Has anyone used any of the Sony LMD series LCD monitors? I can't find any
feedback or reviews on these.

I only had short experience with the medical version (identical but waterproof etc) of it.

So far - I love it! Beneath its multiple options of input it gave a very great picture coming from an XDCAM HD player.

See the pic :

www.media-in-work.de/kunden/opel/vegasnle.jpg

ULi

1- Don't bother with anything that doesn't do at least 1920x1080/1200 pixels. If the monitor doesn't have that, you'll have lower than full HD resolution and scaling artifacts (aliasing, ringing, and/or even lower resolution).

For critical quality control work, you want to see full resolution and you don't want to see scaling artifacts that are being introduced by the monitor.

*It's only recently that you have lots of good choices for 1920x1200 monitors. The new models tend to be much better than old models. The earliest Luma monitors had some problems (burn in, bad colors). The burn-in is laughable and pretty much not a problem in current LCDs (LCD burn-in goes away though, unlike plasma and CRT). But I'm talking about a really early Luma model.

1b- Only getting 1920x1200 pixel monitors pretty much rules out all but a few Luma models.

1c- The only exception to this is if you need a field monitor, and there you have to suffer some compromises if you want something small.

2- I haven't seen the latest Luma models with 1920x1200 pixels so I can't say how good they are.

If you are editing HDCAM, HDV, DVCPRO HD then full pixel won't be as important because all of them are not full pixel format.
They are either 1440 x 1080 or 1280 x 1080.

Unless you are working on native 1920 x 1080 files like something generated by computer graphics, current HD video format is not full pixel.

My concern for HD monitors would be view angle and the response time. I tested JVC's full pixel LCD HD monitor but it suffers narrow view angle (it changes contrast even you are bit off) and not that fast response time. Comparing to that I would be more comfortable editing with Panasonic LH1700W.

As far as the old Luma wasn't really impressive but the new ones are whole different animal, so I'm looking into testing some in the near future.

With the non-full raster/pixel formats you will have scaling artifacts on top of scaling artifacts.

If you want to see the correct aspect ratio, then the image has to be expanded out to 1920x1080 (or otherwise scaled down, which introduces scaling artifacts).
Without a full raster monitor, you'll have scaling artifacts from the monitor scaling the 1920x1080 image to its native resolution. These scaling artifacts can be avoided with a full raster monitor.

2- Scaling artifacts tend to happen when scaling the image. Suppose you took any image into Photoshop and scaled it 2X larger and then 2X smaller. You will get scaling artifacts- the resulting image doesn't look like the original.

The "nearest neighbour" algorithm will avoid this, but it looks terrible (and I'm not aware of any monitors that use it).

I was wondering what field monitors people here use?

I've been thinking about upgrading my old Sony PVM-9042 which is a great monitor for SD (If not a little bulky). I like the look of some of the newer HD LCD monitors (although nowhere near full HD res yet), especially with V-lock battery support.

I still use the Sony with SD out from the camera which is still good for composition, colour etc but crucial detail obviously is not there.

Anyone use an HD field monitor or the LCD type care to share their thoughts?

Paul.

Paul,

We have been using a Sony LMD-9050 fitted in a Portabrace bag for the last 18 months & have been very happy with it.

Hope that helps

Clive

Thanks Clive.

How have you found that with 16:9 HD? - it looks like a primarily SD 4:3 monitor with HD SDI support???

What kind of use do you get with say a 98w/h battery?

Paul,
16:9 HD looks fine on it but obviously part of the screen area is wasted in this mode as it is basically a 4:3 monitor as you said. At the time of purchase there wasn't really anything better available & I'm not sure whether there is now but there maybe new products shown at NAB.
With regards to running time I would say between 90-120 mins on a 98watt battery. I have the manual as a PDF if you are interested.

Clive

Thanks - I like the look of the newer Marshall monitors (yet to be released)

Paul,

Which model of the Marshall ones are you looking at? Most of their field monitors also seem to have a 4:3 screen size switchable to 16:9 apart from the V-R70P which although widescreen native seems fairly low rez.
Another one that maybe worth looking at is the Panasonic BT-LH900AE as this seems to have lots of features including a waveform overlay.

Cheers

Clive

Another happy Sony LMD 9050 monitor user coupled to the F350.

Despite being a small screen it has served us flawlessly in regard to critical focus and lighting checks for Hi Def work on the F350. We use it nearly every place we shoot. Using an IDX7s battery we get about 3 hours or more out of it. We fitted a strap to ours to enable it to be hung up on something, or around the neck. Would also strongly advise a deep hood for the screen as it can be difficult to see the image on the screen in strong light. It is quite heavy, and it is expensive but it is certainly a great little monitor.

We also considered the Marshall HD monitors (a while ago now, so something new could be on the market now) but decided against it in favour of the Sony.

Regards, Stu
www.studioscotland.com

These sun bright ones:

http://www.lcdracks.com/monitors/v-lcd84sb-afhd.html

Or the R901DP ones.

