Reference monitor recommendations?
 

Hi everyone,

I'm helping work on an indie TV program right now. The video is being shot in 1080p using a Canon 5D Mark 3 camera, then editing and post processing are done in Final Cut Pro on a Mac. Unfortunately, right now we do not have a reference monitor, so all on-site monitoring has to be done using the Canon's little LCD display or a Samsung T240HD consumer LCD TV. The Canon has HDMI and component video outputs. The Samsung is not reliably showing us what the scene is going to look like, particularly regarding brightness and contrast.

We want everything we shoot to be "broadcast friendly" and look as good as possible. So I am looking for recommendations on....
- What monitors to consider. The monitor has to be HD, but I think 720p, 1080i or a non-standard resolution would be acceptable as long as the video was scaled well. I'd consider a 16:9 CRT monitor if it could be calibrated successfully. If we can calibrate the Samsung, that would be an option too.
- What calibration tools to invest in.
- What process to use to calibrate the reference monitor and the Mac that will be used to edit and post-process the video.

I'd appreciate any insight you have into this process very much.
Thanks!!!

For proper color, I think a CRT is still the best thing to use. Look for one of the Sony widescreen HD sets, such as the KD34XBR960 or the KV34XBR910 (I hope I got those numbers right). They are BIG and HEAVY, though, but for your use one would be worth the trouble. They can likely be calibrated to ideal (6500K) color, too.