Thanks Eric!

10' screen is pretty decent. I'm glad you liked what you saw. Do you know if the projector had true WXGA resolution?

Anecdotal evidence is that the video also held up after projecting on a large theatrical screen.

My LCD HD monitor is 1280x720, I purposedly *rejected* 1280x768 model because I never wanted any resolution conversions going on, just plain 1280x720p30 (my monitor is actually capable of 720p60).

Oh, that should be a handy monitor indeed. What make and model? I have a friend who wanted one, maybe he still does :)

The projector could display true HD 720p.

This may be stating the obvious, but one way I've found to lock both the exposure and shutter speed is to lock the exposure then turn on the "sports mode". Of course this will lock the shutter speed at 250 or higher, and will proabably be useless for most applications, but I thought I'd bring it up because someone might find it usefull.

Eric, that's Samsung LTM225W.

B&H has it for $1.2K.

It has 2 Component, one S-Video, one Composite, and one DVI input. (It also has audio, but I don't care about it. Also has TV receiver with PiP etc.)

I have my D-VHS recorder connected via Component. This allows me to monitor both D-VHS tapes and HD10's output when I connect it to HD30K recorder via firewire.

I used to have the cam connected separately, but there's no difference in quality while watching via firewire/HD30K, just 1 second delay while 30K decodes MPEG stream... so I now have an extra Component input available...

S-Video I used to have to monitor PC's video overlay via Matrox Parhelia, but now I just use Parhelia's DVI out to my HD monitor.

This allows me to move the application's monitor window onto my HD display, and watch playback in full-rez HD. (Video overlay seems to be visibly lower in quality, probably just SD NTSC, even when played over DVI.)

Hope this helps.

Thanks Alex.

If I am correct, the Matrox DVI is SD, not HD, so you are right about the lower res output.

Is the input of the monitor HD SDI or just SDI?

Actually, Parhelia pumps HD signal out of both of its DVI outputs.

One DVI output has an adapter that converts it to feed the standard PC monitor.

The other DVI output can accept a bunch of other adapters, including S-Video etc.

I use that 2nd DVI output straight-up, no adapter - just connecting it to the DVI-in on the HD monitor via the DVI to DVI cable.

Note that Parhelia cannot recognize my HD monitor because 1280x720 is *not* one of the resolutions supported by Parhelia. Therefore I have PowerStrip software installed that translates between the monitor and the video card just fine.


<<< Matrox DVI is SD, not HD >>>

Actually, Parhelia does *not* actually have an inherent SD limitation of its DVI outputs.

It's just what you run software-wise that matters.

For instance, if you use video overlay, then this software-driven solution does seem to be SD or at least visibly worse than HD.

All this sounds very convoluted... probably because it is :)

But in the end, I'm happy to have a large HD monitor with high-def real-time video on it, beside my main PC monitor.

Now if only there was a software that allowed to capture/process/output HD the same way we do now with DV (procedure-wise, I don't mean down-rezing), that'd be the day.

One of the things i did, which worked was using my Laptop for Aspect HD editing, I connected an HD LCD from Samsung to the VGA out on the back of the laptop.

Then I expanded the desktop and put my program windo on it. The color was good and the resolution was excellent.

If you can, give it a try. It's an inexpensive way to see this in a color that is closer to real on an screen that is also pretty useful.

Hope this helps

Correct, this is what I recommend - instead of video overlay, just ise the second monitor as an extension of your desktop, then Ctrl-Maximize your application onto the second window (HD monitor) and put your application's Monitor Window there.

Voila - you are looking at the full-rez HD playback.

I do this in both Premiere Pro and AfterEffects.

Darren, QUESTION: Premiere Pro has "Fit" setting in its Monitor Window, while AfterEffects 5.5 Production Bundle does *not*.

As a result, 100% setting cuts the bottom of the video in AE, while the next step - 50% - makes the video way too small.

Steve Mullen said that AE for Mac doesn't have such problem. I have Windows. Any suggestions? Thanks.