I'm about to edit an HD project, and I'm not sure how to hook up an HD color-correction monitor.

I have two side by side computer monitors that run off of my video card, and I use them both (like a single extra-long monitor) when editing. When I'm working in SD, I have a firewire hooked to my camera, and an s-vid cable from the camera to my CRT monitor.

Do I buy another videocard to run just the HD monitor? And how would this card know that I only want to see the "output" of my Premiere Pro program?

I can't seem to think this through!

Thanks

That depends on what you are planning to use as an HD color correction monitor. The best way would be to use a professional I/O card, but that would depend on your editing format. Assuming you want an economical solution, look into the Blackmagic-Design Intensity (HDMI or ComponentHD), or the Matrox RTx2 (DVI or ComponentHD).

I was going to use a HD monitor, or maybe a HD television with HDMI in (?)

so I install the Blackmagic-Design Intensity card and run an HDMI cable to my third monitor.

But I'm still not clear on how I designate that I want just the OUTPUT of my editing program on that third monitor.

Can someone help me understand?

thanks -

so to hook up a program monitor along with my two computer monitors:

if I buy a seond I/O card, will the output of it's HDMI connector be HD video from my editing program? What if I also have After Effects running? How would I get the output of AE to show on the program monitor?

Robert,
I'm sure it's possible on all NLEs... I know it can be done on FCP via the preferences. So you might get a better response it you mention which NLE you are using. Also, are you on a pc or mac???

Mark

I'm editing PPro CS3 on WinXP on a Dell workstation. I contacted Dell and they recommended a new video card that can handle all 3 monitors, rather than using my existing card (for two monitors) and adding a second card for the 3rd monitor.

I've been online all day trying to figure this out.

apparently my workstation only has one pci express slot - and I already have a Quadro FX 3450 feeding dual lcd monitors.

I want to add a 3rd Program Monitor, but it doesn't look like I can even add another graphic card.

So If I switch one of my lcd monitors to a HDTV via DVI with a HDMI adapter, will I be able to see my video full rez?

Thanks -

Anyone with dual computer monitors AND an HDTV monitor hooked up, can you share how you have it configured???

Bin the Quadro and replace it with a Matrox APVe.

Then, assuming you can fathom the dark recesses of Matrox multi display cableing, you can hook two monitors AND a HDTV (the latter component only from memory) to it.

Next, download the Matrox WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) plugin for Adobe Premier, install and hey presto, your finished video product displays on your telly.

There are a shed load of "gotcha's" with regard to screen resolutions, so check out the Matrox web site in some detail before leaping in.

Also note the APVe is DVI out and is not warranted to work to a HDMI screen - it certainly wouldn't work to my Sony Bravia via HDMI.


CS

PS: I believe the Matrox WYSIWYG plugin works with most, and maybe all, Adobe video products.

The Matrox Parhelia APVe looks like a great solution - and for only a few hundred dollars. But it says in order to attach two LCD monitors AND an HDTV, one of the LCDs needs to be hooked up via VGA, not DVI (?)
is that problematic at all???

And what's the difference between this card and a more expensive one - like this "quadro fx 4700 x2" which sells for about $3000? Quadro FX 4700 X2 (http://www.nvidia.com/object/product_quadro_fx_4700_x2_us.html)

is there just additional computing power on the card?

or there's also this quadro NVS 450 that's only $500 - but drives 4 monitors.

NVIDIA Quadro NVS Comparison Chart (http://www.nvidia.com/object/IO_14605.html)

thanks

UPDATE!

I just read this post from Eduard Engel : "Since the new PP CS4 my Matrox Parhelia APVe videocard became unuseable. Matrox did not update their drivers for a higher than PP1.5 I do not think they will for CS4." :(

I contacted NVidia to see what they thought of using a Quadro NVS 450 card. It supports 4 monitors.

They responded,"although the NVS 450 card can work, it is not designed for video editing and may lack the performance you are looking for.
The Quadro NVS Product line is designed for business applications and is not recommended for video editing."

Does anyone know why it wouldn't be suitable. The website says it can handle 4 monitors up to 2560 x 1600. Might it be the refresh rate that would be lagging?

NVIDIA Quadro NVS 450 Professional Graphics Solution (http://www.nvidia.co.uk/object/product_quadro_nvs_450_uk.html)

Robert, have a closer look at the Blackmagic Intensity as recommended above. Are you sure you don't have a spare slot? I copied this from the Blackmagic site:

"Card Type: PCI Express 1 lane, compatible with 1,4,8 and 16 lane PCIe slots"

When you install the card, the BlackMagic Project type gets added to your available project types in Premier (with DV PAL, DV NTSC, HDV etc). When you use one of those presets, playout is directed to your HDV monitor/telly (in my case, I have a 40" attached to the wall above my edit station so the hangers-on can sit back on the couch and micro-manage my editing!).

I'm not sure where your work is going, but I wouldn't get too carried away with colour grading on a domestic HD telly. You really need a calibrated HD reference monitor.

Matthew

Matthew ~

Thanks for the reminder! I thought I had written that blackmagic card off as not an option for some reason, but I don't rremember why...

