HDMI vs SDI?

Jim Brennan said:
Well, I get all of that, but in my original post I was pretty specific about a short cable to an on-camera monitor. I recommended HD-SDI for longer runs and to a video village. Would the colors be as accurate over a 3' or 6' cable to an HDMI, calibrated monitor?
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If it's going to the same monitor, it should be indistinguishable. HDMI is digital data, HD-SDI is digital data. If you're sending from the same camera to the same monitor, it should make no difference to the appearance of the footage.

For recording, I definitely highly prefer HD-SDI over HDMI.
 
I think we have consensus here to get HD-SDI.

I want to ask about the DP6 however. Does the HD-SDI have pass through? Doesnt mention it on the website, so I assume not.
 
Yeah, I thought it did, we used a DP6 on "A Verse Before Dying" and I'm pretty sure we experimented with trying to chain through to the Nano, through the monitor once...
 
Okay,
I just looked at their website. The $1299 unit has *both* HDMI and HD-SDI input, as well as component and composite. It also has HD-SDI loopthrough. No HDMI loop out.

Honestly, getting the unit with both inputs future proofs the buyer, and means you can use it with both consumer, prosumer, and professional cameras. So, I would do that.
 
I would think if you are spending >$800 on a monitor, you might as well spend whatever extra for HD-SDI. HDMI is generally fine for running a less expensive monitor mounted on camera. HD-SDI will show its advantages when you put the monitor anywhere else. Basically the way I see it, if you are spending your own money and arent sure what 5-7" monitor to get from $200-1200, if you just want an HDMI monitor, they are $200, if you want an HDMI monitor with good color and focus and features, they are $500, and if you spend anything past that, I'd say you should be getting HD-SDI, since the main thing missing from a <$600 monitor will be HD-SDI, which allows long runs with cheap lightweight cable, industry standard stability, and built-in loopthrough for extra monitors. It's a bit hard for me to imagine nowadays why one would buy an onboard monitor for >$500 that doesnt have HD-SDI unless its a specialty 3D monitor or something.
 
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3 (or more) years ago I bought the Panasonic BT LH80 and didn't spring the extra for SDI - didn't really miss it at first because I always used it with the HVX200. Then all the newer Panasonic's came with SDI and I needed an upgrade path… just ended up being faster and less hassle to get the SmallHD because of the loop through.
 
Btw, the TVlogic 5.6" sounds awesome with more features and from a company with an infinitely better track record than SmallHD. Why would someone buy the SmallHD over it, especially with the fancy version being about the same price as SmallHD if you can do the dvxuser group buy?
 
nyvz said:
Btw, the TVlogic 5.6" sounds awesome with more features and from a company with an infinitely better track record than SmallHD. Why would someone buy the SmallHD over it, especially with the fancy version being about the same price as SmallHD if you can do the dvxuser group buy?
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Because the group buy is new, the TVLogic was held up with tech problems (may be clear of that by now), SmallHD has done a much better job courting the indy crowd… A whole bunch of reasons.

I will be upgrading or sidegrading or migrating to the the TVLogic 5.6 in the next few months so all of our set monitors are the same manufacturer, we already have the TVLogic 17" monitors in the studio.

G.
 
heavyG said:
Because the group buy is new, the TVLogic was held up with tech problems (may be clear of that by now), SmallHD has done a much better job courting the indy crowd… A whole bunch of reasons.

I will be upgrading or sidegrading or migrating to the the TVLogic 5.6 in the next few months so all of our set monitors are the same manufacturer, we already have the TVLogic 17" monitors in the studio.

G.
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Apparently TVlogic took about a week to fix the problem with a new firmware. And it sounds like the issue was only with the HDMI to SDI conversion feature, which by the way sounds like an awesome feature to have and SmallHD doesnt even have as far as I know.

SmallHD has been good at getting buzz and hype, and their new products probably arent as terrible as their first one was, but im not sure that is much reason to buy their product over another one, especially considering their main contribution seems to the market seems to be pushing their competitors to have better, cheaper products, which they all now have. The TVlogic monitor without wfm/vs and without the hdmi-sdi converter is still $100 less expensive without any special deals than SmallHDs offering which has a similar feature set...

The SmallHD DP6 does seem to have a lower power draw, though...
 
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nyvz said:
Apparently TVlogic took about a week to fix the problem with a new firmware. And it sounds like the issue was only with the HDMI to SDI conversion feature, which by the way sounds like an awesome feature to have and SmallHD doesnt even have as far as I know.

SmallHD has been good at getting buzz and hype, and their new products probably arent as terrible as their first one was, but im not sure that is much reason to buy their product over another one, especially considering their main contribution seems to the market seems to be pushing their competitors to have better, cheaper products, which they all now have. The TVlogic monitor without wfm/vs and without the hdmi-sdi converter is still $100 less expensive without any special deals than SmallHDs offering which has a similar feature set...
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One of my points still stand; if you don't know that TVLogic exists but you know that SmallHD does - which one are you gonna buy?
 
heavyG said:
One of my points still stand; if you don't know that TVLogic exists but you know that SmallHD does - which one are you gonna buy?
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Oh, that's what you meant? So basically the main reason to buy SmallHD is ignorance? :)
 
I readily admit to ignorance, which is what I'm doing hanging around here, trying to lessen it. I'm from a still photography background, I got a 7D to start playing with motion and got hooked. But I also almost immediately ran up against its shortcomings, which is why I put an order in for the AF100. I'm looking for an on-camera monitor that is big enough and detailed enough to focus with. I don't have my AF100 yet, but I've played with the one at B&H and I don't think I'm going to be satisfied with either the built-in LCD or EVF. I tried the focus in red, the focus in red with the EVF as grayscale, and I tried the EVF DTL. I can make any of them work, but I don't think I'll be satisfied with them. What I think I would be satisfied with is a big sharp image that I can just look at an eyeball the focus, that's natural to me.

I'm very much into handheld run and gun type shooting, so I'm moving, my subjects are moving, I'm rarely on a tripod in a controlled environment. I do pretty well with the 7D and a Z-Finder, and am almost satisfied with that, I just wish the 7D screen were higher res. I think when the Zacuto EVF ships I'll probably get one of those to use with the AF100, but thought a SmallHD DP6 would be good to have until those are available, and just generally good to have even after I have the Zacuto. I'd kinda rather save the $400 and get the HDMI-only version of the DP6, unless I'm making a big mistake. It sounds like the only differences are the robustness of the connector and the ability to do long runs as I had read. Neither of those is really a dealbreaker for me, or with my current usage would warrant that much extra to avoid. I'm not in the same boat as a lot of you, I'm learning and finding my way- I'm not in danger of having to shoot features with an Alexa any time soon or anything like that.
 
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