Plasma TV in Studio

I am wanting to upgrade my 13" tube to a plasma/LCD. I have a 42" plasma in the family room and it is loud (fan) and hot. With my small and quiet studio this would be noticeable and annoying I would assume. I edit to picture in DP and FCP. I would be connecting to the plasma via svideo for now. I put in some extra lumber behind the front wall where it will be mounted (a 3 by 10 about 42" across B/T the studs) and would assume I can figure out how to mount to it...although with three layers of drywall and the 2.5" deep acoustical panels it may be a challenge. I would like to mount it so it looks like it is "floating" over the acoustic panels. Any suggestions on brand, size, and installation would be greatly appreciated! PS Thanks for all your help with my studio around 3 months ago. It has turned out great! Cost me around 17k for everything (labor/materials/panels/lighting/electrical/HVAC). Is acoustically balanced and very soundproof. See some pics at: www.koberlinstudios.com

Hey there! nice looking studio! ok so you wanna big screen?? how big do you want it?? and are you using it for recording software? if you are using it for recording software etc there is no way that s video will work...s video has a resolution of around 400 lines or so.. lines as in tv resoltion not pixels! equiv might be 200x 150 pixels!!! most plasmas have a resolution of around 800x whatever ratio (16.9, 16.10..up to around 1024...now try looking at your audio software in these resoltions they are extremely disapointing... not to mention the refresh rates on plasmas are worthless..so now we move on to lcd tvs..the highest one ive seen so far is 1336x 42 inch sony this still is to low in my opinion for audio work... there is rumour of 1600x lcd tvs coming out soon... for instance im on mac as well i have 23 inch screens at 1900x1200 ... moving to lower resoltion would disapoint me extremely! i think the only thing to do is fork out the cash for a 30 inch dell or apple with a resoltion of 2600x 1600! and they dont use fans etc most lcd tvs dont use any fans! or wait until higher resoltion lcd tvs become more cheaper which they seem to do every month! hope i have been a help Govinda

Govinda wrote:

. . . wait until higher resoltion lcd tvs become more cheaper which they seem to do every month!

Yeah -- what he said. :) --Keith :mrgreen:

Govinda, Thanks for the info although i am a little confused. Plasma's can display resolutions of 480i, 480p, or 1080i. I think that you are thinking I want to project my computer's video output (DVI) onto the plasma which I do not. The plasma is to edit to, in other words it would be displaying an NTSC TV signal from my computer. I use Final Cut Pro and Digital performer, both of which allow you to playback the video to an external output...I can even output hi def picture from both programs onto the plasma which would look breathtaking. Until I can output the NTSC signal via component video cables I figured I'd use the next best connection, S-video which is supplies a great picture for NTSC TV. I was more curious if anyone had a plasma installed, how they oinstalled it, and if it is excessively loud or hot..

