TB-6 & PRO 2 monitor comparison. For those operators who live and work in the US, Canada and the U.K. who know and understand the TB-6 Smart Monitor, and why it has become our industries standard. XCS has not responded to a posting well over a year ago by GPI test results comparing the two units, and until now never felt we wanted to. Once an operator had the two units in hand he could immediately see the difference between them. However there are operators in the world who have not seen the TB-6 Smart Monitor or possibly either unit. For these operators I wish to give a side by side comparison. GPI ran a couple of comparisons between their Pro Monitor 2 and the TB-6 Monitor. Their conclusions can be read on their web page. Instead of putting up a bunch of numbers, charts and graphs and concluding with my conclusion, being one of the owners of XCS, Inc. it would not be hard to figure out what that conclusion would be. I will instead list a side by side comparison of options, controls and user interfaces and list the differences between the two units. This should make for an easier comparison of the two monitors by individuals who need to become more familiar or reeducate themselves on the differences between them. GPI describes three tests and their test results performed on 12/3/98. Resolution, Contrast & Grayscale performance, along with some brightness level readings. WHAT THEY DON'T TELL YOU What GPI does not tell you is that on the TB-6 Smart Monitor they are testing has the user selectable Chrominance filter (notch filter) in line, meaning on. The user can turn on and off the notch filter by pressing and holding down the a defined button. By GPI not posting this information on their test results, they are misleading the reader, and not comparing the two monitors on an equal basis. What is a notch filter and how do they work? To better understand the basics of a notch filter (there are many types) I will need to provide you with some very basics on visual signal bandwidth information. The visual signal information is made up of two components (Luminance) Luma and (Chrominance) Chroma information. The Luma portion is the brightness and detail portion, Chroma is the RGB portion of the signal and is superimposed onto the Luma channel. These two components combined make up your visual signal information. This bandwidth is approximately 6MHz. When you insert a notch filter, like the one we use on the TB-6 Smart Monitor and GPI tested in the on position for their testing. It does exactly what the name sounds like. It only allows a (notch) portion of the visual bandwidth to be passed. What this means is that it reduces the frequency measured in megahertz (MHz) of the bandwidth of the video signal. Standard rule of thumb for conversion is for every 1Mhz of bandwidth you lose (notch out) approximately 100mm of resolution is lost, remembering your NTSC bandwidth is approximately 6MHz . When you remove or reduce the Chroma and Luma portion of the bandwidth you are reducing the maximum amount of resolution possible and you are also reducing the contrast and grayscale range (squeezing down the possible visual spectrum available because the notch filter is removing it from the equation) Why should I select to use a notch filter? Remember what lesser quality color video cameras pixel information looks like on a monochrome monitor? Depending on the camera, different sizes and shades of dots (pixels) on the screen. To some operators this is very bothersome. By selecting the user selectable insertion of the notch filter one can remove a portion of the visual spectrum giving a more even look to the color pixels. Essentially it gives a smoothing out effect on the viewable image, removing the dot (pixelation effect) altogether. This will also lower your contrast range and image quality (resolution). On the TB-6 Smart Monitor you can hold the button down and watch the screen cycle the notch filter in and out of line, visually seeing the results (currently not available on Pro monitors). So using GPI's own test results on Resolution, contrast and grayscale reproduction, its great to see the comparison equal to or very close in categories to their monitor, with the notch filter in line while we are cutting out approximately 1.5MHz plus of bandwidth. As far as image brightness goes, I am sure most operators XSC has spoken with in the past remember this statement. "A monitors high brightness ability has very little to do with its ability to reproduce a viewable image in direct sunlight." A perfect example is the III/IIIa monitor. Just possibly the brightest, hardest driven green screen most operators have ever seen. But take it out in direct sunlight and guess what? Get out your monitor hood. WHY? Because a monitor's viewability in high brightness/contrast has far more to do with the monitor filters ability to absorb red and blue wave lengths of light before they hit the front of the monitors tube, than the monitors ability to transmit light to counter the suns intensity. So if one is trying to show light output of a screen, as GPI measures brightness assuming this makes a monitor more sunlight viewable, they are wrong in this assumption. TB-6 DUO/Pro comparison N/A- means not available or currently not available. TB-6 Duo Pro 2 Bottle aspect ratio 16x9 6" 3x4 5" Weight(depends on if we are measuring screws or Kipp handles) 5.1 Lb. 5.1Lbs Power consumption nominal 1.2 amp 1.6 amp Housing material .060 Aluminum Plastic/Aluminum Max lines of resolution (measured Standard Raster Method) 800 ? Function button type tactile push buttons turn pots Crosshair available on PDL yes Vertical & horizontal sweep controls yes yes Linear pattern generator yes yes 75 ohm termination switch yes yes 8 pin Lemo pwr/video in yes yes (TB-6 supports tally in, video channel two in and camera data input also on this connector)   Brightness & contrast controls yes yes Separate BNC video in/out yes N/A Automatic NTSC/PAL signal recognition and set up yes N/A Grayscale generator yes N/A Multi channel signal input yes(2) N/A 1 only On screen text of functions & setup yes N/A Tally light high brightness 3mm red LED N/A Peak control function(user selectable) yes N/A Chrominance filter(selectable on/off) yes N/A Multi selectable aspect ratio 1:33/1:66/1:85&2:1 yes N/A 1:33 & 2:1 Independent vertical size control(zoom) yes N/A Independent horizontal size control (zoom) yes N/A Image Zoom control in aspect ratio yes N/A Microprocessor controlled functions saved into nonvolatile memory yes N/A On screen text display of no or loss of video signal yes N/A Independent digital memory & setup of all NTSC functions yes N/A Independent digital memory & setup of all PAL functions yes N/A Automatic standby function, puts your monitor into low power consumption mode after 5 minutes of no video yes N/A Low battery indicator Front panel blinking yellow LED Black bar across your video image Frame liner yes(digital) yes(analog) Multi (two) independently selectable frameliners yes N/A Zebra bar frame liners yes N/A Black bar framelines yes yes Selectable border control (shading outside frameline) yes (8 steps) N/A Multi page setup of framelines w/nonvolatile memory yes (8 pages) N/A Selectable on/ off with auto on screen warning of camera data, f.p.s./footage counter/low camera battery yes N/A Well I think you are better able to make a comparison of the two monitors capabilities and draw your own conclusions. I should also mention the the TB-6 monitor comes with a one year parts and labor warranty. As anyone can tell you that owns our equipment that if your unit fails because of our fault or yours, we send out a free loaner while yours is being repaired. I should also mention that the base image size reproduced by the TB-6's 16 x 9 bottle in the 3:4 aspect ratio can reproduce the same image approximately 10% larger vs. GPI's five inch screen in the 3:4 aspect ratio. Then if you wish you can use the zoom controls and reproduce an image over 40% larger than a GPI monitor. When shooting anamorphic you are able to fill the screen with the image.