recommend "affordable" client viewing monitor for 17"mbp + fcp7?

[Rob Katz]

recommend "affordable" client viewing monitor for 17"mbp + fcp7?

my editor uses the last gen 17" mbp.

she cuts in fcp7.

she is now looking for a 2nd monitor so her clients can watch her work.

can anyone recommend a decent "client-viewing" monitor for $400-ish?

i was thinking about a dell 24" ultrasharp:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/cont...G&Q=&A=details

thanks in advance.

be well.

rob
smalltalk productions
nyc

[William Hohauser]

That model should work but remember affordable and good don't alway go hand in hand. It's very important that the client is placed where the color roll off effects of a LCD monitor isn't going to cause unneeded concern on their part. Also the monitor needs to be calibrated enough so that the client is getting a close approximation of how the finished video will look at it's final destination. I have an older HP LCD model with my laptop that is calibrated by a Datacolor Spyder3Elite hardware calibrator. The calibrator is around $250 but worth it.

[Rob Katz]

william-

thank you for sharing your thoughts and experience.

i have never used calibration tools/software.

i imagined that the standard print color targets were rgb/srgb.

i always thought the video color standard was rec 709.

do you have any knowledge/experience in understanding how the calibration between print color standards and video color standards are resolved?

thanks in advance for any info you care to share.

be well.

rob
smalltalk productions
nyc

[Chip Gallo]

If the OP's editor has clients "watching her work," won't they be seeing at least some content that has not been adjusted or matched for color? I usually deal with this toward the end. If so, color calibration on this client view station is not critical.

Amazon has a better price than B&H, who indicates limited quantities right now.

[William Hohauser]

Many years ago I used an Apple DVI to Video adapter and a split screen on a video switcher to manually adjust the monitor output (while FCP was playing the stock color bars generator) to the closest I could to the color bars in the switcher. This was so I could use a standard TV as a second monitor. The results were barely passable.

Later I used a Pantone Huey and got slightly better results on an Apple LCD. The difference between print gamma and Rec709 gamma are enough to make a perfectly good shot in video look pale and shifted on a standard computer screen. The Huey helped but their stock TV presets are not very accurate. Also the Huey is picky about the monitor, I could never get it to work on a glossy screen iMac.

I switched to the Spyder4Elite as it offers Rec709 calibration and it works great. Maybe 90 to 95% accurate on my Apple monitor. I am very confident about color correction now and screening the results in different places has confirmed that I have a decent set-up. I am not sure if I could achieve this by eye using manual adjustments in system preferences.

Yes there are better hardware set-ups costing more money (AJA, BlackMagic Designs) and monitors that are definitely better for much more money.