When will COLOR get its own forum?

But more on topic, I don't think there is enough interest in Color to support it's own forum on DVXuser. The Color forum over at the COW doesn't get much activity and Coloruser.net isn't exactly booming w/activity. Color adds a lot to the FCP suite, but it's fallen in a bit of a crack in the FCP user base. The learning curve, workflow/round trip limitations, and associated costs (proper monitoring, etc.,) keep the lower budget users at bay while the higher budget users probably have a coloring solution already in place (either in house or out of house). Low budget post/production has come a long way in the last 10 years in terms of technology, but you've still got to pay the piper sometime.
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I agree with what you say, but actually think some of your reasons could be used in favor of a COLOR forum. Yes, COLOR has slipped into the cracks, and it's up to the people who use it to lift it back up into the limelight where it belongs. As David S said, there's a big COLOR forum at apple discussions, but I like DVXUSER, it's a one-stop film making forum, and I don't want to go anywhere else. Also, the apple forums would be filled with apple users (obviously!) whereas if we had a forum on DVX USER, non mac users could see it, see how powerful it is, and join in the party.

I did a quick count of the posts on the NLE forums. AVID had 8 thousand, Vegas about 28K, ADOBE had about the same, but it's split into PREMIERE and AFTER EFFECTS. FCP has a whopping 39.5K - surely plenty enough to be split?

On the other end, PHOTOSHOP has less than 2.5K posts. Now PHOTOSHOP is a fantastic ap, but it's not designed specifically for video use, and yet it gets it's own forum. Completely cool. But I can't see why COLOR can't too.

I honestly believe that the introduction of a high-end grading suite to the desktop will eventually be seen alongside the introduction of digital non-linear editing in the 90s and a camera that shoots full frame with cine-like gamma in '03 (ie the DVX). We may still have to pay the piper at the moment to some degree, but the day is coming soon when Francis Ford Coppola's dream of a 12 year old being able to carry a Hollywood studio on their back with a camcorder and a computer can become reality. I think getting COLOR out there and discussed more, and made more a center of attention would be a great start.
 
If enough people start talking about Color in the FCP section I'm sure we could make a case for starting a Color specific area of DVXuser. I guess I just don't see the advantage of opening a Color section if there's seemingly no demand for it. I'd like it if there was demand for it 'cause there aren't many peer-to-peer, online resource centers for Color.

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so the blackmagic card only has hdmi and analog. how would this interface with the 23"acd? hdmi to dvi cable? how about using a plasma or lcd tv instead? is the blackmagic card really going to effect the accuracy that much?

currently i have a 42" LG plasma connected via dvi from the mac. i am running it at 1280x720 since i mostly cut 720p. no special card. i am monitoring from fcp this way and i use it as my second screen when using color. is this just completely useless? the image looks great and i do feel it's more accurate than using the computer monitor alone. before this i was only using the comp monitor and guesstimating for tv with very mixed results. now it's pretty consistant going from one tv to another. at least as good as when i used to go firewire to a dv cam to a tv back in my dv days.

so, if i keep my current plasma and get the blackmagic card, will this be more accurate than straight from the mac? and is the 23" acd more accurate than my plasma? enough difference to justify spending the cheese for a smaller screen? i do like this gigantic screen....
 
The 23" ACD isn't a good option unless it's used in conjunction w/the MXO. The MXO was built w/the display characteristics of the 23"ACD in mind (and to a lesser extent the Dell 2405) and the MXO provides b'cast monitor type calibration tools in software that the Intensity Pro doesn't have. If you use the Intensity Pro you'd want to use it in conjunction w/a b'cast HD monitor (something that has proper calibration tools such as a "blue only" mode). The downside to going DVI out of your Mac's gfx card into a consumer TV is two fold. First, the signal coming off the DVI port is non-standard and second consumer TVs aren't setup to be calibrated and they have circuitry that is designed to produce a "pretty" image but not an "accurate" image.

Ultimately everything boils down to what's the highest level of "good enough" that fits into your budget and what level of quality do you/your clients expect? Obviously not everyone can afford to shoot on 65mm film so people compromise and do 35mm or HD or SD... so just do the best you can w/in your limitations.


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well i have a dell 2405 as my main monitor. i guess i could buy a cheaper lcd to use for my comp monitor and convert the dell to my video monitor if i buy the mxo.

does this sound like a good option?
 
Here is a review Shane Ross did w/the MXO. Going from this, and from other stuff Shane's posted about the MXO on his blog, the MXO works best w/the 23" ACD, but works well w/the 2405 too. I haven't done any head to head tests, but just going from what I've read the MXO + 2405 should get you a better image than using a consumer HDTV attached to a DVI port or Intensity Pro card.


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