Intel HDGraphics 4000

[ST-EOS]

I have two monitors on my Win7 (64Bit) PC one is a Dell 2209WA (primary display) the other is an LG IPS235 which is the extended display. I use a Spyder 3Pro device to calibrate both monitors but no matter how I calibrate the monitors I just can't seem to get them both to display the same colours. The Dell monitor is connected via to the motherboard graphics via DVI-D (Digital) and the LG via HDMI. The Motherboard is an ASUS P8Z77-VPro with the INTEL HD Graphics4000.

e.g. Whilst typing this if I drag the window so that it sits across both monitors the grey background and the white field I'm typing into in the "start new topic" window looks brighter on the secondary monitor (LG235)! There's not a lot of difference but...I can see it. And it concerns me that I may be making colour judgements when processing images in LR5 of CS5 which are skewed due to the differences in the displays.
It seems that the Datacolor software is creating two profiles, one for each calibrated display. I also believe that the graphics unit is storing and using the discrete profiles for each of the monitors. I have asked Datacolor for suggestions, they have suggested I look at the Intel site to determine if the HDgraphics 4000 can support two LUT's (Look up Tables) that information is not easy to drill down to. However I did see that the GPU is capable of supporting three monitors.
 
So I need your help with this,  has anyone got any suggestions as how best to match these two monitors using the Spyder3Pro device. Does anyone use a similar set up and calibration device if so do you have this issue?

[howardm]

I think the 'issue' is that you believe that two very different monitors will appear the same (to your eyes) when they are both calibrated to
the same 'aim points'.  As most of us who have multiple not-the-same displays have found out unfortunately, is not the case. 

[Simon Garrett]

I have two very dissimilar monitors - one wide-gamut and an old "normal" gamut - and after calibration/profiling with a ColorMunki Display they look pretty similar.  Not identical, but very close.  I think you should be able to get them quite close. 

One way of measuring the state of a monitor after calibration and profiling is to use software such as HCFR (http://sourceforge.net/projects/hcfr/).  This is free and will give you various detailed measurements, so you can see in what way the two monitors differ.  That might give you a clue about what's going wrong. 

[jrsforums]

I have never tried HDMI, so I have no idea if it can be profiled.

I have a 30" LG wide gamut and a 28" LED sRGB.  Two problems.

First, the LG need 30 min. To warm up before it will be accurate....hopefully you profiled a warmed up display.

Second, aRGB and sRGB monitors will rarely be exactly the same.  If you softproof the aRGB to sRGB....and the profiles are correct and both warmed up....you may get similar results.

[ST-EOS]

I have two very dissimilar monitors - one wide-gamut and an old "normal" gamut - and after calibration/profiling with a ColorMunki Display they look pretty similar.  Not identical, but very close.  I think you should be able to get them quite close. 

One way of measuring the state of a monitor after calibration and profiling is to use software such as HCFR (http://sourceforge.net/projects/hcfr/).  This is free and will give you various detailed measurements, so you can see in what way the two monitors differ.  That might give you a clue about what's going wrong. 

Thanks for the link Simon, it opened a my eyes to a great deal of information wrt colour management which I shall ingest and try with the aim of overcoming my issue  thanks again.
   

[ST-EOS]

I have never tried HDMI, so I have no idea if it can be profiled.

I have a 30" LG wide gamut and a 28" LED sRGB.  Two problems.

First, the LG need 30 min. To warm up before it will be accurate....hopefully you profiled a warmed up display.

Second, aRGB and sRGB monitors will rarely be exactly the same.  If you softproof the aRGB to sRGB....and the profiles are correct and both warmed up....you may get similar results.

Thanks John,I do let the monitors warm up as that is part of the check list when using the Spyder device,  hopeful following the information in the links that Simon provided I shall get my two monitors closer to each other

[ST-EOS]

I think the 'issue' is that you believe that two very different monitors will appear the same (to your eyes) when they are both calibrated to
the same 'aim points'.  As most of us who have multiple not-the-same displays have found out unfortunately, is not the case. 

Thanks Howard for stopping by and commenting, having read some of the information available via the link which Simon posted my eyes have been opened. Sadly funds won't allow me to purchase identical monitors and even if they did,  I suspect that your experience would say that I would still have issues getting to monitors from the same manufacturer to appear the same to my eyes.

[ST-EOS]

Thank you all for your help with this I have now managed to get my two displays to be fairly close to each other.  I have book marked a lot of useful web pages following my perusal of the link to HCFR which Simon supplied. Thanks again everyone, your help was much appreciated.