(awkward pause) Oh, hello.
I didn't see you there.
I've been busy "arming" myself with this monitor arm.
(titlemusic.mp3)
So before you get up in arms about that intro,
let's talk about boom arms,
because these have been recurring characters on my channel
for a while now,
but I never made the leap to use these,
well, not these but different ones,
for my computer display.
And I know putting your computer's display on
an articulating arm isn't a new thing,
but for some reason it has not been in my brain
as something that's possible.
I don't know why.
And it wasn't until our friend Peter TC
said that he had put his display on an arm
and it cleared up his desk
and he had a similar streaming, video production,
podcasting setup to me,
that then finally the light bulb went off.
So then I spent a bit of time looking into arms.
I got one, I use it, I love it,
that's what I'm telling you about today.
Usually when I do reviews and things, I kind of say like,
here is a product, look, it's a microphone,
it sounds like this.
Maybe you'll think it's good for you,
maybe you won't think it's good for you.
And this is sort of the same,
except that there's much more of the,
I think you should get this
because it will change everything
if you're not already using it.
So for me having my computer display on an arm
solves three big problems,
the first of which is just desk space,
and I was "deskerate" for more space.
And if you want to know exactly which arm I got
and which monitor I use,
you can check the links in the desk-ription for those...
...sorry.
But even though my display stand isn't very big,
it does take up space and it kind of has a curved base,
which means it's really difficult to put something
like the RODECaster or the ATEM under it,
because it just, like the angles don't work quite right.
So there's this whole end of my desk over here
that I'm just sort of not really been able to use
because that's where the computer's display is,
which then as you might've seen
in my full desk setup video that I did,
the RODECaster has to be kind of off over to this side,
which means when I'm streaming or doing podcasting,
I'm always kind of reaching over here and making adjustments
and it's just sorta difficult,
it hasn't been like super ergonomic.
And when I need to film,
I kind of have to like lean over to this side of the desk
because everything's taken up over here.
So having more desk space is a big plus.
And that also goes into the second problem that this solves,
which is just comfort while working.
Because I'm trying to clear up my space,
my monitor's been over here,
which means while I'm working,
I'm usually turning at a weird angle or I'm turning my neck
and it's not good for posture,
for your body to be in those positions
for long periods of time.
And if I wanted to stand,
it was always hard to kind of position the monitor
in a way where I could still see everything,
which then also leads into the third problem
that this solves,
and that is working with a monitor while filming.
And that's sort of been at the center of this battle
that's been going on for a long time
where positioning my camera
where I want it for a camera shot
makes it hard to position my monitor
where I want it to work.
And so, if the camera is in a place that looks good,
the monitor is in a place that's tough to use.
If the monitor is at a place that's easy to use,
it covers up and gets in the way of the camera,
and so I'm always never quite happy
with either of those situations.
And this solves all of those problems
because now I have plenty of desk space
since I don't have the stand on the desk,
I can now put my RODECaster right here.
So when I'm streaming or doing something,
I have full control over that,
plenty of room for the ATEM,
plenty of room for other stuff
if I need other stuff to be here.
I also now have tons of flexibility
in being able to position the monitor right where I want it,
either low or high.
So when I'm working, I can be at a good angle
and it's directly in front of me.
If I want to stand up and do work,
I can raise the monitor up and tilt it,
so that way it's still super comfortable
and I can be standing, I don't have to sit all day.
And when it's time to film,
I can just push the entire thing out of the way
and I can even flail my arms like a crazy person,
and it doesn't matter,
because I'm not gonna hit my screen or anything.
And that actually ends up helping my audio a little bit
because at one point in time,
I thought having the monitor here
was sort of helping to reduce some reverb in the room,
but the more I listened back to my audio,
the more I realized that it is a hard surface
that sound is just bouncing off of.
And it is kind of eliminating some reverb
but it's also causing some other problems.
So by now, just pushing it over there,
it's totally out of the way,
plus a lot of times when it's here,
depending on what I have on screen,
it colors my face.
So if I have like a blue background,
suddenly I look really blue and kind of sickly.
If I have a really bright pink background
or like window going,
then I sort of look weirdly colored.
So it's always been sort of an issue
having this light source right there.
But now that's not an issue
because I can just push it off to the side
and it's totally out of the way.
Yay.
Now, when it comes to these specific equipment
that I'm using,
the monitor arm that I got was from a brand called AVLT,
and it is a single 13-inch to 38-inch monitor desk arm.
I did a bit of research.
I didn't want the cheapest option,
I also didn't wanna spend hundreds and hundreds of dollars
on the most expensive options.
This seemed to be a good spot in the middle,
where it was sturdy, it didn't take up a lot of space.
I like the way that it mounted to the desk
and it seemed to have all the flexibility
and articulation that I wanted.
Now, my computer monitor itself is the LG 34WN80C-B,
a very catchy name that's super easy to remember,
and I definitely didn't have to read off a screen just now.
But basically this is LG's least expensive,
34-inch curved ultra wide monitor.
And I really like it.
So it's worked great for me,
it's relatively affordable.
Actually, jeez.
I don't know.
I'll put a link in the description.
The price right now is like $300 more than I paid for it.
I was able to get it for like $500 at the end of 2020,
and now it seems more expensive.
So I don't know, I'll put a link in the description.
You can figure that out if you're interested in it.
The colors on this monitor were pretty good,
they were okay out of the box.