well then the question of quality still arises! sure a plasma screen will work for what you are doing...for instance when i do sound to picture i get the movie guys to reduce down to a small avi etc cause i really dont care much of the quality ..half the time its not even fully finished edits and missing cgi...looking at green screen with actors never excited me much! hehe :shock: ntsc is cool butttttt i dont know what the go is in the usa atm but everything over here, broadcast and film digital and analogue and dvd's are getting standardised to HD format ..now hd format is a grey area in terms of resolutions..until recently where everything and i mean everything will eventually be Standard HD 1900x1200...tvs included, digital boxes films on dvd you name it...so if you want to view quality on your wall which im assuming you do because your gonna edit footage..your gonna need a hd lcd or plasma tv at a resolution of at least 1,366 x 788 !! now my experience is this plasma tvs are hot they run a bit hotter than an lcd hence the use of fans...plasma tvs used to have the best black colour vs the lcd but this is not true in modern lcd tvs... plasma that are large with low resolution look pixelated and have the famous fly screen effect... also if you dont know this heres a handy hint on big tvs...you should be any closer than 3 times the diagonal measurement of the tv...so if you want a 52 inch tv you need to be 156 inches away from it for opti viewing.. plasmas because of refresh rates are prone to smearing and streaking.. also alarmingly if you leave a still image like your studio logo up on the plasma, if left on there to long ie 10-30 minutes and up it BURNS IN...meaning there is the logos impression faintly burnt into the screen forever! now try watching your movies after thats happened!!!! :( CONCLUSION (mine of course hehe) IF you ask me and you didnt, stay clear away from plasma tvs they have more minus' than positives..go an lcd with a reso of at least 1,366 x 788. one of the best pictures i have seen lately was a sony lcd bravio, do you guys have those over there? 1,366 x 788 really good refresh rates really awesome clear picture and a 40 inch lcd at aus $3100 (us $ 2291) is a steal it was however $4800 and just got reduced so they are on the down run boys ..start rubbing your hands together! :twisted: To answer your question simply i have had plasma, rear projetion etc.. plasmas are hot..they are all easy to mount onto walls using a vesa type bracket they can however be very expensive from aus$ 250-$1000 depending on tv brand and type..you have to watch out , for instance you *can not* flush mount them *inside* walls, it covers the air vents and your tv will die.. mounting onto a wall doesnt cover the air vents so all is ok! Noise the plasma in a normal living room would not be that noisy, but in a studio thats soundproofed from external noise etc .. it would most likely drive you nuts, but then again i saw that you have a G5 sitting next you in your studio so maybe it might be ok for you.. my G5 is a few meters away from in an equipment room, cause it drives me crazy...i still dont know how close you are to the wall for best distance for screen size! hope ive helped, Govinda

Govinda, Wow, thanks for all thta great info! I do agree with you regarding the plasma/LCD resolution needng to be at least 1366 by 788. With hidef DVD's out, HD channels on the rise, and more HD editing on computers I want to get as near the native HD resolution as possible! For editing I enjoy using full res picture if my CPU can handle it. I feel confident in my sound design that way (I can see lips moving, birds flying in the background, etc). I too have been a big screen fanatic ever since the first HD channel came out in LA...about 6-7 years ago I think. I worked at Sony so hooked myself up with a 65" rear projection beast! To this day I have seen no TV that matches its color and overall picture quality. Analog seems to be going bust though so so long to the nice warm analog picture I have gotten so used to. Per your info, LCD seems to be to next best thing today with prices so cheap ad resolutions so high. I think I will go the LCD route! I will look into that Sony for sure...sounds very nice and I like the price. LCD's can burn in too yes? The trickiest part will be mounting the sucker as, if you notice, I have about 2.5" deep acoustic panels on the TV wall. The TV will need to float in front of those. I am assuming, unless I get some sort of extension arm, I will have to put some wood "risers" up on the wall, pushing the LCD mounting bracket out to be able to clear the panels. Should look nice if I can engineer it! I will be about only 3 feet away from the plasma but more importantly my clients will be at the optimal viewing distance behind me. I can move back when i need to really preview my editing. My G5 is inside a soundproof enclosure and is dead quiet in there. I would definitely notice the fan on a plasma. Do LCD's have fans? Thanks again for the info!

Hey, your welcome! lcds, well all that i have seen have no fans! but be sure to try one out before you buy! as for the burn in on lcds, im pretty sure it kinda hard to burn in as its a different technology than plasma! as for mounting it you can always break up your panels etc or buy the bracket for the chosen tv then like you said pack it out further be sure to use high tensile screws and screw into a stud at least..they are kinda heavy! im sure it wont reduce your sound proofing if you do it carefully! and for lip syncing etc i can totally dig having higher quality for those purposes! :lol: btw with your g5 do you have any air going into that inclosure im curious! cheers, Govinda

thanks for the info. Yes, the special CPU enclosure was made by a company up in LA called KK Audio. They do amazing stuff. $$ but solid. http://www.kkaudio.com/ The enclosure has air intake vents on the bottom, filtered, with a large silent fan sucking air out through the back of the unit. My CPU stays around 60 degrees C when editing.