I'll contact them to be sure it works with Premiere Pro CS4 -

cheers!

for my money, the intensity card is frought with problems. my solution is two video cards, and it works great. i'm fortunate in that i have 2 pcie slots. i'm pretty sure you can run that quadro in your single pci3 x16 slot and a second cheap video card in one of your standard pcie x1 slots.

Bill Ravens wrote:

"...the intensity card is frought with problems."
"...a second cheap video card in one of your standard pcie x1 slots."

Can you describe the problems?

and would a second cheap card in a X1 slot be fast enough for HD video?
any cheap cards to recommend??

Bob...

I went thru the same process you are now dealing with. I haven't used the intensity card, but, those I spoke with who did try it were not happy. As I recall their problem was just to get it to work.

I'm using a Quadro FX1700 in one slot and a 7800GT in my second slot. Since you don't have a x16 slot available for your second card, you'll have to search for a standard pci card. I would stay with nVidia if you already have a quadro. Look for the best performing card(highest memory capcity) you can find with DVI outputs. I think you'll discover that there aren't many pci cards available, which will limit your choices. Both the cards I use work with the same driver set, which I think is useful to avoid driver conflicts.

The recommended setup is to drive monitor 1 with output 1 on the quadro, the HDTV with output two in the Quadro, and monitor 2 with the output 1 on the second card. The philosophy, here, is that monitor 2 just shows text with no video output.The DVI output can be converted to HDMI with a simple hardware adapter, readily available anywhere.

thanks for the info.... I'll start searching.

Surely there must be others out there who have worked out this dilemma???

there are two workable solutions, that I found.
1-matrox makes a box called head2go, or something like that. It takes a single input from the dvi port and splits it into two displays. the problem with this device is that it takes your digital dvi input and tuns it into analog before it splits it. not good for quality.

2-the "studio" approach is to use a true hardware solution, like avid mojo HD, aja/xena with HD-SDI out to drive a real production monitor. great solution, but, very, very expensive. the HDTV approach will only approximate HD, only the production monitor will give you a calibrated HD monitoring solution.

I too am exploring this subject right now. Sorry for the half hijack, but I think it might help you solve your problem also.

I have an Nvidia 8800 GTS 640mb card, it has dual DVI out and s-video. Currently I run it dual screen (extended desktop) with Sony Vegas. I want to add a third pannel which needs to be HD, either screen, monitor or TV.

Resolution & Refresh

* 240 Hz Max Refresh Rate
* 2048 x 1536 x 32bit x85Hz Max Analog
* 2560 x 1600 Max Digital


These cards can be linked, Nvidia SLI. That would give me 4 DVI ports. So is this card good enough for HD out?

Robbert, maybe look into this card, its not too expensive, but is not a cheapo, EVGA 8800GTS SSC 640MB Edition Dual DVI HDTVOut PCI-E Graphics Card - Ebuyer (http://www.ebuyer.com/product/135732)

Cheers, Alex.

OK ive done some reading, apartently, on my card I canget the DVI - HDMI jack and plug it all together. The card sets the resolution to a low setting so the HD output has everything on, and then you go into the Nvidia control pannel to adjust the settings you want for your HD output.

This does mean 2 graphics cards SLI'd together however. But, you can get cheaper Nvidia cards that support HD out, these cannot be SLI'd toghether though.

SLI is something Nvidia have done to add the power of two identicle cards together. I know this is gaming focused, but the cards are so powerfull (this one in particular) they throw the video onto the screens with no lag. Rendering is also very efficient.

So now I know this card does the job, how accurate is it for HD calibrating, i.e colour correction? Or is that more of a question as what your output is, TV, monitor, LCD screen...

unfortunately I only have one PCIe x 16 slot. I could get a single high-end quadro card that will feed 3 monitors, but they cost $2000 +.

For my immediate project, I think I will be stuck editing with 2 LCD monitors, and then swapping one out for an HDTV monitor occasionally to double-check the quality.

I just received this response from Blackmagic. I had asked them if their Intensity card supported PPro CS4:

"Adobe just released an update to support third party hardware outside of
firewire, so we are working on drivers that will allow plugins into CS4. We
should have CS4 support soon (we have full CS3 support right now, just
working on CS4).

Adding intensity should not affect the output of your graphics card. You
should still have your two monitors from your DVI out and if you add
Intensity Pro's HDMI or analog out to a TV, the footage in your timeline in
Premiere will be played full screen out to that TV."

So the Blackmagic card will fit in a PCIe x4 slot. But it's a $300 + gamble that it will really work...

FWIW...

you do NOT need to SLI link two nVidia video cards together to get them to work. Linking is only needed if you're a gamer and you want the increased horsepower that linked cards give you.

If I use a HDTV monitor that has a native resolution of 1680 x 1050, and I'm editing 1080i,

would I set the output of my video card to display 1080i - and let the monitor do the conversion?

or would I set the card to output 1680 x 1050 - if that's even possible? (Or does each video card only have a few set output resolutions available to it?)

