What's the best replacement for the DTP94?

[Bill Koenig]

I'm not sure yet, but after a move to Windows 7 Ultimate 64 my DTP94 might be history (tonight I'm going to try the demo of ColorEyes Display Pro) if that doesn't work, I'll need to move to a new monitor calibration package, and I need to get my ducks in row now, as CS5 and 8 GB of new ram are waiting for me.
I still use a CRT display (Sony GDM-F500R) that's getting up there in age, but still works/calibrates great, and I hope to get a couple more years out of it.
But at some point it will be replaced with a wide gamut LCD, possibly the latest NEC model, so I want to get something that work for me down the road.
What's troubling is all the talk about inconsistency of some of the devices currently available.
Also, if I get a calorimeter for a wide gamut LCD, will it also do a good job on a CRT?
Any thoughts opinions or recommendations welcome.

[Czornyj]

I'm not sure yet, but after a move to Windows 7 Ultimate 64 my DTP94 might be history (tonight I'm going to try the demo of ColorEyes Display Pro) if that doesn't work, I'll need to move to a new monitor calibration package, and I need to get my ducks in row now, as CS5 and 8 GB of new ram are waiting for me.
I still use a CRT display (Sony GDM-F500R) that's getting up there in age, but still works/calibrates great, and I hope to get a couple more years out of it.
But at some point it will be replaced with a wide gamut LCD, possibly the latest NEC model, so I want to get something that work for me down the road.
What's troubling is all the talk about inconsistency of some of the devices currently available.
Also, if I get a calorimeter for a wide gamut LCD, will it also do a good job on a CRT?
Any thoughts opinions or recommendations welcome.

I suppose DTP94 is the best sensor for CRT calibration, my works fine under W7 64, so I wouldn't worry.
As for new NEC PA, I'd take:
1) NEC custom matted SVII colorimeter
2) ColorMunki/i1pro spectrophotometer
3) Nothing! - Multiprofiler does a decent job without a sensor

[nilo]

I suppose DTP94 is the best sensor for CRT calibration, my works fine under W7 64, so I wouldn't worry.
As for new NEC PA, I'd take:
1) NEC custom matted SVII colorimeter

I am trying to buy a NEC puck since a few weeks, but its out of stock everywhere I look, even at the NEC store. I wrote NEC an email, and got no answer. I ordered by B&H because they told me that they'll get one, but they can't.

What's going on?
  - Is it that all those other readers of this forum bought up all the sensors out there before me, after reading some of the recent threads here?

 - Or is it the imminence of the  SpectraViewIII (inofficially announced and rumored  in this forum) and the upcoming new custom mated puck based on the DTP94 (as the restart of production of the latter was also confirmed in this forum)?

 - Or is it, as you write, that nobody needs the sensor anymore

3) Nothing! - Multiprofiler does a decent job without a sensor

[WombatHorror]

I'm not sure yet, but after a move to Windows 7 Ultimate 64 my DTP94 might be history (tonight I'm going to try the demo of ColorEyes Display Pro) if that doesn't work, I'll need to move to a new monitor calibration package, and I need to get my ducks in row now, as CS5 and 8 GB of new ram are waiting for me.
I still use a CRT display (Sony GDM-F500R) that's getting up there in age, but still works/calibrates great, and I hope to get a couple more years out of it.
But at some point it will be replaced with a wide gamut LCD, possibly the latest NEC model, so I want to get something that work for me down the road.
What's troubling is all the talk about inconsistency of some of the devices currently available.
Also, if I get a calorimeter for a wide gamut LCD, will it also do a good job on a CRT?
Any thoughts opinions or recommendations welcome.

Well, what is reasonably priced and works down the road on a wide gamut LCD doesn't exist (unless you get a great copy of the Spyder 3).

The DTP94b works absolutely fine on W7 64bit and it works wonderfully with CEDP on CRT and standard gamut LCD.
That combo doesn't make so much sense on a wide gamut monitor and is a disaster there at any rate.
The DTP94b would work at least work, to an extent, using iColor 3.6 on a NEC PA, but I don't think it's ideal since it seems a little bit off and same as with CEDP you can't
program it internally (you could measure and then adjust the inbuilt modes though).
CEDP can work on wide gamuts with a Spyder3 but far from every Spyder 3 is all that good and if you get some fancy NEC you'd lose the ability to calibrate it internally unless CEDP manages to get DDC working with NEC again by then.
Eyeone Pro probe would be good but I think it's $700ish?

