Need a new Monitor, Wondering What's Out There In Accurate Displays???

[Pete JF]

Hi Folks,

Im needing a new monitor for my printing station. I've been using a sony Artisan for many years and still love it but I want to get my feet wet in the flat screen area before my Artisan fails.

I'm looking for something in the midrange price wise..maybe $500-700?? No clue what the range even is these days..been a long time since i felt the need to move away from the Sony.

Wondering if you guys can cue me on what the good monitors out there, are..

Actually Id love to get some idea fo what's good in the low and high range too..

Onboard calibration is great if they exist and working comfort is a plus..I've sat at some stupid bright flat screen monitors I was told were "calibrated". COuld never adjust to that level of brightness..hmm

Thnx,

:  )

Pete

[digitaldog]

I'm looking for something in the midrange price wise..maybe $500-700?? ]

Is that midrange?
You want an NEC SpectraView II with their software and supported instrument. Something like a PA272W. But you need to pretty much double that budge!
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1006644-REG/nec_pa272w_bk_sv_multisync_27_gb_r_lcd_display_spectraview.html

[Paul2660]

NEC. 27inch with Spectraview or 30 inch. Both currently are on sale at various web outlets.

30inch 302W PK SV. Or the 27 inch already listed above.

Paul

[Geraldo Garcia]

Well...

To fit your budget a good solution is Dell U2413 monitor plus an i1 Display pro. It is a quite good monitor once calibrated and profiled and it has a proprietary hardware calibration software that works with the i1 Display pro.
Good panel, lots of connections, 10 bit...
Sure there are better monitors, but not much within this price range.

Good luck.

[Pete JF]

Thanks guys..looking into it right now. grrr, need to scrounge a bit to pop for this one.

Also needing to check all my compatibilities software-wise. My laptop, an older mac intel, is staying at 10.6.8 (snow leopard) for a number of reasons. I think Spectraview is ok with that.

My printing station, and don't laugh, is a G5 running Tiger..this to accommodate my Artisan and some other stuff..still fine. Just would like to have an option on plugging the new monitor into that.I actually think Spectraview is supported back to Tiger.

Any other choices out there that'll get me close to accurate?

Thnx..

[Pete JF]

Well...

To fit your budget a good solution is Dell U2413 monitor plus an i1 Display pro. It is a quite good monitor once calibrated and profiled and it has a proprietary hardware calibration software that works with the i1 Display pro.
Good panel, lots of connections, 10 bit...
Sure there are better monitors, but not much within this price range.

Good luck.

Thanks Geraldo,

Are you using this monitor-printing with it etc?

I noticed the same monitor in a 27" version..I think with the iOne that puts me into the NEC price range.

A 1000 dollar monitor is not out of the question but I don't want to push to hard on that..

[Pete JF]

I was just searching LL for "Spectraview" and found the thread linked below...
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/forum/index.php?topic=74670.msg595171#msg595171

Andrew, in the above thread, confirms that the Spectraview-NEC device is the same as the iOne but 'locked'.

I'm wondering if there is anything in the NEC Spectraview calibration software that makes it better than than Xrite i1 package of softwares?

Anyone know?

I was tossing around the idea that Geraldo presented, Dell + i1 Xrite, and noticed the simliarity of the
S-photometer to the NEC puck..

[howardm]

there are only 2-3 makers of calibration devices and yes, all the ones that look like the i1Display Pro *are* i1Display Pro's, some w/ modified software so that they only work w/ specific software (like the Dell software or the NEC software).  There is a  big difference between the NEC software and i1 softare.  The NEC software programs the internal electronics of the monitor itself (which is why you paid such $$$ in the first place) vs. the i1 software which just programs the computers video card.

[Geraldo Garcia]

Are you using this monitor-printing with it etc?
I noticed the same monitor in a 27" version..I think with the iOne that puts me into the NEC price range.

