setting 15"powerbook screen for best color at DVinfo.net

Stefan Day · July 14th, 2005, 04:45 PM

Howdie, I edit almost all my footage on the go with a 15"powerbook and NO external monitor. I use XL2 for capture and edit in Final Cut Pro 4. I am requesting advice for setting my scren to the best and most acurate color representation of my footage.

My target presentation venues are both DVD and for internet streaming video.

thanks!

Boyd Ostroff · July 14th, 2005, 04:59 PM

Go to the Displays pane of System Preferences and select Color. Use the full calibration option. My powerbook is in the shop right now so I can't walk you through the whole thing, but IIRC you will find options for SMPTE-C, PAL/SECAM and other video formats. Beyond that you can tweak to personal preference. Use FCP to put up some color bars and try to make those look correct. This may help:

http://www.videouniversity.com/tvbars2.htm

Personally, I can never get it quite right. If I get the brightness about where it should be then I don't seem to have enough contrast. But you can get reasonably close. I just finished two weeks editing only on my powerbook for projection on huge screens with some big iron. When we first looked at the video I was very unhappy to see it was so different from my powerbook. But after adjusting the projector I was able to bring it very close to what I saw on the laptop. Of course this is somewhat specialized since I had total control over the delivery medium...

On the road in a pinch you could also probably plug your hotel TV set into the powerbook's s-video output using an RCA adaptor, then use FCP's digital cinema desktop for a second monitor.

Stefan Day · July 16th, 2005, 07:18 PM

hey thankyou. that helped

Stefan Day · July 16th, 2005, 07:19 PM

sounds like it'll be a process to get all this figured it out.

July 14th, 2005, 04:45 PM	#1
Stefan Day Regular Crew Join Date: May 2005 Location: Rhinebeck, New York Posts: 57	setting 15"powerbook screen for best color Howdie, I edit almost all my footage on the go with a 15"powerbook and NO external monitor. I use XL2 for capture and edit in Final Cut Pro 4. I am requesting advice for setting my scren to the best and most acurate color representation of my footage. My target presentation venues are both DVD and for internet streaming video. thanks! __________________ wooohoooo! let's make some movie!

July 16th, 2005, 07:18 PM	#3
Stefan Day Regular Crew Join Date: May 2005 Location: Rhinebeck, New York Posts: 57	hey thankyou. that helped __________________ wooohoooo! let's make some movie!

July 16th, 2005, 07:19 PM	#4
Stefan Day Regular Crew Join Date: May 2005 Location: Rhinebeck, New York Posts: 57	sounds like it'll be a process to get all this figured it out. __________________ wooohoooo! let's make some movie!

July 14th, 2005, 04:59 PM	#2
Boyd Ostroff Wrangler Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Mays Landing, NJ Posts: 11,802	Go to the Displays pane of System Preferences and select Color. Use the full calibration option. My powerbook is in the shop right now so I can't walk you through the whole thing, but IIRC you will find options for SMPTE-C, PAL/SECAM and other video formats. Beyond that you can tweak to personal preference. Use FCP to put up some color bars and try to make those look correct. This may help: http://www.videouniversity.com/tvbars2.htm Personally, I can never get it quite right. If I get the brightness about where it should be then I don't seem to have enough contrast. But you can get reasonably close. I just finished two weeks editing only on my powerbook for projection on huge screens with some big iron. When we first looked at the video I was very unhappy to see it was so different from my powerbook. But after adjusting the projector I was able to bring it very close to what I saw on the laptop. Of course this is somewhat specialized since I had total control over the delivery medium... On the road in a pinch you could also probably plug your hotel TV set into the powerbook's s-video output using an RCA adaptor, then use FCP's digital cinema desktop for a second monitor.