I would be grateful for any help on the two issues below.  I am going to try and keep the post brief but I think the background information will probably be relevant and helpful.

 MONITORS

I have been running Liquid with two monitors for a long time.  One monitor is a square 20" and the other a square 19" and they are VGA and DVI respectively.  No problems.  Yesterday I decided to get rid of the 19" and replace it with 22" widescreen.  It has driven me mad.  I have used the windows Display area to try and get the monitors to behave properly but to no avail.  Incidentally when I first plugged in the new monitor (on VGA) it did work but I wasn't happy with its appearance etc so I started changing things...  I have also used the NVIDIA display properties to try and get it to work.  So, here is the problem:  I have got both monitors working, the widescreen is now on DVI and the square 20" is on VGA.  I have set up dual monitors in Display area and I can move my mouse from one monitor to the next seemlessly.  All is good.  If I open Adobe AE I can stretch the window across both monitors beautifully (as I can with every program I run).  Liquid won't.  It is restricted to the widescreen DVI monitor.  Under my old setup I used to have part of Liquid on the left screen and the time line would extend across to the right screen.  I can't get this to happen now.  The whole point of getting widescreen and larger monitors was to have more work area visible.  I have gone backwards it appears!  Any help?  Please.

 

HARDWARE ADVICE

This is my current setup:  Sony Vaio desktop, dual core intel pentium 2.8; 1gb DDR2; Nvidia geforce 600 (256mb) direct x9 [ various internal and external HD's etc which are not relevant].  I recently was thinking of upgrading my pc.  I went onto a site where you can build your own.  I thought, "lets go mad!".   After building it and looking at the price I thought "gulp" but was willing to go for it. It had quad pentium 3.2 mhz, 8gb ram, 1gb video card.  Then I read a forum post which said that running quad would not improve things, and there were also issues I read about video cards and ram (ram in respect of XP only utilising up to 2gb).  so, thanks to those useful posts, I have decided to dump the idea of upgrading pc and I am just going to change bits.  I am going to upgrade to 2gb ram and change my video card to either 512 or 1g.  The advice here is:  what is the best video card to use?  It had to be pci.  I understand there are issues re direct x10.  The only thing I know about video cards is what I have picked up on the forums so if anyone can help me (because I am REALLY ignorant on it all) I would be SO grateful. 

 

thank you all so much for your help and assistance.

Olaf

 

The DirecX 10 issues have been resolved with the new Dx10 patch, which is available here: http://www.pinnaclesys.com/PublicSite/us/Products/Consumer+Products/Advanced+Video/Liquid+Edition/Avid+Liquid+7+Support/Download+Area/Drivers+-+Updates/DX10patch.htm?mode=documents&Display=1

I just upgraded from a Pentium 2.8 HT to a quad Q9450 and the four cores do share the load, but maybe not as efficiently as for programs which are specifically written for four cores.  At least now I am ready for the future (maybe NextGen will take full advantage of all four cores)!

That's useful thanks.  I agree: there is something to be said about updating and being ready.  I often think however, 'what else do I need?' I suppose the real 'next' step is HD.  I edit mainly skydiving videos and when I am jumping with my friends we all use standard video cameras so until all my fellow jumpers switch over to HD I guess I can wait. 

If anyone else reads this thread, I have now resolved the two monitor issues having read a thread which (I suppose it was obvious) stated that both monitors must be running on exactly the same resolution.  They are cheap nowadays so I just went and bought another widescreen with same specs.  I thought having two monitors was brilliant....having two widescreen is even better. 

 

Olaf

 

 

olafblakleley:

I just went and bought another widescreen with same specs.  I thought having two monitors was brilliant....having two widescreen is even better. 

Olaf

Olaf,

Do you find that two widescreens take a lot of space on your desk?  I was thinking of doing that, but am worried about having enough work area left on the editing desk.  I am now using two 19" 4:3 screens, but would like to switch to 24" wide screens.  A 24" widescreen has the same picture height as a 19" regular 4:3 screen.  I am used to the 19" size and I don't want to go to a smaller picture.

olafblakleley:

MONITORS

The whole point of getting widescreen and larger monitors was to have more work area visible.  I have gone backwards it appears! 

Yes I think you have - check the vertical pixel sizes of your old screens and your new ...

If you are able, I would return the 22" screens and purchase one or more 24" 1920 x 1200 pixel monitors. I don't know how well two of them work together, but I am really happy with my single one. Of course they cost more - you get what you pay for.

