Does the software that comes with the i1Display Pro calibrate monitors that have hardware calibration like the Eizo ColorEdge range?
Maybe. It does support DDC/ci (which for some unbeknownst reason they have decided to call "ADC"... call it "Hardware Calibration" or by its proper name, DDC/ci, don't invent some new TLA for it (three letter acronym)). Unfortunately in my experience their implementation of DDC is very poor at the moment. Specifically, DDC/ci is not the standard one would hope which means that you can't expect a monitor which supports DDC/ci to actually work properly with software that supports it. NEC is a great example of this. They have implemented things in such a way that only their software (Spectraview II, and Spectraview Profiler/BasICColor Display) will work properly with DDC/ci. I have an NEC 2690 and an HP LP3065. The HP does have DDC support but it's a non-standard implementation. i1Profiler erroneously identifies it as a monitor that supports DDC. It proceeds to profile the monitor with DDC support
but it never checks to verify if the commands its sending to the monitor are being executed properly. This would be simple to do... send a signal to turn the luminance all the way down, measure it, turn it to 50%, measure it, and then 100% and measure it. There should be some significant differences in luminance there and if there aren't, it should fall back on manual adjustment of luminance.... but it doesn't. What it does instead is... it gives you absolutely no warning and when it sees that the luminance is not changing,
it adjusts the luminance in the video LUT. This is wrong on so many levels. If the software has made the decision to adjust the luminance in the video LUT and it started out with DDC/ci it should be fairly obvious that something has failed.
So with that said, I wouldn't recommend it if you want to use it with a monitor that supports DDC/ci. Another side note, my experience with 3rd party apps that use DDC/ci is that they are limited to adjusting luminance and the RGB levels to set white point. All other adjustments are done in the video LUT. If you want to take advantage of applying corrections in the monitor's high resolution monitor LUT, you need to use the manufacturer's software. I don't know if this is a universal truth, but so far this is what I've observed.
Another observation, low cost monitors like the Dell 2410 and Asus PA246Q have some rather severe bugs with their implementation of monitor LUTs. Changing the RGB levels (even on the front panel) away from their factor defaults induces HUGE ∆E errors... we're talking a ∆E of 10 and higher.
Will it work with Eizo's profiling software?
Not at the time. You'll have to ask Eizo if they will be supporting the
retail version of the i1 Display Pro. They will most certainly be supporting the i1 Display Pro at some point in time but there is some confusion over whether or not you will be able to buy a retail version of the i1 Display Pro and use it with something like NEC's Spectraview II or Eizo's profiling software.
The i1 Display Pro package has a lot of promise but the software falls short in several areas and for that reason I'm not recommending it. If you have an Eizo or an NEC, get the manufacturer's software and puck. If you have a monitor that doesn't supply a custom colorimeter and calibration/profiling package then buy a Spyder 3 Express and Color Eyes Display Pro, or BasICColor Display.
Cheers, Joe
Cheers, Joe
