Pages: [1]   Go Down

Author Topic: monitor banding on a Mac  (Read 2993 times)

RandomJoe

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 28
monitor banding on a Mac
« on: October 09, 2009, 11:02:57 pm »

I have a Dell 2405FPW 24" LCD Monitor
for the last year Ive noticed more obvious banding in grays and subtle colours
I run it on my Apple PowerMac G5 via DVI

I connected it to my wifes new PC to see if it was the screen and it looked great on the PC
no banding

so I thought maybe it was the cable.
so i tried another cable and it made no differencce

then i thought it was the video card in my g5 since it was running slow
so I bought a Geforce 6800 GT 256mb Videocard for my g5 and its basicly the same

I run the monitor at 1920x1200 at 60hz with millions of colours
Ive done the apple advanced calibration and its better but not as good as i remember

Running Mac OS 10.5.8

not sure what else to do
any suggestions


Logged

Jonathan Wienke

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 5829
    • http://visual-vacations.com/
monitor banding on a Mac
« Reply #1 on: October 10, 2009, 12:06:23 am »

It's a limitation of your monitor. A lot of LCD monitors are only 6-bit and can only display a total of 64 levels per color channel. Textured imazges look OK, but gradients will show noticeable banding. You have two choices:

1. Live with it.

2. But a new monitor with a 10-bit LUT and internal hardware calibration such as an Eizo. But they cost a lot of $$$$.

Logged

kers

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 4388
    • Pieter Kers
monitor banding on a Mac
« Reply #2 on: October 10, 2009, 06:02:08 am »

Hello Joe,
I don't know how it can be that there is a difference between the Mac and the PC.
But indeed basicly it is a factor of the quality of the monitor.

I have a mac and  a 30 inch Dell with 10 bit LUT. but with some subtle gradients i can see banding as well and the whites of the monitor are not that accurate.
So my next monitor willl at least contain a 12 bit LUT. For me i can live with it now and in fact warns me to look for banding in the printing process.
Good 30 inch monitors are still a bit too expensive for me.. ( this one was 1500 $- and has full adobe RGB- so the price was right)
« Last Edit: October 10, 2009, 06:02:54 am by kers »
Logged
Pieter Kers
www.beeld.nu/la

Mark D Segal

  • Contributor
  • Sr. Member
  • *
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 12512
    • http://www.markdsegal.com
monitor banding on a Mac
« Reply #3 on: October 10, 2009, 07:39:15 am »

Jonathan may be correct about this, but to know for sure it is best to do some research or call Dell and find out what is the actual bit depth per channel for that particular display. The other possibility which came to mind is that the profile you are using for it in the Mac is inappropriate. Do you have a proper calibration/profiling package - by that I mean to you have a good quality colorimeter and supporting software with which to charactarize the behaviour of your display?
Logged
Mark D Segal (formerly MarkDS)
Author: "Scanning Workflows with SilverFast 8....."

RandomJoe

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 28
monitor banding on a Mac
« Reply #4 on: October 10, 2009, 10:17:41 am »

Quote from: MarkDS
Jonathan may be correct about this, but to know for sure it is best to do some research or call Dell and find out what is the actual bit depth per channel for that particular display. The other possibility which came to mind is that the profile you are using for it in the Mac is inappropriate. Do you have a proper calibration/profiling package - by that I mean to you have a good quality colorimeter and supporting software with which to charactarize the behaviour of your display?


well its an 8bit panel as far as i can research

but why would it be smooth on a pc and not on a Mac?
using the same monitor

same cable
Logged

Mark D Segal

  • Contributor
  • Sr. Member
  • *
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 12512
    • http://www.markdsegal.com
monitor banding on a Mac
« Reply #5 on: October 10, 2009, 10:26:38 am »

The main thing I can think of off hand is that the profiles aren't the same between the two operating systems. What profiles are you using for each system?
Logged
Mark D Segal (formerly MarkDS)
Author: "Scanning Workflows with SilverFast 8....."

digitaldog

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 20630
  • Andrew Rodney
    • http://www.digitaldog.net/
monitor banding on a Mac
« Reply #6 on: October 10, 2009, 01:42:50 pm »

At the very least, try calibrating to a native White Point and TRC Gamma if your software supports it. That should help a bit.
Logged
http://www.digitaldog.net/
Author "Color Management for Photographers".

RandomJoe

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 28
monitor banding on a Mac
« Reply #7 on: October 10, 2009, 03:30:52 pm »

Quote from: MarkDS
The main thing I can think of off hand is that the profiles aren't the same between the two operating systems. What profiles are you using for each system?

the PC has no specific set profile
just whatever the default was set too.. i didnt event give it a driver

with the mac Ive tried different settings different contrast ratios and custom apple profile calibrations
its improved but still visable
Logged

Mark D Segal

  • Contributor
  • Sr. Member
  • *
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 12512
    • http://www.markdsegal.com
monitor banding on a Mac
« Reply #8 on: October 10, 2009, 03:42:53 pm »

It does have a profile - just not one that you are aware of. It increasingly sounds to me as if you need to explicitly calibrate and profile your display on both operating systems using an appropriate hardware/software package such as Color Eyes Display or Basic Color, or Colormunki or Spyder 3.......one of them.
Logged
Mark D Segal (formerly MarkDS)
Author: "Scanning Workflows with SilverFast 8....."

Mark D Segal

  • Contributor
  • Sr. Member
  • *
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 12512
    • http://www.markdsegal.com
monitor banding on a Mac
« Reply #9 on: October 10, 2009, 03:50:13 pm »

Post-script - you can find out what is controlling colours on your display by going into the colour management tab of your video card driver and looking at what profile is loaded there.
Logged
Mark D Segal (formerly MarkDS)
Author: "Scanning Workflows with SilverFast 8....."

jerryrock

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 608
    • The Grove Street Photographer
monitor banding on a Mac
« Reply #10 on: October 10, 2009, 10:46:40 pm »

Quote from: RandomJoe
the PC has no specific set profile
just whatever the default was set too.. i didnt event give it a driver

with the mac Ive tried different settings different contrast ratios and custom apple profile calibrations
its improved but still visable

Make sure you didn't monkey around with the contrast slider under system preferences/universal access. It should be set to normal.
Logged
Gerald J Skrocki
Pages: [1]   Go Up