the gear they use as if it were their own, and those that don't.
At this point my HDMI cable failure rate is exactly the same as my SDI cable failure rate... Zero
For an owner /operator I see no problem with using HDMI.

All the Best!

Dave
 
David W. Jones said:
I guess it just depends... I have been on many shoots in my 35 years in the business and have found there are generally two kinds of people on the crews I have worked with. Those that treat the gear they use as if it were their own, and those that don't.
At this point my HDMI cable failure rate is exactly the same as my SDI cable failure rate... Zero
For an owner /operator I see no problem with using HDMI.

All the Best!

Dave
Click to expand...

Yes this is true, but I usually work on bigger projects with bigger crews and not everyone treats all the gear the way they should.
 
Plus it sounds like he will be dealing with students. My experience is students don't treat gear very well. I'd get a cheaper HDMI monitor with a short HDMI cable attached to the AJA SDI to HDMI box Velcroed to the back of the monitor . You'll get a good enough quality monitor at a bigger size and with a more reliable SDI cable for under $1000 easy.
 
I've recorded uncompressed on set via hdmi runs of 75 feet to 100, I'm sure you could go higher. the hdmi specifications for limits on cable runs are to keep the numbers in the conservative zone, and statements of "runs longer than 50 feet are prone to not working" are based on extremely old source equipment that does not output a very high voltage signal pre-equalized against cable loss in the first place. Between my computer, camera, tv's monitors, and blackmagic cards, I've never had a signal drop. If the signal locks and displays, it's bit for bit accurate, if a single one or zero is dropped over the run, it won't lock and display anything. Just grab decent cables. Plug them in and if it works, it works. Take advantage of digital interconnections! Never heard of hdmi dropping signal once it's already negotiated. (unless someone unplugs it of course.) hdmi transfers the exact same uncompressed 4:2:2 signal single-link HDSDI does, just in a different carrier. The unreliability thing stems from the connector not being made for use in the industry, so just tape off your cables and put some cable relief on your camera. Otherwise, just pick up some sdi/hdmi/sdi converters previously linked
 
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