Color Graded Monitor

[Roger Pinto]

I need to get on with Coloring S/w soon & wish to know which monitor options would be best ... & What size should i go in for table top monitoring while coloring footage !

[Eric Knopp]

Hi, Roger.

From my limited knowledge, this topic is a bit of an endless rabbit hole. I think your question is too generic and lacks specifics to your setup, workflow, and final output, so it's difficult to answer.


The size of the monitor can be relative to the destination of your workflow. If your final product is internet videos, then the argument can be made that you don't need anything larger than 24 or 27" monitor calibrated to an Adobe RGB color space.

If your destination is HD broadcast for a local network, you'll want a color-accurate monitor with Rec 709 calibration, and arguably, a large HDTV for reference to see what your CC might look like on a regular TV.


And often, the calibration is just as (if not more) important than the panel itself. Proper calibration is key.


You'll run into questions like types of calibration, types of calibrators, panel technology types, computer-based monitors or video monitors, etc.

(This is all stated as I understand it. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.)



Definitely search this forum for this topic. There are several threads. You can start here:

http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/view-vid...ent-price.html

http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/view-vid...-accuracy.html


That being said, what is your workflow? What is your output destination?

[Josh Bass]

All my research (and by research, I mean looking at the responses to posts like the one that started this thread here and on "other forums") points to the sad conclusion that right now, you cannot get a reliable, professional, accurate setup for less than around $2500-$3000 (that's USD).

You need the monitor, you need a way to output to it (Matrox box or similar--no more firewire to DV cam with HD), and the calibration.

I would love to be proven wrong as I would love a monitor I could use both in post for accurate HD color correction and field use for judging a camera image.

[Chris Medico]

Originally Posted by Josh Bass

All my research (and by research, I mean looking at the responses to posts like the one that started this thread here and on "other forums") points to the sad conclusion that right now, you cannot get a reliable, professional, accurate setup for less than around $2500-$3000 (that's USD).

You need the monitor, you need a way to output to it (Matrox box or similar--no more firewire to DV cam with HD), and the calibration.

I would love to be proven wrong as I would love a monitor I could use both in post for accurate HD color correction and field use for judging a camera image.

This is a great monitor to use for field and table. It is a little heavy but you can get a VESA mount for putting it on a C-stand. I wish it was less expensive but the image quality is really good.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/766409-REG/Sony_PVM_1741_PVM_1741_OLED_Picture_Monitor.html

[Chris Medico]

Originally Posted by Roger Pinto

I need to get on with Coloring S/w soon & wish to know which monitor options would be best ... & What size should i go in for table top monitoring while coloring footage !

We need a lot more info before any reasonable suggestions can be offered. Tell us more about your workflow and what your final output is used for.

[Josh Bass]

OUCH!

And I was only thinking of the HP Dreamcolor or one of the Ezios (around $2500) + Matrox card.

[Chris Medico]

I don't trust computer video cards for color grading.

I strongly recommending using a proper SDI monitor and SDI interface on the computer.

The plus side of using a true video monitor with SDI is the ability to use it in the field with your video cameras.

The image of the little Sony OLED monitor is stunning. But not cheap.

[Josh Bass]

Yes, normally I would agree absolutely.

HOWEVER, the monitors I mentioned have been specifically singled out for their use in this area. The dreamcolor is, for some strange reason, allegedly deadly accurate for video work, and some Ezios can be calibrated to a Rec 709 colorspace.

[Chris Medico]

I'll let some early adopters debug the workflow before I jump in. :)

I did some quick reading and it looks like there are some bugs in how the monitors handle 10bit color from certain video cards such as the Quadros I use with Media Composer.

[Josh Bass]

I'm sure. Get what you pay for and all that. As for early adopters, I believe both the Dreamcolor and Ezios have been out for a while now?

[Bruce Watson]

Originally Posted by Roger Pinto

I need to get on with Coloring S/w soon & wish to know which monitor options would be best ... & What size should i go in for table top monitoring while coloring footage !

Best "value" I've found is the Flanders Scientific LM-2140W. There are reasons to use an actual broadcast monitor instead of a computer monitor for this work. One of those reasons is the real-time waveform monitor, vectorscope, and other monitors. It's nearly impossible to do decent color correction (let alone creative color grading) without these tools.

As to size, you need something big enough to let you easily see the image. For me I want at least a 20" diagonal screen -- I'm viewing it from 24" away so this is decently big. If the screen was to be further away, I'd want it to be proportionally bigger.

That said I've heard from people who color grade on 7" monitors meant for on camera use. And people using 55" plasma TVs hung on the wall. It just has to be a size sufficient so that you can see into the shadows and avoid crushing detail you want to keep, etc.

[Josh Bass]

Yeah, that's another one I've read/heard about.


As for grading on a 7". . .do you have specific models in mind? wondering if they run any cheaper than these other solutions.

[Roger Pinto]

I recently acquired a 5.6" 056WP TV Logic field Monitor for my C300...

I was finding it to be very different ion terms of color/picture output when pitted against the CC300 own LCD. I wonder which is correct & how to calibrate TVlogic's display to give a reliable output.

I am unable to use the same since i cant rely on TVL on field !!!

[Chris Soucy]

Um, Chris to Mother Earth...............

You still haven't answered the very important questions asked of you by previous posters.

Without that info, everyone is flying blind, and that's pretty dangerous, lots of big mountains out there.

IMHO, you ain't going to get anywhere near decent colour on anything less than a 20" screen, no matter who makes it.

I seriously doubt you'll ever get a camera LCD and a 5.6" anything to be even within a bulls roar of accurate, no matter what you do, so seems like something of a fools errand trying.

Where is this video coming from, using what, workflow what and with what and what screen(s) are you watching it on, and where is it going?

No map, engines, wheels, seats or controls = no flight.


CS

[Josh Bass]

C300 doesn't have bars it can output to the TV Logic and then just. . .do a manual calibration procedure by eye?