2 low cost HD field monitors

Dale Backus · November 8th, 2008, 03:47 PM

Hey all -

This is Dale with SmallHD.com -

Stumbled across this thread today and i thought it would be helpful if i were to shed some light on a few of the questions/concerns that i passed over while reading..

Sorry for the continually delayed release date. We originally created the 12" earlier this year, fully intending on releasing it in full for about 800-900 dollars. When we built our first prototype of the 12, we were astonished by the video quality and were able to truly understand what a benefit these products would be. So there was the first prototype, and then we redesigned and came up with a second prototype - leveraging off what we learned and a need for improvement from the first model.. After this and much more research and communication with many different suppliers and manufacturers, we really wanted to see if we would be able to make it smaller, lighter, and even better - while dropping the price from our originally intended 900 to about half that.

We are very close.

I can't give incredible detail at this moment, as the primary reason we've kept pretty quiet is we don't want to instill false hope or have to take back something we've said, but the new model's PRELIMINARY specs are as follows:

8.9" diagonal
1280x768
Very high contrast ratio
Super-wide 178 degree viewing angle
LED backlit - High brightness
Low-power consumption
HDMI, VGA, Component, S-Vid, Composite
1" Thick
Extremely lightweight - yet extremely durable/rigid anodized aluminum construction (more on this later)
Multiple 1/4 20 mounts (exact number to be determined) Input welcome
Custom quick-mount sunhood

We sincerely hope to be shipping these around the New year, with a more complete spec sheet and photos/renderings around Thanksgiving.

This monitor (name yet to be determined, suggestions?) is one of many Small HD Monitors SmallHD will be releasing - just have to walk before we run. This is a very impressive monitor that we hope to release for around 500 dollars. Our aim for this model was to get pixels into the pockets of the very under served low-budget indy film community. As we progress we will introduce more advanced and more involved models - HDSDI, etc.

Thanks all for your patience, and thanks for the good words, especially from those who have had their hands on one of our primitive prototypes.

Feel free to ask questions here, and i'll do my best to answer. Suggestions are always welcome.

Paul Cronin · November 8th, 2008, 04:02 PM

Thanks Dale sounds great. I look forward to the HDSDI unit.

Bryce Comer · November 9th, 2008, 11:25 AM

That sounds great Dale,
Thanks for the update. I had been to your site on a number of occasions as i'm looking at purchasing a field monitor in the very near future. These new developements you speak of sound very interesting. I will be following the progress of the new monitor with a very close eye.

Bryce

Paul Miley · November 10th, 2008, 01:17 PM

"This monitor (name yet to be determined, suggestions?)"

OK how about H DEMON (HDemon/HDeMon etc)?

Regards

Leo Versola · November 12th, 2008, 10:22 PM

Excellent news Dale, looking forward to being able to purchase your offering(s)...

Still thinking up names but how about the Pixie series of HD monitors?

Pixie to imply it's small and magical qualities... Plus Pixie and Pixel are somewhat similar words...

Cheers,

//Leo

Dan Chung · November 13th, 2008, 05:50 AM

Dale,

May I suggest in the interests of your sales and web traffic that you include some reference to the letters 5DmkII on your monitor! Just a thought.

How about SmallHDmkII-5D

Dan

Gints Klimanis · November 13th, 2008, 01:37 PM

Le Voyeur or Voyeur Grande would crack me up. Adding French wording to a product would increase the perceived value immensely to an American.

Greg Joyce · November 14th, 2008, 11:02 AM

Gints and others,

I tried sending an email but it didn't seem to work.

I wanted to thank you for your reviews of the Manhattan LCD 10.9 HD monitor. They prompted me to ordee one, which arrived yesterday. So far so good. The screen is nice and detailed and a welcome relief from the tiny LCD on my Canon XH-A1.

My question now is how to mount the thing. It's too big to go on the camera. Is there a recommended mount for a lighting stand? Or to attach to a leg of my tripod? I know I saw a picture somewhere of an articulated arm...

Any recommendations?

Thanks again for introducing me to the Manhattan 10.9. I've never used a Marshall, but it would have to be a heckuva lot better than the Manhattan to justify the 3X cost.

Dan Chung · November 14th, 2008, 01:17 PM

Manfrotto, Noga and Zacuto all make arms, as do others. I personally use the Red Rock Micro shoulder support system and a Stickypod ball head (but any decent ball head will do)

Dan

M. Paul El-Darwish · November 14th, 2008, 08:56 PM

Glad you like it. I'm helping construct the user manual for this so anyone that's already figured out the 'hidden' menus and functions, feel free to share.
I found the 10.9 a tad unwieldy for anchoring to the tripod- just cause it's rather wide and could easily get knocked over in the process of operating a camera. So I believe in light-stand mounting it. Even a superlightweight stand is fine.
Some links...
Imago Metrics:Toshiba 10.9" DIY Enclosure
http://imagometrics.com/images/10.9Images/GrpA.jpg
My big thing with these monitors is a quick-release between the monitor and the stand adapter or mount. Quick Release makes for safe and quick mounts and dismounts and take a lot of wear off of the 1/4-20 threads ;)
This is the cheapest...
Brandess Kalt/Aetna - Tripod Quick Release

Quote:

Originally Posted by Greg Joyce

Gints and others,

I tried sending an email but it didn't seem to work.

