using ADVC300 or NX for component out to external monitor

[T-Bone]

The item description on the canopus website for the ADVC300 states:

“Component video output support, ideal for monitoring video with a broadcast
video monitor.”

I have a storm card with no component out. I want to monitor my work in edius on an external component device while working in edius. Suppose the choices are buy an ADVC300 or an NX. Several questions:

1. Will the colors coming out of the ADVC300 be the same as the colors coming out of the NX?

2. I understand that there will be no video lag with the NX. With the ADVC300, will the video displayed on the external component monitor lag slightly behind the edius timeline?

3. If I go out from the storm to the ADVC300 DV/RCA-R/RCA-L, and then from the ADVC300 component out to the external monitor and RCA-R/RCA-L out to the sound system, will the sound be in sync with the video on the external component monitor?

4. If I am working with HQ on the edius timeline, if I use the same setup with the ADVC300 as in 3, and will I see the edius timeline on the external monitor but in SD, not HD?

Thanks.

[GrassValley_KH]

1. Will the colors coming out of the ADVC300 be the same as the colors coming out of the NX?

2. I understand that there will be no video lag with the NX. With the ADVC300, will the video displayed on the external component monitor lag slightly behind the edius timeline?

3. If I go out from the storm to the ADVC300 DV/RCA-R/RCA-L, and then from the ADVC300 component out to the external monitor and RCA-R/RCA-L out to the sound system, will the sound be in sync with the video on the external component monitor?

4. If I am working with HQ on the edius timeline, if I use the same setup with the ADVC300 as in 3, and will I see the edius timeline on the external monitor but in SD, not HD?

1. It should show the same colours, but I am personally not 100% sure - Brandon might know more. I know that both the NX daughter board and the ADVC300 feature the same analog/DV chip on them.

2. Yes, there'll be a slight delay from where the timeline cursor is, and what you're seeing on TV via the ADVC300.

3. Sound will be in sync, since one of the purposes of ADVC300 is to maintain AV sync at every step.

4. Monitor output is only possible with DV-based projects, since you're using OHCI or DVStorm FireWire output. There's no such feature in EDIUS to do a live SD-downconvert off an HD timeline. That said, HQ clips can live on an SD timeline, and be viewed on an SD monitor, simply because EDIUS is downconverting everything anyway.

[GrassValley_BH]

1. Well, yes and no...
You see, during real-time playback from the timeline, the analog outputs of a DVStorm/EDIUS NX/EDIUS SP/EDIUS SD/EDIUS HD feed out the uncompressed result of the timeline processing.
This means it goes like this:
Decompress source clip -> apply scaling/framerate conversion -> apply timeline effects/filters/keys -> output from analog outs of hardware board

Whereas with an ACEDVio or any DV converter, you're getting:
Decompress source clip -> apply scaling/framerate conversion -> apply timeline effects/filters/keys -> compress to DV -> decompress DV -> output from DV converter

Since the former scenario does not go through a DV compress/recompress, you:

1. Get the full 4:2:2 colorspace from the timeline
2. Get no lag from DV compression/decompression

To add to the original question #4, the full EDIUS HD system with MIP can do a hardware SD downconvert (so you get simultaneous SD and HD output) from an HD timeline. None of the other EDIUS hardware solutions can do that.

[T-Bone]

Thanks, Keneally and Brandon, for the detailed explanations.

So, to use the ADVC300 with the storm to monitor the timeline, I should forget the DV out of the storm and go out from the storm S-video to the ADVC300 and then from the ADVC300 component out to the external monitor.

I guess then the last question is does the ADVC300 improve anything with the component out in this case? If the monitor has an S-Video input, shouldn’t I get just as good results going out from the storm S-video to the monitor? I mean the ADVC300 can’t add anything that’s not there already on the C side of the S-video, it will just split that up into U and V?

Or would you still use the ADVC300 to keep the video and audio in sync?

[GrassValley_BH]

You'd be better off just running directly from the DVStorm analog outputs straight to the monitor, instead of going through the ADVC.

[T-Bone]

thanks - I'm going to get the ADVC300 just for the cleaning, but was wondering if I can get some additional benefit out of it with the component out

[GrassValley_BH]

Converting S-Video to component is really only necessary if you have a long cable run, or your display doesn't have S-Video input.

In most cases it's one of those "if you have it, use it, but don't go out of your way" things.