Which monitor to buy? High end 19" LCD, or Sony Artisan CRT

DR
Posted By
Dave_Ricketts
Jan 15, 2004
Views
1108
Replies
35
Status
Closed
I will be working digital photos with Photoshop CS on a 3.0 GHz with 2 GB RAM, 2-160 SATA Raid 1, and ATI 9800 128 MB. I have the Epson 2200 printer. I am not a professional graphics person, but am a demanding photographer. I will also be using the PC for other work in .NET development, so text quality is important as well. Trying to decide on a monitor: 1) 19" Sony HX93 LCD ($800) with calibration tool ($200?), or 2) 21" Sony Artisan ($1600) 3) ?Other?. Important factors in decision are: initial cost; long-term paper & ink cost; quality of text for non-photoshop use. I would very much appreciate any feedback, suggestions, warnings, etc. Thanks Much!

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FN
Fred_Nirque
Jan 15, 2004
Dave,

I don’t know about the monitor, but if you have not yet bought the machine, I would approach the 2GB RAM specification with much caution. There have been quite a few of us with machines similar to yours having trouble with 2GB dual channel DDR RAM configurations and Photoshop. Adobe has admitted there is a problem with no easy short term fix, so you could be buying into trouble.

There have been a few threads discussing this, do a search in the archive for further information.

Fred.
DJ
dennis_johnson
Jan 16, 2004
Go with the Artisan, Dave, and don’t look back. That is an absolutley stunning monitor, and if a professional recommendation means anything to you, I have used them in a dual setup for many months and look forward to getting back to it every day. (Unless they’ve changed the form factor though, be sure you use the screw connectors on your monitor cable – the monitor jack points down at a diagonal, and a loose cable will wiggle its way off otherwise.)
AC
Andrew_Curatola
Jan 16, 2004
Dave
I also work with digital photos in Photoshop CS and use a 2200 printer. I’m neither a professional graphics person or a photographer, I’m just an hobbyist.
I have the Sony Artisan 21" CRT and it’s a pleasure to see my printouts almost identical (not 100% but very close) to what is on my screen. Why I say almost identical is because I make my own printer profiles using iOne Photo and I’m sure that’s the reason why my printouts are almost identical but not 100%.
The bottom line is I would give a thought or two, to the Sony Artisan. Good luck with whatever monitor you decide.
Andrew
LH
Lawrence_Hudetz
Jan 16, 2004
The key to any great monitor setup is
Rare earth phosphors in the crt,
Calibration.

On that account, the Sony wins hands down. But, Mitsubishi also has rare earth phosphors in some models. So, look around, and ask questions.

Or, buy the Sony and as dennis says "Never look back"

Be advised that calibration also applies to your printer, in the form of profiles, which is another word for calibration. Even with a good profile, I still see some residual rainbowing in my printer, (in B&W) which I have to tweak in curves. Sometimes tweaking an RGB channel just one unit cleans it up. No monitor can ever show that.
J
jconley
Jan 16, 2004
If the Artisan is the monitor i think you are talking about, it is the self calibrating one. I would strongly caution you about that, our studio was going to get a couple but was forewarned taht the self calibration goes out, as in soon your calibration will be totally off. I would suggest the LACIE Electron 22 Blue IV, good price and a great monitor.
TM
Thomas_Madsen
Jan 16, 2004
our studio was going to get a couple but was forewarned taht the self calibration goes out, as in soon your calibration will be totally off.

What do you mean by "goes out"? I have only heard good things about the Sony Artisan system so your information is new to me. Where did you get that information from? A Lacie salesman? 🙂


Regards
Madsen.
LH
Lawrence_Hudetz
Jan 16, 2004
I thought the Artisan came with a spyder also.

Hey, any bit of electronics can go "out". It’s the same warning about buying mobos with built in audio or video. I would take that with a grain of salt.

The LaCie uses the Misubishi crt. My sources claim the the 22" Mitsu does exactly the same thing and is cheaper.