I wanted to thank you for your reviews of the Manhattan LCD 10.9 HD monitor. They prompted me to order one, which arrived yesterday. So far so good. The screen is nice and detailed and a welcome relief from the tiny LCD on my Canon XH-A1.

My question now is how to mount the thing. It's too big to go on the camera. Is there a recommended mount for a lighting stand? Or to attach to a leg of my tripod? I know I saw a picture somewhere of an articulated arm...

Any recommendations?

Thanks again for introducing me to the Manhattan 10.9. I've never used a Marshall, but it would have to be a heckuva lot better than the Manhattan to justify the 3X cost.

Greg Joyce · November 15th, 2008, 03:54 PM

Thanks, Paul.

I've been looking at this:

Bogen / Manfrotto | Magic Arm Kit | 143 | B&H Photo Video

BTW, can you tell me what the right-most hole is on the face of the enclosure? The other holes are for the power light and buttons. IU'm wondering if a button or light was misaligned or just missed.

Thanks.

M. Paul El-Darwish · November 15th, 2008, 08:29 PM

Magic arm is a classic and yes, it will securely anchor the 10.9" monitor to anything. I do find the classic versions quite heavy. Rightmost hole?? Usually that's the IR port for the wireless remote. Which picture are you referring to?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Greg Joyce

Thanks, Paul.

I've been looking at this:

Bogen / Manfrotto | Magic Arm Kit | 143 | B&H Photo Video

BTW, can you tell me what the right-most hole is on the face of the enclosure? The other holes are for the power light and buttons. IU'm wondering if a button or light was misaligned or just missed.

Thanks.

Dan Chung · November 16th, 2008, 07:07 AM

That arm will work. My latest rig is here http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/photo-hd-...tml#post964344

Would like to try a SmallHD monitor on it as well.

Dan

Trevor Meeks · November 19th, 2008, 06:18 PM

I spoke with Dale today regarding the new 9" monitors and I am SUPER stoked! I can't believe I spent $650 on a glidecam L5-Pro monitor... it's kind of a worthless piece of junk. I unboxed it today, plugged it into the XH-A1, then stuck it back in the box with an RMA to B&H... I'm going to hold out for this new SmallHD monitor. If it actually ships in January/February I'll be SUPER stoked and Dale, you can count on a purchase from me! It sounds like what you guys are doing is really cutting-edge stuff, and I am looking forward to the results.

Greg Joyce · November 19th, 2008, 09:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by M. Paul El-Darwish

Magic arm is a classic and yes, it will securely anchor the 10.9" monitor to anything. I do find the classic versions quite heavy. Rightmost hole?? Usually that's the IR port for the wireless remote. Which picture are you referring to?

M.Paul,

Sorry I missed your post until now. Yes, the Magic arm is quite heavy, but seems nice and solid. Re: the hole, 1/2" to the right of the Input button. It looks like perhaps there should be a light there. It's bigger than the power light hole. Look at the picture here, the one showing the face of the monitor. You can see it:

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/photo-hd-...tml#post964344

November 8th, 2008, 04:02 PM	#62
Paul Cronin Inner Circle Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Rhode Island Posts: 4,048	Thanks Dale sounds great. I look forward to the HDSDI unit. __________________ Paul Cronin www.paulcroninstudios.com

November 9th, 2008, 11:25 AM	#63
Bryce Comer Trustee Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Rossland, British Columbia Posts: 1,024	That sounds great Dale, Thanks for the update. I had been to your site on a number of occasions as i'm looking at purchasing a field monitor in the very near future. These new developements you speak of sound very interesting. I will be following the progress of the new monitor with a very close eye. Bryce __________________ There's never enough hours in the day!

November 14th, 2008, 11:02 AM	#68
Greg Joyce Regular Crew Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Boston, MA Posts: 106	how to mount the Manhattan LCD monitor Gints and others, I tried sending an email but it didn't seem to work. I wanted to thank you for your reviews of the Manhattan LCD 10.9 HD monitor. They prompted me to ordee one, which arrived yesterday. So far so good. The screen is nice and detailed and a welcome relief from the tiny LCD on my Canon XH-A1. My question now is how to mount the thing. It's too big to go on the camera. Is there a recommended mount for a lighting stand? Or to attach to a leg of my tripod? I know I saw a picture somewhere of an articulated arm... Any recommendations? Thanks again for introducing me to the Manhattan 10.9. I've never used a Marshall, but it would have to be a heckuva lot better than the Manhattan to justify the 3X cost.

