dv rack versus field monitor

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After doing some test shots for a short film a friend of mine I was extremely frustrated with getting some shots that were poorly exposed and resolved to get a field monitor. My question is would the lcd screen on a laptop after you have calibrated the gamma (which dvrack lets you do) be good enough to use to judge exposure and colour? I've seen some of the sony laptops and their monitors look almost as good as the apple lcd's.

Secondly would a 9 inch monitor be suitable to use at home as well for color correction or do you guys find something substantially bigger better? I find small screens tend to make everything look better than they do as everything is "squeezed" into a smaller area. Then when you put it on a big screen or project it then you see the imperfections- grain, out of focus, artifacts etc.

I guess if a lap top is adequate for field monitoring I can get a seperate larger monitor to use a home.
 
Re: dv rack versus field monitor


i have a 14" sony professional monitor and i love it but it was $900 or so, plus i had to spend well over $100 on a porta brace bag for it!

i haven't taken it into the field hardly at all because of the hassle/weight etc.

i just bought dv rack last week and as long as you have a laptop WITH a firewire port or a firewire card i would go that route.

plus, hell you can try out dv rack for 14 days for free, so try that and see if you like it better.

matthew
 
Re: dv rack versus field monitor

When you use dvrack in the field did you find the exposure and colour accuracy of the laptop adequate? or do you still miss your crt field monitor. I guess a field monitor would be an ass to haul around but so is going back another day because you didnt get the shot you wanted.

I guess the other issue to solve would be power for the laptop which I havent been able to figure out a solution for.
 
Re: dv rack versus field monitor

The LCD on the laptop can provide a very good simulation of a CRT, BUT: you still have to pay attention to where you view the screen from, as LCD's have limited fields of view where they display the image accurately. Get too far off-axis and it won't look as good.

I've got DV Rack running on my desktop right next to my broadcast monitor, and they're calibrated extremely closely. It's not an *exact* match, but it's really close enough, and the 5lb laptop beats the 60lb monitor for portability, that's for sure! ;D
 
Re: dv rack versus field monitor

i haven't done anything "real" with dv rack yet, just playing with it as the dvx 100 was in the shop and just got it back friday afternoon.

i do plan on building a simple french flag with side flags to shield the laptop from direct light.

power for the laptop shouldn't be that big a deal? modern laptops have great runtime, especially the centrino's

plus a spare battery is pretty affordable.

matthew
 
Re: dv rack versus field monitor

Thanks for the real world experience. You guys have saved me from getting a field monitor. I'll spend the dough on a good laptop ,dvrack and get a cheaper (non portable) monitor or dare I say even a tv for the edit at home.
I had a look at the guide for the dv rack for setting up color bars, it was very simple and well set out with pictures. I definitely want to try this out.
 
Re: dv rack versus field monitor

Is it possible or more importantly advisable to use DV Rack from the NLE as reference monitor for color correction and such? It’s nice that it can be Alt-entered to full screen. Maybe attach a CRT computer monitor to laptop. Instead of the feed coming from camera it would be coming from NLE.

Since DV Rack has good calibration features it would be nice to utilize it on both ends.

Not sure if this is feasible


Thanx
 
Re: dv rack versus field monitor

DV Rack is about the best substitute I've found for a good CRT, but it's not a perfectly adequate substitute. Regardless of how enamored I am with DV Rack, I still have a Panasonic BT-H1390Y CRT monitor for color correction/critical viewing.

You could certainly do what you're talking about. You'd need to have two computers, one running the NLE and one running DV Rack. And it would work, and work better than trying to just color-correct from your NLE or on a television.
 
Re: dv rack versus field monitor

the thing about dvrack is it also TELLS you when you screw up, with its shot quality feature.. because even with a $4000 hidef field monitor you can still blow stuff out by accident unless you want to preview with all the info on screen. DVRack gives you a big red flag and even zebras if you want to let you know.
 
