Portable DVD Player as Monitor?

Scott Moore · December 19th, 2003, 01:47 PM

I did a search of all forums and couldn't find a
conclusive answer -

are the portable DVD players (a la Circuit City)
with the 5-7" screens of any use as a field
monitor?

I'm not super concerned with color & exposure
(well maybe about 80% concerned) as I am
with simple framing for shot selection -

opinions? real life stories?

Scott Moore · December 22nd, 2003, 06:02 PM

how about moving this post to the
'General' for me...I'm not getting much action
here- Thanks

Boyd Ostroff · December 22nd, 2003, 07:35 PM

Actually the topic has been discussed before if you do a search or browse a bit...

Marc Young · January 1st, 2004, 10:46 PM

<<<-- Scott Moore asked:

are the portable DVD players (a la Circuit City)
with the 5-7" screens of any use as a field
monitor?

-->>>

It would probably work. The only issues would be mounting it on your tripod or a mini-stand, and figuring out how to protect it from glare. You might try black foil wrap and masking (or gaffer) tape. I like the idea that the battery is internal to the player. It should also last longer since you are not playing a dvd. I assume that you have a composite video connection into the player.

That said, I use a 12 vdc Sony crt monitor which I purchased from Dave Riddle. Cost me $1500 but it comes with a transit case and hood and was calibrated at his facility. The phosphors are designed to SMPTE-C guidelines, so I don't have to wonder how the color will look in post-production. This has always bothered when I have tried using LCD monitors.

Leo Anderson · January 2nd, 2004, 10:20 PM

I've also thought about buying one if these. I figured it could work double duty to show people that I want to interview some of the work that I've done in the past so that their confort level with me would increase.

I've noticed that some of these DVD players display a 16x9 aspect ratio, I am hoping that it would be easier to focus and get a better idea of what the final product would like when shooting in 16x9 on my XL1s.

I know that Target has them for sale, and they have a great return policy, so that if it doesn't work like I hope, I can bring it back.

Afonso Campos · January 4th, 2004, 08:20 PM

I have a 2 year old portable panasonic DVD player and have not been able to successfully use it as a monitor with my XL1s

Carlos E. Martinez · December 28th, 2004, 04:11 PM

This may be a foolish question, but as I can't yet try it in the meantime I'd rather ask.

One thing I am planning to buy next January, for my documentary setup, is a 7" LCD monitor.

The one I had my mind on was the Panasonic TC-7WMS1, which except for the lack of underscan seems quite interesting for the job. It's $465 from B&H.

But another unit got me thinking: Polaroid's PDV-0700 DVD player. It also carries a 7" LCD screen and can do other jobs too, like playing a CD or DVD. All that for about $200.

Specs are nowhere to be found, such as contrast data, etc. But it's a device that might deserve a try.

Has anyone used this or any other portable DVD player for that task?

Carlos

Boyd Ostroff · December 28th, 2004, 08:40 PM

Carlos, try a search; this exact topic comes up regularly. IIRC the general consensus is that these screens are rather low resolution, and they only offer composite video instead of s-video.

Here are a few threads about small LCD screens:

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthrea...threadid=36485
http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthrea...threadid=35232
http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthrea...threadid=35821
http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthrea...threadid=30676

Carlos E. Martinez · December 29th, 2004, 06:20 AM

<<<-- Originally posted by Boyd Ostroff : Carlos, try a search; this exact topic comes up regularly. IIRC the general consensus is that these screens are rather low resolution, and they only offer composite video instead of s-video.

Here are a few threads about small LCD screens:

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthrea...threadid=36485
http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthrea...threadid=35232
http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthrea...threadid=35821
http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthrea...threadid=30676 -->>>

Sorry and thanks for the URLs. I am aware of most of the shortcomings, and I will try them when I visit B&H.

Thanks!

Carlos

Carlos E. Martinez · December 29th, 2004, 08:52 AM

1) OK., it seems clear that the "DVD portable path" is not a good one.

2) In spite of the name, the Panasonic 7" monitor seems not to be up to the monitoring task with just 240 horizontal lines.

