Welcome to AOTG.com

Sign up free

Be a part of a unique online community that connects post production professionals and film academics worldwide.

You'll have access to personalize your news feed, access to Live Post Talks and much more. Contribute to the community by posting interesting post production content.

Member Login

Social Login!

Not a Member? Sign Up!

(minimum 3 characters)
I agree with the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy
To receive account info and prevent it landing in your spam folder, add info@aotg.com as an email contact.

  • Apple’s new LED Cinema Displays

    Apple’s new LED Cinema Displays

    October 17, 2010, 10:03 pm
    Well you voted and here it is, the first Tej’s Tech Blog as voted by you.

    This week I take a look at Apple’s new LED Cinema Displays.



    Apple has stayed stagnate when it came to updating their Cinema Displays.The original cinema displays were available in 3 different sizes, a 20", 23" and a 30" inch display. These displays were fantastic and set up in many edit suites throughout the industry. However, recently Apple is being criticized for the lack of updated product for their Pro Users. The company’s direction seem more focused on creating mass marketed products such as the iPod, iPhone, and iPad. Does this new Cinema Display have what it takes to make pro users happy?
    Apple’s new LED Cinema Displays
    First let me point out, in order to use these new displays you must have a mini display port, or and adapter for one. Upon first glance the screen looks very slick with it’s new glossy display. The second thing I noticed is my ability to comb my hair just looking at the display. Testing out a 27 inch display meant the screen was large, but also so was the glare which was enough to act like a full mirror. This can be mitigated if you work in a controlled environment, but if you plan on working with a laptop in the field somewhere, well then bring a comb and some hair gel.
    Apple’s new LED Cinema Displays
    The display supports 16.7 million colors, and natively supports resolutions of 2560 x 1440 pixels, 1920 x 1080 pixels, 1280 x 720 pixels, with an aspect ratio of 16:9. This great news for editors as we can monitor HD footage in native format without scaling, unless you are editing RED files. The images look absolutely stunning and crisp on the display. Very impressive.
    This new display has some great new features. First of all you can remove the display from the base and attach a VESA mount for better viewing. There are 3 USB ports on the back, but no HDMI ports, which is disappointing as many of us have HDMI products that we would love to hook up to this screen including my own Canon 7D. The display also has a built in camera and speakers for those of you who use iChat.
    Another new feature is sound capability. Most of us use proper monitor audio speakers to get a full dynamic range of the audio, so this may not seem that great of a feature. However I was a little shocked at how the display performed with the audio. The sound was actually impressive coming from internal speakers. If you are cutting just plain stereo with no audio mixing, dare I say you could get away with working with the built in speakers.
    Apple’s new LED Cinema Displays
    All of this sounds very impressive, but their are some downsides to this display. First of all the lack of widely supported inputs of DVI, VGA and even HDMI is frustrating, as you need an adapter to get you r other devices to work on it. This also includes older macs, unless you have the latest and the greatest. It also means you need an adapter for those of you with Kona cards myself included. This is can be the one feature that can drive some pro users away as Apple’s LED Displays. Many of the competitors have these inputs available at similar prices, such as the Dell Ultra Sharp U2711.
    Glare is another issue, but can be controlled. Color Grading may not be a good idea on this the glossy screen. An image graded on this screen will look completely different than on a Matte screen. There is no option for a matte screen. Just something to keep in mind.
    Apple has made a fantastic update to their Cinema Displays, and if you have no problems with some of the issues I pointed out, then this display is a true winner. However for me, the lack of inputs an no matte display is a deal breaker for me. Why Apple refuses to support industry wide inputs is beyond me. If you are in the same boat as I am, and are still looking for a display, check out the Dell Ultra Sharp U2711. It has inputs for HDMI, DVI with HDCP, VGA , Composite, Component , and a media card reader all built in, with very similar performance.

    • Report
    • Share
    • Save

    Share this posting

    • Other Postings By Member
    • UltraStudio 3D Review
      EDITING

      UltraStudio 3D Review

      December 5, 2011, 11:22 am
      BlackMagic design showcased the UltraStudio 3D back at NAB this year. I have been excited to get my hands on of these for some time. I waited patiently and finally, I got one and I have been testing the BlackMagic Design’s UltraStudio 3D over the past few weeks.

      • Report
      • Share
      • Save

      Share this posting

    • ioSafe Drive Destruction
      EDITING

      ioSafe Drive Destruction

      November 15, 2011, 10:47 am
      This week I test out the durability of the ioSafe hard drive. It's fire proof and water proof. I wanted to find out how water proof it is, so I flooded the drive. Check out the video below to see if it still works after the flooding.

