30" LCD Monitor for Video Editing

It kills me that I can't find any decent reviews of 30" monitors from this year (2009). A lot of the reviews I'm reading are from 2006. WTF? Has nothing changed in the world of 30" monitors since Dell upgraded the 3007WFP to the 3008WFP?

I'm looking to purchase a larger monitor. I love my Dell 2407WFP, but at a maximum resolution of 1920x1200, it's just not up to the task at hand. I need to be able to view RED files at 2k resolution (2048x1024).

Here are the top models to choose from at the consumer level (under $2,000): Dell 3008WFP (some still swear by the 3007WFP), the Apple Cinema Display, HP LP3065, Samsung 305T, and I suppose the Gateway XHD3000 and LG W300H.

There are also 30" models from NEC and Eizo, but they definitely bump you up over the $2000 mark into the "pro-sumer" level of things.

There are many things that factor into what would be the best monitor (contrast ratio, response time, gamma display, etc.), and the biggest factor in these is how the screen is constructed.

Here is an explanation from jaguarskx on Tom's Hardware (in 2007, I might add), and yes, I consider "jaguarskx" to be the preeminent expert on LCD panel types:

TN = Twisted Nematic - These are 6-bit screens that cannot really reproduce 16.7 million colors. They can only reproduce 262,144 colors; 64 shades of Red, Green & Blue. Thats (2^6)^3 or 64^3. All the other colors are created through a process called dithering. These typically have fast response times (for gaming) at the expense of color accuracy. These are inexpensive monitors.

MVA = Multidomain Vertical Alignment
PVA = Patterned-ITO Vertical Alignment

MVA and PVA panel are the most common 8-bit LCD screen around. They are relatively slow compared to TN, but offers better color accuracy. Good viewing angles and contrast ratio. However not all MVA and PVA panels are 8-bit screens. S-MVA and S-PVA are typically the ones that are 8-bit panel from my research. S = Super.

8-bit LCDs can truly reproduce 16.7 million colors. That's because there will be 256 shades of each color (2^8 ); Red, Green & Blue. Therefore 256^3 = 16.7 million (actually, a little more).

S-IPS = Super In-Plane Switching. These are high end and really expensive LCD panels. All these panels are 8-bit panels and comes the closest to CRT image quality. From what I've read they also have very good response times as well. LCD monitors geared towards graphic artists who demands the most color accuracy are designed with these type of panels. That means the shades of color you see on the screen are the exact shades that will be printed out on a good color printer.

That's at least a beginning. I need an IPS panel. But this seems pretty standard these days. Some gamers prefer the TN panels because they're a little faster and much cheaper, but I definitely need color consistency, so IPS it is.

Now I have to decide between the monitors on my list above. The big three seem to be the Apple, the Dell, and the HP (the Samsung gets pretty good reviews, but nothing's changed since 2005... that makes me nervous --should it?).

There are no definitive winners regarding any of these. Depending upon the review you read, any one of these is the superior monitor. Can this really be the case?

The Dell 3008WFP often wins the debate because of the sheer numbers of inputs on the device. I could care less. Give me my DVI port and I'm happy. I guess I'll enjoy the upgrade to 10-bit color (via the DisplayPort) over 8-bit (via DVI), but it's not really a battle-winning factor. That said, I am starting to doubt all choices but the Dell because of the DisplayPort... so I guess I lied. It does matter.

Dell seems to be the brand that gets commented on for color inconsistency the most often. But none of the others really "shine" in this area, anyway, so it doesn't really help with my decision. Most of the comlaints also seem to be from back in the year 2007, so I wonder if they've fixed the problem. I don't know, because I can't find a damn review from this year.

If I go simply by price, Apple loses the battle hands down. You can't really find it for less than $1,699 (and there are lots of people bitching about the ACD problems to boot, so it's not a matter of "the higher the price, the better the monitor"). The "regular" price for the Dell isn't much better, but it goes on sale all the time, and can usually be purchased for around $1299, depending on the day (it's really annoying how Dell fluctuates their prices all the time --the 3008WFP was actually $1039 in March of 2009). The HP is usually $1,199. The Samsung can often be found for less than $1,000.