3) The options left seem to be the Xenarc 700YV and the Lilliput 619GL-70NP. These two seem to be the only higher definition types, even if Lilliput also makes a 8" monitor which is 1440000 pixels. No other 7" models at Lilliput's site are 1152000 pixels types.

4) The Lilliput is slightly cheaper and there seems to be several people using them in this forum, and no one seems to be using the Xenarc.

5) How the Xenarc handles the 4:3 in its 16:9 screen is a mystery. If it's really switchable between the two that would justify the extra money they cost.

6) Which is the best way to secure these monitors is also debatable, and Nebtek accessories are certainly not cheap.

7) Xenarc provides an "ultra high brightness enhancement option":

http://www.xenarcdirect.com/detail.asp?PRODUCT_ID=UltraBright

Expensive though, and I am not sure if a hood won't do the same for much less money.

Any comments?

Carlos

Marty Hudzik · December 29th, 2004, 10:00 AM

Carlos,
I did get the Lilliput 619GL-70NP monitor and I returned it. Mainly because it was just too big! The XL2 is a big unit anyway and to add a 7" monitor on top and also have a battery back and cables just seemed like too much for my handheld stuff. The quality on the monitor was okay but the image looked too soft and I found I could not focus any better with it than I can with the 2" EVF. So I opted to return it. Your mileage may very but I was not happy with it.

In addition the fact that zebra patterns do not show up on the external video out makes it difficult to see if you are overexposed in certain shots. That meant I needed to look at the 2" LCD anyway.

Sorry for the sad news. But it might still work for you depending on what your specific needs are.

Thanks!
Marty

Jason Leonard · May 15th, 2005, 09:25 PM

i just bought a 7 inch portable dvd palyer for use as a filed monitor.
i understand that its not going to b color accurate or anything, but im shooting 16x9 on a gl1 and need a widescreen for framing purposes.
now, all i need is a wire that will run from my cam to the dvd player to make it work.
anybody know the name of teh wire, or where i can get one?
thanks in advance.

Boyd Ostroff · May 15th, 2005, 09:32 PM

That will depend completely on the DVD player that you bought. Does it even have video input? Many do not. Assuming that it does, you would probably need a cable with a male RCA plug for the composite output of your camera, and whatever sort of plug the DVD player has on the other end.

Some consumer devices like that use a stereo 1/8" miniplug to carry both the composite video and mono audio. Look at your owners manual for the DVD player, it should have the info you need.

Jason Leonard · May 17th, 2005, 09:02 AM

yeah the dvd player has the video input option.
it looks like they are both mini-pin. the video in/out on the gl1 is the samesize as the video in/out on the dvd.
i checked the owners manual and have found nothing about it, even though it states on teh box that its compatible with any video input source.
the model is polaroid pdm-0722.
let me know what you think and thanks thus far.

Boyd Ostroff · May 17th, 2005, 09:37 AM

The specs say it's just composite video. I'm not familiar with the GL-2, but an RCA connector is pretty standard for composite. However, like I said, some cameras try to save space and use a 1/8" stereo mini-plug to combine audio and video. I don't think this is standardized, some put mono audio on one channel and video on the other. Others (like my Sony PDX-10) have a special adaptor that breaks out into L and R audio plus video with 3 connectors.

If the DVD player and the camera both have 1/8" miniplugs then I'd suggest just getting a stereo cable with a male 1/8" stereo miniplug on both ends, plug them in and see what happens. I don't think this can damage anything, but do it at your own risk because I don't have any experience with either your camera or DVD player...

December 19th, 2003, 01:47 PM	#16
Scott Moore Regular Crew Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Louisville, KY Posts: 48	It's a DVD Player! No, it's a field monitor! I did a search of all forums and couldn't find a conclusive answer - are the portable DVD players (a la Circuit City) with the 5-7" screens of any use as a field monitor? I'm not super concerned with color & exposure (well maybe about 80% concerned) as I am with simple framing for shot selection - opinions? real life stories?

