Cheap color correction monitor

[Turboguard]

For the past 2 years that I've been using resolve, I've been either using my MacBook retina display or my 200dollar shitty monitor from acer (it literally has 3 options for calibration and never looks anything like any other screen I play my clips on, always super contrasty saturated).

I do a lot of switching between screens, even my 2 lg 50" and 60" to look at what the colors will finally look like, and I'm so tired of it! I'm also tired of resolve not fitting my screens, so please, please tell me there's a cheap monitor I could start off with.

Maybe in the $300 range. I live 10min walk from B&H and want to pick up a screen tomorrow! Send me all your recommendations, everyone needs to start somewhere right.

Thanks

[Turboguard]

Here's an example, colored this a week ago and on my monitor, the blacks are crushed, extremely crushed! And the contrast of the image is good and saturation is normal, but when I played it on my ipad or tv, it looks super flat with barely any contrast.

 

[animan]

You could work with a lower gamma setting on your MB if you feel its not giving you what you want (and dont use the super contrasty monitor to judge..) Whats it set to at the moment?

not that it tells you much but i think the black levels look about perfect in the clip..

Do you use scopes? When did you calibrate the MB last? Maybe the problems with your ipad/tv??

Just a couple of thoughts!

 

[Axel]

First of all, we can't judge if what we saw in the clip is what you expected. 

I agree with animan that you should rely rather on the scopes than on your naked eye.

Let me explain what I did to set my mind at rest regarding a cheap monitor. I used to calibrate my iMac's display and later my 2 Samsung Synchmasters (cheap) with Spyder 3 Pro. Looked okay to me, and I never felt a reason why I should worry.

With Resolve and the more demanding task to get the most out of raw and flat ProRes-10-bit images, I found the method didn't work anymore. So I followed the advice of a close friend who had just bought a €1500 Eizo. He sent me a link with a review of a really shitty little display, the LG 22MP65HQ, dirt cheap, around €130. Factory calibrated to 95% sRGB, which is very good. It's 8-bit of course, and it only has one HDMI input. So I bought this and the Blackmagic Mini Monitor. It looked completely off compared to my ancient Samsungs, so I distrusted the review. But my friend also had a new X-rite i1Pro and he suggested to make a new calibration. But instead of the X-rite software 'i1Profiler' (which is downloadable for free, which means you can share the device with friends, you need that as driver), he used the free dispcalGUI. Looks complicated, but actually is pretty straightforward. At first, it analyzes the display. It said '96% sRGB', and it showed onscreen which RGB levels had to be changed. I didn't know the LG had such levels deep inside the horrible menu, but it had (the Synchmasters didn't, they have instead Magic Colors and the like). I calibrated to sRGB (after a discussion if I shouldn't better use 'Video', which is rec709, but I don't expect my stuff to be broadcasted, and everywhere else you have sRGB computer displays). Then, instead of saving the profile for my graphic card's output, I exported a 3D-LUT (which dispcalGUI can do). I put the cube-file into my Resolve LUT-Folder and assigned it to the monitor LUT in project settings. There was only a VERY subtle change if we disabled the LUT, which means that the hardware calibration dispalGUI assisted us in was already pretty close. This means I also see a very neutral preview in FCP X, where I can't assign a LUT to AV out.

Whatever you do, try dispcalGUI, it's really useful and free!

[Turboguard]

I will check out dispcalGUI when I get home tonight! Thank you very much Axel!

This is the monitor I have http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=&sku=917345&Q=&is=REG&A=details

Bought it because for editing, and last year I really got into color correcting so had no real plans on doing it. I color mainly CDNG from BMPCC but am shooting a short on the F7S soon that I'm also going to color. Again, I'm still a novice colorist, but I really want to become good at it so therefor was looking for a good cheap start.

Thanks for your answers!

[enny]

There is no cheap solution not even 2000 dollar solution i been researching this to death for few months only way without pro monitor is to use  Light Space CMS integration with Resolve this will get you relllyyyyyy close but software alone is 1500 then you need a probe another 200 to 500 and a nicer monitor with 10 billions + color and eternal monitor lut not video card one. Or you can spend 1500 to 2000 getting one of plasma tV that was used as client monitor in a studio,but as i said again even after 4 years they can still be 1000 to 2000 dollars since its really accurate color but even then you will need to out put the signal another 200 to 1000 for kona card our black magic mini card.

What i did was get dell u2410 monitor with xrite pro probe and dispalGUI calibrate to REC 709 do i get close not really but close enough for me.

But again there no cheap solutions because technology is to expensive to be cheap

 

[Axel]

What i did was get dell u2410 monitor with xrite pro probe and dispalGUI calibrate to REC 709 do i get close not really but close enough for me.

​Would you elaborate on that? Why 709 and not sRGB?

[Policar]

I've been using the new Dreamcolor, which is ok except that it has bad off-axis performance (really more an issue with a weird anti-reflective coating), poor uniformity for a reference monitor, and it's only an 8 bit panel. I feed it with a black magic interface (via HDMI) and can grade off my rMBP with no problem. It's a pretty nice set up. Calibrated to rec709 out of the box, but need recalibration after a while.

For a little more (or a lot more, really), the FSI BM210 is sick. Also an 8 bit panel, but amazing.

There are some inexpensive (older) plasma and LCD tvs that you can get really close with simple blue gel and pluge bars. If you're grading for broadcast and aren't a perfectionist and know how to follow your scopes.

Fwiw, 709 and sRGB have about the same chromaticities (or trivially far apart), but different gamma. Are you grading for web or for broadcast? If for web any decent calibrated display will do fine. I like the dell ultrasharp line and you can get a nice $200 dell and $150 probe and be all good. For broadcast, the Dreamcolor isn't really "good enough," but it kind of actually is.  There are good LCD and Plasma tvs out there, too, but the blacks often take on tints that aren't trustworthy and I find the skin tones sometimes skew a bit magenta or yellow and the greens a bit teal or chartreuse. Unfortunately, those are very important colors. But you can still get 98% great.

It's difficult to tell anything from the video you posted. What are your IRE values on the noise floor? If you want to know if it's crushed or not that is where you will find out definitively.

[enny]

​Would you elaborate on that? Why 709 and not sRGB?

​to quote policar -Fwiw, 709 and sRGB have about the same chromaticities and i have rec 709 option so i just do it hopping its some what accurate

 

HP dream color is nice  but even that monitor you need additional hardware to get full use of dramcolor engine  to get 10 bit and rec 709 working and if you are on OSX you are out of luck since osx does not output 10 bit unless more money is spend for additional hardware . the only way of calibrating these (cheaper) screens is to use a large calibration 3D LUT (cLUT) First option is to get external LUT box (for 1080p signal the eeColor is fantastic - there is no 4K LUT box yet) - lots of peeps use the eeColor with the HP DC since it's 1080p only if u want to calibrate a 4K screen or don't want to spend money on an external LUT box, then you could use a 3D cLUT within Resolve that then outputs a specific color corrected signal from Resolve to your screen, best solution for this appraoch is Lightspace for Resolve Light or Lighspace for Resolve Full this is would give u the best color performance u can get from these screens, obviously that will not cure screen uniformity issues, LCD backlight contamination, viewing angle etc... that is what it is with cheaper hardware of course an alternative to all of this is to buy a screen that has internal 3D LUT storage capabilities such as Eizo, FSI, TVLogic etc. So basicly what i am saying is MORE MONEYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY