Questions re profiling recent NEC monitor with i1 Display 2

[Dale_Cotton2]

Just acquired a lightly-used, recently purchased, NEC EA244UHD monitor to replace my 5-year-old LaCie. Right now it’s connected to a single DVI cable off the motherboard graphics but will be adding a GE Force GTX960 card as soon as my tech guy is available, at his recommendation (sound reasonable?). The computer is a custom-built Win7 desktop. I have an i1 Display 2 and its i1 Match 3 interface software that I’ve been using for years. What I’m mainly looking for is advice on doing the calibration/profiling.

First off, I know most of you with a NEC monitor will have a NEC PA series, not EA series. So far as I can tell, the OSD interface is the same or similar (IAC, it has a huge number of adjustments) and it does cover the Adobe RGB colour space. So I’m guessing you can think of it as being a PA series as far as how to calibrate and profile.

Regarding the OSD menu options:

There are all kinds of power-saving/eco features. I think I have them all disabled so they don’t change brightness, etc. on the fly.

Not sure which DV (dynamic visual) mode to select — standard or photo? (Dynamic actually looks best, but presume that will change luminance on its own.)

One of the biggest puzzles is Picture Mode. I set it to Full, then adjusted the 0-255 R, G, and B values separately during the calibration process. But there is also an Adjust option that has a more sophisticated HSL-type set of adjustments.

In the i1 Match interface I chose the same 6500K, 2.2 gamma, 120 lum. targets I’ve been using for years. Then followed through the iterative steps to adjust contrast, brightness, and white point via the OSD picture mode RGB controls, as described. This put me at a brightness of 53%, contrast of 63%, and R=248, G=255, B=255. The end result is as shown in the attached screen grab. The gamut triangle is certainly bigger than the sRGB I was getting with my previous monitor.

The resulting profile seems fine by eyeball. Have no idea whether it’s anywhere near optimal. Feedback on any of the above please!

[mlewis]

By the Spectraview II software and use that to calibrate the monitor.  All you do is enter your target parameters and the software will talk to the monitor and do all the adjustments for you.

[Dale_Cotton2]

By the Spectraview II software and use that to calibrate the monitor.  All you do is enter your target parameters and the software will talk to the monitor and do all the adjustments for you.

Thanks! Never considered that SpectraView would cooperate with my existing colorimeter.

[digitaldog]

Thanks! Never considered that SpectraView would cooperate with my existing colorimeter.

http://www.necdisplay.com/support-and-services/spectra-view-II/Compatibility
• NEC MDSVSENSOR
• NEC SpectraSensor Pro
• X-Rite/GretagMacbeth iOne Pro and iOne Monitor
•  X-Rite iOne Pro2
• X-Rite/GretagMacbeth iOne Display V1 and V2
• X-Rite DTP94 / MonacoOPTIX-XR
• X-Rite ColorMunki *
• X-Rite iOne Display Pro
• ColorVision/Datacolor Spyder2
• Datacolor Spyder3
• Datacolor Spyder4
• BasICColor Discus
• Photo Research PR-655, 670, 680, 730, and 740 Spectroradiometers

[Rainer SLP]

Hi,

Interesting message. Is SpectraView really that much better in regard to profiling a monitor compared to the X-Rite software ?

I just saw on their page that there is no trial version, so how can I decide to really purchase it being not able to compare the results of both methods.

Does anyone have a comparison between the SpectraView and Eye-One Match 3 software ? Would be interesting to see the difference to make the decision easier.

Thanks 

[Royce Howland]

The NEC SpectraView software talks to the proprietary hardware in the monitor. It drives the calibration process fully automatically, and can program the internal monitor LUT -- usually 14-bit in current NEC displays, vs. 8-bit in the video card that the X-Rite software will have to use. There are a few other small beneficial options when using SpectraView that aren't available with X-Rite i1Profiler.

Using i1Profiler certainly will produce a very good result on a NEC monitor. It's a good-better-best situation. SV is what I use & recommend given that one has already shelled out the bucks for a NEC, especially one of the PA series. Access to the monitor LUTs for calibration is justification alone for me, for the cost of the SV software. Areas of clean colour like blue sky have less potential for banding, and B&W has better tonal resolution and more neutral greys.

[Rainer SLP]

The NEC SpectraView software talks to the proprietary hardware in the monitor. It drives the calibration process fully automatically, and can program the internal monitor LUT -- usually 14-bit in current NEC displays, vs. 8-bit in the video card that the X-Rite software will have to use. There are a few other small beneficial options when using SpectraView that aren't available with X-Rite i1Profiler.

Using i1Profiler certainly will produce a very good result on a NEC monitor. It's a good-better-best situation. SV is what I use & recommend given that one has already shelled out the bucks for a NEC, especially one of the PA series. Access to the monitor LUTs for calibration is justification alone for me, for the cost of the SV software. Areas of clean colour like blue sky have less potential for banding, and B&W has better tonal resolution and more neutral greys.

Thanks Royce. Will have to read more in deep the compatibility list in regard to my hardware

 

[Rainer SLP]

Hi,

Forgot to say that I do not own NEC monitors. I have only ViewSonic monitors and NVidia graphic cards.

Also SpectraView II is only for calibrating monitors or can I also calibrate printers and scanners or cameras ?

[howardm]

Spectraview II software ONLY handles certain NEC displays. 

That's it.  No cameras, printers, scanners or non-NEC displays.

I have the PA272 and it's a terrific system.

[Dale_Cotton2]

Hi,

Forgot to say that I do not own NEC monitors. I have only ViewSonic monitors and NVidia graphic cards.

Also SpectraView II is only for calibrating monitors or can I also calibrate printers and scanners or cameras ?

To amplify howardm’s response, the latest list of compatible displays only includes NEC-branded models.

There’s a reason for that. SpectraView is software that knows how to talk directly to high-end NEC monitors, which in turn have special hardware circuitry to permit under-the-hood software control. The whole concept of SpectraView is to provide a software interface between the user, a colorimeter, and the specialized circuitry built into NEC monitors. It is not a generic profiling tool, like an X-Rite product.

Most monitors, including lower-priced NECs, do not have any such specialized circuitry, let alone the particular NEC circuitry. So most monitors require a generic calibration tool. The software for that tool in turn has to walk the user through the process of making manual adjustments via their monitor’s OSD before calibration begins.

The NEC SpectraView+hardware system by-passes the user to make the required adjustments automatically. The user need only provide the starting point of a particular colour temp, gamma, and luminance to shoot for. SpectraView does the "shooting".

[Rainer SLP]

Spectraview II software ONLY handles certain NEC displays. 

That's it.  No cameras, printers, scanners or non-NEC displays.

I have the PA272 and it's a terrific system.

Thanks. That saves me to do an investment that would have not worked.

[Rainer SLP]

To amplify howardm’s response, the latest list of compatible displays only includes NEC-branded models.

There’s a reason for that. SpectraView is software that knows how to talk directly to high-end NEC monitors, which in turn have special hardware circuitry to permit under-the-hood software control. The whole concept of SpectraView is to provide a software interface between the user, a colorimeter, and the specialized circuitry built into NEC monitors. It is not a generic profiling tool, like an X-Rite product.

Most monitors, including lower-priced NECs, do not have any such specialized circuitry, let alone the particular NEC circuitry. So most monitors require a generic calibration tool. The software for that tool in turn has to walk the user through the process of making manual adjustments via their monitor’s OSD before calibration begins.

The NEC SpectraView+hardware system by-passes the user to make the required adjustments automatically. The user need only provide the starting point of a particular colour temp, gamma, and luminance to shoot for. SpectraView does the "shooting".

Thanks