iMac display HD Output for HD Video Editing?

[malexandria]

Hello,

I'm looking at purchasing an 27 Inch i7 Quad Core iMac for Video Editing. Does anyone know if the display is "true" HD for HD Editing? If not, can you easily connect a true HDTV monitor to the iMac and view HD Content through the ATI HD Card? Or would I need to get a Mac Pro?

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[DannyBres]

Hmmm Full HD is 1920 x 1080 the iMac screen is 2560*1440, it has a way higher resulotion than Full HD.

What is true HD?!

By your questions I assume you are not doing Pro editing, what is ti you want to do?!

 

[TMRaven]

"true hd" is just advertising lingo used by hdtv companies whenever their TVs are capable of 1920x1080 with progressive scan. Computer monitors have been able to do this for quite some time.

The iMac doesn't easily connect to blu-ray devices and playback blu-ray media, if you're thinking about ripping and editing blu-ray movies.

 

[malexandria]

HD Output

The concern is that if I edit HD Footage on the iMac and I output it so it displays on a large HDTV screen (at conferences or other such events) the video may contain artifacts that I miss because of "low" resolution.

 

[TMRaven]

That doesn't make any sense.

 

[DannyBres]

Low resolution of what?! Where are you getting the videos that you edit?

there is no widely accepted consumer standard for anything higher than 1080p which for a projector etc is more than enough!

how are you planning on playing back there videos at the conference?

 

[Hellhammer]

The concern is that if I edit HD Footage on the iMac and I output it so it displays on a large HDTV screen (at conferences or other such events) the video may contain artifacts that I miss because of "low" resolution.

Even if the HDTV screen was 200", it's still 1920x1080 which is less pixels than your iMac's screen has. The size of the screen has nothing to do with this, it's all about the pixels

 

[stix666]

If you are video editing HD for display on HD TVs and you are on paid gigs, it might be worth getting an external monitor (that you can calibrate) specifically for monitoring the footage while you edit on the iMac.

The problem isn't the resolution. It's the colour. The colour-space is different between computer monitors and HD TVs. So the colour you view while editing may not be the same as that your clients will view. It depends on the HDTV they're viewing it on

 

[spacepower7]

For semi pro work you could probably get away with an HDTV or other 1920x1080 display.

For "pro" work, you can buy an expensive video monitor and an AJA or BlackMagicDesign FireWire box.

It depends on the audience, trade show VS Film and Tv.