Watching your footage, while shooting or editing, on a calibrated monitor is vital for getting good video, whether you’re shooting in high definition (HD) or standard definition (SD). But some HD and SD monitors can cost thousands, which can price many out of buying one of these necessary tools for video production.
We hope to help outline some good, affordable alternatives, along with the big boys. One important specification to check before getting out the plastic: make sure the resolution of your future monitor matches or exceeds the resolution of your source material. This is particularly important if you’re going to be working in 1080i today (or 1080p tomorrow.)
Affordable ($229 to $500)
Looking for a good monitor to check HD footage that is also affordable isn’t too hard. In this price range, you’ll be looking primarily at consumer-grade, 4:3 aspect ratio CRT (cathode ray tube)-based sets with component video inputs, though similar LCDs are getting easier to find, and prices are getting lower every day.