As usual, the guys at FSI keep adding in more and more features based on user input and the latest round of updates have a couple of especially neat updates. And of course, these are free to all current owners of FSI monitors, just download the update from the website.
EBU Gamma. True 2.35 EBU standard gamma setting for the monitor for anyone delivering material to european broadcasters. Yes, 2.4 is mighty darn close, but because of a request from a European user, they decided to make the monitors go exactly to the European gamma spec.
Timecode Display. The monitors themselves can now display on screen timecode pulled directly off the SDI feeds using LTC, VITC 1 and VITC 2. So no more having to turn on the TC display via a tape deck or a camera, the monitors themselves can now display on screen TC. I've actually asked for a few improvements to this feature already.
NTSC Setup. You can set the monitor up to 7.5 IRE if you're working on SD material that requires 7.5 delivery.
Scope Position. Now you can put the scopes in any of six positions instead of just having it in the lower right.
Active Boundary Marker. This is really really neat and it took me a moment or two to really figure out what they had done here. Because the monitors have the ability to show full resolution video without using up the entire screen, it can be difficult to tell if you're missing any lines of image in the picture. For example, in 1:1 SD mode on any of the monitors. You see black on the top and bottom of the image because it's sitting in the middle of the monitor so if there are any lines of resolution missing in the image, you can't tell because it'll just look like the black border around the image.
Turn on the Active Boundary Marker and a line is placed 1 pixel above and below the image frame. Now you can see where the edge of the image SHOULD be. If you see black between your image and that line, then you're missing image information.
And of course there's more stuff in the latest updates, but these are some of the highlights that I've noticed so far. Very cool stuff!
Bram Desmet just stopped by to show me the latest rev of the 2450W with next ND Filter and the latest software revisions. This thing IS a CRT replacement, no questions asked.
If you're going out to NAB or need a new color accurate monitor for your facility, you can't go wrong with this or really any of their monitors. But this 2450W with the ND filter..... WOW!!!!
I posted this originally in the Apple Color Forum but through I would share here as well....
Just had an all-day demo of four Flanders Scientific (FSI) monitors here in the shop. Overall extremely impressed and yes, you CAN have an accurate monitor for $2,495. I'm not going to go into full details as Nick Griffin will be publishing an article shortly on everything we saw here today but basically....
LM-2450W (24") and LM-1760W (17") look as accurate as my Sony CRT Multi-format monitor. Excellent blacks, excellent whites and good solid color throughout. The 24" has an option for the ND Filter which I'll be getting, but you don't necessarily need it. The 17" is simply the cheapest monitor I've seen out there that I consider accurate enough to recommend. Honestly can't believe there's a monitor this inexpensive and this high of quality.
The LM-2430W (24") and LM-2130W (21") are considered "grade 2" monitors and while extremely accurate, the viewing angle is tighter. Also, when I put up a scene that was completely black on one side, you could see some light spill coming in from the edges. This is a limitation of the panel itself and the prices are lower, accordingly. These would be great editing monitors and could be used for final mixing if you don't have the budget for the 2450W.
Are they as accurate as the $10,000 and up LCD's? Probably not, though I would love to see a side by side comparison, I would not be surprised to see them look really REALLY close. One great thing about them, 30 day money back guarantee so if you don't like it, send it back no questions asked.
I'm ordering 2 of the 2450W's and one of the 1760W's for our shop so if anyone wants to purchase my Sony PVM20L5/1 and/or my PVM14L5/1 just shoot me an email. As soon as the FSI's are here, I'll ship them to you.
If you want to know more about the specs, just click on the yellow banners throughout the Cow or look up Flanders Scientific. They're a locally owned company right here in Atlanta, super nice guys to boot!
So we've had a lot of discussions on the Final Cut Pro and Apple Color forums about what can we use to replace the current Broadcast CRT monitors that are EOL? I've not been overly impressed with the current crop of LCD monitors out there. My favorite to date, the Panasonic 1700W and 2600W are both good, but cannot completey replace my Sony CRT Broadcast monitor.
Well yesterday I got a demo of the new TV Logic 24" LCD Broadcast display and I have to say, WOW! I think we have a real contender for CRT replacement at a price that won't completely break the bank. Yes, it's expensive, but it's about 1/3 the price of what I've been seeing touted as a "True CRT Replacement" from other companies. Here's my intial thoughts on the monitor as I reported in the Apple Color forum yesterday. http://forums.creativecow.net/viewforum/223#2
Left to Right: Sony PVM20L5/1, TV Logic 24" with 64% ND Filter, Panasonic 1700W. Note the Sony is closest to the camera so it appears to be the largest display, but the TV Logic actually is.
Ok, first impression. WOW!
They brought in two 24" models, one with a 32% ND filter and one with no filter. I didn't realize you could get an ND filter and it actually does make a difference in the image. Excellent demonstration by the TV Logic representative who spent the first 45 minutes really showing us all the various features and settings using a lot of test patterns and motion tests so we could really see what the LCD can and cannot do.
First off, all the controls you would expect with a professional CRT monitor and a few more. Dual SDI (HD/SD) inputs are standard with loop through, Analog Component, S-Video and Composite are supported. Even 16 channels embedded audio are supported via SDI. Dual Link SDI is an option that is simply unlocked via a password input.
Ok, HD looked spectacular as it should since it's a 1080 native display. Colors were within 1% to my Sony CRT. The Sony was a touch more red, but the TV Logic display can be fully tweaked, we left it at the factory calibrated settings.
I liked the 1:1 option for 720p material. When playing 720p you can have the display up-scale the image to fill the 1080 screen or simply play it back in 1:1 scaling which is a nice option.
Ok, here's what really impressed me. Standard Def playback. They have a 2:1 scaling option that presents high quality standard def playback. Full screen resolution fell apart a bit like I would expect with an LCD scaling SD footage up, but in the 2:1 scaling mode, it was extremely clean. With SD, the colors were spot on to my Sony CRT.
The monitor can be set into an 'interlace' mode that accurately replicates what I see on the CRT both in HD and SD. You can turn this off by using a "Fast" mode but I actually preferred seeing this on. I played back an SD project I finished two weeks ago and could accurately see some of the interlacing issues a Map graphic was showing on the Sony CRT.
We tried the unit out for about 2 and a half hours and I'm just really really impressed with it. I have to say, this really is a potential CRT replacement monitor. I would color grade on it and actually will get a chance to do that shortly.
I'm going to get another one of these units in a few weeks with a 62% ND filter as I found the 32% filter a little too dark for my work. The rep said the 64% filter more replicates the brightness of my Sony CRT. The unit without the filter was just too bright. So in a few weeks I will get one with the correct filter and we'll have it fully calibrated to replicate my Sony. Then I'll write a full review on it.
But WOW! Thanks to Christian Betong bringing these monitors to my attention! List US Price is approx. $8,000.
Left to Right: Sony PVM20L5/1, TV Logic 24" with 64% ND Filter, Panasonic 1700W. Note the Sony is closest to the camera so it appears to be the largest display, but the TV Logic actually is.
Professional Video Editor, Producer, Director since 1990.
Credits include multiple Emmys, Tellys, Aurora and CableAce Awards.
Owner / Operator of Biscardi Creative Media, a full service video and film production company with about 65% of our work in HDTV. The show you know us best for is "Good Eats" on the Food Network. I developed the HD Post workflow and we also create all the animations for the series.
Favorite pastime is cooking with pizza on the grill one of my specialties. Each Christmas Eve we serve the Feast of the Seven Fishes, a traditional Italian seafood meal with approx. 30 items on the menu.
If I wasn't in video production I would either own a restaurant or a movie theater.