December 22nd, 2003, 06:02 PM	#17
Scott Moore Regular Crew Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Louisville, KY Posts: 48	Hey Don or Nathan- how about moving this post to the 'General' for me...I'm not getting much action here- Thanks

January 1st, 2004, 10:46 PM	#19
Marc Young Regular Crew Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Honolulu, HI Posts: 112	Re: It's a DVD Player! No, it's a field monitor! <<<-- Scott Moore asked: are the portable DVD players (a la Circuit City) with the 5-7" screens of any use as a field monitor? -->>> It would probably work. The only issues would be mounting it on your tripod or a mini-stand, and figuring out how to protect it from glare. You might try black foil wrap and masking (or gaffer) tape. I like the idea that the battery is internal to the player. It should also last longer since you are not playing a dvd. I assume that you have a composite video connection into the player. That said, I use a 12 vdc Sony crt monitor which I purchased from Dave Riddle. Cost me $1500 but it comes with a transit case and hood and was calibrated at his facility. The phosphors are designed to SMPTE-C guidelines, so I don't have to wonder how the color will look in post-production. This has always bothered when I have tried using LCD monitors.

December 28th, 2004, 04:11 PM	#22
Carlos E. Martinez Trustee Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Rio de Janeiro, Brasil Posts: 1,138	DVD player as monitor This may be a foolish question, but as I can't yet try it in the meantime I'd rather ask. One thing I am planning to buy next January, for my documentary setup, is a 7" LCD monitor. The one I had my mind on was the Panasonic TC-7WMS1, which except for the lack of underscan seems quite interesting for the job. It's $465 from B&H. But another unit got me thinking: Polaroid's PDV-0700 DVD player. It also carries a 7" LCD screen and can do other jobs too, like playing a CD or DVD. All that for about $200. Specs are nowhere to be found, such as contrast data, etc. But it's a device that might deserve a try. Has anyone used this or any other portable DVD player for that task? Carlos

December 29th, 2004, 08:52 AM	#25
Carlos E. Martinez Trustee Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Rio de Janeiro, Brasil Posts: 1,138	Updating monitor matters 1) OK., it seems clear that the "DVD portable path" is not a good one. 2) In spite of the name, the Panasonic 7" monitor seems not to be up to the monitoring task with just 240 horizontal lines. 3) The options left seem to be the Xenarc 700YV and the Lilliput 619GL-70NP. These two seem to be the only higher definition types, even if Lilliput also makes a 8" monitor which is 1440000 pixels. No other 7" models at Lilliput's site are 1152000 pixels types. 4) The Lilliput is slightly cheaper and there seems to be several people using them in this forum, and no one seems to be using the Xenarc. 5) How the Xenarc handles the 4:3 in its 16:9 screen is a mystery. If it's really switchable between the two that would justify the extra money they cost. 6) Which is the best way to secure these monitors is also debatable, and Nebtek accessories are certainly not cheap. 7) Xenarc provides an "ultra high brightness enhancement option": http://www.xenarcdirect.com/detail.asp?PRODUCT_ID=UltraBright Expensive though, and I am not sure if a hood won't do the same for much less money. Any comments? Carlos

December 22nd, 2003, 07:35 PM	#18
Boyd Ostroff Wrangler Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Mays Landing, NJ Posts: 11,800	Actually the topic has been discussed before if you do a search or browse a bit...

January 2nd, 2004, 10:20 PM	#20
Leo Anderson New Boot Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Northern Minnesota Posts: 22	I've also thought about buying one if these. I figured it could work double duty to show people that I want to interview some of the work that I've done in the past so that their confort level with me would increase. I've noticed that some of these DVD players display a 16x9 aspect ratio, I am hoping that it would be easier to focus and get a better idea of what the final product would like when shooting in 16x9 on my XL1s. I know that Target has them for sale, and they have a great return policy, so that if it doesn't work like I hope, I can bring it back.

