SDI or HDMI for Monitoring with DaVinci?

[Desmond Ford]

Should I use SDI or HDMI with DaVinci for monitoring out to my grading and/or client monitor?

I'm was about to purchase a 42" Panny BT300U when I learned that I had to separately purchase a SDI board for an additional $1,100. However, I don't know if there are any advantages to SDI over HDMI so I wanted to get the community's opinion on the matter...

The Panny will be used as a client monitor, while I'll be grading on a Sony PVM OLED, which also has an HDMI port. I currrently use a Blackmagic Design Ultrastudio Express as my output card which has both SDI and HDMI out.

So which one should I use for which monitor? HDMI for both? Is one inherently better than the other? If so, how and why?

Thanks guys!

dezzy

 

[Jake Wilganowski]

Cable runs can be WAY longer with SDI

 

[John Sellars]

Decklink Extreme HDMI output is 8 bit. BT300 has 10 bit processing, but not sure about the display itself.

 

[Angelo Lorenzo]

Most HDMI is 8-bit, but there is also a 10 and 12-bit variation. While your decklink is limited to 8-bit, I would still check to see if the monitor is compatible with 12-bit (HDMI v1.3 Deep Color) so you can keep some options open in the future.

Lets assume for a moment that the monitor panel itself is 8bit (I couldn't find specs either way), the 10-bit internal sampling when being fed a 10-bit signal probably helps with banding reduction (dithering) in the image. That would be a question to ask a Panasonic rep along with if the monitor supports deep color.

If the monitor supports deep color, then it may be worth just upgrading your output module from Black Magic to something that can get you a deeper bit HDMI output from your computer. Aja has a lot of products that support 10-bit over HDMI like the Kona cards or the T-Tap, and the Blackmagic Decklink Studio should support 10-bit as well. Much cheaper than getting the SDI board for the monitor.

Of course if the monitor only takes 8-bit HDMI and you really want 10-bit then the SDI upgrade will probably get you that.

 

[Desmond Ford]

Thanks for the responses guys.


I didn't realize that HDMI is only 10bit. Clearly, that'd defeat the purpose of the OLED. The Panny is another story... it's the client monitor, but I still want it to match my OLED. I wonder if feeding the Panny 8bit and the OLED 10bit will have a dramatic effect on matching the two of them....?


I don't like complicated workarounds. Maybe the SDI board is just easier, albeit more expensive.


Anyone else care to chime in?

 

[Paul Provost]

Sdi to Sony and hdmi to bt300
If there is unacceptable banding on the panny upgrade to the sdi card. But before you do that try the analog component hd.

 

[Daniel Pitta]

I prefer sdi