Yes I am, side by side with a US$2K monitor and I can tell you for sure that, once properly calibrated and profiled, you have to know what to look for to see a difference.
Have a look at this review: http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/reviews/dell_u2413.htm

There are two 27" variants: U2713H and U2713HM. The "H" is just as good as the U2413 but with 27", the "HM" is not wide gamut and does not have all the technical bells and whistles of the others.

NECs are hard to get where I live, so the good ones from Dell are our available mid range. As the best Eizos are quite expensive, we use one and fill the other stations with good Dells.

[Paul2660]

One other consideration on the NEC is a full 4year warranty.  NEC. Also has very good tech support and warranty support.

Paul

[richardboutwell]

I was just searching LL for "Spectraview" and found the thread linked below...
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/forum/index.php?topic=74670.msg595171#msg595171

I'm wondering if there is anything in the NEC Spectraview calibration software that makes it better than than Xrite i1 package of softwares?

Yes, they are different. The spectraview software allows you to calibrate the monitor its self rather than using the video card to and save different calibration settings for different uses—general image editing, settings for different white point values, different luminance levels, etc. The x-rite software creates a profile for the uncalibrated monitor that the video card uses to adjust the signal it is sending to the display. The benefit is that the calibrated monitor is generally more accurate and stable, and can be used across different computers without needing to profile on each of the different workstations.

I use the 30-inch model connected to the main Mac Pro editing station and the G4 drum scanning computer and have consistent color between the two. You could do the same if you are using one computer for your main editing tasks and the G5 for the print server.

The SpectraView is just a software add-on that uses the i1-Display puck—we bought the monitor alone and then added the software later. I have also used the specraview software with the i1 specrophotometer (not recommended but it works as well)

[Eric Brody]

Another last comment about the NEC... Assuming you can afford the monitor and that you're not taking food out of someone's mouth or some other essential, consider the fact that the monitor is the primary interface between the user and the computer. To make an audio analogy, it's like the speakers. Regardless of what's ahead of it in the chain, the monitor is the last word, or rather view, and putting money there, is arguably more important than putting it almost anywhere else in the chain, certainly for photographers.
Good luck whatever you end up with, and yes, I listened to Andrew and went for the NEC 27" with Spectraview and have not regretted it for a minute.
Eric

[Alan Klein]

If you can live with the 24" NEC monitor, it's $949.00 and cheaper than the 27".  With Spectraview II
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/996591-REG/nec_pa242w_bk_sv_24_color_critcal_wide.html

[Alan Klein]

That's only good through tomorrow, Sept 8th.

[Benny Profane]

Pros use Eizo.

[Pete JF]

I ordered the NEC 27 yesterday. Thnx for the inputs,,much appreciated

[digitaldog]

I ordered the NEC 27 yesterday. Thnx for the inputs,,much appreciated

Let us know how it goes and what you think of it, once set up. As an old Artisan user myself, I think you'll be very pleased.

[Pete JF]

Thanks Andrew,

Always appreciated your help with my Artisan..the thing keeps on chugging though. Never had a 'could not calibrate' warning. I baby it and use it only when Im headed for final printing. Thinking about racking it up as my second monitor but not sure I want to send it down the tubes that way. It always amazes me how spot on my results are, makes images easy to work on with total confidence that Im in the WYSIWYG place.

I'll chime in on the NEC when I get it going, Im sure I'll have a few questions.

[Pete JF]

Hi folks,

Got the monitor yesterday..set it up and did a basic D65 calibration..looks great-no prints yet

Are any of you tweaking your Calibration setups? Staying with Defaults? Andrew?


This thing came with more cables than I've ever seen before, they just kept coming out of the box-also an instruction manual in 3 languages that I don't speak.

Wondering one thing..I don't need to maintain any other connections besides power and DVi, correct?

No need for a USB link or need to keep the S-photometer plugged in?

Pretty sure not

So far so good..

[digitaldog]

Are any of you tweaking your Calibration setups? Staying with Defaults? Andrew?

Oh yes, for white point and cd/m2, contrast ratio. YMMV. All depends on the print viewing conditions, the paper etc.
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/why_are_my_prints_too_dark.shtml