Affordable 7" monitor

Alex Wren · April 14th, 2008, 06:27 AM

Hi,

I would be very interested in what anybody thinks of the 7" monitor available at http://www.compositevideo.co.uk/prod...=95&quantity=1

It is only £195+vat (about $450 inc tax). I appreciate it does not have the pixels for excellent focusing or it won't be absolutely colour accurate but surely for that money it is better than the built in LCD?

I would love to hear what people have to say?

Alex

Chris Coulson · April 14th, 2008, 06:40 AM

Absolutely!

It won't score you any point amongst the boys who say it's throwing your money away if you spend less than $10,000,000,000,000,000 :-) but they've got too much money anyway.

It'll even be a help with focussing too. if you watch it while tweaking focus, you'll be able to see when its out of focus one way, and then the other, and set it somewhere in the middle.

Regarding colourmatching, if the people watching your finished film are too busy discussing colour matching, then I think you've got bigger problems with the interest level of your film :-)

Just make films, Theres a difference between a good film, and and a technically brilliant film. :-) I know what's important to me :-)

Alex Wren · April 14th, 2008, 07:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris Coulson

Absolutely!

It won't score you any point amongst the boys who say it's throwing your money away if you spend less than $10,000,000,000,000,000 :-) but they've got too much money anyway.

It'll even be a help with focussing too. if you watch it while tweaking focus, you'll be able to see when its out of focus one way, and then the other, and set it somewhere in the middle.

Thanks Chris,

I am really struggling with the viewfinder/LCD, I need to see levels and so on but it really does not help when it comes to composition. I assume I can just connect this to the composite o/p on my HD111 and rely on it's own built in battery.

Alex

Chris Coulson · April 14th, 2008, 07:41 AM

I think most cameras are able to output to the viewfinder and an external o/p - you may have to enable it in a menu though.

The external screen will need it's own battery, but yes, it's that simple.

Claude Mangold · April 14th, 2008, 07:59 AM

I would stay clear of this type of monitor. Price may seem attractive but you'r not getting much more than the buit-in lcd gives you, except for weight. i know the professional stuff is way more, like $ 4000 plus. a better compromise might be a TOTEVISION - though I haven't used one so far so ne personal experience. no monitor under 15" or so will give you full res and show all dead pixels. seems to be around $ 1500.

Alex Wren · April 14th, 2008, 08:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Claude Mangold

I would stay clear of this type of monitor. Price may seem attractive but you'r not getting much more than the buit-in lcd gives you, except for weight. i know the professional stuff is way more, like $ 4000 plus. a better compromise might be a TOTEVISION - though I haven't used one so far so ne personal experience. no monitor under 15" or so will give you full res and show all dead pixels. seems to be around $ 1500.

Hi Claude,

Interesting comments, do you not think that having a 7" display rather than a 3.5" display is not an improvement?

The 7" HD monitor looks pretty nice (http://www.totevision.com/Second/Tot...20MONITORS.htm) however at $838 dollars we talking nearly twice as much as what I originally looked at.

What I am really after is a bigger screen to aid composition and generally use out and about. I cannot afford anything more, I also don't have any real issues with focusing (yet!) as the JVC focus assist is ace. I know this will not be a professional solution.

However what I really would like to know is will this work with my camera, will the quality be better than the viewfinder and so on?

Alex

David Scattergood · April 14th, 2008, 08:55 AM

Let us know how you get on if/when you purchase this Alex.
I know exactly what you mean about focusing via the JVC LCD - I struggle to see the siemens chart (when zoomed out) enough to categorically say it's 'hit the nail' - the chart's almost invisible and I have decent eyesight.
I'm constantly warned against purchasing the cheaper field monitors like the one you posted...but then again I simply do not have the budget for the higher end ones.
Good luck.