No hood, however.
J
jconley
Jan 16, 2004
the point i am trying to get across is why waste the 1600 for a self calibrating monitor that will only accurately self calibrate for a short time when you can pic up almost 3 of the Lacie monitors or any other brand. Thomas, buddy you quoted exactly what i meant by goes out, reread. 🙂
J
jconley
Jan 16, 2004
"The LaCie uses the Misubishi crt. My sources claim the the 22" Mitsu does exactly the same thing and is cheaper"

It does come with a hood, but I will admit it is pretty cheap looking. < http://www.nextag.com/LaCie_22IN_CRT_ELECTRON~56004631z0znzz z1zzlacie_electron_bluezmainz2-htm>
TM
Thomas_Madsen
Jan 16, 2004
Thomas, buddy you quoted exactly what i meant by goes out, reread. 🙂

Okay. Done and sorry. 🙂
The self calibration goes out. The result is that the calibration will be totally off. Sounds to me as a defective colorimeter. That can happen with any colorimeter. It doesn’t mean that every Artisan has that fault, as far as I know.


Regards
Madsen.
AC
Andrew_Curatola
Jan 16, 2004
The Sony Artisan has a 30 day timer on its interface which tells you how many days you have left before you lose you calibration. This means that you would have to recalibrate which takes 15 minutes. If you decide to recalibrate before the 30 days are up it then takes you approx 7 minutes.
Basically you are forced to recalibrate every 30 days. When I calibrated my prior monitor using GretagMacbeth iOne Photo, I would calibrate every 3 weeks just out of habit.
Andrew
J
jconley
Jan 16, 2004
With any monitor calibration you have to recalibrate every month at least, Optical Spyder pops up a notification when you are over due, but when i say the calibration goes out, i mean the after calibrating the color will be off, thsi may not be a big deal b/c i would think you could still use a spyder or such to fix the problem, but i personally wouldnt paid 1000 dollars more for that kind of monitor and then have to spend a couple hundred more on calibration equipment when it goes out, instead i would just buy a cheaper monitor, this is my preference.
JB
John_Blaustein
Jan 16, 2004
This is somewhat off topic, but has anyone here had any success in using OptiCAL with Spyder on a dual monitor Windows system running XP Home? I was having no problem calibrating my main monitor under W98SE, but when I recently reformatted my HD and installed XP Home, OptiCAL refused to work.

I have a Matrox G450, Sony G520P 21" as my primary monitor and a Dell 17" as the secondary monitor.

After going back and forth with ColorVision tech support — including their sending me the newest version of the Spyder — they finally told me that OptiCAL won’t work with a dual monitor Windows system. (I’m not sure why they didn’t tell me that at first, but they didn’t.)

The Sony G520P has been excellent, by the way, and I’d recommend it. The RGB guns are individually adjustable and the screen image quite stunning.

John
PC
Philo_Calhoun
Jan 16, 2004
The Artisan would be better, but then again, it costs more.
DR
Dave_Ricketts
Jan 16, 2004
Thanks everyone for responding — good to get some first hand recommendations and feedback. And thanks also for the heads up on the memory issue. I’ll definitely keep checking the Forum here for PS gotcha’s and help.
TM
Thomas_Madsen
Jan 17, 2004
I was having no problem calibrating my main monitor under W98SE, but when I recently reformatted my HD and installed XP Home, OptiCAL refused to work.

Did you use two monitors on Win98SE too?

After going back and forth with ColorVision tech support — including their sending me the newest version of the Spyder — they finally told me that OptiCAL won’t work with a dual monitor Windows system.

I’m using a Spyder with OptiCAL 3.7.6 (3.7.7 in a couple of minuts), WinXP Pro (SP1) and a dual monitor setup (Viewsonic VP201s TFT as the primary and a Sony GDM-FW900 CRT as the secondary. The graphic ‘card is Matrox Parhelia).

OptiCAL works fine, but it seems impossible to tell that stupid graphic card (and/or operating system) that output 1 shall use profile 1 and output 2 shall use profile 2. Both ports use the same profile, so I can either have perfect colours on monitor 1 or on monitor 2 but not on both at the same time.


