Advice on purchase of 16:10 computer monitor
My 19" LCD decided it was tired of life as we know it. I hooked up my old 19" CRT, and then went on-line to see what was available in the new wide screen formats. Now my head hurts.
Any advice on what I should be looking at purchasing with regards to editing and viewing from my H20. The budget is limited, so the $1,000+ monitors are out of the question.
I'll probably get one of the ones I mentioned in this thread:
http://www.hv20.com/showthread.php?t=41
Not sure which one though...
Thanks Mal,
I tried the link in your last post on that thread and it gave me the "Server is Down" message (still does), but of course your group links work, the ones that you've just sent me to. I just didn't bother this morning as I figured the message applied to them all.....duh.....
I'll take my H20 with me in to town when I go shopping and see what looks best. Those Benq's look pretty good, but man alive there are tons of monitors available, and every time I go in and have a look there seems to be a different inventory from the the last visit.
I just thought there might be a goldie that everyone was using and I missed it.
Last edited by Murrelet; 2007 April 30th at 23:06.
You know what: that was my mistake: I didn't copy the link properly....corrected now. Thanks for mentioning it.
The LG's
I went into town and Future Shop had the only monitors that had an HDMI connection and there were only 2, the LG L226WA (22" - $469) and the L246WP (24" - $769).
The 22": 1680 x 1050, 2ms response time, DFC 3000:1 contrast ratio, and a brightness of 300 nits.
The 24": 1920 x 1200, 8ms response time, 1000:1 contrast ratio, and a brightness of 500 nits Glare.
What all of that means when compared to one another is beyond me, but it seems the 22" is the one I want. Too bad they were sold out. I might have to take a chance and head south to the big city and see if I can find one in stock down there.
They both looked pretty good but they wouldn't let me try them out with my HV20, as they didn't have a cable. I offered to buy one if they would let me have the floor model, but that was a no go. I'll reserve my accessory purchases for the store that has what I want.
Looked for reviews but couldn't find any, just comments on the 24" on various forums.
Ya, when it comes to computers, monitors, printers the models you see today seem to have a lifespan of about 3 months. It's not like the old days where there was an obvious choice that stood out. One suggestion that I would make unless someone can prove me wrong is that I would not rule out LCDs that have a DVI interface. I haven't got in and looked at the signal/pin outs of both HDMI & DVI interfaces but I believe through either a conversion cable or a conversion adaptor you are fine with DVI at the monitor end. HDMI seems to be the new video/audio interface of choice but it hasn't caught on with a lot of steam yet at the monitor end. I suspect it will pretty soon. I would at least consider making an investment in a HDMI-DVI cable that you can use for testing and if you wind up going with a HDMI monitor, you will have a utility cable to add to your hardware bag that you just might need some day. With the state of video today, I definitely would advise have at least one 6' HDMI female to female in your cable collection. Most devices that have an HDMI interface come with the male interface on the device. Correct me if I'm wrong guys.Originally Posted by Murrelet
I honestly haven't gone shopping like Mal has suggested here on this forum, but I think it's a cool and prudent idea. I'm just wondering what kind of reactions folks are getting when they walk into a store with a camcorder and a cable and ask if they can "plug in"? By the way, a Best Buy computer area salesmen who appeared the young geek type that knew quite a bit told me to think of the high dollar HDMI Monster cables as a lifetime investement and that I would probably wind up replacing the others in a few years. I remarked that HDMI probably won't be the standard in 3 years. It's likely that we will have an organic interface and hardware by than.
The stink gets deeper
Hi Bluegrass,
The only cables the store of the Future had were $89 Monsters (4') with male to male ends (which would work from the HV20 to the monitor), all the others were in the $149-$169 range, didn't see any female to female's at all.
I have an old system by todays standards, XP sp2, P4, ATI 9800 pro, 2GB ram on an overclocked Epox mobo, no PCI-E.
XP apparently doesn't have the drivers, and it's too complex to create them, for the new HD security standards, so you need Vista. All the monitors were Vista compliant (the ads are all over them, nothing about XP at all). You need Vista to view Blu-ray and HD movies as they have created stuff to stop people from pirating from the PCI-E and/or the graphics card.
Checked out my 9800 briefly, and will have to do a better job today sometime, but it doesn't appear to support the resolution I want 1680 x 1050 on the 22", and 1920 x 1080 on the 24", so I'd need to find one that did. That led me to find all the new graphics cards are PCI-E, which my board doesn't support, so that will mean a new system. The mud is getting much deeper..all this for a new monitor....I really don't think so, but I'll soldier on....
