Looking for a SD monitor: used Sony or new JVC?

F

fluppe85

New member
Hello, in my search for a new monitor I came on this forum.

I'm looking for a color reference monitor to hook up at my Edius NX Express card. Unthil now I used an old television (only antenna) connected by a VCR at the composite lines of the card. Now my VCR died, I want to go up and buy a reference monitor for color correction and preview. I don't do broadcast, maybe some weddings/events in the next months. I still use SD and won't switch to HD in the next 2years.

I have some preferences:
- As I'm tight on budget, I'm looking for something in the 300 - 500$ range.
- I'm living in Belgium (Europe), so we're using PAL. i've read that the phosphors NTSC<>PAL are different: for NTSC is SMPTE phosphor recommended and for PAL is EBU recommended. So, what about P22? Is it something between these two? Would it make a big difference using an SMPTE for PAL? Since monitors with EBU are hard to find.
- I'm looking for something in the 14" range: not to big, but big enough to view full resolution (576i)

I've read Sonys PVM range were very recommended, but those aren't made these days. Is it recommended buying an used Sony PVM? What do I have to look after? I've seen a Sony PVM 14L2 (P22 phosphor) and the Sony PVM 14M4 (mostly SMPTE). Those sonys on Ebay would fit my budget.

I've also seen the JVC TM H150CG, which could be bought new within my budget. Does anyone has this monitor? Is it worth buying or does its low price say something of its quality?

What to look after? What do you recommend?
 
not sure why you would want an sd tv reference today, but you can find excellent computer crt monitors for reference monitors better and cheaper than tv monitors, but i think you won't have trouble finding something decent,it will be the same as a broadcast monitor quality without the extra settings that you dont actually need or use even when calibrating the monitors they dont really mess with the factory settings, so the extra buttons are not that useful until the monitor gets old and in that case they don't really help, you will change the monitor anyway, basically they are useless, i would go for a new monitor, monitors don't age that well, from extensive use they start to shift and burn in and get dimmed, so your better off with a new one.

weird thing to say that you will not change to hd for two years, yet want a reference monitor to achieve a higher level of quality for color correction. not to mention that your previous setup was not very smart with composite and rf connection, depending on the cable your probably in the wrong color space, not to mention that your using a very old tv with wrong luminance, that is no were near pal, anyway, it will probaably be easier to find very good crt computer monitors with the same quality than sd broadcast monitors for your price range.
 
amrrahmy said:
weird thing to say that you will not change to hd for two years
Click to expand...
My equipment is SD-related and in very good condition. I shouldn't know why to change anyway unless my cam would die suddenly... I hope I can hold my cam thil he's 5y old and then I may switch to the HD camp. With that, the people I work for, haven't stepped up to HD. Unless the majority of them made the switch to the HD-television, I think I'll stick with SD. It isn't worth the equipment if always downconverting to SD on DVD.

yet want a reference monitor to achieve a higher level of quality for color correction. not to mention that your previous setup was not very smart with composite and rf connection, depending on the cable your probably in the wrong color space, not to mention that your using a very old tv with wrong luminance, that is no were near pal
Click to expand...
Not everybody has the budgets to work in professional equipped offices. I don't work on a professional base, it's a hobby besides of my daily job. The tele worked fine. It wasn't the reference you get from a production or broadcast monitor, but it certainly gave equal quality as the common televisions and newer LCD-panels. only cause of the extra step of the vcr for converting composite to antenna, I got some quality loss. It
 
who said anything about budgets for professional offices, i was just refereeing to the pal and ntsc monitors, your were not really seeing pal, that's all, all the broadcast equipment are pretty much like the good consumer ones, some are identical, they just change the model number and remove a few settings.

there are significant improvements by using an hd camera even if the finished product is sd dvd, that's all.

good luck finding a good monitor.
 
If you can find a good, used Sony PVM series, go for it. Look for something that has not been abused... maybe pulled from a permanent install. I still use my PVM every day. Lots of places are selling off their older, analog gear as they migrate to all-digital environments, so it's a great time to buy used.

If you have a place over there like we have B&H here in the US, you can find used monitors that are inspected and in great condition. Ebay with monitors is like anything else... do your research, ask questions, and weigh the risk.

As for "the extra settings that you dont actually need or use even when calibrating the monitors," learning what they do and how to use them can help better your understanding of singal flow. Don't know what settings you wouldn't use, but calibrating the monitor is an important step that's good to know.

And SD isn't going away all that soon, so you should be good for a couple years. Wanting to get a good reference monitor for color correction is a very good step in keeping your SD footage usable. Heck... even footage from the DVX can uprez to HD with grace and style, especially if the color is good.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top