A few observations:
The Color Eyes Display Pro (CEDP) demo allows you as many "trys" or calibrations as you want within 10 launches in 10 days. So you can calibrate and recalibrate your display hundreds of times during this period as long as you don't relaunch the application between each attempt. Integrated Color occasionally extends the trial period for those that botch their first attempts. They also provide good support. Have you contacted them for either? It wouldn't be very nice to publicly announce a "not recommended" bad review if you haven't done so or at least had more experience with it.
I lost some attempts, because my colorimeter wasn't recognized. I relaunched the application a few times in an attempt to solve the issue. I had enough tries left. Problem was, I didn't know were to go. There were many options and none had a good explanation what was the best setting for my situation. The default settings didn't gave good results, after that I was lost. If I had more information (manual) I could go further in a more intelligent way. I tried the forum, but after registration, I still couldn’t do a thing since my registration had to be activated. In the period I tried ColorEyes, I couldn’t do any serious editing on my computer, so my time was limited.
You have changed the targets settings from the windows defaults of 16-bit LUT based ICC v2 profile with maximum luminance and relative black rendering. This is quite possibly part of your problem. Have you tried the recommend target aims? Have you tried Gamma 2.2 with relative black point?
I tried the default settings in my first attempt, but had changed to ICC v4, because that is the new and recommended profile (info from Digital Dog website if I remember correctly). But here again, I didn't really understand what consequence it could have. The L* was recommended, but don't know why. I haven't tried gamma 2.2 and relative. The text (guide) suggested it was not the best thing to do. Don't know why.
There is no manual. When you use the software in the default Guided Tour mode it explains every option including L* in detail. If you are a new user you should be using Guided tour mode and read their explanation for every step.
Maybe I missed a great deal of info, because the text I have read (after I pressed 'more') wasn't really informative and didn't gave me the answers I had. It is better then nothing.
Manual CRT calibration is the most complicated type of display calibration. LCD calibration is much easier. To make CRT calibration easier CEDP has a "DDC CRT Monitor" option that sets all of the monitors brightness, contrast and RGB gain setting for you if you have a DDC capable monitor. Have you tried this option - is your CRT DDC compatible?
No, mine is not DCC compatible.
In this day and age it is kind of impressive that someone has written a brand new, from the ground up display calibration package that includes exhaustive CRT capabilities.
I agree, I greatly support these initiative. That's one of the reasons I really was disappointed. I almost bought it untested, because I believed it would blow my old routine away. Do not forget however, that many payable LCD screens are bad and many photographers still work on CRT screens, so I would expect the support of CRT screens.
You mention it takes 11 minutes to calibrate and profile your display. Since CEDP uses an iterative process whereby it continues to tweak the results at every step before proceeding to the next step, I've seen it take only 4 minutes to calibrate a healthy monitor and over 45 minutes to complete the process on a worn out CRT monitor. The quality of the calibration on the worn out CRT was incredible and much better than the other packages I tried calibrating with!
I did not know that, I believed the first time it had crashed and I terminated the software. The second time I went for a coffee break. Maybe they should use your explanation in their readme file?
Your CRT is quite possibly near the end of its usable life so a good calibration may be difficult to impossible.
No it is not. I have a perfect screen after calibration with the Monaco software. I have much brightness to spare and my RGB channels are balanced. No, the screen is fine.
Think of the Contrast adjustment as primarily adjusting white luminance on a CRT. On an older CRT you may need to keep this at 100%.
RGB gains also affect white luminance. You should keep one of the RGB settings (almost always Red) at it's maximum setting without blooming (which is usually 100) and only lower the other two gains (usually green and blue). So it's common to have Red at 100, green at ~20% less and blue at another ~20% less than green. That's just a rough example - your results may vary.
I have contrast @ 100, brightness @ 63. My RGB channels are 100%, 70%, 95% and give a perfect 6500K
Think of the Brightness adjustment as primarily adjusting black luminance on a CRT. Brightness and Contrast do not behave the same way on LCDs monitors so you'll need to forget this when you move on to an LCD.
If you haven't done so already check out the Gray Balance feature that allows you to tweak the iteration points for gray balance calibration. I've never needed to use this feature but you may need to. This and the White Point Tuning feature are two features that set CEDP apart from the competition.
I've got an insane amount of display calibration experience with this and the other calibration packages on just about every combination of computers and displays you can imagine. I've been doing display calibration (among other things) for hire since 1994. Honestly I look forward to the day when I won't have to do this anymore and hope that this process gets easier and more automated. CEDP has come a long way since their introduction into this market and, IMHO have the best product that fills a needed void. I think they and basICColor are the underdogs with the superior products that the big dogs are not competing with on the same level. I always like to support those in that position.
Give it another shot at your maximum contrast, 16 bit Lut based v2 profile, gamma 2.2, relative black and let's see what you get.
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=137482\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]
Maybe your experience gave you all the info you needed?
I really appreciate your comment. My late reply was caused by a lack of time and I wanted to give you a decent reply in the weekend, but after your mail, I wanted to give you an instant feedback. The reviews were very good, so I do believe it's something I did not do correctly. I expect the program earns a ‘Highly Recommended’, but in my opinion only after they have written a good manual so that we (photographers/users) know how to use it and can solve problems on our own.
I'm building a new system (already ordered) and expect a new screen (Samsung LCD 215TW) any day now. I shall try it again. It's almost midnight here, so stop my answer at this point.