Here's a link that helped explain a lot of the spec nonsense
http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/
My advice is don't even think of going Vista for at least a year. You're being led down the wrong path if you think you need Vista to drive a new monitor. Yes, a lot of the new graphic adapters use the PCI Express but they all have VGA that will work with what you have. I'm not clear on what you are trying to accomplish with the monitor - perfect HD on your PC or attaching to the HV20 for a taping monitor. In either case, a lower resolution than 1920 will work fine. Maybe you absolutely want 1920 X1400 but you're gonna pay a lot for it.Hi Bluegrass,
The only cables the store of the Future had were $89 Monsters (4') with male to male ends (which would work from the HV20 to the monitor), all the others were in the $149-$169 range, didn't see any female to female's at all.
I have an old system by todays standards, XP sp2, P4, ATI 9800 pro, 2GB ram on an overclocked Epox mobo, no PCI-E.
XP apparently doesn't have the drivers, and it's too complex to create them, for the new HD security standards, so you need Vista. All the monitors were Vista compliant (the ads are all over them, nothing about XP at all). You need Vista to view Blu-ray and HD movies as they have created stuff to stop people from pirating from the PCI-E and/or the graphics card.
Checked out my 9800 briefly, and will have to do a better job today sometime, but it doesn't appear to support the resolution I want 1680 x 1050 on the 22", and 1920 x 1080 on the 24", so I'd need to find one that did. That led me to find all the new graphics cards are PCI-E, which my board doesn't support, so that will mean a new system. The mud is getting much deeper..all this for a new monitor....I really don't think so, but I'll soldier on....
I'm also not sure why your talking playing BluRay & HD DVDs on your computer at this point in time. I think most of us need to rationalize where are final destination is going to be with the HD that we shoot. Right now it is a pretty tough struggle to get the video we shoot onto any high def media - BlueRay or HD DVD, for general distribution. I know I'm getting a little off track here but please don't go willy nilly thinking that your XP machine has to be immediately replaced because your shooting HD now. I've been working in computer hardware for 38 years now and believe me "leading edge" is "bleeding edge" which we are seeing just a touch of here on this forum.
One other point which I could be mistaken on. I didn't see any feedback from anyone, but I think the HV20 HDMI output is actually a male connector. Sometimes the design of these connectors has a way of tricking you into whether they are a male or a female. Look very closely in the store at what is designated a male and a female HDMI connector. My first encounter with HDMI was my 32" LCD and my Toshiba HD DVD player. I imagine that most all of the HDMI devices are using the same gender connections. What ever the HV20 is, I highly recommend that we all get into our tool bag a couple HDMI cables with the proper gender to plug into the camera and a monitor. Now that I've seen other folks point out an under $10 price for an HDMI, I plan on ordering a couple spares myself. sorry i get so long winded on my replies here. i like to be a "to the point" person, but i'm struggling for some reason here on this forum. i'll work on it.
thanks john - aka bluegrass
Hey John, don't apologize, I need all the help I can get and the more long winded the better. Good points! Buying a new system is definitely out of the question, and I figure Vista is just a rip.
I just want to be able to watch movies and watch and edit on a monitor in 16:9, what I film. My old 17" Viewsonic CRT, which I've reconstituted from the bottom of the closet since my Sammy went poof, does this fine, but with stretchies or black line with a small picture area . I know I'll still get black lining with a 16:10, but at least it will be reduced quite a bit.
Just realized I haven't explained my setup.
My computer is in my camper (this laptop is in the house), which I go to work with, as I work nights 7pm-7am, week on, week off. After doing my regular work I have several hours to veg, so I read, game, watch movies, work away at hobbies, and was planning to learn something about editing video this year.
Since rolling around corners and banging along on island roads is harmful to a CRT screen's physical well being (even if it is bungeed in), the LCD has been a blessing (just for the weight reduction alone), and I sure could use another.
So the saga continues....lol
Drat!!.....my mobo frazzed yesterday. Fine in the morning, but went back out in the afternoon and no USB's working, everything frozen. Turned off the computer and started back up, won't boot. Cleared cmos, played with all sorts of ram...nothing. First the monitor now the the mobo (oh well, it's been a great board for 3 years). I went looking to upgrade, something I said I wouldn't do, and found that I would need a new power supply, ram, mobo, chip, graphics card, sata drives...$1600+ tx...tossed all night. Then went on eBay and got a compatible new mobo for $35....whew!! Guess I can afford that new monitor yet.
Of course today the monitor arrived! Just shoot me....
Sorry to hear about your fried Mobo. So it can all be fixed with the $35 eBay thing I hope?
I may have missed this, but which monitor did you end up getting?
