Powerbook G4 used for Monitor

S

Student

Well-known member
Well I am still trying to decide what's the best way for me to monitor the DVX ala Anamorphic and be able to focus properly. I know some of you use the Powerbooks as an alternative to a monitor in the field. I can almost buy a Powerbook for the price of a 750 line crt monitor plus it's heavy and not portable. Does anyone have an opinion on what is the best way to go?
 
Re: Powerbook G4 used for Monitor

Upsides of powerbook:
PowerBook works great for focus. Fire up FCP and go to the Universal Access system prefs and turn zoom on. Now you can zoom in as far as you like to the image to check as you rack focus.
You can also display vector scope and levels.
PowerBook is useful for many things.
Cheap if you already have one.

I can't say how well anamorphic works but if you're set to input and display correctly it should work.

Downsides-
Not the most accurate color and contrast. CRT is better for this.
A good monitor will have a blue butto nto show only the blue record so you can calibrate the monitor correctly.
Length of cable - much easier to get a 25 foot video cable than a firewire. (Not even sure what the current limit is for firewire)

If you're going to be going out to video in the final product then you'll probably want to see it on a CRT for the color/contrast issues. Especially important for color correction. In this case whatever is you field monitor coudl be used for edit monitor as well.
 
Re: Powerbook G4 used for Monitor

Isn't there a bit of a lag too? Haven't tried, but understand that there is from camera via firewire.

Just something to consider. I do like the idea of using it as a reference though and for slower moving action, the lag may not be a big deal.

Andrew
Crystal Clear Media
 
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