Monitors for editing

[ProducerHarley]

Hello all,Is it better to use two 19" monitors or one big 27" monitor for editing using Sony Vagas or Adobe After Effects?And will Windows Vista home Premium let you stretch your storyline across two monitors? To use two monitors in Vista do you need a video card with two connectors,one for each monitor or can you configure both monitors in Vista.How do you switch from one monitor to the other?.Thank you.Linda

[redwudz]

I like dual monitors as it lets me put the menus on one and use the other for the video display. Most any video card with two outputs will work for dual monitor use. Experiment with the video displays page in control panels to change the displays around.

To move your pointer to the second monitor, just slide it off the screen to the side your second monitor is on and it will show up there. You can change the monitor position in the displays page. You can drag most anything from the main screen to the second monitor.

You can stretch your timeline across two monitors, but never needed to try that. Just enlarge the page until it shows up in the second monitor, then enlarge it more until it occupies both monitors. But for video it will be cut in two and the aspect ratio will be wrong, so not much advantage there, IMO.

[Soopafresh]

Get 2x22" Flat Screens. The Dell ones, while not tremendously exciting, are very reliable. They also have adjustable height controls. The single 27" one is good as well. That's a fair amount of real estate.

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/products/Displays/productdetail.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=dh...9&sku=320-5205

You should have 2 connections on the back of your video card, like this:




Vista (your video card drivers actually) will detect 2 monitors and will set your system up accordingly.

[DjfunkmasterG]

2 monitors for editing is the way to go. You have your work area on one monitor and your work in progress preview on the other. This is how most professionals edit, and it helps when trying to see where your I/O points should be during action sequences.

[edDV]

The preview monitor would best be an HDTV. It is very difficult to calibrate a computer monitor for video gamma.