I'm looking to match a monitor for the new 2) 2.8 Quad Core Mac Pro we'll be ordering. Not only will this system be used for editing footage from our Canon HV20, but also for graphic design, so color accuracy is important. Lacie's are used a lot in the graphic design industry for their color accuracy so I am looking at the Lacie 324 to possibly serve our purposes.

Does anyone have experience/knowledge with these monitors?

When looking at the specs, this particular unit seems to have the edge over the 23" Apple display we were also considering. Apple doesn't publish any Color Gamut specs, but the Lacie's 92% of NTSC & 95% of Adobe RGB are well regarded in the Graphics industry. Also, according to Lacie's claims, they seem to have the edge over Apple in Contrast Ratio; Lacie: 1000:1 - Apple: 700:1 and Response Time; Lacie: 6ms - Apple: 14ms. Anyone have any input on how accurate these claims might be?

Would you do the Lacie for your hi-def editing?

Should we consider any other brands? Does anyone have experience with the seemingly comparable, but less money monitors like the HP w2408 which claims a 5ms Response Time? Or how about the Dell Ultrasharp's like the 2408WFP that lists 110% Color Gamut and a 3000:1 Contrast Ratio???

All help is appreciated!

For video work, you're probably better off with a broadcast monitor. They will do things like handle interlacing correctly and have the right primaries/gamut for video work (for the most part).

A wide gamut display is generally not helpful... colors will be overly saturated unless compensated for.

Anyone have any input on how accurate these claims might be?
The specs probably aren't comparable as they are likely measured differently.

3000:1 Contrast Ratio
They only arrive at that figure by varying the backlight (which is cheating, and doesn't count). It's likely a meaningless figure. Consumer LCDs just don't get anywhere near that.

For video work, you're probably better off with a broadcast monitor. They will do things like handle interlacing correctly and have the right primaries/gamut for video work (for the most part).

A wide gamut display is generally not helpful... colors will be overly saturated unless compensated for.
We don't do heavy video editing yet. We just want something that will handle hi-def video without too many artifacts, etc, making for an unpleasant editing experience. Ultimately we'd like the monitor to be the best solution for Graphic Design as well as editing.

What are some examples of broadcast monitors BTW?

Some examples:

You can get some SD CRTs for about $600. (I'd highly recommended one of these for SD work.)
At about $1,500 you can get slightly better SD CRTs (with blue gun, SMPTE C phosphors, bigger size/higher resolution).

HD:

ecinemasys, JVC, and sony have some LCD monitors at around $4k with 1920x1080 pixels.

And there are monitors that go up to the $30k price point.