iKan V8000HD monitor

[Ash Greyson]

Originally Posted by Lonnie Bell

Ash,
when you say the tack sharp focus was offered by the Nebtek, I'm assuming you meant off their prototype due in production end of this month... or did you mean their current line which is Marshall's in Nebtek enclosures?

Always appreciate your experience and knowledge base Ash,
Lonnie

Their proto... you can have the same resolution in two monitors and one can resolve much more detail.


ash =o)

[Lonnie Bell]

thanks Ash,
then i'll be patient for Nebtek's Prototype OR pony up for Panny's Panasonic BT-LH80W...


Your the man Ash,
Lonnie

[James Carver]

Originally Posted by Ash Greyson

It is my theory that the reason you see so much "soft" (ie OUT OF FOCUS) HD is due to poor monitoring...

yea, it's damn near impossible to get tack sharp focus on that small lcd camera monitor alone especially in low lit scenes. the monitor is the perfect solution for that problem which is why i got it.

:)

[Eric Rosen]

Thanks everyone to great responses. What about powering up this monitor with 12V batteries? That would be a very cheap solution instead of buying Sony Batteries.

Cheers
/erico

[Stephen Pruitt]

WAIT! No one please answer Eric's latest post. I have already run out and bought (on Ebay) three batteries for this camera.

:-)

[Eugene Kim]

Hmm, the new Nebtek still isn't up for sale on their website, and I never got a response to my inquiry to them about when it would go up for sale.

Anyone have an updated release date for this monitor? The previous timeline has obviously been pushed back at this point, but man am I dying to buy this thing.

[Alexis Vazquez]

Some questions,
1. Is it better to buy the kit or just get the monitor & accesories apart?
2. What cables are best to use with canon xha1?
3. Is this monitor good for focus reference?

Thank you

Alexis

[Anh Minh Truong]

Hi,
anyone using this monitor had issues with Infolithium L batteries? I have bought two different "brand" of L batteries (from globalbatteries.com, and from Ebay) and none of them work with the ikan V8000HD. My "genuine" Infolithium L seems to work fine though....
Thanks.

[Vence Vida]

Well, the reason there is a kit is because it's a price reduction over buying everything separately, so I would think that would be the way to go, unless you are not going to ever mount the monitor on a camera hot-shoe. The kit only comes with a hot shoe mount an AC adapter and a remote. You have to purchase a sun shade, battery, case, etc. separately, regardless (unless there is a new kit available since I bought mine). I went to Wal-Mart and bought a $17 portable DVD player case for mine and it fits the monitor, battery, shoe mount and AC adapter as if it was made for it.

I have had the monitor for about 3 weeks now and used it in the field on 4 occasions. I have been pleasantly surprised with the focus, considering the price. Some of our hard-core forum members who are used to using pretty high-end gear have had reservations about the clarity of the Ikan, but I have to say, I have had no difficulty knowing when the focus was locked in while connected to my XL H1 via component cables running HD. Even in SD, the clarity is a marked improvement over the SD only Varizoom LCD that I've had for my XL2 for a couple of years. I can pretty easily tell when the shot is spot-on focused rather than ever-so-slightly out near or far.

I know $3000 Panasonics and the like will be sharper and more true than the Ikan, but for less than $800, if that's the price range you are limited to, I think it's great. Seriously, if you can't be pretty certain of your focus with this monitor via component cables, then you must have an amazingly soft touch on the focus ring, because I can easily see on this monitor the result of the slightest adjustment I am able to make on the lens.

Also, the much-maligned plastic construction of the monitor makes it perfect for on-camera work. The heavier Marshalls and other metal rack-mountable models are too heavy for hot shoe mounting, in my opinion. That's not the only way to mount, of course, but if that is what you're planning, I don't think the light weight case is necessarily a bad thing.

For the record, I have also found the framing (non-underscan) to be pretty reliable and certainly more accurate than the XL H1 stock color viewfinder.

One weirdness I have noticed on my model: In widescreen, either HD or SD, the image is slightly stretched, as if the monitor is actually a bit more narrow than 16x9. When switched to 4x3 it looks fine, though. I have been able to ignore that, for the most part.

-V

[Boyd Ostroff]

Originally Posted by Vence Vida

For the record, I have also found the framing (underscan) to be pretty reliable and certainly more accurate than the XL H1 stock color viewfinder.

So is there a menu option for underscan on this monitor, or are you saying that in normal use it always shows the full frame?

Originally Posted by Vence Vida

One weirdness I have noticed on my model: In widescreen, either HD or SD, the image is slightly stretched, as if the monitor is actually a bit more narrow than 16x9.

If it has square pixels then it would behave as you describe since the resolution is 800x480 and to be in the correct 16:9 proportion it would have to be 854x480 or else add a black bar above and below the image.

Thanks for your insights - one of these days I'm going to get a portable monitor. I was impressed by the image on the iKan which I saw at NAB (see: http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/attachmen...&d=1177002852), but wish it had some of the "pro" features the more expensive models had.

[Vence Vida]

Boyd,

My bad - I meant non-underscan. It does NOT show full frame. I was typing too much, too fast. I have edited the post and fixed it.

Regarding the square vs. rectangle pixels, I guess I assumed that if the monitor is supposed to be HD compatible - not just widescreen - that it should correct for the pixel proportion difference. But, I suppose that is one of the compromises made for the price break.

Incidentally, your NAB post and pictures and the resulting discussion on that thread is what led me to the Ikan. I have that post saved as a bookmark in my browser, because I have called it up so many times while reading stuff all over the web, trying to figure out which one to buy, so thanks for the help you didn't even know you gave me!

-Vence

[Vence Vida]

BTW Boyd, have you ever seen or heard of the Tote Vision monitor in this same genre? Check out my other thread in the video monitors forum titled "Tote Vision Monitors". I am really intrigued about them, but can't find anyone who has seen one.

-V

[Boyd Ostroff]

Thanks Vence. No, not familiar with that monitor. BTW, I think that "non-underscan" would be "overscan". :-)

Regarding image proportions versus pixel dimensions, I think it's pretty common for widescreen monitors to distort their images. 16:10 is a common LCD panel size for some reason. The cheaper screens just scale the image to use all the pixels. Better ones will have an option to letterbox 16:9 inside the 16:10 frame.

I have a Gateway 21" screen like this. You need to choose the correct menu option if you want properly proportioned HD on that screen. But if you feed the screen standard definition anamorphic 16:9 there's no option for letterboxing; it always fills the full screen and looks distorted.

[Alexis Vazquez]

Thanks Vence for your respond,
What cables do you use to connect the monitor?

The Kit as I see it comes with: V8000HD, Metal Case, CH750 Sony Compatible Battery Charger, IBS970 Sony Compatible Battery, AC Adapter, DC Adapter, Camera Shoe Mount for $895.00 So then not bad for the price.

aXis

[Vence Vida]

Alexis,

I haven't seen that kit. I bought mine from B&H for $749 and it came with remote control, hot shoe adapter and AC adaptor.

Then, I bought a generic Sony NP-F970 from ESPow for $27
http://www.espow.com/
and a soft sided case from Wal-Mart (intended for a portable DVD player) for $17, so I paid $793 total for everything you're describing - except my case is padded, not metal.

I use RGB component cables to run the monitor. It makes a big difference over standard composite, even when running SD - but especially when running HD, because you can't get the full HD resolution from just a composite cable.

-V