It's interesting you should ask this question because, when I originally purchased the 22" monitors I didnt' consider the 4:3 issues and the picture height.  Looking at a recent post I notice the advice seems to be to go for two 24" monitors.  Maybe I should have done that.  But, for what it's worth here are my findings re the two 22" monitors:  None of them are the best brands.  I live in Jersey in the channel islands so there is no tax on purchases and so, because I don't have bags of cash lying around I went for well priced monitors.  The first issue is getting a colour match between the two.  I have found this very difficult.  Having said that, I like the extra length for the time line.  Previously I had 20" and 19" regular shaped monitors and so couldn't go without two monitors.  You have asked about physical space on the desk.  It is an issue to a degree.  However, I built my own working environment and this is how it is setup:  I have a desk top with a high back about (about 20" high) (which is flush against the wall of the room).  The monitors are mounted on wall mounted lcd swivel arms (which are fixed to the high back as opposed to the wall).  This takes the monitors off the desk top and so you get about 6" of space underneath them.  Also, directly under the desktop I have a slide out shelf (just like a normal keyboard sliding shelf but a whole lot bigger) on which I sit the keyboard, mouse, shuttle etc.  The only problem I ever have is forgetting I have my mug of coffee on the sliding shelf and then try and slide it closed!  Never had a disaster yet but there is room for one.  I like the swivel arms because actually, I don't like the monitors in the same plane, I prefer to have them angled slightly (so if you were looking down on them they form a very slight ' v ' shape.  This is much easier to view I find - just like one would read a book.  I hope this helps you a little.

 

Olaf

 

Putting the LCD monitors on wall mount brackets is a great idea.  I should have thought of that!

Maybe this is a little late, but here are some more thoughts on types of monitors to consider for video or digital photo work.  For colour comparison and as close to CRT colour rendition, you should use a monitor with a S-PVA (Super - Patterned Vertical Alignment) panel, not the cheaper consumer grade TN (Twisted Nematic) types.  One of the best at a reasonable price point currently is the Samsung 245T (1920x1200 resolution, 1000:1 true contrast ratio, or 1500:1 dynamic ratio, 300 cd/m2 brightness).  There are others in this range as well, but I have had good success with Samsung in the past.

The main difference between PVA and NT panels is that the PVA's have 8-bit colour processing for a total of 16.7 million true colours (for RGB this is 8+8+8 = 24; 2^24 = 16.7 million).  TN's use 6 bits for RGB (6+6+6 = 18; 2^18 = 262,000 true colours) and then they apply pixel dithering to interpolate up to 16.2 million colours.  Here is a link to an article that summarizes the different types of LCD panels (a few years old, but technically still valid): http://www.digital-cameras-help.com/photography/articles/s-pva-panel-lcd-monitors-for-photography/

I'm digging up this rather old thread just to bring up an important issue. While the panel technology is really important for better color processing and wider viewing angles on LCD monitors, one important thing to look at is the monitor's input lag. I'm not talking about panel response time, but the delay that many, especially bigger VA-panels (S-PVA, MVA etc.) have. The Samsung 245T mentioned before has almost 60ms of input lag, which makes it impractical for editing (or at least makes a separate CRT video monitor even more important). Actually the Samsung's input lag of 60ms equals almost two frames in NTSC world, which is very noticeable considering audio sync. Of course the audio can be synced by scrubbing frame by frame and listening to the audio, but real time playback still has noticeable difference on a laggy monitor.

Despite the lag problems, I'm all for larger LCD's and actually I'm about to buy an LG 26" W2600HP-BF monitor which comes with a S-IPS panel which provides much better color processing and viewing angles than TN-panels. However, the panel used in the LG doesn't have much input lag. Some tests measure worst case of 24ms or 16ms with average close to zero.

An comparison between the two monitors mentioned can be found here: http://www.digitalversus.com/duels.php?ty=6&ma1=36&mo1=332&p1=3107&ma2=35&mo2=412&p2=3818&ph=12 (choose "delay compared with a CRT monitor" from the drop-down menu)

Just to note: Some people think that digitalversus.com's test aren't reliable, as they differ from many test and reviews on other sites.

Another review of the LG showing a bit better results: http://www.prad.de/en/monitore/review/2008/review-lg-w2600hp-part14.html#Responsiveness

Searching videos from Youtube with words "input lag" gives many examples of laggy panels. For example, the much praised Dell 2408 models have AVERAGE input lag of about 70ms and almost 90ms at worst. It is said that many "better quality" monitors have some kind of image enhancement circuitry, which adds some processing and causes the lag.