NEC PA241W vs Eizo SX2462W and calibration questions

[Sean Klingelhoefer]

Hello all,

Long time lurker but I just recently signed up and decided to post. Now before I make too much of a fool of myself, let me first mention that I've been spending the past two weeks reading virtually everything I could find about 22-24" wide gamut monitors, NEC, Eizo, LaCie etc. I've found numerous threads discussing NEC model XXX vs Eizo model YYY but most of them end up with ridiculous off-tangent bickering and usually conclude if you have money and like to spend it buy Eizo, if you don't, buy NEC. I have also read numerous reviews on all sorts of displays on sites in varying languages with what I can only presume to be "close enough" translation via Google. The display I most commonly see the PA241W compared to is the Eizo CG243W, but in terms of pricing and features I feel it's probably closer to the SX unit, and after speaking with an Eizo rep at some length he concluded my suspicions that the SX is a slightly watered-down version of the CG, but for the most part every bit as good. Here's what I can determine quickly...

-resolution, color gamut, etc is very nearly, if not literally, identical.
-both offer hardware calibration with the use of separate proprietary software/puck combo ( SpectraView II for NEC, EasyPIX for Eizo)
-at B&H the Eizo is $558 more expensive, which to me seems somewhat irrelevant. Not that I couldn't find something to spend $550 on, but at this point I don't see it being a deciding factor.
- NEC is 4 year warranty, Eizo is 5 - but even the Eizo rep himself said that 99.9% of the time a defect reveals itself in the first 90 days.

So what I'm hoping for, is some unbiased experiences with both of these units (or the Eizo CG243W) but I'm really not trying to rope a bunch of other displays into this conversation. Also if anyone has any stories, good or bad, about the customer service from either of these brands that would be helpful - from my phone call today with Eizo, the helpfulness and honesty provided alone was almost enough to steer me towards one of their displays. There's no doubt in my mind that both of these are excellent units, but I'd really like to hear what the more experienced members here have - as this will be the first time I've ever owned a wide gamut monitor.

On a side note - I have read lots of threads on here about calibration for wide gamut displays, mostly for soft proofing and what not. But just out of curiosity, if all/most of my images will go elsewhere for pre-press before being printed/compressed/displayed, are the factory profiles acceptable for editing? I can't see why a display of this caliber would need to be calibrated (pardon my ignorance) unless you have special requirements or test environments, yet I read all the time that people calibrate their display before ever using it.

Anyway that's it for now, I'm sure more questions will arise with time, but for now thanks in advance.

[Czornyj]

NEC PA241W with Spectraview II has much more advanced calibration solution than EIZO EasyPIX2 for SX, where there's no full hardware calibration with precise TRC correction, so feature-wise it's more like CG243W with ColorNavigator profiler rather than SX2462W+EasyPIX.

There's also free NEC Multiprofiler software that calibrates the display without a sensor that works surprisingly well.

Generally, the PA241W is stuffed with all useful features you could or couldn't imagine, it's well designed, good looking, solid, ergonomic product, and frankly speaking - I can't really find any NEC disadvantage in comparison to EIZO CG243W (not to mention SX2462W), so consider it a bargain.

[digitaldog]

On a side note - I have read lots of threads on here about calibration for wide gamut displays, mostly for soft proofing and what not. But just out of curiosity, if all/most of my images will go elsewhere for pre-press before being printed/compressed/displayed, are the factory profiles acceptable for editing? I can't see why a display of this caliber would need to be calibrated (pardon my ignorance) unless you have special requirements or test environments, yet I read all the time that people calibrate their display before ever using it.

What ‘factory profiles’?

Displays have to be calibrated for two purposes. One is because they are unstable devices who’s behavior changes over time. You want the same RGB or CMYK values you view today to appear that way in a year.

2nd, calibration is a process whereby you target the calibration for a preferable behavior. Most want that to be a calibration that produces a visual match on-screen to the print viewed next to the display (correctly illuminated).

[Sean Klingelhoefer]

NEC PA241W with Spectraview II has much more advanced calibration solution than EIZO EasyPIX2 for SX, where there's no full hardware calibration with precise TRC correction, so feature-wise it's more like CG243W with ColorNavigator profiler rather than SX2462W+EasyPIX.

There's also free NEC Multiprofiler software that calibrates the display without a sensor that works surprisingly well.

Generally, the PA241W is stuffed with all useful features you could or couldn't imagine, it's well designed, good looking, solid, ergonomic product, and frankly speaking - I can't really find any NEC disadvantage in comparison to EIZO CG243W (not to mention SX2462W), so consider it a bargain.

Interesting, I knew that the EasyPIX was more limited than ColorNavigator but I didn't realize it was that large of a step.

What ‘factory profiles’?

Displays have to be calibrated for two purposes. One is because they are unstable devices who’s behavior changes over time. You want the same RGB or CMYK values you view today to appear that way in a year.

2nd, calibration is a process whereby you target the calibration for a preferable behavior. Most want that to be a calibration that produces a visual match on-screen to the print viewed next to the display (correctly illuminated).

I was under the impression that these monitors were shipped with base profiles i.e. sRGB, AdobeRGB, Full Gamut etc. Perhaps I am mistaken.

I understand the purpose of re-calibrating a monitor over time, I just wouldn't imagine that a monitor would shift much between the time it was shipped and first used, but then again my knowledge of these things is clearly limited - hence the questions.

Again for my purposes, 99.9% of the time the final proofing will be done by the client - be it an ad agency or magazine pre-press, I have high doubts that I will ever directly print my work, I don't do fine-art or anything like that. What I'm mostly looking for is a neutral calibration for editing photos that is somewhat close to print, probably a contrast ratio of around 350:1. My work is often printed on various forms of media, internet, phone apps, magazines etc and every magazine has different paper and I'll likely never be able to compare a proof to the monitor, so exact target calibration isn't really feasible for me.

Anyway sorry if I sound ignorant, that's why I'm here

Thanks again.

[Bill Koenig]

From what your saying, then the NEC Multiprofiler software would be what your looking for.

NEC PA241W with Spectraview II has much more advanced calibration solution than EIZO EasyPIX2 for SX, where there's no full hardware calibration with precise TRC correction, so feature-wise it's more like CG243W with ColorNavigator profiler rather than SX2462W+EasyPIX.

There's also free NEC Multiprofiler software that calibrates the display without a sensor that works surprisingly well.

Generally, the PA241W is stuffed with all useful features you could or couldn't imagine, it's well designed, good looking, solid, ergonomic product, and frankly speaking - I can't really find any NEC disadvantage in comparison to EIZO CG243W (not to mention SX2462W), so consider it a bargain.

[howardm]

if all you wnat to do is set a factory gamut profile ala sRGB or aRGB, then Multiprofiler is all you need

[Sean Klingelhoefer]

Thanks guys, looks like I'm pretty much sold on the NEC.

[howardm]

You'll be very pleased w/ it.

[leuallen]

I had a slight problem with my NEC 2690 - uneven black in the extreme lower right. I called NEC support and found them to be most helpful. They replaced the monitor. I give them a thumbs up.

Larry