November 15th, 2008, 03:54 PM	#71
Greg Joyce Regular Crew Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Boston, MA Posts: 106	manhatan lcd arm; hole Thanks, Paul. I've been looking at this: Bogen / Manfrotto \| Magic Arm Kit \| 143 \| B&H Photo Video BTW, can you tell me what the right-most hole is on the face of the enclosure? The other holes are for the power light and buttons. IU'm wondering if a button or light was misaligned or just missed. Thanks.

November 8th, 2008, 03:47 PM	#61
Dale Backus Regular Crew Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Cary, NC Posts: 132	Hey all - This is Dale with SmallHD.com - Stumbled across this thread today and i thought it would be helpful if i were to shed some light on a few of the questions/concerns that i passed over while reading.. Sorry for the continually delayed release date. We originally created the 12" earlier this year, fully intending on releasing it in full for about 800-900 dollars. When we built our first prototype of the 12, we were astonished by the video quality and were able to truly understand what a benefit these products would be. So there was the first prototype, and then we redesigned and came up with a second prototype - leveraging off what we learned and a need for improvement from the first model.. After this and much more research and communication with many different suppliers and manufacturers, we really wanted to see if we would be able to make it smaller, lighter, and even better - while dropping the price from our originally intended 900 to about half that. We are very close. I can't give incredible detail at this moment, as the primary reason we've kept pretty quiet is we don't want to instill false hope or have to take back something we've said, but the new model's PRELIMINARY specs are as follows: 8.9" diagonal 1280x768 Very high contrast ratio Super-wide 178 degree viewing angle LED backlit - High brightness Low-power consumption HDMI, VGA, Component, S-Vid, Composite 1" Thick Extremely lightweight - yet extremely durable/rigid anodized aluminum construction (more on this later) Multiple 1/4 20 mounts (exact number to be determined) Input welcome Custom quick-mount sunhood We sincerely hope to be shipping these around the New year, with a more complete spec sheet and photos/renderings around Thanksgiving. This monitor (name yet to be determined, suggestions?) is one of many Small HD Monitors SmallHD will be releasing - just have to walk before we run. This is a very impressive monitor that we hope to release for around 500 dollars. Our aim for this model was to get pixels into the pockets of the very under served low-budget indy film community. As we progress we will introduce more advanced and more involved models - HDSDI, etc. Thanks all for your patience, and thanks for the good words, especially from those who have had their hands on one of our primitive prototypes. Feel free to ask questions here, and i'll do my best to answer. Suggestions are always welcome.

November 10th, 2008, 01:17 PM	#64
Paul Miley New Boot Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Dorset UK Posts: 21	"This monitor (name yet to be determined, suggestions?)" OK how about H DEMON (HDemon/HDeMon etc)? Regards

November 12th, 2008, 10:22 PM	#65
Leo Versola Regular Crew Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: San Francisco, CA Posts: 73	Excellent news Dale, looking forward to being able to purchase your offering(s)... Still thinking up names but how about the Pixie series of HD monitors? Pixie to imply it's small and magical qualities... Plus Pixie and Pixel are somewhat similar words... Cheers, //Leo

November 13th, 2008, 05:50 AM	#66
Dan Chung Major Player Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Beijing Posts: 665	Dale, May I suggest in the interests of your sales and web traffic that you include some reference to the letters 5DmkII on your monitor! Just a thought. How about SmallHDmkII-5D Dan

November 13th, 2008, 01:37 PM	#67
Gints Klimanis Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: San Jose, CA Posts: 2,222	Le Voyeur or Voyeur Grande would crack me up. Adding French wording to a product would increase the perceived value immensely to an American.

November 14th, 2008, 01:17 PM	#69
Dan Chung Major Player Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Beijing Posts: 665	Manfrotto, Noga and Zacuto all make arms, as do others. I personally use the Red Rock Micro shoulder support system and a Stickypod ball head (but any decent ball head will do) Dan

November 16th, 2008, 07:07 AM	#73
Dan Chung Major Player Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Beijing Posts: 665	That arm will work. My latest rig is here http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/photo-hd-...tml#post964344 Would like to try a SmallHD monitor on it as well. Dan

November 19th, 2008, 06:18 PM	#74
Trevor Meeks Major Player Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Sonoma, CA Posts: 336	I spoke with Dale today regarding the new 9" monitors and I am SUPER stoked! I can't believe I spent $650 on a glidecam L5-Pro monitor... it's kind of a worthless piece of junk. I unboxed it today, plugged it into the XH-A1, then stuck it back in the box with an RMA to B&H... I'm going to hold out for this new SmallHD monitor. If it actually ships in January/February I'll be SUPER stoked and Dale, you can count on a purchase from me! It sounds like what you guys are doing is really cutting-edge stuff, and I am looking forward to the results.