Use a cheapo LCD TV to give a better idea what your LCD projectors are
showing.
One way to better ensure that what you see is
what the audience get is to use an LCD TV as your program monitor. ... read
more.
It's fairly common practice in Video mixing
setups to have a 'program' and 'Preview' monitors. The Preview monitor lets you
cue up what's coming next and the Program monitor mirrors whatever is going to
the main LCD screen. The latter lets you set up out of the way, and still see
what the audence are seeing....or does
it??
Usually these monitors are small (10"-14") CRT video monitors. The problem is that it's often hard to match the image brightness and colour saturation between a CRT program monitor and an LCD projector with lower contrast ratio and different colours. Shots that look great on the CRT look terrible on the LCD projector due to the lower contrast ratio and differences in colour. Of course with Pro projectors this isn't a problem, as they are capable of producing reasonable video, but for those of us pressing what are essentially business projectors made for Powerpoint into service at a VLOBLIVE gig, this is a real issue.
the first time I used a small cheapo LCD TV as my program monitor (because I had run out of other monitors) I was really surprised to notice that the match in contrast ratio, brightness, and colours was MUCH better than with my normal CRT video monitors.
Notice I say it was a better match NOT that it was good. The LCD TV had poor contrast ratio, poor brightness control and odd colours BUT they were overall more similar to the Projector and therefore I knew that if a shot wasn't working on the LCD TV it probably wasn't going to work on the projectors.
Small LCD TVs are getting really cheap now, so this is definitely worth trying out.
Oh, and as a bonus, they are MUCH more portable than their CRT counterparts.
P.S. You will still want to setup the contrast and brightness properly, as detailed elsewhere on this site.
Usually these monitors are small (10"-14") CRT video monitors. The problem is that it's often hard to match the image brightness and colour saturation between a CRT program monitor and an LCD projector with lower contrast ratio and different colours. Shots that look great on the CRT look terrible on the LCD projector due to the lower contrast ratio and differences in colour. Of course with Pro projectors this isn't a problem, as they are capable of producing reasonable video, but for those of us pressing what are essentially business projectors made for Powerpoint into service at a VLOBLIVE gig, this is a real issue.
the first time I used a small cheapo LCD TV as my program monitor (because I had run out of other monitors) I was really surprised to notice that the match in contrast ratio, brightness, and colours was MUCH better than with my normal CRT video monitors.
Notice I say it was a better match NOT that it was good. The LCD TV had poor contrast ratio, poor brightness control and odd colours BUT they were overall more similar to the Projector and therefore I knew that if a shot wasn't working on the LCD TV it probably wasn't going to work on the projectors.
Small LCD TVs are getting really cheap now, so this is definitely worth trying out.
Oh, and as a bonus, they are MUCH more portable than their CRT counterparts.
P.S. You will still want to setup the contrast and brightness properly, as detailed elsewhere on this site.
Posted: Thu - March 2, 2006 at 10:55 PM |
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This site contains my personal views, ideas, tips, tricks and rants about doing live video, IMAG or graphics at live events on a very low budget. They are published as I get time, in a style closely approximating a weblog. Dave C.
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My name is Dave Chalmers and I live in Edinburgh in Scotland, UK. My background is in Electronics, but for 10 years I have been helping to put on live video at events in central Scotland in my spare time. Through the course of these events, nearly all on very constrained budgets, I have learned a few things about what works and what doesn't. While I would not claim to be able to give you all the answers, I can at least help you avoid some of the mistakes.
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Except where otherwise stated, all content on this site is either my own views and opinions, or is collated from my own experience or research. Feel free to use the ideas, but please do not rip off the content without permission. No liability is accepted for it all going horribly wrong if you follow any of this advice!
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Total entries in this category: 16
Published On: Jul 06, 2006 11:37 PM
Total entries in this category: 16
Published On: Jul 06, 2006 11:37 PM