$500 Shopping Spree

So what would you spend $500 on? I'm soliciting opinions. In another interesting variation, on budgetary outlays, I've been offered $500 to spend on anything I want. The reasoning is that we are charging someone around $500 to make some dubs, and the money can go towards equipment.

Well, after figuring that I couldn't slip a receipt for a Playstation or a 32GB iPod Touch past accounting, I've turned my mind towards more practical purchases.

My number one idea is to replace the tube of the Sony monitor on the A system in Edit 2. Am I the only one noticing that the image is looking greenish? $500 should cover the cost of replacing the tube in that monitor. I'd rather do it now when we have the money--otherwise I'll have to wait around until it is so obvious that the folks holding the purse strings can perceive the bad color on the monitor. That could take a while.

However, I've been thinking about other things too. A few months ago, I was making a big fuss about better production equipment. In particular, I was recommending a new tripod, an LCD field montior and a telephoto lens adapter for the Z1. An LCD field monitor is not out of the question for $500. I wanted to get a high-def one for closer to $1K, but there's a kit for a widescreen one with a resolution of 1440x234 for about $500. Check out the Varizoon kit at B&H. I don't know if this is much better resolution than the Z1's LCD viewfinder, but at 7" it is much larger--ergo easier to see. I've been griping about out of focus shots on the Z1. This should help.

Another idea for production gear is a wireless mic. Anyone recommend a wireless mic for about $500? I doubt $500 is enough for a good tripod but I'd be glad to be proved wrong.

In short, if there's some gear or software that you think would really help our work at Link for $500, please let me know. Please leave your suggestions in the comments sections--that'll let other see your suggestions and allow them to rag on them. Oh, and it's got to be near $500 or under $500--no $500 towards a new computer or something. No saving for a rainy day here--when you've got it, you spend it.

DV.com on HD Monitoring

"Ten HD Monitors for Desktop and Camera Use" PDF (registration req'd)

A little gear guide from DV.com. I'm most interested in the JVC DT-V1710CGU because 1)it's relatively affordable 2) it's CRT based. CRT is good because it can actually display interlaced images natively and it is the standard for doing color correction. Mike Curtis of HDforIndies recommended it in his editing configurations over at Silverado Systems.

This article also covers some smaller LCD's that are small enough to be mounted on a camera. LCD's are being used in post-production, and this article lays out the competition from Sony, Panasonic, and JVC.

Primer on Audio for Video

"Upgrade Your Images with Audio: A primer on audio monitoring for HD video editors" by Mike Curtis

I recommend this article over at DV.com (registartion req'd). Goes through various setups for montioring audio from budget to pro surround sound. Recommends some actual gear to get, which is helpful. I'm not an audiophile and I can't really figure out which speaker is better than any other. I've sort of just latched onto M-Audio because I recognized the brand and their prices seemed reasonable. Now Mike Curtis from HD for Indies has given me some ideas for speakers the next time I'm setting up an editing system. Also here's a link to Mike discussing the article and some others on audio.

More Scope Software

This is a follow-up to a recent post about using software to mimic a waveform monitor and vectorscope. A dedicated pair of waveform monitor and vectorscope aren't cheap--for composite video, new can cost you almost $4K. I've tried buying used ones, and it is a pain. For a decent used set from a reliable vendor for composite analog video, you are looking at $1,500 easy. While I really like being able to have a dedicated display for my levels, some new software apps are worth looking into.

Hamlet Vidscope-VX a Windows-only application. I read a short plug for this recently in the Creative Cow magazine (offline only). The HD version is supposed to go for $995. The SD version for $665. Seems steep but in comparison to a dedicated waveform monitor and vectorscope it is reasonable. You'd need a host PC and capture hardware for the setup.

ScopeBox is a Mac app. This is geared toward production, but it looks like it will do a strong job of mimicing a waveform and vectorscope from the demos on their web site. $799 for HD (doesn't handle HDV), and $399 for SD.

VeeScope Live from the makers of DVDxDV comes in at $99. Again, geared toward production. I haven't tried it out, but I'm not even sure you can get a simultaneous display of vectorscope and waveform.

Adobe OnLocation CS3 part of Adobe Premiere Pro CS3 ($799 retail, under $400 nonprofit). Adobe incorporated an app called DV Rack into the new Adobe Premiere and changed the name to OnLocation. OnLocation only runs on Windows but it looks like it will come bundled with the new Mac version of Adobe Premiere.

And of course, there's always Final Cut Pro. You can also turn on the Video Scopes in Final Cut Pro to get an idea about both video and audio levels. These setups alway require a host computer that should be pretty much dedicated just to this task. And these Mac programs tend to recommend beefy systems. You also need to get video into the system. Firewire might work, but a dedicated capture card might work better too.

High-Def Camera Monitornig Software

Monitor Magic does DV and HDV monitoring for $89. I've always struggled about the real value of these monitoring applications for me. After all, you can just use FCP's capture tool to monitor DV and HDV and get scopes too. But Monitor Magic has a nice new feature. You can mointor more than one camera at the same time. That seems like it would be pretty taxing on a computer. They recommend at least a G5 or Intel chip for HD--so no old iBooks or PowerBooks for monitoring an HDV signal 14-day preview version is available.

UPDATE: VeeScope Live $100 from the makers of DVDxDV will also display multiple inputs.