Re: dv rack versus field monitor

Excellent point! Yes, DV Rack flags the video with markers to show where potential blowouts occurred (in both video and audio) so you can review the footage and make sure you're happy with it. Regular production monitors don't do that! :)
 
Re: dv rack versus field monitor

Yes, I was referring to two computers. The desktop for NLE and the laptop for DV Rack. That was the answer I was hoping for. If an expensive monitor was not available budget wise it’s nice to have an option better then just the stand alone desktop for color correction. If you have DV Rack already for the field it’s nice to be able to utilize it even more.

Thanx

I was also flirting with the following idea: I have a two year old desktop I don’t use and was thinking of converting it to a field unit.

For a few hundred bucks I could add a little ram, a faster but inexpensive processor. Throw a handle and some wheels on it. Maybe build a shock resistant case and build the monitor and CPU as one unit. Add a mini keyboard with a touch pad and, most importantly, removable hard drive bay. Use it in the field with DV Rack and I could hot swap the drive(s) from the DV Rack system to the NLE. Could have a couple or more drives with you if that was an option. Storage would only be limited to your budget. Granted you won’t be running through the jungle with it but on a lot of shoots it’s not that inconvenient. Might weigh 50/60 pounds or so with a monitor but how much does a field monitor, Waveform Monitor, Portable hard drives, etc, all weigh.

Just a thought.

Again, thanks for response.
 
Re: dv rack versus field monitor

By the time you spend a few hundred dollars for the upgrades, you'd be pretty close to the cost of a 'cheapie' laptop with usb 2.0 (for external storage). I suspect you'd find yourself using the laptop when you'd leave the 50 pound upgrade back at the office.
 
Re: dv rack versus field monitor

Wow, this DVRack app seems quite good ! (ok i admit that any tool recommanded by both Barry and Jarred can't be crap !).

Too bad it only comes for Windows... i never really tried to use my G4 Laptop with FCP tools as a field monitor, perhaps i should give it a go ?

Any advices ?

Nico


(PS, i'm diyin' to see/ read Barry's DVD and book about DVX100 settings)
 
Re: dv rack versus field monitor

Couldn't you just use the DV RACK to record your footage and go S-Video out of the camera to a field monitor to get the correct setup? I have a small 13" that mounts on a stand and I run the camera to that.

Firewire - DV Rack
S-Video - Field monitor

Just my own thought.

Rick

www.elevatedfilms.com
 
Re: dv rack versus field monitor

To back-up what Steve said, yes, a new laptop is probably a much wiser investment. I got a cheapie special from CompUSA for $599 (I thought it was $699 after rebates, turns out I was wrong, it's $599!) Brand new technology, 2.53ghz processor, gorgeous screen, built-in USB2 and 100-mbit Ethernet... it makes a decent network render station for Vegas, and all it needed was a $29 firewire port and a RAM upgrade (which I'm still shopping for). Weighs like 6 pounds and takes up practically no space on the cart.

I'd definitely recommend a new laptop rather than trying to bring an old out-of-spec desktop up to speed...
 
Re: dv rack versus field monitor

I have an old Dell Latitude 500MHz laptop with 256Mb RAM. Do you think DVrack would run okay with it? Just for previewing footage, not recording. The website specs says 1.3GHz. :-[
 
Re: dv rack versus field monitor

No possible way will it run properly on something that far out of spec. Get at least a Celeron 2.5ghz, and better would be something quite a bit faster.
 
Re: dv rack versus field monitor

Sadly the best deal (so far) I can find for a low end laptop is about $1200 (Canadian, so about $300 US!)

Hate the idea of putting out 12hun for anything “low end” Probably should just bite the bullet and get something a little more pricy that I can use for a couple years. The laptop I have now is an old PIII @ 750. Just throw it on the stack of old PCs I got pilling up… :'(
 
Re: dv rack versus field monitor

I think we've all got a stack like that...

and so is technology.
 
Re: dv rack versus field monitor

LOVE that it keeps moving so fast ;D

HATE I have to keep paying $$$ to catch up! :(
 
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