Hi-

I am using the Adobe After effects plug-in called Color Finesse. With most all After Effects plug-ins I am able to see the changes (in real time) on my NTSC monitor that is connected via S-Video to my ADVC-100 that is connected to my PC via Firewire. However, Color Finesse will not allow for the realtime changes. Therefore, when I color correct I can't see the results on the NTSC monitor until I exit the plug-in.

I am trying a 72 hour trial version of Echo Fire (by Synthetic Aperature) the same company the makes Color Finesse. Echo Fire is suppose to solve this problem by allowing you to view after effects previews + other programs such as QuickTime on an firewire connected NTSC monitor.

Unfortunatly I can't get the Color Finesse plug-in to work with Echo Fire. Echo Fire works, but not when I'm in Color finesse. Color Finesse provides an option for a secondary monitor - however, the choices are {blank space} & {NONE}. It appears as though Color finesse may be looking for another (secondary) VGA type monitor.

Is there a way to set-up my NTSC-Via ADVC-100 with my ATI FireGL V7100 so that my PC sees it as a secondary monitor. Perhaps Color Finesse would then recognize the fire wire monitor. Or any other slution?

Thanks...

my guess as to why you can't preview to an external monitor as you color correct would probably be because color finesse is one of the few plugins i know of that makes you leave the after effects workspace into its own interface to perform the color correction. i like to preview out to a monitor as well, and i haven't found this to be too problematic as i will make the adjustment, check it in the preview monitor, and dive back in if necessary.

color finesse, by default, will use a second monitor as a preview monitor as you suggested. a solution might be to use a video card with a second dvi output, and use a television with a dvi input, like some of the sony wega crt's, as your preview monitor. i output video from my laptop with dvi out to a dvi-capable tv quite often, and i know for a fact the tv can be used as a secondary monitor if desired.

i don't know if that's much help, but it's the only thing i could come up with that might help you here.

Most ATI cards come with a DVI to component converter for watching DVDs, maybe that would help when using a crt based preview setup?