2 low cost HD field monitors

[Gints Klimanis]

Originally Posted by Trevor Meeks

I spoke with Dale today regarding the new 9" monitors and I am SUPER stoked!

9" and light is probably the right size for mobile rigs. I have the Manhattan LCD with an EX1 on a shoulder mount. It's just a couple inches too tall and wide for that specific setup, though it's just right on a tripod. Though, I think you really need a 15+" 720P monitor to view HD. The pixels pitch is too small even when you're a foot away from the Manhattan LCD screen. If someone could package a Picture-in-Picture setup with the 2-4x zoomed image on the full screen and the framed image in 1/8 of the screen, we would be saved !

Sony, please copy the focusing Nikon D90 offers for its movie mode.

[David Donnenfield]

There may be other technical issues with these two particular, appealing-looking, monitors (SmallHD and Manahttan), but one matter that concerns me greatly is that they don't have blue gun capability. How is one going to calibrate the monitor without seeing "blue bars" on the screen from the camera? Is there another method that these two monitors provide that is rock-solid and can be relied upon in a multi-cam situation?
David

[Paul Cronin]

David I agree I need HD-SDI with proper calibration. Dale on post #61 is saying they will have a HD-SDI option I do not know if can be calibrated. Would be silly if they did not have this feature but we have to wait and see.

I am hot on the market for a monitor and waiting to see what they offer first if the time frame permits.

[David Donnenfield]

Here's what Dale of SmallHD emailed me in reply to my inquiry:

No blue gun, but there will be detailed color controls... you should be able to achieve calibration.


"Should be able to achieve calibration" is none too reassuring language. So these two lower cost HD LCDs may be a whole lotta "almost but not quite." I'd love to hear a more tech-savvy forum participant weight in on whether calibration is possible without blue gun in the monitor.

[Paul Cronin]

From my experience you can not calibrate with out Blue only off, Hue, Chroma, Brightness, and contrast. But happy to be proven wrong by more experience.

[Dale Backus]

Just wanted to chime in on the color issue.

Thanks for bringing it up - it's a legitimate concern and i'll do my best here.

First - this is the first of many monitors to come from SmallHD. The purpose of this one, is to actually produce a compact unit with a much higher resolution into the hands of people who typically can't afford it. So many monitor companies run around touting HD, but 99% of the time they're no more than 800 x 480. Many claim "1440" by something, multiply the actual resolution by 3 and call it HD. We got very sick of this, and for some reason the panel manufacturers (Sharp, Toshiba, Samsung, etc) currently don't see video production as a large enough market to drive the production of small HD panels - we are forced to adapt existing technology from sister markets and make them work in this one. Because of this, there may be a few things missing from this first model. Some of the bells and whistles that the old broadcast pro is accustomed to may be missing - from this model.

The way we see it, it's far easier to fix color in post than missed focus. So getting as many pixels into a small enclosure is our primary focus for this monitor.

The reason we can't throw everything in the box at once, is because it would have to lose other features, and the fact that we would be releasing this monitor way later than January. We want to get a quality product into the market as soon as possible, so the many that don't care as much about quickly getting perfect color matching can have something, while we work on the more advanced models.

This monitor does have detailed color controls, and if you spend a couple minutes with it you should be able to get it darn close, but it currently does not have blue only.

Paul - i believe what i said is that we'll be offering an HD-SDI version in the future - this one will not have HD-SDI.

David - hope this answers your question a little more thoroughly, or at least gives you somewhat of an explanation.

Trevor - thanks for the kind words, and i'm glad you're as stoked as we are. It's going to be a fantastic product in many ways.

Thanks, and feel free to ask any other questions.

Dale
SmallHD.com

[Dan Chung]

Dale,

Have you got a waiting list yet? I'd like to be in line if possible.

Dan

[Paul Cronin]

Dale you are correct you told me the HD-SDI would be on future models.

It is great to see another company on the forum listening to the end users. I look forward to the HD-SDI unit.

[Shawn Kessler]

Hay Gint,
do you have any suggestions with that type of monitor?


Thanks Shawn

[Gints Klimanis]

Originally Posted by Shawn Kessler

Hay Gint,
do you have any suggestions with that type of monitor?
Thanks Shawn

For which size? For the 8-9", the SmallHD monitor appears promising, although they are supposedly a few months away from shipping. For an 11" monitor, the Manhattan HD is just right. I have that one. For the 15-16" LCD TV, just go to Best Buy or Fry's Electronics. I noticed a Samsung model with both component inputs and HDMI. I have not compared the TVs extensively, so let me know what you find out. I would stick with a real 1280x720 "720p" device that doesn't do any scaling. Also, it's probably better to get something in the 20" range, especially if you're doing 1080i. A lot of these cheap TVs, and even a lot of expensive ones, have poor scaling hardware that yield overly soft video.

[M. Paul El-Darwish]

Yes. That's the IR port for the remote.Very important since you can custom calibrate the monitor for color, contrast, brightness etc. via the remote. The IR port is your friend in 10.9 land.

Originally Posted by Greg Joyce

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

[Trevor Meeks]

Originally Posted by Dan Chung

Have you got a waiting list yet? I'd like to be in line if possible.

I would too. Very interested to get my hands on one ASAP. I understand you guys are still finishing them up, but if there's some point at which you set a release date and have some sort of waiting list, I'd love to be able to have an in.

Thanks again Dale!

[David Donnenfield]

First, thanks, Dale, for a clear, comprehensive response to the question regarding color calibration on the SmallHD LCD monitor.

Second, M. Paul, what precisely do you mean by using the IR port for the remote to achieve custom calibration? How are you able to do that without "blue gun" capabilities on a monitor? Are you using the term, "custom callibration" loosely? I use it to mean such things as matching cameras and reproducing on a color critical monitor precisely what the camera is outputting using the camera's color bars. Do you know a another method?

[David Donnenfield]

Dale et al,
I don't mean to ignite a controversy regarding your priorities around providing a field monitor that makes focusing HD easy. There's no doubt that a crisp HD image is critical. But, I have yet to find maintaining focus using our HVX200 much of a problem. Maybe it's more of a problem with the larger chip cameras.

But evaluating other aspects of the image is much trickier: color, contrast and ratios, etc., you know, the details that set a superior image apart from an adequate one, take precise controls and feedback with true fidelity. That is why the "blue gun" is so essential, or at least some means of ensuring image calibration.

I get what you're trying to do in SmallHD's infancy, and it's laudable, but I may not be able to wait for the next gen to meet my needs.

[Gints Klimanis]

I hope one of these HD monitor makers creates a fully-enveloped hood with a magnifier. It would be a very large HoodPro that is popular in the Sony EX1 group.