      • Report
      • Share
      • Save

      Share this posting

    • Avid Media Composer 6.0
      EDITING

      Avid Media Composer 6.0

      November 3, 2011, 12:17 pm
      Today Avid Avid announced Media Composer version 6, Symphony version 6 and NewsCutter version 10 . Avid matins they acer deeply committed to professionals, and are pleased to announce that all of these new applications are 64 bit native.

      • Report
      • Share
      • Save

      Share this posting

    • Fast Forward Video sideKick HD
      EDITING

      Fast Forward Video sideKick HD

      October 17, 2011, 10:54 am
      Over the past few weeks the folks over at Fast Forward Video have given me the opportunity to test out their sideKick HD. The sideKick HD allows you to capture the highest quality video, with a straight to edit workflow. The sideKick HD is capable of recording directly from the camera up to 10 bit precision, 220Mbit/s , 4:2:2 sampling using Apple ProRes 422 HQ.

      • Report
      • Share
      • Save

      Share this posting

    • Tiffen DFXv3
      EDITING

      Tiffen DFXv3

      October 10, 2011, 9:43 am
      Over the past couple of weeks I have been working with the latest release Tiffen Dfx Version 3. Tiffen has been a leading manufacturer and supplier of photographic filters and lens accessories for the consumer/professional imaging and the motion picture and broadcast television industries for over 70 years.

      • Report
      • Share
      • Save

      Share this posting

    • Caldigit VR 6TB Review
      EDITING

      Caldigit VR 6TB Review

      September 18, 2011, 9:45 am
      Recently I had a great discussion with the Twitter community about picking up a new raid for myself as my older ones were now aging, and I was running out of space. Many people suggested a Thunderbolt drive. However Macbook Pro is only a year old and does not support Thunderbolt, and Apple has yet to release a new MacPro Tower. Thus I really did not see the need for a Thunderbolt drive yet. Enter The CalDigit VR.

      • Report
      • Share
      • Save

      Share this posting

    • Avid Announces New Ongoing Crossgrade
      EDITING

      Avid Announces New Ongoing Crossgrade

      September 12, 2011, 2:43 pm
      In a tremendous move, due to the response from the professional editing community for its current Final Cut Pro Crossgrade promotion, Avid announced today that beginning October 1, 2011, it will offer a Final Cut Pro crossgrade price for qualified customers on an ongoing basis. The new crossgrade will allow Final Cut Pro users to purchase the Avid Media Composer®, for $1499 USD. Avid’s current limited-time crossgrade promotion, at $995 USD, ends September 30, 2011.

      • Report
      • Share
      • Save

      Share this posting

    • Blackmagic Design Announces a New Range of Super H
      EDITING

      Blackmagic Design Announces a New Range of Super H

      September 9, 2011, 10:43 pm
      lackmagic Design today announced a new family of super heavy duty Mini Converters that feature a unique design that’s machined from a solid block of aluminum for amazing strength, as well as for protecting connectors. Heavy duty mini converters also include innovative features and technologies such as 3 Gb/s SDI. There are 4 models in the Mini Converter Heavy Duty product range which are all priced at only $295 US.

      • Report
      • Share
      • Save

      Share this posting

    • Avid Significantly Enhances Leading Solutions for
      EDITING

      Avid Significantly Enhances Leading Solutions for

      September 9, 2011, 9:41 pm
      Today Avid annoucned new versions of Avid NewsVison and Avid ISIS 7000 at IBC.

      • Report
      • Share
      • Save

      Share this posting

    • BlackMagic UltraStudio 3D
      EDITING

      BlackMagic UltraStudio 3D

      August 29, 2011, 11:44 am
      BlackMagic Design just announced UltraStudio 3D the world’s first video product with Thunderbolt technology is now shipping. Initially debuting at NAB this past year we have all been eagerly awaiting it’s arrival.

      • Report
      • Share
      • Save

      Share this posting





    SUBMIT A LINK

    Newest From Aotg.com
    Stay Informed
    • Mail List

      E-Mail Newsletter

      Choose what Post News gets sent directly to your E-Mail, daily or weekly.

    • Apple iOS Mobile App

      AOTG App for iOS

      Get your post news on your favourite Apple device, when you want it where you want it.

    • Android Mobile App

      AOTG App for Android Devices

      Get your post news on your favourite Android device with the AOTG Android App.