Portable DVD player as field monitor?

waycooljr

waycooljr

Well-known member
I was wondering if anyone has tried using a portable DVD player as a field monitor? Some of them now have video/audio inputs as well as outputs. I'm wondering if the image is much better than the flip out LCD screen on the DVX?

The other cool factor about this setup is that they are light enough to mount on top of the camera with a homemade bracket and I can run a demo DVD durring downtime between shoots to promote my work ;D

Ray
 
Re: Portable DVD player as field monitor?

i know i have heard of people doing this and im sure it is easier to find focus on a 7" screen than a 3.5" one ;D, but I haven't tried it myself. if people are getting acceptable results I may have to look into getting one.
 
Re: Portable DVD player as field monitor?

I actually went around trying to find one the other week.. they have ones now that swivel around and open flat.. and they also have zoom modes so you can get a half-ass underscan... I couldnt find one that did the 16x9 right though, so i didnt go for it. would be nice.
 
Re: Portable DVD player as field monitor?

ive used one for near about year now- the audiovox d-1700 model, but the panasonics are nice too. you can only run composite into them though .. most dont have s-video in. focusing on it proves to be almost the same as the lcd because you lose alot of resolution going through composite, but its much easier to see due to the size, and also works well to see what im getting in full screen 16:9 with the anamorphic. although for the price you might want to save up a little bit more and get an old laptop with firewire in , and use a moitor window that lets you view the firewire stream at full res. thare are a few programs out there now that do this. the only hard part is finding an old laptop.. they seem to drop off the face of the earth. but sinc the dvd player is about 300+ for anything decent, its not too much of a jump to get an older laptop. im currently im pricing up new workhorse laptops to do direct to disk capture- full rez monitoring (albeit being an lcd moitor, and about a 1 sec lag in what you see from what the cam is viewing... a analog connection works better to use the monitor to run the cam), and feild edits. as well as organizing shotlists-storyboards ect. in the laptop as well as on paper. ..and can still play a dvd..even burn one on the spot.
 
Re: Portable DVD player as field monitor?

I bought a portable DVD player a few months ago and was about to take it back to Circuit City because I wasnt sure I wanted it after spending $279 on it. But I must say that I am glad that I made the purchase now! I can watch movies on my downtime at work and furthermore projects or demos that I edit using FCP4, I can burn to dvd then show potential clients right from the portable. Mine has S-video and RCA jacks on it. The S-video is not the normal looking S-video jack though its really small and its just a female plug socket. So I am not sure where to even get the right kind of cables to use with it. But I should be able to use mine as a monitor, I just havent tried yet.
 
Re: Portable DVD player as field monitor?

the dvd player should have come with a s-video to 1/8 " trs -and a composite to 1/8" trs (1/8 " trs = stereo mini jack type plug) otherwise you would have to shop around to find tose types of plugs, they are not very normal connections, but im sure you could find some, espescially the rca composite to 1/8" trs.
 
Re: Portable DVD player as field monitor?

Hey Loser can you post a pic of the trs connector, I have never seen one and am interested in going this way for monitoring...thx
 
Re: Portable DVD player as field monitor?

ive got a couple things i need to post.. il try to remeber tonight.. been up till 2:00 am working on project everyday since sun.
 
Re: Portable DVD player as field monitor?

heres the pic of the cable..its the one on the right.. its just a s-video to 1/8" TRS (stereo mini)..    on the right is the RCA composite to 1/8" TRS (stereo mini) except it should be a single RCA to 1/8" TRS (stereo mini) but I lost that cable somwhere, and had a stereo one lying around.. the video in only comes from the left channel.
http://www.zoomforce.com/dvxuser/photos/images/26190326.jpg
 
Re: Portable DVD player as field monitor?

I hooked my DVX100 up to my portable DVD player today and it worked! I just need to get longer cables. Anyone know where I can get either a longer RCA to 1/8th jack (i think) or S-video from the camera to 1/8th on the dvd player? In the meantime, I will check with Marketek. I might end up getting another dvd player and using it just for production stuff.
 
Re: Portable DVD player as field monitor?

just get either and extension for the rca or svideo..(regular set of rca cables, or single rca,svid ) or an extension for the stereo min plug(1/8) at any radioshack or walmart
 
Re: Portable DVD player as field monitor?

i know that you can get such a device for distributing cable throughout your home to different tvs, but im not sure about for moblie use. i know they make wireless video , but its pretty expensive.. most of the dvd players only take the composite signal in .. not the s-vid, but i think i remember seeing a couple that did take the s-vid as well. ..im still scoping laptops though.. might as well. full res firewire dv.
 
Re: Portable DVD player as field monitor?

Hey what about this one:
http://www.archos.com/products/av300_series.html

I know the resolution of the used display isn't that high.. but what resolution do the portable DVD players normally have?!
A nice add on feature is that you can do realtime (low res *sigh*) MPEG4 encodings and use it as an MPEG4 playback device.
The only thing that's missing currently is an add-on module to enable DV recordings so you could use it as a firewire HD recorder.. that would rock. ;-)
 
Re: Portable DVD player as field monitor?

Hehe yes I think I remember you posting it... well *g* I just have to think about someone running around with a camera and totally blind more or less with this Startrek like "visor" eye glasses... if you stumble over sth this could get very costly... ;-)
 
Re: Portable DVD player as field monitor?

Now this is a very interesting suggestion!

Doing a google search I found this site:

http://www.portabledvdstore.com/pordvdplay.html

All models seem to be widescreen, supposedly 16:9, though I don't know what happens if you feed a 4:3 image.

Panasonic models do not seem to accept S-video in, though I am not sure about the Audiovox and Samsung types. Today I asked this store about that.


Carlos
 
Re: Portable DVD player as field monitor?

Are these used just for framing or can you get an accurate exposure by using the portable dvd players?
 
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