Marshall's forthcoming field monitor makes viewfinders weep

Picked up a prosumer camcorder, have ye? If you're already sick and tired of peering through that minuscule viewfinder, Marshall Electronics has a solution. The V-LCD651ST-HDA camera-top monitor is a forthcoming field display with a super transflective 1,024 x 768 panel that should shine brightly even in direct sunlight. Other specs include 650 nits of brightness, four user-configurable function buttons, RGB gain and bias control and a 4-pin XLR power jack. The 1.3-pound unit arrives in two major module configurations: 3GSDI (Composite, YPbPr and 3G/HD/SDI) and HDMI (Composite, YPbPr and HDMI). Check it "soon" for $1,899 (with small battery adapter) or $1,999 (V-mount and Anton/Bauer battery adapter).

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 29th 2009 4:21AM]

Marshall Monitors just suck. Their analog, SDI and HD/SDI monitors even out of box are crap. None of them are even calibrated the same. You need to sit down with each monitor and calibrate it and on top of that they always die.

If you want to get it fix and it is not in warranty, they charge an arm and a leg to fix the panel.
Last time a RMA'd one, it was a dual analog monitor panel that was out of warranty. Just to check out what was wrong with it, they charged $300.

Crappy shit for a shit load of money

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 29th 2009 7:35AM]

What alternative would you recommend?

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 29th 2009 7:34PM]

I agree A1. Plus, EVERY monitor should be calibrated regardless. You're telling me an IKAN or TVLogic monitor is ready-to-use out of the box?

I'm saving my loot for the new 7". This baby is sweet for $999. Saw it at DV Expo. Very nice.
http://www.lcdracks.com/monitors/v-lcd70p-hda.html

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 30th 2009 12:00PM]

Yes you are correct sean, every monitor must be calibrated but when these monitors are being produced on the same line, all the monitors, either calibrated or not, should be the same out of the box.

Not to mention when you order about 100 of these monitors, then about 47 of them work and out of the 47 only about 15 of them look the same. Yea I would say these monitors are crap.

I have had less problems with Sony monitors. They are the same as the marshall with a bit better hardware and alot more of the monitors coming out of the box, BEFORE calibration, look the same and actually work.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 30th 2009 12:11PM]

What's the price difference between a Sony camera-top monitor and this Marshall? Have you seen this Marshall monitor that Engadget covered?
You must order a lot of monitors if you've ordered 100 at a time!

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 30th 2009 12:33PM]

Here is a truth:

- Marshall charges $60 for out of warranty evaluation and ONLY $60. If you choose to get the item repaired, those $60 dollars go towards the repair fee. Why? This is to avoid 100 monitors being sent back because 47 of them have a blue screen on them that is a function called "blue mode."

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 31st 2009 11:24AM]

@Sean

Yes I do order a lot of monitor at a time. Their is alot of monitoring that goes on and we must have multiple monitors to look at multiple feeds.

@Grisha

don't be such an ass. Dude it is a blue screen and yes it is called blue mode. But the reason for that is because the monitor does not see an input. DUH!!!!!! You put an input on it and oh yea you get something on the screen.

Marshall does not charge 60 dollars because I just sent back 6 of them yesterday. Got my RMA numbers for them and clearly the lady I spoke to said, it will be $300 for each unit.