Editing Monitor

[Kirk Leonard]

I currently a single 20 inch Apple display to do all my editing and monitoring of projects. Does anyone use external monitors while editing? What about dual display setups? Can a G5 handle duel 20 inch displays and what else do I need to do this?
I just think that things like color correction and precise editing would be a whole lot easier with a bigger picture.
Thanks!

[Ben Balser, ACT]

I use an Cinema 30", so I don't have room to talk... Get it? "Room", to talk, screen size? Oh, never mind...

Anyway, it's all personal preference. The advantage to dual monitors, is you can size the Canvas to 100%, and put the Browser on a separate monitor and make it bigger, etc. Which means your Timeline window can be larger, you can zoom in tighter, you can set the resolution of each monitor a tad higher, and yes, it'll be nice.

Can a G5 handle it? Doesn't matter, what matters is the graphics card, not the CPU. But sure, a G5 with a high end graphics card can do two monitors just fine!

[Richard Sprinkle]

I'm using a Samsung SynchMaster 245 BW as my primary, and an older SynchMaster 204t as my secondary. The 24" is beautiful and while it's not a cinema display, it is HD capable and I picked it up at Sam's Club for $399. It makes all the difference in the world to me to have a bigger timeline on display, and have my bins, effects, audio mixers, etc all open in the other display. As long as your graphics card can handle a cinema display, it should handle two monitors fairly well.

[Ben Balser, ACT]

Just some trivia, but FCP was sort of meant all along to be used with a dual monitor system. Thus the "Cinema Display" option in the preview settings.

Also, just to throw it out there, the MXO now has great support software. You use it to calibrate a high quality monitor so you can use it as an inexpensive alternative to a true HD post production monitor. I'll be adding it and a monitor to my set up in the spring. It's not 100% replacement for a real HD post production monitor, but is 90% there. So if you do color grading and want to be accurate, this would be the option to look at.

[Kirk Leonard]

I just looked into the MXO. Would this be overkill in monitoring event video? What advantage does this have over a straight forward dual monitoring setup?

[Ben Balser, ACT]

Since you're not broadcasting a signal, you can get away with just using the scopes in FCP and Color to keep your video looking good on a TV screen. I assume accuracy isn't that vital, and simply having a portable TV is enough. You'd have to have at least that, cause you can't catch interlace problems on computer monitors, and computer monitors will show interlace problems that won't exist on a TV screen. But for keeping chroma and luma levels legal, the built in scopes are good enough for DVD distribution in SD.

[Barry Vedros]

Ben brings up a great point about interlace issues on VGA vs. NTSC/ATSC screens. If you're going to television, whether SD or HD, you should have some sort of TV video monitor on your desk. In my workflow, I have the monitor hooked to the output of my deck. If it's just going to be viewed on computer monitors, then your interlace issues are different. Same thing for your white/black levels and color balance.

I'd say it depends on where your final video product is headed - broadcast, corporate boardroom, client's home, webcast, etc. If you're editing for broadcast then you need to be able to see what it will look like in that scenario. Even for wedding, event, corporate video, you need to know what your client will be watching it on - HD, SD, corporate intranet, etc. We used to say "good enough for government work..." but now alot of government office have HD monitors hanging in the boardrooms.

If you're looking for an HD monitor (and you have the means) I highly recommend the Panasonic BTLH1700W 17" HD-SD monitor. It's beautiful - but pricey. I probably wouldn't have one if it wasn't for the insurance money from losing everything in one of our studios. It's a true broadcast monitor with all the bells and whistles. Again, it depends on your final product as to how accurate you have to be.