Monitoring - questions on the hows and whys

I currently use an iMac to edit tape-based DV using FCP 6 captured using a Sony DSR11 deck. I monitor via the deck (composite out) with a CRT Panasonic monitor of some vintage .

If I was to move to a file-based system using FCP X, a new iMac and a 24" Dell Ultrasharp for monitoring, what role does something like the Blackmagic Ultrastudio play? From what I can glean, my Mac's Display Port will only send out an 8-bit signal, while the Dell can handle 10-bit HDMI. Is that the (main) reason for one of these devices?

The main reasons for these devices (Blackmagic Ultrastudio, AJA IOXT...) are true broadcast monitoring and capturing non file-based media (tape or live feeds).

When you connect your Dell to the Display Port of your Mac you will not be using your Dell as a true monitor, but merely as a second interface display. In full-screen playback you will only get a preview quality, good enough to see your video, but inadequate for color correction or for judging the true quality of your images. If you only edit for the internet you may find this sufficient, but for anything that will appear on a tv screen you need more accurate monitoring. And that's what these devices can offer.

Thanks for confirming that for me.
Can you shed any light on the why? Why doesn't a direct DP connection (for example) give me a correct image? Is it the 8-bit/10-bit thing?

Just as an aside, I have a cheap Dell monitor next to my iMac for my PC. I hooked it up via a DP to HDMI converter and ran it as the display for FCP6 and it was absolute garbage. If you looked at it slightly off center, the image changed completely. I hugged my Panasonic CRT. However I do have to justify these things when I upgrade. The Panny was a hand-me-down from a big VTR-based system and the money came from a budget that no longer exists.

Although most of my video is internet based, I do distribute some via DVD.

No it has nothing to do with 8-bit or 10-bit. A direct DP connection from FCP10 will give you a pretty reliable image for web based deliverables as long as you use a decent display such as the Dell or a 27" Apple display and some others.

But when you work for television or you need to do color critical work you really should be watching your video on a calibrated video monitor. Because a conventional SDI video output allows monitoring in the destination colorspace, it is more accurate in black and white rendering, and when you work with interlaced video it allows you to detect interlacing errors. Just to mention some of the advantages. And to send your FCP10 output to an SDI video monitor you need a device such as the Ultrastudio.

However: FCP10's ColorSync video output is more reliable than the video output of classic FCP on a computer monitor. So if your work is not color critical you can easily do without a broadcast monitor. It's really up to you to decide what kind of monitoring you will need for the work you are doing.

Flanders Scientific Inc has about the best monitors and the best prices on the market, if you're interested in true broadcast monitoring.

You'll need an HD-SDI output for it, of course.

Broadcast monitors use different hardware and engineering to deliver a true, raw data image. Nothing else does this.

It must be SDI because other protocols are two way and negotiate data rates and formats to optimize the signal, not give you a raw data image. This is especially true for HDMI. Not a pure, raw data image stream, but negotiated and altered.

Computer monitors handle color very differently from, and are of much higher definition than HDTV. They are not capable of producing a true, raw data image that has the needed fidelity. The mechanics aren't there, how they handle color isn't there. No matter how you calibrate them.

ColorSync is simply a way for Apple to control the gamma of images in different Apple apps. A big complaint was that images looked different in FCP 7 than in QT Player than in Motion, etc. So ColorSync for video is supposed to tame that. It is NOT supposed to replicate broadcast monitoring. Only make sure the image looks identical across apps, not accurate, only identical.

HDTV sets all have circuitry built in that alters the incoming signal, so that it is optimized for that TV set's specific hardware and firmware. So, it's an altered, enhanced image, not a true, raw data image.

You need an AJA or Blackmagic device that gives you an HD-SDI out to a broadcast monitor such as those from FSI. There are NO alternatives that come anywhere close, period.