Awwww who am I kidding? I'm buying the Dell. Having the Display Port for 10-bit color is the clincher. Now I just have to figure out how to get them to sell it to me for the price I've seen a million times ($1,299 instead of $1,699... or better yet, $1,039), but isn't available "right now."

Bastards.

New Topic: Editing RED Footage in Adobe Premiere CS4

Alright... I've been gone for a long, long time. Before my blogging hiatus, the major topic of discussion was hacking up the Samsung Omnia i910, and while I will continue to tinker with that toy (nay, superior smart phone) my new topic of choice is video editing and post production for "film!"

I am getting ready to edit a feature film in Adobe Premiere Pro CS4.

"Really? Shouldn't you be editing in Final Cut Pro, like everyone else?" you might ask.

Well, we shot our film in full resolution (4K) RED. Final Cut hasn't addressed the format as well as Adobe, so I'm going with Premiere. Premiere is simply at the forefront of editing native RED footage.

The new version of Final Cut Pro released last week touts the ability to edit RED better than it's previous version, but FCP still forces you to wrap the .r3d file in a Quicktime wrapper, thus you aren't really accessing the RED files natively (you have to go through that workaround).

The RED plug-in for Adobe Premiere is just the best way to go in my book.

So much of post is done in After Affects (no matter what platform you're on and what software you're using), and the integration and flow of Premiere and After Affects is superior (vs. FCP or AVID) to say the least.

Yes, there are issues with editing in Premiere (not the least of which is Adobe's apparent REFUSAL to address syncing and linking audio and video files --more on that later). But each leading platform (FCP and AVID being the two others), have their issues as well.

Other than sound, the biggest problem with Premiere (and it's admittedly a big one), as that it's a youngster in the field. Pretty much anybody who's been doing anything with film on a serious, professional level, has been using either AVID or Final Cut Pro. Thus, the knowledge base for Avid and FCP is much more vast. Finding answers for your problems with Premiere takes a lot of work. Hopefully my posts on the topic can help people find the same answers I was looking for a little quicker (a couple issues we had took weeks to find an answer to --some of the problems we still haven't found answers to, which leads me to believe that there might not be answers yet).

Bottom line, you're going to have problems (big or small) with any program you go with, so you just need to make sure you're doing what's best for you and your particular project.

Next up, the build (what I learned from researching for weeks before putting together a computer for the specific purpose of video editing).

Omnia vs. iPhone :: OMNIA WINS!!!

I haven't blogged for quite some time, because I am currently Producing and Directing a film (www.LeadingLadiesMovie.com). It's a lot of work, and takes a lot of time. However, this news is so note worthy, that I thought I would take a moment.

When we move into our production offices, there was no live internet. This is when I found out that the Omnia is superior to the iPhone.

I lived without computer access to the web for about 4 hours, then remembered I had the wifi tether .cab on my computer. I uploaded it to my Omnia, installed, and within a couple of minutes my Omnia was transformed into the most glorious WiFi router! Not only did I have access to the web, but I had the entire office hooked up with high speed internet!

The clincher came when Erika was video Gchatting Mikey, Brett was downloading files, and I was checking Gmail. You heard that right, multiple users and one of them was using VIDEO CHAT (on her Mac).

Are you freaking kidding me? Omnia wins.

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Google Docs Are Complete Garbage (and making me very angry)

Answer me this: what good are documents that you can never access? I have been trying to get my 20+ person film production staff to use Google Docs over the past two weeks. No fewer than three times a day am I unable to access Google Docs. Not only that, but none of the people in our domain can see the documents until they are actually "shared" with each specific individual ("share with everyone" has never, ever, ever worked). What a pain in the ass to have to make sure I select each and every person I want to be able to access each document with (since "share with everyone" doesn't work).

I am soooooo sick of this screen:



Google, you are slipping. Big time. I'm actually thinking about using MS Live Mesh for document sharing. Pay attention, Google. Fix yer shit.

Verizon Omnia i910 GPS Finally Hacked!

