Blackmagic Decklink down-conversion (Grading)

[Mr K]

My blackmagic decklink does a live down-conversion from 2k/HD to SD.
I have a Sony SD broadcast monitor, what are the downfalls of color correcting / grading my 2k/HD footage this way using Apple's Color app ? , i don't necessarily need to view a HD picture, it's purely for color reference, but i do want a 2k/HD finish.

[Jesper Kodahl]

I use a similar set-up, Multibridge Pro (doesn't do 2K but HD 422 down res to SD, but it's the same beast) and I have graded several commercials using this setup with an SD ref. monitor, and it works fine. However the picture quality suffers, since the downres'ing doesn't look very good on the SD monitor, think proxy like FCP's player windows. The colors are accurate but I would refrain from having clients sitting in with this setup as my experience say that they do not understand why the quality is so poor when they are supposed to be looking at their final result being created. Playback speed requires quite a storage solution. I tried with Decklinks HDlink connected to one of my 23 Cinemas but I never could quite get the color right on that, and I found it even more confusing to tell the client, "Okay look at That screen if you want to see the final resolution, but look at this one if you want to see the colors!"

Hope it helps ;O)
Jesper

[Mr K]

Thats cool. So then, is there a device (break-out box) which has the specific function of down converting, giving excellent picture quality on a SD crt monitor ?
To make thing simpler, What is the best 2k/HD live down converter on the market ?
This is definitely cheaper than getting a HD Broadcast Monitor. You get to use your current SD CRT's.

[Zach Hilton]

We've used AJA's HD10MD3 with excellent results. Both on-set and in post.

[Blair S. Paulsen]

In the field I use the AJA HD10MD3 as well and its good as far as it goes. Keep in mind that your SD monitor is likely designed for NTSC 601 color space (in the USA) and may not accurately reproduce the color palette of rec 709 or the gamut of the commonly used ATSC standards used for HD broadcast.

There are at least half a dozen serious issues in play when monitoring for color critical work and the highest precision instruments are often very expensive. Don't forget the viewing audience is less and less likely to be seeing the results of your grade on a CRT device. Is there even a single target space anymore? Interesting times.