However, I did end up using this Datacolor SpiderX Pro,
which is a calibration thing.
So pretty much this just
attaches to the front of your screen
and it helps calibrate and read the colors,
and then you can dial in a profile that works for you.
So I was able to get this to be pretty accurate.
It's not at like pro levels,
cinema reference display or anything,
but for the most part,
what I make on here is how it's gonna look
when I upload it or print it out.
So it seems like it's pretty accurate so far,
and it's worked really well for me since,
and I really, really, like it.
It's not the heaviest monitor in the world,
so I know I didn't need the biggest monitor arm,
but the one I got ended up being rated at 26 pounds,
which is pretty heavy.
This does not weigh anywhere near 26 pounds.
And the way that it attaches to your desk
is very similar to something like the RODE PSA1
where there's a clamp that just goes on the edge
and then instead of something
on the bottom that you tighten,
which can sometimes come loose over time,
there's actually like an Allen key that you use
to tighten something that's in the stem of the base
and it raises and lowers the bottom part,
which to me, just makes it feel a lot more secure
and a lot less likely to come loose over time.
It does have a rubber grip on the bottom part
that touches the bottom of your desk.
And the part that goes on the top of your desk,
also has little rubber feet.
However, the one problem I noticed,
which might not be a problem,
is that the screw that your turning is very sharp.
And I don't think it's low enough to actually touch the desk
because when you turn it,
the screw doesn't raise or lower,
it's just the bottom part of the clamp that moves.
However, just to make sure
that it didn't damage the desk at all,
I did put a little soft felt pad there
so that way I wouldn't be damaging my tabletop.
This desk that I use is actually a work bench,
so its top is a little over one inch thick,
and this stand is rated for a two-inch thick desk.
So that's really thick if you have a desk that's that wide.
And obviously you do need a lip at the edge of your desk,
so that way it can attach to it.
If you just have a flat-sided desk,
it's gonna be a little tougher.
And then basically, to put it on the back of your monitor,
pretty much every display has the standard mounts.
And this comes with little thumbscrews that you can use
if you wanna take it on and off really easily.
It comes with regular screws
if you want it to be more permanent.
And chances are your display already has screws
in the back of it that you can use.
So I didn't end up using any of the ones
that came with the stand,
I just used the ones that my display already had.
And once you attach the plate to your display,
it just clips into the mounts on the arm itself.
And if you wanna remove it,
there's just a little tab that you open
and then the monitor kind of slides out.
It was not very hard to put this on
and put this all together by myself.
I didn't feel like I was gonna damage the monitor,
tip it over.
Since my display is curved,
it was easy to just set up even without the base,
screw the back part on it,
and then just put it on the arm.
It was pretty simple.
And then this is all gas-powered, or not gas-powered.
It doesn't have a motor.
Gas spring tension.
Ha, what a gas, yes.
And basically at each point of the arm,
there's an adjustment you can make.
So if you want the part that swings out like this,
you can adjust that tension.
If you want the part that goes up and down,
you can adjust that tension.
Where the monitor actually mounts,
you have a left and right,
it also rotates and tilts up and down.
And you can adjust that tension as well.
The way that they say to do that
is to pull the monitor out
so that it's just horizontal,
and then adjust the tension
just so that it doesn't start drooping.
So wherever your monitor would start
just sagging on its own,
make it just tight enough so it doesn't do that.
I will say that on the main tension arm,
on the back of the arm there's a little cover you undo,
and then there's a plus or minus,
and that's sort of the main like height adjustment.
I was scared in turning it like two or three times
and it wasn't doing anything.
I needed to loosen that like 40 times,
like 40 turns before it started becoming more usable,
more adjustable.
So I bring that up just in case you get this
and you feel like this won't move at all,
the tension is way too tight.
Don't be afraid to turn those screws a lot
to accommodate the size and weight of your specific display.
And from there it's been working great.
There's a little channel
to kind of keep your cables organized.
Since you are moving your monitor around a lot,
it's very important to be sure
that you allow enough cable room.
If you have the monitor back close to your computer
and all your cables are tight,
and then you try to pull it forward,
that's gonna cause some problems.
So you need to have some slack in your cables
and your power cord and that stuff,
so that way you can actually move the monitor
wherever you need to move it.
I cannot tell you how much this has improved my workflow
and just made things much more enjoyable.
The fact that when I'm filming and doing stuff
I don't need to have a computer monitor my face
that I'm not going to use.
I can keep my RODECaster,
my equipment right here at the ready.
And when it's time for me to actually work on something,
I can just position this exactly where I need it
so that I feel super comfortable the whole time I'm working
and I don't feel like I'm hurting my neck or my back
or anything like that.
And speaking of arms,
do you know where the general keeps his armies?
In his sleevies.
But my main point for making this video
is just to highlight how great it is
to have something like this,
because anytime you can make,
if there's friction in your workflow or your workspace
and you can kind of iron out some of those wrinkles,
it's a really nice thing.
And this was such a big game changer
for a relatively affordable price
and a couple of minutes of setup.
If you haven't looked into putting your computer's display
on an articulating arm,
I definitely recommend it.
I've really been liking the arm that I bought,
but obviously there's a whole bunch out there,
so you can find the one that's best for you.
And if throughout this video,
you've kind of got questions or become curious
about the rest of my desk set up,
don't worry because I've got you set up
with this desk set up video right here.
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