Televisions being used in video

[c0rpse]

Does anybody have any insight into what specs of a TV display I might consider looking into when buying a tv that's going to be used on screen in video? Are there any defined specs I should be on the look out for to either make it look better or worse? We've definitely had some issues with the current setup when we turn the brightness down it seems to really mess with the colors.

Flicker is a concern but I am fully aware of clear scan options in camera. More curious about the TV side specifically.

Thanks!

 

[Run&Gun]

In the last ~10-12 years, I haven’t really had any issues with any modern “flat panels” that I’ve used specifically for on-camera work. Most decent consumer sets now have a high degree of adjustability that wasn’t there in the past. You’ll usually just need to bring the brightness way down and the color temp, too. Monitors are supposed to be at 6500K(most sets out of the box are going to be way higher). You can either bring down the color temp closer to what your key and ambient light is(easier to shoot ~5600k) or raise the temp of the key and ambient to the monitor(6500k). Some people have even gelled the monitors, but the easiest would be to shoot at 5600k and adjust the monitor temp to that.

 

[c0rpse]

Thanks! This is about what I was expecting.

In the last ~10-12 years, I haven’t really had any issues with any modern “flat panels” that I’ve used specifically for on-camera work. Most decent consumer sets now have a high degree of adjustability that wasn’t there in the past. You’ll usually just need to bring the brightness way down and the color temp, too. Monitors are supposed to be at 6500K(most sets out of the box are going to be way higher). You can either bring down the color temp closer to what your key and ambient light is(easier to shoot ~5600k) or raise the temp of the key and ambient to the monitor(6500k). Some people have even gelled the monitors, but the easiest would be to shoot at 5600k and adjust the monitor temp to that.

 

[CharlesPapert]

If shooting at 5600 isn't a possibility and you are feeding the monitor externally, use a LUT box on the monitor or pre-process the footage with 5600 to 3200K LUT applied. Blackmagic's latest version of the $50 micro SDI to HDMI converter can apply a 17 pt. LUT. These are the LUT's I use for this: https://lutify.me/free-white-balance...-for-everyone/

If the accuracy of the image on the monitor is really critical, I have found it helpful to attach the TV as a second monitor to a computer running Resolve. With your camera zoomed in full on the monitor, you can color the footage for playback in Resolve and see the realtime results on your production monitor and scopes. I use a grayscale chart to get the target into the center of the vectorscope, then bars to fine tune from there. Much easier than diddling with TV menus, and far more nuanced.

 

[Peter C.]

If OP is saying he wants to use a tv as a monitor for his camera it will work as long as you don't need it to be visible outdoors, portable, color accurate, and a reliable gauge of exposure. Basically it doesn't do anything that a professional would want except for framing. It might be good if your filming yourself at home and need to be able to see yourself at a distance.

 

[CharlesPapert]

He did see "use on screen" Peter, so I'm pretty sure that he didn't mean for monitoring.

 

[Visunion]

what an interesting thought/issue. never thought about it. but it makes sense: the older TV's did not have anything adjustable. Nowadays all screens can be adjusted. So I can imagine that there won't be any problems anymore with that issue.

 

[CharlesPapert]

what an interesting thought/issue. never thought about it. but it makes sense: the older TV's did not have anything adjustable. Nowadays all screens can be adjusted. So I can imagine that there won't be any problems anymore with that issue.

Tube TV's (CRT's) generally had most or all of the basic "proc amp" controls: color, hue, brightness, contrast. Those are the primary ones you need to dial in a display when being photographed. They actually had less issues when it came to dialing down brightness compared to today's screens that may start to flicker at lower backlight levels. That said, there was a significant issue with roll bars when shooting CRT's at 24 fps, which required specially modified units that were provided by a 24 frame playback specialist, along with a sync box on the film camera. Those folks are still in business today supplying vintage monitors for period pieces etc., often they have gutten the cases and mounted flat screens inside to avoid the sync issues.

Those 24 frame folks also had the ability to correct the effective color temp of the display on set, or the footage would be pre-corrected. That issue has not changed today as very few modern displays give an option to dial the image all the way down to 3200K (the "warm" setting in the menu doesn't even come close--maybe that will get you down from 6600 to 5600). See my post above for more info on managing that concern.