The video card will give you a choice. It is somewhat of a risk of damage to pick a resolution the monitor can't handle, so, I usually set the videocard to only allow resolution the display can handle. The beauty of having two videocards is that you can set one card to match your display's rez, without affecting the available resolutions on your working monitors. Generally, I think HDTV sets will reset the display resolution, anyway.

The issue I am having with graphics card output isn't the problem with getting a second display to work, but rather the poor quality of the output signal. Right now I am experimenting with editing HDV 60i footage and sending the program monitor out of the second port of my graphics card to a SD display. I am able to select 720x480 as the display option and receive a downconverted signal to my broadcast monitor. The problem is the poor quality of the signal. The graphics card appears to be de-interlacing the signal before it gets sent through the s-video port. The colors and resolution look good but the motion is wrong. I've tried several different options with the card settings but no change. I've even tried two different graphics cards with similar specs. I have not yet tried to send the output to a HD monitor as I do not have one, but would expect the results to be the same. This issue is probably why many users support using a Blackmagic card or similar to avoid these graphics card issues.

Has anyone else had these same issues? Any successes using a graphics card for monitor out?

Windows Vista 32 bit
Premiere Pro CS3
Core2Duo 2.3ghz 4GB Ram
SATA HD
NVIDIA 8400GS 256mb
ATI HD 2600PRO 512 mb

all I can say is that my Quadro FX1700, paired with an nVidia Geforce 7800GT gives excellent results with an 720 HDTV monitor.

I have a Blackmagic Intensity Pro that I bought for HDMI-out monitoring on a Benq HDMI monitor (using Prem Pro CS3 as my NLE). Granted this was at least six months ago, but Blackmagic told me that Intensity cards are not capable of outputting the Premiere timeline via HDMI (prompting me to sell my 2 Benq HDMI monitors). (I can't currently get ANY analog video signal out from Intensity Pro either, but that's another story...) Is this still the case? Some posts here seem to hint otherwise, unless I am misinterpreting.

Ed wrote: (I can't currently get ANY analog video signal out from Intensity Pro either, but that's another story...)

I'm leaning toward the Infinity card, even if i have to hook up the HDTV via component.

Can you tell me why your analog signal's not working? something I might encounter, too?

If it suits your budget, the Matrox RT.X2 can make a world of difference to your editing with CS3. First off, effects are true real time, no red bars, for SD or HD. Saves hours of rendering. Also allows mixing of SD and HD in same project, realtime upscale/downscale.

Includes analog breakout box for SD and HD capture and playback. This means you can run HD component to a compatible 1080 display and see full results as you edit, no render. LE model has analog only. The "full" RT.X2 includes its own DVI output, and this would drive a 1920x1200 display via DVI for full pixel-for-pixel monitoring of HD content. Leaves your two outputs from graphics card available for Windows screens.

I edit a lot of long-form HDV 1080i events and don't have to render effects and can watch full 1080i display while working, love it!

Jeff Pulera
Safe Harbor



Ed wrote: (I can't currently get ANY analog video signal out from Intensity Pro either, but that's another story...)

I'm leaning toward the Infinity card, even if i have to hook up the HDTV via component.

Can you tell me why your analog signal's not working? something I might encounter, too?

The Matrox looks like a nice card - but a little more expensive than I have to spend right now - plus there's no guarantee it will "play nice" with my quadro card...

Ed wrote: (I can't currently get ANY analog video signal out from Intensity Pro either, but that's another story...)

I'm leaning toward the Infinity card, even if i have to hook up the HDTV via component.

Can you tell me why your analog signal's not working? something I might encounter, too?

No idea yet. Been meaning to test it on another machine for weeks now. I have an RMA pending with Black Magic.

The Matrox looks like a nice card - but a little more expensive than I have to spend right now - plus there's no guarantee it will "play nice" with my quadro card...
Ditto on this. This is a home/hobbyist setup and the Matrox is way out of budget. (Though my hardware guy at work, a former Avid editor-turned hardware evangelist), says run, don't walk, from Matrox products...)

all I can say is that my Quadro FX1700, paired with an nVidia Geforce 7800GT gives excellent results with an 720 HDTV monitor.

I'm looking at a new Mac Pro and want to run two lcd monitors plus my Vizio 1080p plasma lcd simultaneously. I'm cutting XDCAM HD footage and will be doing green screen compositing at times. The few people I've asked have said I must get a BM Intensity Pro or Kona LHe or Matrox MXO or some equivalent i/o capture card in order to run the video to the plasma, but I don't understand why I can't just add another video card alongside the upgraded ATI Radeon HD 4870 card that's offered with the new mac. I'll be adding a Sonnet e4p card, but that should still leave me enuf space, no? For that matter, couldn't I even use the S-Video out on the Radeon to component?

I know it's not a broadcast quality color space, but I'm not so concerned about that. I've got an old Sony NTSC monitor that maybe I could hook up to it to give me good color when it's time to do color correction, albeit in SD.

The Vizio currently gives an excellent HD picture out of my MBP using a dvi/hdmi dongle, but because of the limited number of slots I have to change it out each time I want to go back to the desktop monitors.

The difference between an Lhe with breakout box and a decent vid card is over $1500.

Does it have more to do with computer processing than graphics processing? What am I missing?