VideoITguy, thaks for quick reply.
So what video card do you recommend? And first of all - does my conception of usage the monitor as TV is correct?

Peter

Can't answer all your points Peter, but I am successfully using a BMD Decklink Studio 2 card for external preview from the Vegas Pro time-line via HDMI to a SONY flat-screen TV.

I have Vegas 9-13 on the system and all of them are fine with the setup.

YMMV,
Tom

I have read on this forum (http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/forums/ShowMessage.asp?ForumID=4&MessageID=899893) that Blackmagic DeckLink Mini Monitor does not work with VP13. So propaby Intensity Pro will be the choice.

Does Blackmagic is the only video card that works with VP13 and has acceptable price? Is there any better chice?

There are lots of video cards today that support 3 or 4 monitors. I use an older and not very powerful Nvidia 650 card that will easily drive my 2 24' Dell desktop monitors plus a 40" TV using HDMI for external preview.

wwaag

I have Gigabyte GTX570 (Nvidia) graphic card. It has HDMI output. But will it make a real TV signal? I mean YUV color scheme and proper interlace?
That would be great if would not have to buy additional card.

I have a Nvidia GTX 570 for my two working monitors and a Blackmagic Intensity Pro for my viewing monitor, all work perfectly together with VP 13
Lee

bm inten pro with 13 seems a bit buggy - occasionally freezes preview pic. used it for a couple of weeks then gave up.

ymmv

So maybe better option is to use my graphic card. If I send HDMI signal from the graphic card to a monitor with HDMI input, will it work in the same way as TV card + TV?
Will it send YUV colors and manage interlace?

Leslie,
I found that you need to keep the BM desktop s/w updated. 10.1.1 seems to work perfectly fine for me with Decklink Studio 2.

hi tom, and again, happy birthday....

i updated to the latest drivers and still had it freezing up. as with all things vegas it might just be MY pc not playing the same song.

as it is i can now use and calibrate the preview monitor with my spyder, not that i'm that concerned anymore after watching a variety of friends tv's over the holiday period and being amazed / saddened by their idea (if it was their idea) of what skin tone / blacks / saturation should be.....

Peter100 - really have no idea why you are insisting that HDMI be a managed pipe. That just is not how it works. HDMI is a conduit - the two end points are where management comes into play. Videocard and TV. For most part TV's do not manage anything well. Hence you defeat the purpose of seeking a managed pipe.

Just hook HDMI out on your card and connect to the appropriate input device, be it monitor preferably. Forget the TV stuff.

What I'm trying to achive is to have a preview of the video in TV color space.
Computer monitor works in sRGB colorspace (16,8 mln of colors), TV works in rec 709 colorspace (ca 2 mln of colors). sRGB and rec. 709 on modern screens differ not only colorspace but also gamma level. All these differences cause that the video displayed on monitor in sRGB may (and most often will) look different than on a TV.

To have a correct preview of the fideo I should buy video card + broadcast monitor. Unfortunately broadcast monitors are out of my budget range.

So I'm looking for a cheaper substitute. I'm trying to find a relatively not expensive computer monitor to dispaly rec 709 color range.
Salesman form my computer shop offers me EIZO CX241. He said this is widegamut monitor and it is possible to calibrate it in a such way, that it would emulate a TV screen.
He said also that CX241 has high quality electronics that correctly interpets HDMI TV in YUV mode.
CX241 is quite expensive monitor and I wonder if there is some other, cheaper solution.

So my question is - how do you manage with problem of different color space of sRGB and rec 709. How to check if prepared video does not cause any problems on TV?
(I know I can use ordinary TV, but IMHO modern TV players modify video in such different ways, that it is hard to treat is as refference display).

Peter

Peter100 - you will need to learn a lot more about how VegasPro works, and in particular what the preview screen does. This is a very large topic and I suggest you travel the forum extensively looking at posts about color space, preview levels, etc.

The smartest way to simulate TV preview is to use the Antares plug-in and use it on VegasPro13. What this does is simulate TV preview to a regular high-quality monitor and then allows you to switch back and forth to traditional VegasPro level for grading. This would be a territory with a lot of gotchas and I would tread carefully.

I've installed the Antares plugin. Indeed it changes color space (and gamma?) mainly by modifying levels of image. Thanks to it you may say how more or less the image would look on a TV.

However I would like to plug an additional monitor or TV to my computer set, to control quality of preview image. Till now I have been burning a DVD and checking image quality on external TV + DVD set. Now I would like to bypass burning DVD and check how the image will be displayed on a TV by the end user of my DVD video.

What configuration should I choose?
- Graphic card with HDMI or TV card (probably Blackmagic Intensity Pro)?
- External monitor or TV?

Please help me, I've got completely lost? :(

Peter

NTSC - Never The Same Color Twice

Luckly I'm from PAL region. :)
videoITguy - what is you configuration? What do you use to preview your work?

I grade VegasPro in flat - that is the way VegasPro is designed for preview. I use Antares for alternate comparison viewing - and I burn Blu-ray HD for set-top player QA playback against HDMI conduit to widescreen TV.

By the way that workflow would not be appropriate for broadcast - this is all about release over Blu-ray and comparable harddrive media.

I understand. So I have a similar workflow. Indeed it's better to check how a independent hardware player interpret the video.
One more thing - do you think that I should limit colours to 16-235 before rendering video for DVD? Or maybe the colours limiting is necessary only for broadcasting?

Get in the habit 16-235 - it is a nice habit to have. By the way my full test-bed includes 15 different optical disc players - usually alternately connected to about 3 different screens. But NTSC applies (even in PAL) as I said earlier because you canNOT control end-user displays.