We still use the Sony PVM-9L2 on 2 NP1's in a Portabrace bag. Good for colour and compostion but it has only 250 lines resolution.

With Premiere CS3 came Adobe Onlocation witch makes monitoring on a laptopscreen via firewire possible. Tried that once on a Compaq with 1280x800 screen and it gives a much more detailed image eventhough the firewire output of XDCamHD only supplies SD.

Onlocation has also a waveform/vectorscope on board.

Paul,

The "sunbright" one looks OK but as far as I can see it's still a 4:3 screen & the resolution is lower than the Sony one & there doesn't seem to be any specs for the R901DP yet.
I'm off to NAB mid April & will have a look to see what else is available & let you know, if you can wait that long.

Cheers

Clive

I can across this site the other day. Although not up to the specs of the Marshall or Sony, the price is sure right. To bad there is no HDSDI in put.


http://www.ikancorp.com/pages/monitors/v8000hd/index.htm


cheers

Morton

The Panasonic BT-LH900AE is expensive but it is a workhorse and pretty much the reference for HD field monitoring. It's compact, rugged and I became addicted to the built in waveform monitor. It is of great help and allows you to maximized your levels, especially on skin tones. We also use the 26" version in the edit room and they both have the same colorimetry. So, what you see in the field is what you get in post.

Thierry.

As attractive as the Ikan prices are, I would not rate these as production monitors. They are built pretty cheap and do not offer the calibration tools found on professional units. And yes, the missing HD-SDI input is definetly a no go to use with the F350/355. Though, it could be and attractive choice for the F330/335 and people on a budget.

Thierry.

We use the LMD-9050 as others have mentioned.

had a couple probs with it, with being less than a yr old;

burnt out pixels a couple of times, and a "fan error" .

all covered under warranty, but a hassle to go without for a while.

If price matters, a HVX shooter came across the idea to build his "own" HD-Monitor (sounds crazy, but he´s eletronics engineer) by searching for the right industry lcd screens and eletronics.

Though I´ve never seen it with my own eyes its worth a consideration - perhaps he can send you a sample?

see www.lsdsgn.com

hmmm... a waveform monitor would be great of course...

Cheers

ULI

Paul,
The "sunbright" one looks OK but as far as I can see it's still a 4:3 screen & the resolution is lower than the Sony one & there doesn't seem to be any specs for the R901DP yet.
I'm off to NAB mid April & will have a look to see what else is available & let you know, if you can wait that long.

Cheers

Clive

Thanks Clive - would appreciate any info you can get - won't be purchasing for a while anyway. Yes, these are 4:3 - they do some 16:9 but the res is the same for the same display area I think. They seem to be limited by general LCD display technology and pixel density.

If price matters, a HVX shooter came across the idea to build his "own" HD-Monitor (sounds crazy, but he´s eletronics engineer) by searching for the right industry lcd screens and electronics. see www.lsdsgn.com hmmm... a waveform monitor would be great of course...

That's really interesting - a few design problems though if you want to mount it in a portable case (like the BNC connectors on top!). Prices seem similar to the marshall monitors, so I wonder what you would gain given that I would have thought Marshall have access to better testing of brightness, colour etc...

Paul,
Take a look @ TV logic

We also have a Sony LMD-9050 and the one drawback (other than the native 4:3 aspect ratio) is the fan. I don't know about the rest of you guys with this monitor, but when the fan kicks in on ours, it is pretty loud. Loud enough that I have to shut it off during interviews. For that reason alone, we don't take it on any shoot with critical audio. We have Marshalls also that we use in the field and they are OK, but not great. I'm still waiting for a high-res, native 16:9, hdsdi, quiet monitor at a reasonable price. Wishful thinking? I'm beginning to wonder.

Awkward as it may seem (and it is) wherever I can, I use an Apple 23" Cinema Display with a Blackmagic HD Link.

Awkward as it may seem (and it is) wherever I can, I use an Apple 23" Cinema Display with a Blackmagic HD Link.

Good if you're in a studio style setting - i.e. when we do chromakey work in a make-shift studio setting. Not so practical when on the run and doing lots of IV's around a site.

I can fully endorse the Sony 9050. We use them in HD-SDi mode with HDCAM and EX1 cameras, and with the Z1 in component mode. Focus problems have gone at a stroke. In the edit suite we have a Panasonic BH1700 that is good enough for non broadcast colour grading.

Dennis,
I'm looking at the LVM-071W from Tv Logic - is this the one you have or its predecessor. Are they good enough for critical focus in HD?

Thanks,
Lonnie

Hi Thierry. Hope you're well. I am a F350 looking to get a good and reliable field monitor. I believe you using the Panasonic BT-LH900AE, are you using a F350 too? If so what lead (s) do you need to connect it to the Panasonic BT-LH900AE through the hdsi output on the back?

Thanks, Sparky