Dying Spectraview, what replacement ???

[Rhossydd]

My NEC Spectraview 1980 has developed a yellow band down the centre of the screen after it's warmed up, so time for a replacement.

The 2690 Spectraview seems the obvious option, but the new PA 271W is just becoming available here in the UK too. Both have similar gamut specs, but how good can they be ?
For me the slightly bigger screen and resolution of the 271 would be good, but on the other hand the better calibration options of the Spectraview are important too.

Has anyone seen any reliable comparisons between the two, or any experience of the new 271 and how good it is.

Thanks

Paul

[digitaldog]

I’ve got a preproduction PA 241W, its impressive (but for me, too small <g>) but no experience with thePA 271W. That said, I suspect you’d want the PA 271W as it is a newer generation unit, more functionality than the 2690 (which I do have). Unless you can get or want a screaming deal on the older unit, I’d go for the newer one. PIP, soft proofing, etc. You can use SpectraView on both.

[Rhossydd]

Thanks Andrew.

You can use SpectraView on both.

Not sure that's an option with units supplied in the UK.
The work round may be to use Basicolor, if that will access the hardware of the panel.

Just how much improvement will Spectraview/basicolor give over a standard GMB PMP profile ?

[Czornyj]

My NEC Spectraview 1980 has developed a yellow band down the centre of the screen after it's warmed up, so time for a replacement.

The 2690 Spectraview seems the obvious option, but the new PA 271W is just becoming available here in the UK too. Both have similar gamut specs, but how good can they be ?
For me the slightly bigger screen and resolution of the 271 would be good, but on the other hand the better calibration options of the Spectraview are important too.

Has anyone seen any reliable comparisons between the two, or any experience of the new 271 and how good it is.

Thanks

Paul

For me it's no-brainer, PA271W is much better - it is perfectly uniform, it can be calibrated to lower luminance levels, it has precise 14bit 3D LUT (with 16bit internal calculations), and it has higher resolution, so there's plenty of space for Photoshop palettes. The display is factory calibrated, so the calibration with the sensor is not really necessary, but still possible with US Spectraview II profiler. basICColor/Spectraview display won't work.

[Rhossydd]

Thanks for all that.

basICColor/Spectraview display won't work.

Do you just mean the Spectraview branded version of Basicolor or does that apply to the unbranded Basicolor product too ?
I guess it's too new to ask yet, but I've a Basicolor 4 here as well as GMB PMP. From what I can see it ought to work.

Paul

[WombatHorror]

For me it's no-brainer, PA271W is much better - it is perfectly uniform, it can be calibrated to lower luminance levels, it has precise 14bit 3D LUT (with 16bit internal calculations), and it has higher resolution, so there's plenty of space for Photoshop palettes. The display is factory calibrated, so the calibration with the sensor is not really necessary, but still possible with US Spectraview II profiler. basICColor/Spectraview display won't work.

do you mean perfectly uniform with compensation turned way up or even with it off?

I can't say that my 241 is particularly close to perfectly uniform with compensation off. I need level 3 before it begins to look even. Is that normal? Does the ones you looked at already look fairly even with it off or at say level 1?

[JRSmit]

Thanks Andrew.

Not sure that's an option with units supplied in the UK.
The work round may be to use Basicolor, if that will access the hardware of the panel.

Just how much improvement will Spectraview/basicolor give over a standard GMB PMP profile ?

Just got feedback from BasICColor that the "vanilla" BasICColor Display cannot be used for full hardware calibration and profiling of the Nec PA241.
You need Spectraview II, which is a OEM version of Basiccolor Display, but nevertheless.
Bummer as i too was about to purchase the PA241, but already have BasICColor Display together with a DTP94 puck.
Now i am forced to purchase the spectraview version of the PA241, given the price differential with the regular pa241 (here in The Netherlands) i am reconsidering my options.