Alan Hanna · April 14th, 2008, 12:04 PM

Hey gang,

I have a Sharp 19sk24u that I bought from Circuit City in the US. It's a 19" HDTV that has HDMI and Component inputs. But it's not one of those 19" "TVs" that are really computer monitors labeled as TVs. It has an aspect of 16:9 (Not 16:10) like a monitor and 1366x768 resolution (Not 1440x900). It's the smallest consumer HDTV that I can find that has the proper 16:9 ratio...unless there are other manufacturer's that have released something else in the past few months. Here is the link on Sharp's site:

http://www.sharpusa.com/products/Mod...8,1939,00.html

There are other 19inch models that are practically exactly the same. This model is branded as a "kitchen counter" model since it has 2 remotes. It is decent, not that big and light. The colors need to be adjusted when I got it. I ran camera bars through the component out (I have an HD200) and adjusted the colors that way. Since its not a professional field monitor, the colors are perfect, but I was able to correct them to the point that they are decent. The yellows are a tad bit "mustard"...but not that much. Its really good for composing and focus. You aren't really gonna use the monitor for color anyway. Right now it retails for about $430 at Best Buy. I got it for $250 at circuit city when they had a huge sale on it. I really would suggest anyone interested to check it out. I didn't see it at circuit city's webstie right now. If anyone does buy one of the models and doesn't like it, make sure you buy it from a retailer that doesn't charge you a restocking fee. One major problem it does have from a consumer stand point is that the coax input is absolutely horrible. The HD off the air looks worse than an SD dvd plugged into it via hdmi. I need to call them again to get that fixed. But all the other inputs work fine. Its used primarily through component anyway.

Claude Mangold · April 15th, 2008, 07:34 AM

Alex, short of a professional monitor, Alan's solution is probably the better one. For composition, a 19" screen is much much more useful, plus you'll see dead pixels. For precise color and lighting and exposure issues, you'd need vy expensive monitors with histograms etc.

so i'd go for this if it's ok to have to plug something in, and if you're not using it to watch HD over an antenna cable.

but I haven't seen any of these screens.

The only ones I have practical experience with are JVC HD monitors and Marshal, and the 720p Panasonic. for screening rushes we use a HD beamer.

Shaun Roemich · April 15th, 2008, 08:26 AM

The way I read Alex's post is that the 7" was to be used as an affixed on camera secondary monitor. If this in fact the case, I say go for it understanding the limitations of the panel. Some situations in documentary productions preclude the ability to tie into a beautiful field monitor as we need to be mobile instantly. Grab the handle, hit the quick release on the tripod and go, without having to disconnect a BNC or other video connector.

I find the larger the monitor, the better my framing becomes. What I frame on a 1.5" viewfinder or 3" LCD I may look at in the studio and say "I wish I would have moved that a hair to the right of frame". On a 7" monitor, I'm usually a little closer. Yes, the 19" is nice with a crew or knowing that everything will be controlled, but for news or docs, I'd go with an acceptable, if compromising, on camera solution.

April 14th, 2008, 06:27 AM	#1
Alex Wren Regular Crew Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: UK Posts: 161	Affordable 7" monitor - any good? Hi, I would be very interested in what anybody thinks of the 7" monitor available at http://www.compositevideo.co.uk/prod...=95&quantity=1 It is only £195+vat (about $450 inc tax). I appreciate it does not have the pixels for excellent focusing or it won't be absolutely colour accurate but surely for that money it is better than the built in LCD? I would love to hear what people have to say? Alex

April 15th, 2008, 08:26 AM	#10
Shaun Roemich Inner Circle Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Vancouver, British Columbia (formerly Winnipeg, Manitoba) Canada Posts: 4,088	The way I read Alex's post is that the 7" was to be used as an affixed on camera secondary monitor. If this in fact the case, I say go for it understanding the limitations of the panel. Some situations in documentary productions preclude the ability to tie into a beautiful field monitor as we need to be mobile instantly. Grab the handle, hit the quick release on the tripod and go, without having to disconnect a BNC or other video connector. I find the larger the monitor, the better my framing becomes. What I frame on a 1.5" viewfinder or 3" LCD I may look at in the studio and say "I wish I would have moved that a hair to the right of frame". On a 7" monitor, I'm usually a little closer. Yes, the 19" is nice with a crew or knowing that everything will be controlled, but for news or docs, I'd go with an acceptable, if compromising, on camera solution. __________________ Shaun C. Roemich Road Dog Media - Vancouver, BC - Videographer - Webcaster www.roaddogmedia.ca Blog: http://roaddogmedia.wordpress.com/

