So here is a question: Is this problem that a screen must manifest straight out of the box, or is it the case that the screen may be fine initially but develop this problem over time?
From my experience and what I could glean from support, Straight out of the box or you are good.
Well I’m seeing behavior that makes me wonder about that conclusion. I purchased a new PA271Q, installed the latest version (1.1.39) of Spectraview, and first calibrated it on 7/25/19 using the included NEC MDSVSENSOR3. My initial calibrations using several different target settings showed Color Tracking Delta-E values similar to Andrew’s, and I thought I had escaped with a good unit that doesn’t exhibit the problems described in this thread. A few examples of the results:
However, 9 days later on 8/3, after a restart of my Windows 10 computer, a Spectraview message popped up on my screen saying that the monitor was not calibrated. What?? Not even out of date (which it shouldn’t have been), but uncalibrated. I scratched my head over that, but recreated the target files and calibrated the monitor again. Examples of the results:
As you can see from that last set, the D-E values were much larger for all the target calibrations. Not as bad as some here have reported, but problematic nevertheless. What caused this? What happened to make SV lose its previous calibrations, and to do much worse upon recalibration? I’ve spent the last several days pondering that and testing a variety of things, trying to get back to where I was with that first set of calibrations. I’ve gone back through this thread multiple times, looking at all the reports and suggestions. Here’s what I’ve tried, not necessarily in this order:
1. Different usb ports connecting the sensor (I had used one on the monitor on 8/3, but one on the computer on 7/25). Result: no effect.
2. Factory Reset the monitor. Result: made things a little worse.
3. Updated Firmware from R1.202 to r1.302, which Czornyj reported in this thread had fixed the problem. Result: a substantial improvement, but still much worse than my initial result on 7/25, and much worse than the results Andrew has shown in this thread for his monitor.
4. Monitor Self Calibration & Validation. Result: an additional small improvement, but still much worse than my initial result on 7/25, and much worse than the results Andrew has shown in this thread.
5. Loaded Czornyj’s monitor settings that he made available earlier in this thread. Result: made things a little worse.
6. Uninstalled Spectraview 1.1.39 and installed 1.1.37, the earliest version claiming support for the PA271Q. Result: made things a little worse. (I was not able to roll back to v.1.1.34 as user Jmlphotography said above that he was told to do by NEC, because that version does not support the PA271Q, and SV thus balked when I tried. Lowering luminance of target to 83, from my target’s 120, as he said NEC also suggested, did not help.)
7. Calibration using a ColorMunki Photo sensor. Result: gave values very similar to MDSVSENSOR3, so no improvement.
8. Calibration precision test. Result: I found that if calibrations were repeated one right after the other for the same target, there seemed to be a small but steady rise in the Color Tracking D-E values; but not if some time (e.g., 1h) elapsed between them.
Thus the only things that have so far helped for me are updating the monitor firmware to version 1.1.39, and performing a monitor Self Calibration & Validation. Here are examples of my most recent SV calibrations, including one with Andrew’s target that he provided us:
Where to go from here? Given the apparent prevalence of this problem, as illustrated in this thread, I’m not confident that a return for replacement will yield a unit lacking the issue. And even this one seemed OK at first, which is particularly puzzling. Still, I’ve been happily using this NEC line for years, and have another one at a separate workstation, so I don’t want to switch to another brand.
Are we making too much of this issue? For me, the calibration targets for printing that have reduced contrast, e.g. 200:1 or 300:1, give the lowest Grayscale Delta-E values, and that is the situation for which color fidelity is most important. Average D-E values of about 0.75 and max values of about 1.20, as I’m getting now for target 6000K 120cdm 200-1Contrast, are I think considered quite good, even though they are still significantly higher than the values of avg =0.27 and max=0.61 that I saw on my very first calibration of this target. My biggest fear though is that these somewhat elevated numbers might indicate an increased possibility of early failure, and an accelerated increase in tracking error over time.
