Thanks for the prompt response. Is there a recommended video card (dual monitors please).

Matrox. Trying to get any Nvidia chipset to properly work with dual monitors can be a real hair-pulling experience. I dunno about ATI.

OTOH, if you're going to use the system for gaming Matrox would be the last choice.

I've found dual monitors to be a pain anyway. Difficult to find room, eats twice as much power, and I get a sore neck having to constantly look from one to the other. I'd rather just have it all on one screen where I can see it all with peripheral vision. And of course a cheap TV to monitor the DV out signal.

vegas has rocks? ;)

>>>I get a sore neck having to constantly look from one to the other.

I would say that's a flaw in your setup, not an argument against dual monitors. I have 3 monitors (one of them being a 1394 video monitor of course :) and I don't get a sore neck because I've taken the time to build my setup for comfort.

you need a big desk specifically designed for computing. you need to have all your monitors at the right height too. that's a big cause of neck pain. I prefer to make a semi circle with the center point being near my neck. I have to rotate my neck about 30 degrees to see all 3. I don't have to move my neck at all to look at the two primaries. you may just have to move one of your monitors a little further away, so you can glance at either without moving your neck.

don't ignore ergonomics or you really will be sorry whether you use dual mon's or not.

btw - were you having trouble getting those dual displays working in Win2k or WinXP? there's a huge difference. Win2k sucks for dual head cards while XP rocks.

I just installed ATI Radeon 8500 and I had to use older drivers than the latest (typical ATI driver hell), but it is actually working great. my Vegas framerate is noticeably better especially on the second monitor compared to my old GeForce2/Matrox Millenium II PCI combo.

I also just installed a Matrox G550 on another system. haven't tested dual head, but since it's XP I expect it will work perfectly. performance on the G550 is excellent.

cheesehole, what a handle - say, that resembles what I do to a block of cheese come to think of it (bad for my health though). Anyway, thanks for the feedback with respect to the Radeon 8500.

I've been considering a Radeon 9500 (more recent perhaps?) since the information that Vegas does not effectively use an OpenGL card came to light. This will leave 800 bucks in the kitty for other uses. In the current edit bay the computer is equipped with a pair of positively ancient 64MB ATI cards, one is an AGP variant while the other is a PCI card - whereby nowadays multiple monitors are more easily achieved with a single dual-headed card, but hey, it's working so I leave it alone.

As for multiple monitors, my projects tend to be long with many, many resources and in my daily driver, there are a couple of 21" monitors and a Sony PVM-1344Q for output - frankly, I cannot go along with the notion of using a cheap TV for monitoring purposes as flaws which will pass on an inexpensive TV will stand out on a decent monitor hence permitting me an opportunity to correct the program, i.e. select other footage. The 1344Q is a component monitor fed off of a component distribution amp. in addition, the DA feeds a component signal to a waveform/vectorscope . . . yes, I take monitoring the signal seriously, but not too seriously as the monitor is an inexpensive COMPUVIDEO unit ideal for those pressed for funds. As an aside, any monitor needs calibrating yearly regardless of initial cost. Otherwise, how do you keep your signal legal?

Back to two monitors; I've been editing this way for the last three years and like it so much that I've added dual monitors to all the computers on the network (notebooks excepted) as the increase in efficiency due to multiple monitors is useful for everybody ranging from the bookkeeper, to the web site developer, thorugh the editor (me). As for ergonomics, I too keep monitor centers close to eyeball height with two computer monitors front and center and the NTSC monitor (just me) off to the side.

My expereince with VV3 is virtually nil at this stage in the game, but editing is editing to a certain degree, and lessons learned in one venue are transferable to other edit systems (or so I think). Of course if projects are of short duration with limited resources, one monitor will do quite well thank you very much, as has been pointed out by Mr. Control Z in an earlier post. Meanwhile, I will bite my tongue until I have more experience with VV3.

As for does VV3 have rocks, a good friend encouraged me to phrase the question that way with the objective being I think simply being for giggles and grins - no offense intended.

Finally, cheesehole mentioned a 1394 monitor. Who makes this unit? I had figured to purchase an inexpensive JVC 1394 DV deck and use that for 1394 connections and monitoring, but I am keenly interested in what others are doing.

John Beech - GM (and janitor)
http://www.modelsport.com

John,

> "Finally, cheesehole mentioned a 1394 monitor. Who makes this unit? " <

That is not a special monitor. It is just any TV that gets a signal fed out through the 1394 FireWire board to your DV camcorder or DV-to-analog box and cabled in turn to a TV set. My "1394 monitor" is an old Sony Trinitron TV.

