New edit and grade monitor set up - lg-31MU97-B and Sony pvm a250

[Eirik Nicolai Heim]

Hi!

I base my editing and grading on my 2012 mac pro 12 core, 40 gb of ram, raid and nvidia geforce 680 gtx 4 gb.
I have been editing on my two 30 inch old apple displays, and one of them are really great for grading stuff for WEB.

I have gotten some founding from Innovation Norway to invest in a new monitor set up.

I am considering to go for the http://www.lg.com/us/monitors/lg-31MU97-B-4k-led-monitor as the computer monitor and the Sony PVM A250 as the reference monitor and a black magic studio deckline 4k card.
If I go for that, I will max out the total budget I have gotten.

Any comments on that set up?

Maybe I will also use one of the 30" displays as a computer monitor if it works out. I am having some trouble after updating to 10.9.3 and still having the same trouble in yosemite, getting both screens to work.

Thanks for any advice!

Eirik Nicolai Heim
Red Epic Dragon
Based in Northern Norway

 

[Marc Wielage]

I don't think it makes sense to edit 4K and look at a 4K monitor just yet, and I don't think it'll do anything but make you spend more money. I would worry more about a really good HD monitor that can be calibrated to give you accurate color with a Decklink card. You can always still output to 4K and deliver in 4K after grading in HD.

 

[Eirik Nicolai Heim]

I agree with you, and that is why my reference monitor will be HD. The company I contacted said the Sony would be the best option in my price range combined with the studio 4k from Black Magic, but that will leave some money to upgrade my computer monitor as well. The 30" from Apple are getting quite old, but one of them works fine. I have to use this money on monitors since it is ment to in the budget that I have gotten foundings for.

 

[Phil Holland]

I'm going to test this LG 31" out. It's color performance is what I'll be most critical of.

My particular interest in the monitor is the size, size in relationship to GUI, color, DCI 4K resolution at 60Hz via DP1.2, and oddly the USB ports.

My particular workflow now is editing on HD screens and proofing and reviewing on HD and a UHD 4K screen. This might allow for a more interesting workflow potentially for my needs. I'm not everybody though. I'll mainly be using it for QC, edit, and color.

Thoughts soon.

 

[Eirik Nicolai Heim]

Phil,

I think you described pretty much what I am thinking also, and why I am considering it as well, and I will be using it as you will be.

Please share your thoughts.

 

[Joel Arvidsson]

I'm going to test this LG 31" out. It's color performance is what I'll be most critical of.

My particular interest in the monitor is the size, size in relationship to GUI, color, DCI 4K resolution at 60Hz via DP1.2, and oddly the USB ports.

My particular workflow now is editing on HD screens and proofing and reviewing on HD and a UHD 4K screen. This might allow for a more interesting workflow potentially for my needs. I'm not everybody though. I'll mainly be using it for QC, edit, and color.

Thoughts soon.

I will be watching for your thoughts on that one. But why does it not have any sdi inputs. How would you connect it to a black magic 4k extreme card. I rather not use the hdmi on it.

 

[Eirik Nicolai Heim]

I will use it on my geforce card.

 

[Phil Holland]

I will be watching for your thoughts on that one. But why does it not have any sdi inputs. How would you connect it to a black magic 4k extreme card. I rather not use the hdmi on it.

I'll be using Display Port 1.2 to get 60Hz 4096x2160 out of it. I hope

 

[Will Steer]

I will be watching for your thoughts on that one. But why does it not have any sdi inputs. How would you connect it to a black magic 4k extreme card. I rather not use the hdmi on it.

I would say, you should only use the LG as a GUI monitor, not as your actual grading panel. I'm concerned that the LG's documentation, whilst specifying 97% of DCI-P3, which is impressive, does not specify Rec709.

A grading panel should be fed a signal via SDI from a video I/O card like the decklink. If you buy the Sony, get it properly calibrated to Rec709 or buy an FSI panel which comes pre-calibrated with Rec709 and P3 as standard, and comes with free calibrations for the life of the monitor.

I'd rather grade 4K material on a 1080p broadcast monitor which I know has been professionally calibrated than on a 4K monitor designed primarily as a GUI monitor. Unless the LG has support for a CMS that I'm not aware of?

Just my thoughts.

EDIT: Phil just read your thoughts on the LG monitor, whilst I personally wouldn't use it to grade, it looks bloody lovely!

 

[Phil Holland]

EDIT: Phil just read your thoughts on the LG monitor, whilst I personally wouldn't use it to grade, it looks bloody lovely!

Yep. I'm looking at this real close for a similar concern on the rec.709 front. But from the first day with the monitor all I can say is it's working well and I've graded on far, far worse at the studio level than this.

 

[Will Steer]

Yep. I'm looking at this real close for a similar concern on the rec.709 front. But from the first day with the monitor all I can say is it's working well and I've graded on far, far worse at the studio level than this.

I shall look forward to your further impressions with great interest!

 

[Marc Wielage]

I'd rather grade 4K material on a 1080p broadcast monitor which I know has been professionally calibrated than on a 4K monitor designed primarily as a GUI monitor. Unless the LG has support for a CMS that I'm not aware of?

I think this is the right attitude. Getting the color and levels right is very, very hard; the resolution spec alone is very easy. There's plenty of sharp monitors out there that have inconsistent panels and all kinds of color issues. The LG is also going to be 8-bit and not 10-bit, so right there you're losing thousands and thousands of shades of gray and colors.

 

[Hrvoje Simic]

I'd rather grade 4K material on a 1080p broadcast monitor which I know has been professionally calibrated than on a 4K monitor designed primarily as a GUI monitor. Unless the LG has support for a CMS that I'm not aware of?

31MU97 supports internal hardware calibration.

 

[Will Steer]

I think this is the right attitude. Getting the color and levels right is very, very hard; the resolution spec alone is very easy. There's plenty of sharp monitors out there that have inconsistent panels and all kinds of color issues. The LG is also going to be 8-bit and not 10-bit, so right there you're losing thousands and thousands of shades of gray and colors.

Will be interesting to see - as per discussions on the other thread - whether it can effectively be fed 10-bit via a decklink or AJA card.

31MU97 supports internal hardware calibration.

Hoping someone makes a Rec709 LUT for it!