Apple Final Cut Pro 6 - Manual (Page 174)

Chapter 12 Connecting Professional Video and Audio Equipment 173
III
External Video and Audio Monitors
In the final stages of post-production—color correction and audio mixing—external video
and audio monitors are essential to ensure the quality of your movie. Editing systems
focused on these final phases of post-production are often called finishing systems.
External Video Monitor
When you edit your video, it’s ideal to watch it on a monitor similar to the one you will
use for the final screening. An external video monitor can display color, frame rate, and
interlaced scanning more accurately than your computer display.
If you are working on an NTSC or PAL project, you should watch it on an external video
monitor that shows the video interlaced. Your ability to color correct is limited by the
accuracy of your monitor. For more information about external video monitoring, see
Chapter 14, “
External Video Monitoring ,” on page 219.
External Audio Speakers
As with video, it’s important to monitor your audio so that it matches the listening
environment where the final project will be shown. Although you can use your
computer’s built-in speakers for monitoring audio, any critical audio work should be
monitored on external speakers (also called audio monitors). For more information
about external audio monitoring, see Volume III, Chapter 2, “Assigning Output Channels
and External Audio Monitors.”
Video and Audio Interfaces
An interface is a device that adds physical video or audio connectors to your computer
so that you can connect your Final Cut Pro system to other professional equipment
(such as video decks and monitors).
Interfaces provide input and output connectors that aren’t included with your
computer. For example, if you want to capture uncompressed NTSC video from a
Digital Betacam deck, you need a video interface that supports SDI signal input on a
standard BNC connector. If you want to output multiple audio channels to an analog
audio mixer or digital multitrack, you need an audio interface that has XLR,
1/4" tip-ring-sleeve (TRS), AES/EBU, or ADAT Lightpipe output connectors.