-- Burton --

>>>> "Finally, cheesehole mentioned a 1394 monitor. Who makes this unit? " <

right-o. just my shortcut speech for 1394 card --> DV Deck --> video monitor. I wonder if someone is working on a video monitor with a 1394 input...

btw - I'm working on an issue with the Radeon 8500 that I hadn't realized was a problem before. the secondary display exhibits horizontal flickery soft dark banding. sort of looks like a bad connection or EMI. I tried different monitors, DVI-->Analog adapters, repositioning stuff... but I haven't tried removing the adjacent PCI card yet. I sent a msg to ATI support but that is kind of a hit or miss thing. either it's in their database, or I'm on my own ;)

I experience the same flicker with the gigabyte 8500LE ati chipset and sent it back to RMA it twice...came always with the same problems. I finally decided to get a refund...maybe a G550 is a better choice for dual?

Ben, I was going to ask if the second monitor (being driven by the Radeon 8500) sat close to your NTSC monitor as some can have shielding problems when incorporated into a computer environment (my PVM-1394Q doesn't have any problems nor cause them with conventionl tube-type computer monitors), but Shaun says he too has had the problem . . . hmmm. Is it impolite ask for dual-monitor users to mention their equipment list for the benefit of those about to do the same with a VV3 machine? I'll start off (even though I am asking) because my dual computer monitor solution has always incorporated two cards in each machine - newer cards are dual-headed.

John Beech - 3 machines, all with dual ATI 64meg cards (1 each AGP and PCI).

My setup consists of two 32MB Nvidia TNT2 cards. The problem with the banding may very well be the proximity of the two monitors. I have a little trouble with mine, but it's not that important to me in what I do. I DID however have ALOT of trouble with it when I had one stacked on top of the other. Which wasn't a good idea anyway.

I'm using an 8500 with great success. The horizontal banding stems from either the EMI from the motherboard interfering with the DVI/dongle output of the second head, or possibly from out-of-spec voltages (or both). Certain mainboards are notorious - I had a Soyo Dragon+ that did this and returned it in favour of an Abit KR7A-RAID. Same identical chipset, but the new mainboard/8500 combination was rock solid. It's not an ideal fix, that's for sure! But I was lucky to do it without spending any money.

-Doug

>>>The horizontal banding stems from either the EMI from the motherboard interfering with the DVI/dongle output of the second head, or possibly from out-of-spec voltages (or both).

uggh. I was afraid of something like that. yeah it's pretty unmistakeable that EMI 'look', like a fan is running right next to the monitor. I have a Matrox dual head g550 lying around here... maybe I should try it and hope I get lucky. oh no though it's designed weird. looks like it will take up the AGP slot along with the adjacent PCI slot! grr...

I hear you guys on the monitor proximity issues. that was my first guess when I saw the banding and that's why I hadn't mentioned it earlier because I thought I could fix it. some simple troubleshooting tests proved that wasn't the issue though. the EMI is occurring at the connector for sure.

and I'm glad to hear that pro video monitor doesn't interfere with other monitors. I'm currently stuck with a TV, and if it gets within a foot of my monitors you can see major interference.

Sorry to cut-in here, but since you guys are discussing dual-monitor set-ups...
From what I see here, dual monitors can sometimes be a pain because of the dual cards etc. I've been wondering if I should go dual in the next little while, or not.
I use SF products as a hobby only, but obviously the view becomes quite cluttered on a 17" screen.
My question is, should I just upgrade to a 19" and keep my trusty VooDoo 3 videocard, or is it really ALOT better with duals?
Keep in mind I'm a single parent with limited funds. The dual set-up would require a second monitor with a new videocard.
Duals are a must for the Pros, but would a 19" be "good enough" for a hobbyist?
Thanks for your input...greatly appreciated!

M

MyST: it's not really the monitor size that is the important fact as the resolution. Lots of people running dual monitors have each set to 1024x768 for a total of about 1.5Mpixels. I have a single monitor set for 1280x1024 with is about 1.25Mpixels or almost as much screen "real estate" as the dual 1024x768 setup. The only reason the screen size comes to play here is that some people would find 1280x1024 on a 17" monitor too small to see the details and read the text. A 19" monitor would of course give you bigger pixels at any given resolution than a 17" would. If i upgraded to a 19" monitor i'd be running at 1600x1200 which would be almost as much area as running 1280x1024 on dual monitors.

Thanx Kelly!

MyST, I ran 17" monitors for a while and added a 19" monitor to it. I found 1024x768 comfortable on the 17" but found 1280x1024 as comfortable for me on the 19" (while 1600x1200 was too small for me on a 19" monitor, I found it works very well for me on a 21"). That each monitor, i.e. double the horizontal resolution (3200x1200) for two monitors side-by-side. As for your question of two monitors, I equipped everybody in the office with dual monitors and will never willingly go back to working on just one (except when I travel and then I have to make to with the 14 LCD of the VAIO). Of course some have 17" pairs and some have a mix of 17" and 19" while my edit bay computer has paired 21" monitors as wil my new VV3 machine when I get that all sorted.

John Beech

"paired 21" monitors"

Somebody get me a mop quick!! I seem to have drooled all over the floor. :)

M