January 4th, 2004, 08:20 PM	#21
Afonso Campos New Boot Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Irvine, California Posts: 17	I have a 2 year old portable panasonic DVD player and have not been able to successfully use it as a monitor with my XL1s

December 28th, 2004, 08:40 PM	#23
Boyd Ostroff Wrangler Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Mays Landing, NJ Posts: 11,800	Carlos, try a search; this exact topic comes up regularly. IIRC the general consensus is that these screens are rather low resolution, and they only offer composite video instead of s-video. Here are a few threads about small LCD screens: http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthrea...threadid=36485 http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthrea...threadid=35232 http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthrea...threadid=35821 http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthrea...threadid=30676

December 29th, 2004, 06:20 AM	#24
Carlos E. Martinez Trustee Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Rio de Janeiro, Brasil Posts: 1,138	<<<-- Originally posted by Boyd Ostroff : Carlos, try a search; this exact topic comes up regularly. IIRC the general consensus is that these screens are rather low resolution, and they only offer composite video instead of s-video. Here are a few threads about small LCD screens: http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthrea...threadid=36485 http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthrea...threadid=35232 http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthrea...threadid=35821 http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthrea...threadid=30676 -->>> Sorry and thanks for the URLs. I am aware of most of the shortcomings, and I will try them when I visit B&H. Thanks! Carlos

December 29th, 2004, 10:00 AM	#26
Marty Hudzik Trustee Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Canton, Ohio Posts: 1,771	Carlos, I did get the Lilliput 619GL-70NP monitor and I returned it. Mainly because it was just too big! The XL2 is a big unit anyway and to add a 7" monitor on top and also have a battery back and cables just seemed like too much for my handheld stuff. The quality on the monitor was okay but the image looked too soft and I found I could not focus any better with it than I can with the 2" EVF. So I opted to return it. Your mileage may very but I was not happy with it. In addition the fact that zebra patterns do not show up on the external video out makes it difficult to see if you are overexposed in certain shots. That meant I needed to look at the 2" LCD anyway. Sorry for the sad news. But it might still work for you depending on what your specific needs are. Thanks! Marty

May 15th, 2005, 09:25 PM	#27
Jason Leonard Regular Crew Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: NY Posts: 83	potable dvd as a field monitor...need wire i just bought a 7 inch portable dvd palyer for use as a filed monitor. i understand that its not going to b color accurate or anything, but im shooting 16x9 on a gl1 and need a widescreen for framing purposes. now, all i need is a wire that will run from my cam to the dvd player to make it work. anybody know the name of teh wire, or where i can get one? thanks in advance.

May 15th, 2005, 09:32 PM	#28
Boyd Ostroff Wrangler Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Mays Landing, NJ Posts: 11,800	That will depend completely on the DVD player that you bought. Does it even have video input? Many do not. Assuming that it does, you would probably need a cable with a male RCA plug for the composite output of your camera, and whatever sort of plug the DVD player has on the other end. Some consumer devices like that use a stereo 1/8" miniplug to carry both the composite video and mono audio. Look at your owners manual for the DVD player, it should have the info you need.

May 17th, 2005, 09:02 AM	#29
Jason Leonard Regular Crew Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: NY Posts: 83	yeah the dvd player has the video input option. it looks like they are both mini-pin. the video in/out on the gl1 is the samesize as the video in/out on the dvd. i checked the owners manual and have found nothing about it, even though it states on teh box that its compatible with any video input source. the model is polaroid pdm-0722. let me know what you think and thanks thus far.

May 17th, 2005, 09:37 AM	#30
Boyd Ostroff Wrangler Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Mays Landing, NJ Posts: 11,800	The specs say it's just composite video. I'm not familiar with the GL-2, but an RCA connector is pretty standard for composite. However, like I said, some cameras try to save space and use a 1/8" stereo mini-plug to combine audio and video. I don't think this is standardized, some put mono audio on one channel and video on the other. Others (like my Sony PDX-10) have a special adaptor that breaks out into L and R audio plus video with 3 connectors. If the DVD player and the camera both have 1/8" miniplugs then I'd suggest just getting a stereo cable with a male 1/8" stereo miniplug on both ends, plug them in and see what happens. I don't think this can damage anything, but do it at your own risk because I don't have any experience with either your camera or DVD player...