I'd stick with your DTP94 and CEDP for now and then see what happens in a few years. No need to rush into a Eyeone Pro now at $700 when your DTP94b does a great job for now. And who knows what software/probe works best with waht you get in a few years.

[WombatHorror]

I am trying to buy a NEC puck since a few weeks, but its out of stock everywhere I look, even at the NEC store. I wrote NEC an email, and got no answer. I ordered by B&H because they told me that they'll get one, but they can't.

What's going on?
  - Is it that all those other readers of this forum bought up all the sensors out there before me, after reading some of the recent threads here?

 - Or is it the imminence of the  SpectraViewIII (inofficially announced and rumored  in this forum) and the upcoming new custom mated puck based on the DTP94 (as the restart of production of the latter was also confirmed in this forum)?

 - Or is it, as you write, that nobody needs the sensor anymore

When I asked NEC a few weeks ago about the compensation matrices for the DTP94b for SVII and wide gamut monitors they didn't sound too keen on it (inlcuding xrite telling them it would loose precision, etc.) so I tend to doubt that, unless my email got them thinking haha.

I think the sensor still helps, not that it gets used for as much now. It appears the tone curve and gray ramps aren't even calibrated by the probe at all but all set based on factory settings. You can adjust the primaries in multiprofiler after measuring, but SVII doesn't appear to shift them (although it will measure and record them in a profile). The only thing SVII seems to shift around internally is the white point (which does appear to be kind of cool straight from the factory).

I had been thinking that there has been a run on them and demand > production. But it has been out of stock, even at NEC, for a while now and Amazon changed from "within a few days" to there general purpose "1-2 months" (i.e. who knows when if ever). I still rather doubt it, but maybe there is a new puck coming???

Where did you hear hear about SV III? I can't find the link.

[nilo]

Where did you hear hear about SV III? I can't find the link.

You'll have to want to read between the lines ;-) http://luminous-landscape.com/forum/index....st&p=372512


How else could they get so terribly out of stock suddenly?

[mjdl]

I don't have a wide gamut monitor, and I use the 32-bit version of Windows 7, but the combination of the DTP-94b, ArgyllCMS and the management GUI dispcalGUI do a superb job of calibration/profiling. All free/donation software of excellent quality, multi-platform (Windows, Mac, Linux), many profile types: gamma, matrix/shaper, LUT, in Lab or XYZ PCS.

It is slow! Just the calibration phase makes something like 200-300 measurements to produce a high quality video calibration curve (medium quality takes almost as long). The profiling phase makes use of user-defined colour patch sets of any desired size and characteristics. I go completely overboard with a preset in dispcalGUI that has something like 390 patches, but the result is quite good: combined matrix/shaper and LUT profile in the XYZ PCS. Programs that don't use LUT profiles use the matrix/shaper part (e.g. Firefox 3.6.X, Windows 7 Photo viewer), while programs with more advanced CMM capabilities will use the more accurate LUT part. I think calibration/profiling took 70-80 minutes the last time I did it.

ArgyllCMS is a set of command-line programs, but dispcalGUI makes it all quite easy and efficient with sets of presets for every calibration/profiling need. And there is an easy profile test measurement routine that spits out an HTML page showing how the profile transforms colour patches w/delta-E errors listed.

ArgyllCMS 1.2.X apparently now includes signed Windows 7 64-bit USB drivers, so it is Plug-and-pray ready for you. (It is possible to switch back and forth between the X-rite and ArgyllCMS USB drivers using the menu "Update Driver..." in the Windows hardware applet: Desktop-->Computer-->Manage etc.)

I'm no CM expert, so I did have to do quite a bit of reading to get the basic concepts right, but the dispcalGUI program really makes this whole process almost as "easy" as the products from X-rite, etc.

[nilo]

You'll have to want to read between the lines ;-) http://luminous-landscape.com/forum/index....st&p=372512


How else could they get so terribly out of stock suddenly?

Seams like, I was wrong! They are back stock.

[Scott Martin]

The 64bit DTP94 driver appears to work fine in Windows 7 even though it's not officially supported by XRite. See http://bit.ly/9Dom2M for more discussion about how to install (and how not to install) the correct driver.

I'd stick to your DTP94 for as long as possible. Of all my devices (and I've got just about everything) my DTP94's are my most trusted display calibration devices for their consistency and reliability. I continue to see less then optimal (but usually very good) results with every other device (Spyder3s, EyeOnePros, E1D2, etc).