External TV Monitor: The subject that will not die

RichMacDonald wrote on 12/29/2003, 1:21 PM

It seems this subject resurfaces once a week. Will it ever end?

Spot, I bought your book over Xmas, since a little money was burning a hole in my pocket and I hate to leave a bookstore empty-handed (along with the Wiggles movie for my daughter :-)...I think this is the one obvious place where your book comes up short. Looking at the large number of posts on the subject, the standard responses never quite satisfactory, and the questions repeated, half a page just wasn't enough. Its a beaten subject, but it won't die. A definitive article on the subject is still lacking.

*Why* would a professional never use the TV out of his/her video card? If one decides to go ahead anyway, what are the pitfalls and are there any cards which do better than others?

I don't want to hack my TRV900 to provide video passthrough (many have been unable to do it successfully), plus its inconvenient to hook the camera in.(*) Given I have an OHCI card (or firewire support from the motherboard), what are these "other converter devices"?

(*) Additionally, I learned the hard way that running the camera and hooking up the battery charger simultaneously will kill your battery in less than 6 months.

In short, what are the various alternatives for TV preview? From the "you might already have all you need, albeit flawed" to the "here is how the pros do it".

P.S. Yes I also know how to search this forum, but sometimes the more that is written the more it gets confusing. I believe I'm not alone :-)

Back to post

Comments

FuTz wrote on 1/9/2004, 6:01 AM

hee hee... he *must* be...
I dream of the day I can afford a PVM 8041 (or even a 5041 though it's a little small) for both shooting and editing...

SonyEPM wrote on 1/9/2004, 7:56 AM

TIP: When using a camcorder (or a box like the Canopus ADVC 100) for a D/A converter, make sure you fee the monitor s-video rather than composite. 3-cable component is even better if your gear supports it.

Especially in the case of a nice monitor, you'll notice a big difference-check the "fringing" around edges- quite pronounced with composite, much less of an issue with s-video.

farss wrote on 1/9/2004, 12:30 PM

You'll certainly get a better looking image on the monitor that'll be truer to what's on the tape but just remember that's not how the majority of the audience may see it.
I think you should also be checking how it looks on the average TV (if that's how your audience is likely to view it). Same goes for sound. By all means use the best studio monitors so you can hear every nuance in your mix. At the same time checking how it's going to sound for the target audience.

Dr_Z wrote on 1/11/2004, 11:58 AM

foleym,

what sort of graphic adapter do you use in order to connect a normal PC monitor an the SONY PVM14? I have an GeForce5600 and trieb to connect my "standard" SONY TV but I was very dissapointed (connected via S-VHS cable). I feel the poor quality is due to the graphic card. If you are happy with what you're using mayber you can give me some advice. Thanks.

lcrf wrote on 2/19/2004, 4:54 AM

Jessie,

Please, maybe you can help me.
I'm trying using a preview in TV external monitor conected in the following mode :
PC -> PYRO A/V LINK -> VCR -> TV
TV -> VCR -> PYRO A/V LINK -> PC
The connections between PYRO/VCR/TV are using composite connections.

The capture is OK, but the preview only appear in black/white.
How you are using this device, what's wrong in my system ?
Can you help me ?

Dr_Z wrote on 3/4/2004, 12:55 PM

Spot, I just bought a SONY PVM 14L1. It is flickering especially when I pause the video (still frame) and this is annoying me extremely. Is there anything I can do? Thanks

craftech wrote on 3/4/2004, 4:38 PM

Was this video shot in progressive mode? Progressive mode stills displayed as ordinary video will suffer from a flickering, slightly jerky effect. Some monitors handle it better than others.

John

Spot|DSE wrote on 3/4/2004, 8:11 PM

Is your Quantize to Frames turned on? Sometimes when you pause, you are in a half field which will flicker. Sometimes Progressive scan images will flicker. (they usually do)
I will work with progressive scanned media in an interlaced project, and then convert the project properties back to progressive scan for render.
One of these two things often will cause flicker.

Enlight wrote on 3/8/2004, 10:09 PM

Hey guys!, previewing in EXTERNAL TV using regular video cards, like ATI / NVIDIA using the secondary display output (at fullscreen, full framerate) is possible. VEGAS programmers didn't want to support it, I don't know why. Check out this page:

http://www.cyberzeka.com/czk/lang~en~pID~20~gID~52~product.html

These guys created a plug-in for after effects that sends the preview window directly to the secondary monitor (FULL SCREEN 720x480 NTSC).

I've downloaded the demo plug-in and it works GREAT. No dropped frames, 29.97 at FULL SPEED.

Someone out there should try to program something like this for vegas...

Spot|DSE wrote on 3/8/2004, 10:30 PM

This product has been around for a while, and isn't popular with too many users of AE, let alone Vegas. Compositing is already very hard on the processor, and this plug eats a lot of CPU power as well. I don't recall where they are, but these plus have been talked about in this forum as well as others. Cool idea, but it's pretty rough on the CPU. Why bother, when a camera or converter works for essentially free on the CPU?

Enlight wrote on 3/9/2004, 9:36 PM

Spot, I don't know if you already tried this plug-in but what I'm sure it does NOT uses CPU resources for writting into the overlay surface. Make some test, check render times, check the FPS at realtime playing using the plugin and WITHOUT it and you'll see...

I'd made a test scene for benchmark the CPU speed with the plug-in and without it. Same result both, same FPS, same render time. Same processor usage. Download the plug-in and test it.
Also, you should know that the plug-in uses DirectX 8 to draw into the overlay surface. That means only one thing: direct access to video card (so hardware acceleration is used, NOT the CPU).

Try it for yourself.

- "Why bother, when a camera or converter works for essentially free on the CPU?"

I don't have a camera, I don't have a converter. I have a simple video card with TV Output like a lot of users out there, and this thing works GREAT.

Spot|DSE wrote on 3/10/2004, 6:45 AM

I did try it when it first came out and I had an ATI card, and it definitely isn't outputting composites at the same frame rate for me. And just now looking at the website, their own support pages indicate that's the expected behavior. Could easily be a difference in card support though.
Thanks for reminding me that not everyone working in Vegas uses a camera for acquisition. That's something I'd forgotten.