I saw someone using a huge16:9 Apple monitor with Premiere last week - he had to buy some kind of convertor box to make it work with a PC. Looked impressive, but I couldn't sit there looking at an Apple logo all day!

I'm not sure what's available from Sony, but their flat screen monitors look very nice, and if they haven't got one already, I'd expect them to soon put out one which suits HDV.

Be interested to hear about the firewire question ....

Why do you feel it's necessary to buy an Apple monitor? What purpose will it serve? How will it make your videos better?

Jay

Well, the nice feature would appear to be that it has firewire ports. If this is the case, then it should be able to handle Vegas' preview out function "out of the box", no additional hardware necessary. Of course, at the current time Vegas only supports standard DV through firewire so it wouldn't help for any higher formats.

Then again, there are other, much cheaper monitors available with firewire ports.

To view HDV over firewire would require the receiving device to be able to decode the MPEG-2 for playback - I am not aware of any monitors which include this feature.

I have started rendering my still photos as video streams. I use the standard Vegas HD 1080-60i profile. I then use nVidia's DVD decoder to playback the file in realtime using Windows Media Player on my PC. This takes approximately 20-30% CPU on my P4 3.2 GHz HT with ATI 9800 XT video card.

Other software I looked at was by www.moonlight.co.il.

I have not done extensive testing at various screen resolutions or MPEG-2 rates. Prehaps somebody else has, even different playback software?

Sony have a MUCH cheaper monitor that's native 1080 HD res capable with DVI input.
Checkout SPOTs FAQs at VASST to learn more about HDV monitoring. In short at this stage you cannot send HDV over 1394 for external preview. You can connect the Sony monitor as 2nd or 3rd screen and use the internal Vegas preview window on it.
Hope that makes sense.
Bob.

I was considering the Apple but it is expensive for the size and has compatability needs for adapters. I watched a Sony HDTV/DVI 50" LCD panel at Costco this week and it was supurb, but about 6k. There are smaller sizes for a lot less.

I would like to thank all who have responded.

My reasons for considering the Apple Cinema Series is that it is the ONLY flat panel monitor in the 20-23 in. size that I could find that had a firewire input. None of the Sony flat panel monitors that I have seen in the 20-23 in. size that I have found have a firewire input. I cannot accomodate a bigger monitor than that in my editing bay.

My purpose is to be able to preview HDV footage from my Sony HDR-FX1 captured via the HDConnect codec as "lossless" avi's, I thought the Apple Cinema monitors would be a good way of doing that th;rough firewire. Sicne these avi's are NOT the mpeg2 transport stream, I thought that Vegas should be able to send them to the Apple monitors via firewire. I did not intend to use the Apple monitor as a monitor attached via DVI to my PC but only to use it's firewire input for Vegas' preview.

If anyone knows of any flat panel monitors made by anyone in the 20-23 in. size I would like to know of them. Also can anyone confirm that using the Apple Cinema SEries monitor with a firewire input ONLY would not work with Vegas for viewing the ConnectHD avi's in Vegas?

Tom

I think the NEW (G5 Style Metal 20" or 23" ONLY) will work.

"Choose an optional VESA mount to install your display anywhere. Connect one or two displays via industry-standard DVI"

You should have no problem hooking up to a PC.

Also as far as the firewire...ports... IEEE 1394 ports are IEEE1394. So if the Sony FX1 uses IEEE 1394 the Apple monitor should have no issues.

Regards

Chris Hendrick

Well, true, IEEE 1394 ports are compatible with each other. However, the data stream being sent down the wire is what matters. All firewire is is a method to transfer data. It doesn't specify what sort of data will be sent through the wire. The Apple monitor may only be programmed to handle DV video streams through it's firewire port. Then again, it may not. Surely there must be some technical specifications available through Apple that would answer all these questions.

As far as the monitor being able to display HDV footage directly from the camera, this is still the same issue. The monitor would physically be able to receive the data from the camera, but it may or may not have any idea what to do with it when it receives it. Consider that Vegas communicates through firewire, but at present it can only understand DV signals. It can't capture or print HDV mpeg data.

Sorry Tom, but the firewire ports are not for direct video input to the display. They are only firewire hub ports, simply an extension of the firewire ports on the back of your PC, placed conveniently on the monitor so you don't have to crawl under the desk every time you want to plug your DV cam in to capture some video. The Apple Cinema Display only accepts direct video input through it's DVI connector. You certainly can input video into the firewire ports, but only in the sense that it's a data stream that will be delivered to the PC, just like any other PC firewire port.

That said, while I agree that the new cinema displays are absolutely stunning in their beauty and craftsmanship, I can't see how anyone can justify buying one. The HP L2335 uses the exact same LG-manufactured LCD panel, has 5 different inputs as opposed to Apple's 1 input, has a 3-year warranty instead of the Apple's 1-year, and costs $300-500 less!

Ryan

Well okay. The Apple 23" Monitor is $1,869.99 at Amazon, the SOny "PREMIERPRO 23" Wide Screen Flat Panel LCD SDM-P234/B" is $1838.99, and the HP f2304 23" high-definition LCD is $1,999.99. Couldn't find the L2335 on HP's web site, but found it at AMazon for $1,621.64.
Seems like the HP is the best deal, but I found some people complaining about the text being fuzzy. Of course there were also complaints about the Sony and Apple monitors having a pink tint that not even a spyder pro could get rid of. Guess you'd really need to see all of them in person.

The L2335 is on HP website under the business section. See here:

http://h18004.www1.hp.com/products/monitors/tft/

Also, for the longest forum thread in the history of the world, which also contains every possible question and answer regarding this display, see:

http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=757963

Scissorfighter,

Yes, I did quite a bit of further research which led me to decide against the Apple Cinema Series LCD displays partially for the reasons that you mention. I have just purchased two HP L2335 flat panel monitors for use in my editing bay and they should arrive early next week. I was impressed by the favorable user comments on the HP L2335 and I like the fact that in addition to DVI , the also have component input which will allow me to view my Sony HDR-FX1 via these dispalys.

Tom

no firewire port but i just got a new sony sdm--234 widescreen 23 inch LCD. this thing is awesome and after a tune-up with Eye-1 Photo, the colors match my CRT exactly. I'm thrilled with this monitor. $1600 at Page Computer

Thanks for that info. Unfortunately, I can't seem to get the
http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=757963
link to work. Keep getting something that says there is a 'slight' problem. Tried just doing http://www.hardforum.com and get the same error message. Maybe they're down for thanksgiving or something.