Once again I start with a semi-easy question and the more I read the more I get confused.

I am building a FCP setup with dual 30" Dell's. One for Final Cut to run on and one to preview my work (did a project for them, I could never justify buying 2 30" monitors) I have a Color Spyder 2 Pro to calibrate the monitors with.

Will the monitors produce accurate colors after calibrated, or will the gamma of the monitors screw with the contrast that I see on screen?

How would you go about setting up a monitor to color correct on?

Is it possible?

Or would it be a better idea to get an Intensity Card and a cheap LCD, run HDMI to it to monitor HDV and color correction on?

Is an LCD tv more accurate than a calibrated computer monitor? I know the gammas are different but my experience with ANY TV is that colors differ from each one.

I don't have the budget for a production monitor and I'll be doing mostly HD/HDV material.

What would you do?

Thanks for your time!

Will the monitors produce accurate colors after calibrated?

No. Dell is all IPV and TN. For accurate colors, you need an S-IPS or derivitive display technology.


Or would it be a better idea to get an Intensity Card and a cheap LCD, run HDMI to it to monitor HDV and color correction on?


A cheap, consumer LCD TV is not any better than a cheap, LCD computer monitor. In fact, the reverse is often true. The connection, HDMI or DVI, has nothing to do with it.


I don't have the budget for a production monitor


Then you don't have the budget for accurate color. If you can live with sub-HDTV resolution (1600x1200 or less), you can find a color accurate model for $400 - $1000.

I got my S-IPS HP LP2065 for $390. Here's my information about it:

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1004&message=20192314