Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1006097
REVIEW www.postmagazine.com 39 POST JULY 2018 Under "expose," there are exposure as- sist overlays, zebra lines and a color picker for showing raw pixel values from a signal. There are three different scopes available: histogram, waveform and vectorscope. While not very useful in an edit bay, focus assist and peaking are also on tap. The "overlay" category contains looks for setting up LUTs, image overlays and audio meters, image captures and SDI metadata displays. Finally, "scale" allows you to crop and scale the display as well as adjust the size and position on the monitor. I set each of the four screens with a different set of LUTs and tools. Navigating among them was easy by either using the four-way joystick to navigate left or right or by pressing the exact number screen that I wanted to see with the "P" but- tons. The multi-view button allows you to simultaneously view more than one video signal side-by-side on the 2403. Now that I was completely setup, it was time to start editing. Here is where I found my biggest gripe with the 2403: the noise. The monitor emits a fairly loud, high-pitched "whistle" from cooling fans found on-board. While these are undoubt- edly necessary for a monitor with this much power, I found the sound distract- ing by way of volume and pitch when editing. Unlike a powerful computer or rack-mounted equipment, you can't really isolate a monitor to reduce the sound im- pact. On a set or location, this noise would be negligible in all but the most sensitive shooting environments, but having the monitor producing that noise right in front of my face on a desk was tough to handle. While noise may seem like a petty com- plaint to have about a monitor, it could be a total deal breaker for some users. You want to be completely comfortable and undistracted if you're holed up in an edit bay for hours on end. If the constant noise will irritate you, then no amount of flashy features and bullet-resistant frames will convince you to keep this monitor around. Once I started editing, I found the 2403 to be a faithful companion, especially with Premiere Pro. I used an HDMI port and Premiere's Mercury Transmit to utilize the monitor as my dedicated full-screen preview. While "only" a 1080p display, I found the quality of the display perfectly adequate for all of my editing. Frankly, my system is not powerful enough to bother with 4K+, high bit, realtime displays, so 1080p is all I typically need. In Blackmagic Design's DaVinci Resolve, a second monitor plays a differ- ent role. Since Resolve's reputation and history is inextricably linked to precise color grading, the software does not allow full-screen monitoring as simply as other NLE software. For example, in Premiere Pro, if I want to display my program mon- itor full screen, I simply drag that panel onto my secondary display and maximize it. Resolve allows no such manipulation of its interface and panels. There are essentially two different display modes available in Resolve: Single monitor and dual monitor. This means that when ed- iting in Resolve, while using the SmallHD monitor, the SmallHD is relegated to a standard second display for the inter- face. There's no way to force a full-screen preview. To obtain a full screen preview in Resolve requires additional hardware like a Blackmagic Decklink or UltraStudio. This additional device will take an HDMI signal and output a clean, unaltered signal to the external monitor. This ostensibly provides a superior signal that will be untouched by any software modifications. FINAL THOUGHTS It's possible that I was just trying to shoehorn this production monitor into a use it's not necessarily intended for. In that spirit, it's also worth pointing out that the company makes some similar models that are billed as "studio" monitors. But with these, you will end up sacrificing certain features like the HDR capability.