So up til now I've just been using a portable SD DVD player for a monitor when shooting on location, but now I would like to try t find an decent (however affordable) HD monitor for location shooting.

Do any of you just hook up to an hd monitor from say Best Buy or somewhere like that? Will anything from there work with the A1s? What cords do you use?

I just can't imagine paying $500 to $600 for a little 5 inch pro video monitor.

Please let me know what your ecconimical HD monitor solution is, Thanks much!

Hi Danny,

You might consider the 15" CRAIG HD - CLC501 HD LCD TV. It's got all the inputs you need - including HDMI. It is 720 P and throws a really decent Pic. It's ultra lite, and you can power it from a 12V source.

I got it on sale for $99 at CVS.

Only down side I've found - is the reflective screen, so you need to make, or buy, a screen Hood for the outside. Blackened Card Board and Velcro will do it.

Harold

Hey thanks Harold,

What cable do you use to go from the camera to the HDMI input of the monitor and where do you get it? The HD cable that comes with the camera does not have an HDMI on either end.

Where can I get one that will match the camera out to the HMDI in?

Thanks again!

I use my laptop and Adobe On location software. It allows you to set up your laptop like a broadcast monitor.

Hi Danny,

Assuming your Cam has HDMI out put, you should be able to get an HDMI cable just about any where now-a-days.

Sounds like you have at least a Component Output from the Cam. That will also work with the CRAIG unit, and since you've got that cable - you should be fine.

If you have the LapTop and the SoftWare like Ron has, then that's a good option too, may be more expensive though.

Harold

Ok, now I get it.

I need to buy a Component video to HDMI converter box, then use my cable that came with the camera to go from the cam to the box then an HDMI cable to go from the box to the HD monitor.

It would have been great if my cam had an HDMI output so I could go dirctly to the monitor, but no worries, I found a converter box for around $50.

Thanks everyone.

The Craig CLC501 (as well as every HDTV I've ever seen) has Component in. You don't need anything but the component cable that came with your cam.

http://www.craigelectronics.com/manuals/CLC501-IB-E0CR1-B0CV.pdf

Yes, yes,

I was so focused on a Monitor that I wasn't even thinking of an HDTV. I have found several small ones at Best Buy that will work perfectly. Thanks

I use my laptop and Adobe On location software. It allows you to set up your laptop like a broadcast monitor.

Ron, what kind of delay do you experience with the video display? What speed is your laptop? A friend of mine panned On Location a couple of years ago because the delay made it useless as a shooting monitor. Has this situation improved?

Question to anyone: Are there other software solutions other than On Location that allow near real-time video monitoring on a laptop?

My laptop is an ASUS core 2 duo with six gigs of ram running windows 7. The only time I notice any delay is on long takes. Although I only watch the laptop when I set up the shot and for camera adjustment and the like. During the shot I am watching the camera.