B & H shows DV Rack as "Out of Stock".

Well we've got DV Rack and while it's excellent value in our opinion I've got to agree with the comment re monitor calibration. You can certainly get it better with the DVR monitor but just trying to set the pluge right is impossible.
Still I do think we've got to start adjusting our thinking, less and less of our audience will be viewing on CRTs. I haven't got a clue what that means and what to do about it but I'm certain it's a bigger issue than most of us realise. It's all fine and dandy making images that look great on our studio monitors but that'll mean nothing if no one gets to see them that way.
Bob.

" It's all fine and dandy making images that look great on our studio monitors but that'll mean nothing if no one gets to see them that way."

Are you serious Bob? - Never thought I'd see the day when you'd say this.

Maybe we now have a "spectrum" of thought on quality and that which is acceptable. And there was me feeling inadequate with my "Low Definition" XM2 - However, the stuff is now shot on a Miller tripod!

We started applauding the "use" of DV-Rack; Bob has now hinted at the level of quality we need to use as a yardstick; HD is pushing - quite rightly - the envelope of "clarity" of an image . .so were does this leave me?

I think THIS is the start of the real quality conversation that I don't think has been happening - yet.

Are CRTs better=quality than . . . others? How do we set for non-CRTs? How do we get the quality that we know we can get with CRTs? I'm not talking BIGGER I'm talking quality. And where does that leave us with Home Entertainment Centres; over heads; massive CRTs . . .. . ?

The inadequate thing? Nah not really . . I just know what I can do and can't do with it. Do I want to step up to HD? Oh yes . . . But that's kinda a little way off for me though. Do I want to be able to get the BEST picture from my XM2 when filming? Yes. Will DV-Rack do it for me? Bob? Tell you what though .. I did buy a £20 Hoodman mag hood for my XM2 flip out screen .. great device. Now I can see pin sharp focus and a clearer screen too.

Interesting . . .

Grazie

I was going to say, with more and more LCD TV's out there and the fact that people are looking into them as an alternative to plasma screen TV's that run quite a bit more $$$. How much does it really matter that it's not going to match a CRT?

I wonder about these things.

Is the Standard going to change in the near future?... probably not, but it's definately changing in many ways.

That is not to say that this kind of program could replace a balanced broadcast monitor, but then again, it's a lot less $$$ and not nearly as intrusive into the working space.

Dave

This has been discussed many, many times in other threads. Sony EPM, myself, John Cline, and others have discussed the fact that it may be (I assert it is) time to leave behind CRT monitors if you can't afford to have both flat panel and CRT, simply because it's what media will predominantly be viewed on in the future. Of course CRT is superior, but for HD monitoring it's also cost prohibitive for most. The DV Rack paradigm is "spot on" as someone else commented, and this is likely how we'll see a lot of production monitoring done in the future. Focus checking and exposure checking are even more critical with HD because so much more is seen as well.
Getting into HDV/HD is not for the faint of heart nor the lazy shooter. There is a physical and mental (and financial) growth curve that has to be accomodated, and monitoring isn't a small part of that curve. You're gonna need to learn a whole new CC workflow too.

the actual number of full-on hd tv's in this country is still very small, and it's not increasing by much... what you do have are a lot of big-screen tv's that do not have enuf resolution for hd, and most consumers are too ignorant to know any better... and half the people with some version of an hd tv set are watching standard ntsc content... not good reasons to go to hdv at this point.

take a look at this hdtv commentary: http://tvtechnology.com/features/Masked-Engineer/Features_Orazio.shtml

A lot of people are buying EDTV flat screens, because they are more affordable and the decent ones look substantially better than ol' NTSC.

I don't quite understand why you say that "half the people with some version of an hd tv set are watching standard ntsc content". I would have thought 100% of them watch standard NTSC content from time to time (because not all channels are HD yet), and I know I'm not only speaking for myself when I say that it is a really big letdown to watch an NTSC program after an HD program. Many people interviewed say they can't even look at SD anymore, and I frankly sympathize.

There isn't enough education provided by the electronics stores, because the staff is not trained.

I don't see the point of "the Masked Engineer", it's just too limited. It is true though that the cheap small 27" HDTVs are worthless, it's like watching through a screendoor because of the coarse shadowmask.

Today, 70 million U.S. households subscribe to a cable or satellite service that offers HDTV. Getting more households to upgrade their TV hardware is primarily an educational effort to show consumers the difference.

Certainly the early adopters of HDV will learn more than they bargained for, but in the meantime they will enjoy an output that sure looks great.

Coursedesign - "Certainly the early adopters of HDV will learn more than they bargained for, but in the meantime they will enjoy an output that sure looks great.

Excellent observations! - For me, your first part, this "learning" wont be part of my budget plan - shame! . .

But your second part IS the thing that interests me - and is THE thing that made me ask this sometime back which is - What will be the creative new frontiers to be won by such phenomenal clarity? - Look, just 'cos I ask the question I really don't wont the HD protagonists to paint me as a gainsayer - I'm only asking the question - yeah? I'm asking the question to inject some creative discussion about what can be done with this new technology. For the moment I'll leave the market forces argument to one side.

.. Oh yeah Spot, nice, VERY nice tutorial on the TEXT thing over at the DMN - that's up my alley too! - Making that which is exact . . er . . "ragged". Nice one!

Grazie

GuyGraphics has it for $400 before rebate if you're itching for it...

Another argument for a "real" monitor while using DV Rack is the firewire delay. We're gonna be using it on our feature, but will only be using the DV Rack "monitor" for initial framing and playback -- we'll be watching action on an actual field monitor.

To me, just being able to jump between clips, label on the flay and already have them on a hard drive makes it pay for itself in time alone on the very first job -- even at $500.