Monitor Question

taylormade

taylormade

Well-known member
I'm all ready to pull the trigger on a TV Logic LVM-074W monitor, but the price has me sweating. Videoguys has a similar Ikan VX9 (no scopes unfortunately) monitor with a slightly larger screen for $1500 bucks less. I know you get what you pay for, but is the extra grand an a half worth it? Metal case rather than plastic and no scopes. I have also heard some comments on the questionable build quality of the Ikan.

Any thoughts or comments? I can find some really good reviews on the Ikan - and some really bad ones. One rental house guy said they had to throw theirs away they were so bad, others say they're great. TV Logic seems to have a solid fan base. With the savings I can order my Kessler Crane tomorrow, but i don't want to end up with a crummy monitor and have to buy the TV Logic after dropping a grand on the Ikan. It's painful to be so anal so give me some solid input and put my angst-ridden brain to rest!
 
I tried to check the specs on the Ikan VX9 and it's marked as discontinued at B&H. I have a TVLogic 5.6. It's a great monitor. Is this a monitor for the camera op or AC? I find the 5.6 to be a great on camera monitor size. The scopes and exposure options are really great, plus the zoom for focus is hugely valuable. You have scopes on the AF100 but only FA in red for focus, which is good but it's nice to have that monitor and I use the zoom focus all the time. There are a bunch of other options in between like Marshall and Manhattan LCD. I picked up an inexpensive monitor and sent it back and went for the TVLogic. That' my 2 cents. :) Good luck with your choice.
 
I've got the Ikan VX7 - I really don't like it, has now become my back up.
Had the XLR power input burn out on a job - looks like the insulation on the positive wire had split and shorted. Still works with the other power input.
I was never happy with the colour or sharpness but it is very light.
I now use the Small HD DP6. Neither have scopes but the DP6 is sharper and even though the colour does shift a bit it looks far better.
 
Thanks guys, I guess I'll go with the TVLogic. How is the color on the 5.6? I've heard the 7 inch is much better in that department. What's another couple of thousand in debt at this point?
 
Good catch. The color on the 5.6 is not good enough for reference as far as I am concerned. It is deficient in magenta. I actually brought mine in to have it checked because I found this problem while shooting. I don't use it for color reference at all. I rely on manual white balance all the time. I think if you're using it for checking or tweaking color like dialing in color temperature as some shooters like to do, you may be better served by the larger one. That is consistent with what the rep said to me when we discussed it, that the larger ones (more expensive) monitors were more faithful in representing color. Perhaps the Small is better in this regard for the 5.6 ones. I've never tried one but there are lots of guys on the forum who use it and report pretty good results.
 
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