External Monitor Viewing Question

dpetto wrote on 6/9/2008, 3:47 PM

I have been editing using a simple 13" tube TV as an external viewing device. Saturday it went kaput, to keep working I hooked up to a 13" 720P HD TV and I was amazed at how different the picture looked. The photos in the project looked great, but the video didn't look as good as it did on the tube TV. Everything seemed much more contrasty. I'm not sure what to do from here as far as the future. Color is not real critical for me because most of my work is outdoor high school sports (not HD). But, I am alarmed at how different the picture looked from what I had been used to seeing. What is recommended for external viewing? Price is an issue for me as I don't have lots to invest in an expensive monitor. If most homes have or are going to have HD TV's should I use an HD TV for my external monitor & correct to that?
Ant thoughts are much appreciated.

Comments

bStro wrote on 6/9/2008, 4:21 PM

First step is to configure the display device (your HD TV) itself if you haven't already. The factory default settings are never right for every viewing environment and are often wrong for every environment. There are guides online to help you configure your set properly. It's even possible that your TV's manual will have decent instructions.

Unfortunately, you probably won't be able to go into the home of every viewer and configure their televisions correctly. And in most cases, they won't have done so themselves. Luck of the draw.

Rob

dpetto wrote on 6/9/2008, 5:21 PM

Hi Rob,
Thanks for the help. My manual tells me how to make the adjustments, but it doesn't tell me what I'm looking for. I will check online.

MPM wrote on 6/10/2008, 7:13 AM

If you're trying to view you work on an HDTV, the most std arrangement I'm aware of is HDMI straight from your graphics card. There are loads of potential gotchas, & AFAIK Rob's 100% spot on when he talks about the TV set-up itself. If that's what you're using [HDMI], & having problems after getting the HDTV setup, check out the HTPC forums like over at Avsforum.com. They've got tons of info - for instance if your hooking up using one of the newer ATI HD cards, there *might* be some critical reg entries, &/or may be having Windows' problems, &/or may need to use specific software or DS filters. Obviously your graphics card needs the horsepower.

FWIW, personally I don't imagine the world's in any enormous rush to get HDTVs, at least in the US with (& I hate to say it) worries about the economy & gas prices - 'least until they get more content on cable, prices drop, and/or BD players get cheaper. If you're thinking about the move to DVB, cable, sat, & AFAIK IPTV all are going to continue business as usual.

And... you should be able to preview HDTV on your PC's LCD monitor, making TV out mainly for HTPCs - IOW the reasons for previewing externally apply to your old 13", but not to HDTV. The biggest difference between a lower end HDTV & a decent LCD monitor hooked up to your PC is the TV has a tuner, which most will bypass anyway using HDMI., or at least DVI. [Component still AFAIK has no standards for colors or levels so is fairly iffy for editing]. Higher end HDTVs still aren't that different from the *average* PC's LCD monitor - just tons better - & a lot of folks hook up to an HDTV via HDMI for their primary PC display.

Standard tube (CRT) TVs displaying D1 are very different - which is why editors etc use one or more to monitor their video. 13" was commonly chosen both for convenience & while I don't know how much of this is urban myth, 13" TVs have been said (almost forever) to have the best, most standard displays.

So, Long story short - *The* reason for external TV monitoring in video work was/is the difference in display technologies between what you get on 1 (or more) PC monitors & the std., CRT TV. Hooking up over DVI/HDMI to an HDTV isn't different. The physical source (PC, stb etc) or the TV can vary, but there's nothing you can do about that.