April 14th, 2008, 06:40 AM	#2
Chris Coulson Regular Crew Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Kent, UK Posts: 101	Absolutely! It won't score you any point amongst the boys who say it's throwing your money away if you spend less than $10,000,000,000,000,000 :-) but they've got too much money anyway. It'll even be a help with focussing too. if you watch it while tweaking focus, you'll be able to see when its out of focus one way, and then the other, and set it somewhere in the middle. Regarding colourmatching, if the people watching your finished film are too busy discussing colour matching, then I think you've got bigger problems with the interest level of your film :-) Just make films, Theres a difference between a good film, and and a technically brilliant film. :-) I know what's important to me :-)

April 14th, 2008, 07:41 AM	#4
Chris Coulson Regular Crew Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Kent, UK Posts: 101	I think most cameras are able to output to the viewfinder and an external o/p - you may have to enable it in a menu though. The external screen will need it's own battery, but yes, it's that simple.

April 14th, 2008, 07:59 AM	#5
Claude Mangold Major Player Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Berlin and Geneva Posts: 259	I would stay clear of this type of monitor. Price may seem attractive but you'r not getting much more than the buit-in lcd gives you, except for weight. i know the professional stuff is way more, like $ 4000 plus. a better compromise might be a TOTEVISION - though I haven't used one so far so ne personal experience. no monitor under 15" or so will give you full res and show all dead pixels. seems to be around $ 1500.

April 14th, 2008, 08:55 AM	#7
David Scattergood Major Player Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Manchester, UK Posts: 755	Let us know how you get on if/when you purchase this Alex. I know exactly what you mean about focusing via the JVC LCD - I struggle to see the siemens chart (when zoomed out) enough to categorically say it's 'hit the nail' - the chart's almost invisible and I have decent eyesight. I'm constantly warned against purchasing the cheaper field monitors like the one you posted...but then again I simply do not have the budget for the higher end ones. Good luck.

April 14th, 2008, 12:04 PM	#8
Alan Hanna New Boot Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Miami, FL Posts: 12	Hey gang, I have a Sharp 19sk24u that I bought from Circuit City in the US. It's a 19" HDTV that has HDMI and Component inputs. But it's not one of those 19" "TVs" that are really computer monitors labeled as TVs. It has an aspect of 16:9 (Not 16:10) like a monitor and 1366x768 resolution (Not 1440x900). It's the smallest consumer HDTV that I can find that has the proper 16:9 ratio...unless there are other manufacturer's that have released something else in the past few months. Here is the link on Sharp's site: http://www.sharpusa.com/products/Mod...8,1939,00.html There are other 19inch models that are practically exactly the same. This model is branded as a "kitchen counter" model since it has 2 remotes. It is decent, not that big and light. The colors need to be adjusted when I got it. I ran camera bars through the component out (I have an HD200) and adjusted the colors that way. Since its not a professional field monitor, the colors are perfect, but I was able to correct them to the point that they are decent. The yellows are a tad bit "mustard"...but not that much. Its really good for composing and focus. You aren't really gonna use the monitor for color anyway. Right now it retails for about $430 at Best Buy. I got it for $250 at circuit city when they had a huge sale on it. I really would suggest anyone interested to check it out. I didn't see it at circuit city's webstie right now. If anyone does buy one of the models and doesn't like it, make sure you buy it from a retailer that doesn't charge you a restocking fee. One major problem it does have from a consumer stand point is that the coax input is absolutely horrible. The HD off the air looks worse than an SD dvd plugged into it via hdmi. I need to call them again to get that fixed. But all the other inputs work fine. Its used primarily through component anyway.

April 15th, 2008, 07:34 AM	#9
Claude Mangold Major Player Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Berlin and Geneva Posts: 259	Alex, short of a professional monitor, Alan's solution is probably the better one. For composition, a 19" screen is much much more useful, plus you'll see dead pixels. For precise color and lighting and exposure issues, you'd need vy expensive monitors with histograms etc. so i'd go for this if it's ok to have to plug something in, and if you're not using it to watch HD over an antenna cable. but I haven't seen any of these screens. The only ones I have practical experience with are JVC HD monitors and Marshal, and the 720p Panasonic. for screening rushes we use a HD beamer.