Oh, the LG 22" with HDMI port. I wanted to get the 24", but it was another $300+, and I figured I would use that sum to help able me to get Vegas 7. Of course all this is gonna change WHEN I win the lottery... ;-)
The thought of having to replace my old system (can't believe something 3 years old is OLD!) at this time, when I'm trying to get a decent NLE and all the add-ons..... and for bluegrass...cables (wandered around Shop of the Future and got a 4' hdmi cable cheap, only $80.....the expensive ones were close to $200...that kinda took my breath away....no RS to go to, to get an inexpensive one)
Anyway, here the monitor sits as I take apart my computer, sure hope that giant copper heat sink fits in the new mobo, oops dropped a screw....
Sill waiting on the mobo, don't hold out much hope that it will really do the job, but finding something closer to my Epox is proving a little daunting.
I seem to be spending more time "dream ordering" a new computer. The 'middle of the road' setup on Toms Hardware these last few days has me enthralled at $1200, but here that translates into $2200 with an extra HDD and XP pro and then the proverbial tax whack.....sigh...
The New 22" LG monitor hooked to the HV20
Last night (after Ottawa beat Buffalo..yes! Oh.... that's hockey talk) I was sitting in my camper (where my fried computer resides) bemoaning the fact I had this nice new monitor and no computer to run it with. Looking at the expensive 4' HDMI cable I thought....hmmm....wonder if this will run off the camera. Set it up, turned on the monitor...nothing just a message about RGB connection. Started playing with the settings and found a menu choice for HDMI, got that going, went into the camera menu and played around with some choices there and viola, SD 16:9 on a 16:10.
Interesting to note that the monitor showed slightly more picture than the camera's LCD. However the quality of the SD was slightly disappointing, crystal clear on the camera's LCD, slightly "fuzzy" on the monitor. Another curious anomaly was it often looked like it was raining when looking at ordinary long grass in a variety of tripod shots. It was very late last night, so I never got to really play with settings.
I'll shoot some HDV and see what that looks like tonight. Still..I'm pleased with the results overall and figure there is a bunch of tweaking I'll have to do yet.
Wow, the viewing in HDV straight from the camera is stunning. I had some night shots from a hotel room balcony, and it was quite grainy with star flares on street lights and car headlights. I didn't have it in the "Night" setting, just "auto", as it was the first day I had the cam. Now I'll have to play with those settings and see the differences.
I see I'll have to re shoot all the location shots from where I paraglide, as I've done them in 16:9 SD. Oh well, good lesson.
I was just looking up the specs on that $381 puppy. It looks pretty good other than having a DVI rather than a HDMI. I'm not sure that in most instances that's a big deal. It may come into play a little as more HDMI devices come on the market. So you would recommend it over any you see out there? Did you look over a lot of them before you ordered yours?
The model I have has DVI, HDMI, composite, and a sound out connection (guess it's because of the HDMI but no speakers). There is a model below the one I have that doesn't have the HDMI connection, maybe that's the one you are seeing.
I got this for the price and the HDMI connection. I would have liked to get the 24" LG, but it was another $300, which I'm going to spend on Vegas, I think. Still, I keep thinking I would have been better off with the 24", true 1920 x 1080.
Didn't get to look at many monitors, as the selection at our local stores is very limited. It's a small town. But trying to get one of these was a problem as they are selling out each order they get on the day they arrive. I just happened to get my name on one from the batch that came in last week.
anyone use the dell 2407wfp? I've heard a ton of great things about it, other than some small colour problems and very minor details (although this is from intense graphics folk). Its got composite, dvi, vga, svideo, all kinds of connections. and at 24", 1920x1200 res, and often well under $600usd, its a bargain. I'm picking one up in September when the student loans kick back in.
Sounds good Jay.
I installed the mobo I found on eBay....no IDE#2, kaput, can't get any opticals to work, but if I transfer the cable to IDE#1 and put the HDD's cable on #2, the opticals work, but then I have no HDD's.......aaarrrrgggghhhhh!!!!!
Seller refunded all my money and was very prompt, with an apology, so I've re-ordered another, he is going to give it a thorough testing before shipping. It'll be just another week. Funny how this board he sent still works, just not the Secondary port. Computers....bahhh humbug!
Last edited by Murrelet; 2007 May 22nd at 14:59.
Check this link to an HD monitor
http://www.ikancorp.com/pages/monito...00hd/index.htm
and this
http://stores.ebay.ca/LCD4Video_W0QQ...meZL2222QQtZkm
Looks sweet!
Last edited by tgtn; 2007 May 25th at 02:46.
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