Final Color Review? ? ?

[ElementFilm]

I'm gonna stab my eyes out with colored pencils. I've been doing a color correct for what seems like my entire life on a feature film and here's my problem. Initially I calibrated my 9" JVC Production montitor using the color bars. I completely understand why they refer to 'NTSC' monitors as "Never Twice Same Color." I finished the cc for the film then I did an s-video out of my dv controller to my 13" Toshiba tv on my desk. The film looked waaaaaay too desaturated, like I had pulled all the color out. I made sure the settings on the Toshiba were factory (like any average joe will get out of the box and plug in, which in most of our cases average joe is our target audience and his straight out of the box tv is our target format, so that's what I was going by). So, I did another frame by frame correct and I put some of the color back in this bad boy. Then, I go to my 32 Sony Wega tv and, wha la it's waaaaay too ****ing red. Like the red setting (or ultimately the chroma) was low on my Toshiba or it's high on my Sony. So, I'm at witt's end. What monitor do I trust? The Production Monitor obviously is a professional tool with professional adjustments, but those adjustments are so fickle and can range within the tiniest twist of the knob on the subjective blue bars. I can't afford a da vinci correct so... Throw in your opinions or tell me of some magical place where I can go and see relative definitve color for the majority of people that are going to see this film.
THANKS

 

[gunleik]

What is your editing format?
Red is an issue with DV...

I would trust the production monitor the most, as it is "standarized", but if you put your JVC next to a Sony or a Panasonic, you will see that you can only trust your scopes...

If I was really paranoid?
I'd do small DVD tests (same scene (2-10 sec) different settings as described and take them around to different sets.

Basically you'll then see that your show looks ... eh... different from set to set.

So:
Stay within legal levels. This is non-negotiable. -
Be carefull with reds in DV (but see my PM)
Breathe.

I'd like to see this thing -

Gunleik

 

[bbalser]

Trust the monitor. Every TV will show it slightly differently. You'll never get the same color on all TVs universally. TV sets have circutry that helps to correct color once the signal is recieved. Which is why they make poor production monitors. So each one will show your coloring very different. That's the world of TVs...