Blackmagic Forum

I'm working on rebuilding my coloring capacity but I'm trying to keep it cheap since I'm not making any money doing this. Like... at all. I'd like to be pretty dang color accurate in the process. Doesn't have to be perfect. I work on a laptop so I can't use a Decklink card. Does running video out of the USB-C produce a more accurate color than HDMI?

I would definitely buy an UltraStudio 4k but for some reason they only make the affordable 3G up to 1080 and then it's 6 times the price to bump up to the 4k mini. Might just 'imagine' the video quality and get a 1080 ProArt and the 3G but if USB-C is accurate, I'd rather get a 4k monitor. Suggestions greatly appreciated.

GalinMcMahon wrote:I'm working on rebuilding my coloring capacity but I'm trying to keep it cheap since I'm not making any money doing this. Like... at all. I'd like to be pretty dang color accurate in the process. Doesn't have to be perfect. I work on a laptop so I can't use a Decklink card. Does running video out of the USB-C produce a more accurate color than HDMI?

Without a Decklink or an UltraStudio, the signal isn't color-managed, so in that respect it's not accurate.

Read page 2870 of the Resolve 19 manual, "Limitations When Grading With the Viewer on a Computer Display." This explains why it's unwise to try to use a computer display for final color correction. The same problem also exists with the "Clean Feed" output, since it's not color managed.

GalinMcMahon wrote:I would definitely buy an UltraStudio 4k but for some reason they only make the affordable 3G up to 1080 and then it's 6 times the price to bump up to the 4k mini. Might just 'imagine' the video quality and get a 1080 ProArt and the 3G but if USB-C is accurate, I'd rather get a 4k monitor. Suggestions greatly appreciated.

You can just get the UltraStudio 3G or even the older UltraStudio for around $30-50 on eBay. All you need to monitor color is a 1080 display like the ProArt or LG C9 OLED. You don’t need to monitor in 4K especially your on a limited budget. You can use a 4K monitor if you just want to have a 4K monitor for other uses. The 3G or UltraStudio original will work fine.

You might want to check this article out which was written by one of the forum members.
https://digitalproduction.com/2025/03/0 ... tespart-1/

Ellory Yu wrote:

GalinMcMahon wrote:
You can just get the UltraStudio 3G or even the older UltraStudio for around $30-50 on eBay. All you need to monitor color is a 1080 display like the ProArt or LG C9 OLED.

Thanks. I think that's the route I'll go.

Ellory Yu wrote:You can just get the UltraStudio 3G or even the older UltraStudio for around $30-50 on eBay. All you need to monitor color is a 1080 display like the ProArt or LG C9 OLED.

Yeah, I worked from about 2010-2015 with a like-new Panasonic BT300 HD plasma display and a used Blackmagic Mini-Monitor I got off eBay for about $75. I think I got at least 30-40 features and a bunch of shorts and music videos done on that system before making a lot of upgrades in 2015.

The real trick is getting the display calibrated correctly.

Marc Wielage wrote:The real trick is getting the display calibrated correctly.

100%. I calibrate my displays every 3-4 months, at least 3x a year. I find that is sufficient for what I do but I have also heard others getting their monitors calibrated monthly.
Using software like DisplayCal and a good calibration probe is important. I still use the XRite i1 display but there are newer probes from Calibrite these days, and of course the very high end and expensive ones as well.

Color accuracy lies here somewhere else than in actual "connection type" capability. USB-C or HDMI or SDI gives you same digital signal. More important is that you signal path is validated and you have monitor which you can trust, eg. you calibrated and verified it.