Using an External Video Monitor While You Edit
If you’re outputting to videotape for television broadcast, it’s a good idea to preview
your video on an NTSC, PAL, or HD video monitor while you edit. Color is represented
differently on computer and video monitors, and computer displays always show your
video progressively scanned, even though NTSC and PAL video are interlaced. You can
connect an external video monitor several ways:
 Via FireWire, through a camcorder, deck, or DV-to-analog converter
 Directly from a third-party video interface connected to your computer
You need to match your video interface or DV device output format to your monitor’s
input format. Some combinations are not possible without purchasing additional
equipment. For example, if your video interface only has an SDI video output, and your
video monitor only has an NTSC composite input, you cannot connect the two directly.
In this case, you can:
 Purchase a monitor that supports SDI video input
 Purchase an SDI-to-composite converter
 Use a VTR that has an SDI input and composite output and supports converting
between input and output signals (this solution is often used with DV decks, when
FireWire DV input is converted to analog composite output)
 Purchase and install a video interface that supports composite output in addition
to SDI output
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Part III
Setting Up Your Editing System
Connecting Final Cut Pro to an External Video Monitor
For optimal real-time performance, your sequence or clip format should match the
format of your output device exactly, including video codec, image dimensions, and
frame rate. However, Final Cut Pro can output any video format to any video output
device as long as the frame rates of both match (the codec and image dimensions of
your clip or sequence do not have to match the format of your output device).
For example, you can preview a 720p30 HDV sequence via an NTSC DV FireWire device
connected to an external monitor. The output signal is letterboxed and downconverted
to NTSC video. You can also use a third-party interface to view any format supported by
Final Cut Pro—as long as the frame rate of your clip or sequence matches the frame
rate of your current output device.
Note: Output via HDV FireWire (native MPEG-2) is not supported for any format.