Which monitor should I trust with my 7d

jrod81

Veteran
Hey guys
Watching footage is becoming a slight issue for me. Everything I look at on my MBP I am pleased with for the most part (I haven't done any grading at all yet), but if I run the dvi out to the hdmi of my samsung 50inch tv everything looks gold... Which monitor should I trust to be closer to the finalized look when I burn a DVD of this? Is it something about using the dvi/hdmi adapter into my TV that is giving it such a goldish look? I am more pleased with the look on my macbook pro than the TV...
thanks
 
Not to sound cantankerous, but this is why there are calibrated broadcast reference monitors which are set to display a "standard" broadcast image.
 
I'd be tempted to say it's more likely the TV than the Macbook. I've always found my Macbooks display to render colours very adequately. Sure it's no £1000+ reference monitor with exacting levels of colour, but it's pretty much WYSIWYG, as far as distributing online is concerned.
 
I wouldn't trust a mbp for color... there are good HD monitors for less than $500...

Between my mbp, 2 pc monitors and 42" - I get a little different look each one.
 
i had the ikan that was ok untill i sold my hvx200 and swapped to the 5d m2 then picked up the manhatten lcd ,720,hdmi, pixel to pixel .wow what a difference . hangs from top of bottom , caibrated, light any 12v to power. would buy one again.
 
guys, i just don't have the money to buy a monitor... i guess the best thing to do here is just pick a scene and burn a dvd of it and see if it turns out more like the mbp then the tv...
 
You can't trust either monitor.

The Matrox 2 or the Mini is a great solution for this problem because it gives you control over in the analog TV's used to be referred to as the subcarrier, you can adjust the color, saturation and video levels even though you may not have those controls on your flat panel.

Which means that although your monitor is not a calibrated monitor you can calibrate it to color bars and get remarkable consistent results.

Here's the link: http://www.matrox.com/video/en/products/mxo2_mini/

Not that expensive depending on which inputs and output you need and best of all they work with your MCP or a Mac Pro.

If you simply output to DVD and try to get it what you think is close to your MCB you will be chasing your tail and waist a lot of time.
 
So by buying one of those Marshall or Manhatten 720p monitors, are you guys hooking that into your computer and using that screen as your canvas window in FCP?
 
So by buying one of those Marshall or Manhatten 720p monitors, are you guys hooking that into your computer and using that screen as your canvas window in FCP?

What would you hope to accomplish by doing that? Most of these types of small LCD monitors are 7" and have a resolution of around 800x480. But even if you can afford a monitor with enough resolution that still doesn't solve your color correction issue.

This does -- http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/618347-REG/Matrox_MXO2_MINI_L_MXO2_Mini_for_Laptops.html
 
I wouldn't trust any portable field monitor for color correction but the monitor to get for the field for your 7D is the DP1 by SmallHD. This thing is incredible!

http://smallhd.com/

If your budget is tight, I'd suggest the 819AH 8" HDMI TFT LCD VGA Monitor from coollcd.com. Although its more than adequate for focusing and setting exposure its not in the same league as the DP1, but at $229 neither is the price.

The DP1 is probably one of the best monitors available for the price.

However, again none of these monitors address the initial post. Jrod81 you would save yourself a lot of time and money if you read up on digital color correction, not to necessarily become a colorist but to get a better understanding of how cameras capture and monitors display color.

There's a good book. "The art and Technique of Digital Color Correction" by Steve Hullfish which not only explains color theory but how it all works in the video world. Its especially helpful if your on a Mac and have Color.
 
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