Spectraview, i1Display Pro, NEC PA271W & Macbook Pro Retina Displays...

[jeff_singer]

I have an NEC PA271W and purchased it with Spectraview II.  It’s about two years old and the puck that came with it is the MDSVSENSOR “powered by Xrite”:
Type Eye-one display 2 Rev C, Part number 42.59.27

I recently bought a new Macbook Pro with Retina screen and need something to calibrate that since Spectraview doesn’t work on it.  I was considering buying X-Rite EODIS3 i1Display Pro.

It looks like the current version of Spectraview comes with the newer xrite sensor.

So my questions:
1.  For calibrating my NEC PA271W, is the current EODIS3 i1Display Pro sensor going to be better than the older “made for NEC wide-gamut displays” version I have?

2.  Is the sensor I would get with the EODIS3 i1Display Pro package the same as the one that comes with the current spectraview? (my guess, no)

3.  Is EODIS3 i1Display Pro the best option for calibrating the new Macbook Pro retina displays?

Thanks!

[howardm]

Take a look at this..........

http://www.drycreekphoto.com/Learn/Calibration/MonitorCalibrationHardware.html

quote:
For high-end displays, many vendors offer their own pre-tuned colorimeter sensors. Our experience with a limited sample of such sensors (all X-Rite Eye-One Display 2 based) from HP and NEC has been good. The OEM calibration performed reduces the variability between units by half compared to a stock Eye-One Display, and greatly improves accuracy on the monitor it is tuned for. The drawback is that these customized sensors are only accurate for a single display type.


The new Pro seems to be significantly better than the older '2'.

The new sensor may be tweaked slightly but the big downside is that it's locked
such that it can only be used w/ Spectraview/NEC hardware/software.

Yes, I believe the new Pro is the best option but then again, if you're
using the Retina display for non-critical work, you may want to just save the $$ and not bother
calibratiing it but that is a personal decision.

[MirekElsner]

1.  For calibrating my NEC PA271W, is the current EODIS3 i1Display Pro sensor going to be better than the older “made for NEC wide-gamut displays” version I have?

Most likely, see this article.

2.  Is the sensor I would get with the EODIS3 i1Display Pro package the same as the one that comes with the current spectraview? (my guess, no)

Same sensor, but the NEC is locked down and possibly custom calibrated.

3.  Is EODIS3 i1Display Pro the best option for calibrating the new Macbook Pro retina displays?

Same as (1).Check out this thread, too.

[digitaldog]

quote:
For high-end displays, many vendors offer their own pre-tuned colorimeter sensors. Our experience with a limited sample of such sensors (all X-Rite Eye-One Display 2 based) from HP and NEC has been good. The OEM calibration performed reduces the variability between units by half compared to a stock Eye-One Display, and greatly improves accuracy on the monitor it is tuned for. The drawback is that these customized sensors are only accurate for a single display type.

This is critically important for some, not at all for others. If you are working with multiple units, especially across distances, having all the same reference units calibrated to match is very important. If you work alone, you want the display and the print next to that display to match, not important. You'll dink around to find those settings. Share with others? Now matching Colorimeters is more critical.

[jeff_singer]

Thanks for the replies.

So my MBP Retina is not a color critical monitor.  Most of the time it's just a second screen.  However I do use it to shoot tethered and while critical color isn't important, it's nice to know that the monitor is showing me something in the range of what I'll be seeing once I get the images back to my NEC... and nice gradients and contrast would be nice as well.

I do have a copy of ColorEyes Display Pro and the sensor that came with that... but that's about 7 years old so I'm guessing that sensor is really out of date (don't have it near me so I'm not sure what it is).  I could potentially use that for my MBP but I'm not sure how outdated that sensor is... I think it's the DTP-94 but I could be wrong.  I guess even a used sensor could work and I'd just need to upgrade my ColorEyes to the latest version.

So if I agree that the MBP doesn't need color critical calibration, the new question is, is the newer NEC branded i1 Display Pro sensor better than the one I have now.  Enough to warrant upgrading my Spectraview package with the new sensor (can you just buy the NEC branded sensor w/o the software?).  What are the advantages of the newer sensor?

Mirek:  Did I understand you when you said that the NEC branded i1 Display Pro is the same sensor?  So, they are 100% identical other than NEC branding on it?

Thanks!

[MirekElsner]

Mirek:  Did I understand you when you said that the NEC branded i1 Display Pro is the same sensor?  So, they are 100% identical other than NEC branding on it?

That's what I heard from several sources, including people from Basiccolor and an interview with someone from NEC. Unfortunately, I can't find the article anymore.

[howardm]

it is my understanding that it is the same unit BUT its internal programming identifier is different so that the sensor is 'locked' to permit use only w/ the Spectraview software.

[jeff_singer]

So then my best bet, regardless of how color accurate I want to retina MBP is to just get the non-NEC version, EODIS3 i1Display Pro.  That way I can calibrate my rMBP and the sensor will be an upgrade to my current NEC branded i1Display Pro sensor.

Sound about right?

And as I mentioned, I do have a license for Coloreyes Display Pro... which would be better for calibrating the rMPB:  Coloreyes or the i1Display software?

Thanks!

[howardm]

if you want maximum flexibility, then yes, it would make more sense to get the regular i1D Pro.  You alreay have
the Spectraview software (and you can always download the current version for zero $).

Since you already own ColorEyes, it's hard to say which would be better but you could certainly do both and see for
yourself and let us know.

As I recall (or at least recently), the cost of the 271 w/ the SV package was stupidly more expensive than it should be.

[D Fosse]

The latest update to ColorEyes Display Pro, needed for i1 Display Pro sensor support, is in fact a paid upgrade. So I wouldn't bother.

I've tried both CEDP and i1 Profiler (both using the same i1 Display Pro sensor) on a NEC P232 and was not impressed by CEDP. Lots of banding and artifacts. i1 Profiler gave much better results. So since you need a new sensor anyway (DTP 94 will probably not work well on newer LED displays), the obvious choice is to just get the i1 Display Pro package and use that on the Macbook. And then if the sensor works with Spectraview that's a bonus.

Another thing to try is ArgyllCMS with DispcalGUI. It's open source and free, and works with the i1 sensor. In fact that's what I finally settled on with the P232.

[jeff_singer]

I know opinions are like... We'll, you know, on forums... But I did just read this one on another thread saying to forget the i1 display pro:
1. off the shelf copies have huge copy to copy variation they are just not very accurate (unless you are lucky); an i1D2 from NEC is calibrated so the copy variation is not so high
2. they can't handle wide gamut at all unless compensation is used and spectraview II doesn't seem to unlock i1D2 compensation unless it detects and i1D2 that came from NEC and then they apply the compensation to match how they calibrated their i1D2 pucks.

[D Fosse]

That's i1 D 2. The new sensor, i1 D Pro, is everywhere reported to be vastly more consistent from unit to unit.

But yes, consistency is always an issue and you never know how the "branded" varieties have been modified. I have one regular and one Eizo-branded Spyder3, and they are very different when used with the same software.

[digitaldog]

That's what I heard from several sources, including people from Basiccolor and an interview with someone from NEC. Unfortunately, I can't find the article anymore.

This is indeed true, other than some 'switch/prom' somewhere in the product that X-rite has provided to lock other products from using the instrument.