I'm elbow deep in budgets, schedules and SAG paper work, so I haven't had time to try this yet, but people are reporting it working! If I get a free moment between now and Sept. 25 [ugh!], I'll be sure to try this out and post my results.

Until then, please let us know if this works for you.

http://theidoctor.org/omnia.html
or
http://forum.ppcgeeks.com/showpost.php?p=837203&postcount=1

Viva la Hackers!

ps Be careful not to brick your phone!

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Warning: Zip Domains is a Scam

At some point I plan on developing a nice little widget for musicians that allows you to post and advertise your gigs via a widget that can be posted on blogs and web pages. A couple years ago I acquired the names GigWidget.net and GigWidget.org. When I did, I received a couple e-mails regarding GigWidget.com... organizations asking if I want to purchase the domain, since I had the .net and .org versions. They were asking for more money than I wanted to pay, so I declined.

Recently I started getting e-mails again, telling me GigWidget.com had recently become available and asking me if I wanted to purchase it through their company. The first e-mail (from domains@dcinchq.com ) said I could buy GigWidget.com for $99.95. The second e-mail (from sales@zipacquisitions.com at "Zip Domains") said I could obtain it for $49. I then got another e-mail from the same address and "company" stating the same price. Then came two more e-mails from domains@dcinchq.com showing a price of $99.97 and giving these links:

http://www.dcinchq.com/checkout.php?domain=gigwidget.com

http://www.dcinchq.com/faq.html

Then I got an e-mail stating:

Our company specializes in acquiring expired domain names to help individuals and businesses protect their brand online.

The domain name GIGWIDGET.COM expired recently and we were able to secure it.

We noticed that you own GIGWIDGET.NET and felt that you may be interested in acquiring the .COM version of your existing domain name.

It is now available for a one-time fee of only $30.00 USD.

To purchase or learn more, please visit http://zipdomains.com/checkout.php?domain=gigwidget.com

Thirty bucks. Not bad for a domain that I actually did want, but I wanted to check out the legitimacy of Zip Domains first. The very first Google search popped up somebody saying that they had had a similar experience, but that the domain was just freely available. So I went to my registrar, typed in the name GigWidget.com, and sure enough, it was available to the world. So I purchased it for my regular price, and now I own the domain without having gone through the channels of Zip Domains, which I consider a scam company at this point.

They were suggesting that they had exclusive rights to the domain, and that I could obtain it only through them, which is false. The domain was freely available, and at a MUCH lower price than any of the prices they offered.

Just wanted to let people know that if you get an offer from Zip Domains, just go to your registrar and buy the domain on your own. Zip Domains is just trying to scam you for extra cash.

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My Favorite New Band: Phoenix

what I'm listening to: United by Phoenix

I have drunk the Kool-Aid, and I have fallen in love. Sign me up for the field trip to South America, as long as Phoenix is flying the plane.

With just the right amount of reverence to Bowie and Byrne, Phoenix crafts pop-deliciousness with a fervor for life. I'm not quite sure how they've been flying under my radar up until now (especial considering my penchant for Daft Punk, LCD Soundsystem, Sondre Lerche and the aforementioned David Bowie and David Byrne). Perhaps it's because these guys are Frogs, and live far, far away.

I feel a little (just a little!) like I'm getting old, like my finger slipped for a moment from the pulse, like LCD SS, losing my edge. I hate it when I discover a band on SNL. It means I haven't been paying attention. But last night these guys definitely whipped me out of a trance when they injected 30 Rockefeller Plaza with their bouncy, dulcet tones.

The drummer simply exudes joy as he bangs out happiness with precision and abandon. The lead singer is cool, without poking you in the eye with it (I'm so sick of hipster-indifference posing as cool, so thank the MCP for somebody who just is cool). Wifey says the guitar player looks a little like Johnny Depp (I guess in dirty, Edward Scissors Hands kind of way), and even I can see that the keyboard player is wicked hot. So hey, not only are they sonically pleasing, but visually as well!

I'm listening to United while I type this. "If I Ever Feel Better" just started playing. Oh, oh, oh, me likey!

Phoenix. New album drops May 25. Check 'em out.

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