Color Balancing for Multiple Monitors

I've been applying color correction to a wedding video I shot recently. Thus far, I've been working on a MacBook Pro Retina with the brightness turned all the way up. When I view the same footage on my crappy LCD monitor it looks disgusting. Too bright, and a lot of noise showing that I can't see on my iMac or MacBook. So, how does one go about handling color and exposure correction? Is there a method to produce something that will look good on any monitor? Or should I just correct for a high quality monitor and hope my clients have something decent to view the final product on?

Here's an example of the variation. I took this photo of my a single video clip displayed across the center of two screens. The left screen is the MacBook the right is a $180 Acer LCD.

There will always be a difference from screen to sceen since you often times cannot control the end users' settings.

What you can do is look at the histogram or waveform/vectorscopes in your NLE to gauge the proper levels.

TheEngineer wrote in post #15671873
I've been applying color correction to a wedding video I shot recently. Thus far, I've been working on a MacBook Pro Retina with the brightness turned all the way up. When I view the same footage on my crappy LCD monitor it looks disgusting. Too bright, and a lot of noise showing that I can't see on my iMac or MacBook. So, how does one go about handling color and exposure correction? Is there a method to produce something that will look good on any monitor? Or should I just correct for a high quality monitor and hope my clients have something decent to view the final product on?

Here's an example of the variation. I took this photo of my a single video clip displayed across the center of two screens. The left screen is the MacBook the right is a $180 Acer LCD.

Have you tried calibrating your monitors?

What is that happening?

Start with a monitor calibrator that can support and calibrate multiple monitors.

If it's video meant for display on a TV you should be using a video monitor...not a computer monitor for anything critical color/exposure-wise. You're mixing incompatible standards. For a cheap way out, a TV will work too but must be calibrated and fed from a device that converts your computer to a video signal. That's the only true way to do proper color grading work. I use a Matrox MX02 to feed a calibrated Sony LED TV. Works from my laptop and desktop through FCP and Premier Pro. Depending on which software, and only in a pinch learn to use the scopes, then you don't need to worry about calibrating a monitor.

yip Dog has got it right. You would be calibrating a monitor for one format in order to see it in a completely different standard. If you viewers are going to be watching on a television, you need to use scopes.

yipDog Studios wrote in post #15684784
If it's video meant for display on a TV you should be using a video monitor...not a computer monitor for anything critical color/exposure-wise. You're mixing incompatible standards. For a cheap way out, a TV will work too but must be calibrated and fed from a device that converts your computer to a video signal. That's the only true way to do proper color grading work. I use a Matrox MX02 to feed a calibrated Sony LED TV. Works from my laptop and desktop through FCP and Premier Pro. Depending on which software, and only in a pinch learn to use the scopes, then you don't need to worry about calibrating a monitor.