Regards
Madsen.
JB
John_Blaustein
Jan 17, 2004
Thomas,

Yes, I was using two monitors under Windows 98SE — the identical hardware setup as I’m now using under XP Home. Under 98SE, I was never able to create a profile for the second monitor, only the primary (#1) monitor — in my case, the Sony. Under 98SE, I was able to create a profile with OptiCAL, save it, and have OptiCAL apply it when the computer booted. Under XP, OptiCAL seems to create the profile, but when it’s applied, it looks terrible.

As I mentioned above, Colorvision now tells me OptiCAL does not support dual monitors. In fact, the guy said it should not have been working under 98SE and was surprised to hear I said it did. (Perhaps I thought it was working, but it wasn’t! My Epson 2200 prints were matching my screen image, so I assumed it was working. Now, I’m using Adobe Gamma and that’s working fine. Given that it relies on me eyeballing the settings, I’d prefer to use calibration software and a colorimeter.)

When I talked to Colorvision, the guy told me they are working on dual monitor support for OptiCAL under Windows XP and that the upgrade will be free. According to the timetable the guy mentioned, it should be on their website any day now. We’ll see. Whether it supports a single card with two ports, I don’t know. It may require two video cards. If that’s the case, I wonder how one will use PS CS on two monitors.

I’m curious about something… When you look at Windows’ Display Properties>Settings>Advanced>Color Management, what do you see listed as the "Current Monitor?" Does it show your primary monitor or the secondary monitor? I ask this because on my system, it shows the secondary monitor, even though I have plugged in the primary monitor into the first port on the video card and have selected that as my primary monitor. Matrox tech support says this incorrect listing of the Current Monitor is a Windows XP problem.

John
TM
Thomas_Madsen
Jan 17, 2004
John,

When I go to Control Panel > Display > Settings > Display 1 (which is my Viewsonic VP201s TFT) > Advanced > Color Management, I see the VP201s profile made with OptiCAL (I’ve just made a new one with OptiCAL 3.7.7).
See: <http://home18.inet.tele.dk/madsen/parhelia/monitor1.png>. I don’t know why Windows says: "Current monitor: Sony GDM-FW900" because that’s obviously not true. The current monitor on output 1 is my Viewsonic monitor. I have talked to Matrox support about this and they say the same thing as they’ve said to you (that it’s a WinXP problem).

If I go to Control Panel > Display > Settings > Display 2 (which is my Sony GDM-FW900) > Advanced > Color Management, I see this: <http://home18.inet.tele.dk/madsen/parhelia/monitor2.png>. Windows still says that the current monitor is Sony GDM-FW900 and it uses the VP201s profile for that monitor too, as you can see. If I change it to the Sony profile, the profile for display 1 also changes to the Sony profile.
That’s why I said earlier, that I can’t have correct colours on both monitors at the same time. I have therefore chosen that the primary Viewsonic VP201s should be the calibrated and profiled one. (The Sony is more or less worn-out anyway, and to tell the truth, I prefer using the Viewsonic monitor).

Because Windows believe that the current monitor is the Sony both on output 1 and output 2, OptiCAL wants to call the profile ‘Sony GDM-FW900’ when it’s done calibrating and profiling the primary Viewsonic VP201s. That’s annoying, but I just rename it to VP201s before I save it with OptiCAL.

OptiCAL Startup loads the VP201s.icm into the LUT of the graphic card during Windows start-up and gives me correct colours on my primary Viewsonic VP201s. The colours on the Sony looks awful. If I want nice colours on the secondary Sony, I have to change to the Sony profile, (which in return gives me awful colours on the primary).


Regards
Madsen.
TM
Thomas_Madsen
Jan 17, 2004
I thought the Artisan came with a spyder also.

Me too.

By the way Lawrence,
I’ve never heard the word ‘rare earth phosphors’ before and don’t think that the manual for my Sony CRT mentions anything about that. Do all aperture grill monitors use rare earth phosphors?


Regards
Madsen.
H
harrillj
Jan 17, 2004
For what its worth… I recently went with the new Eizo ColorEdge CG18 calibrator monitor which "supposedly" is the only calibrator LCD on the market. This LCD was designed for color management and it comes with software called ColorNavigator that works hand-hand with the Gretag MAcbeth Eye-One Display and Eye-One Photo to create the monitor profile, meaning, these devices plug into the USB port on the LCD and sets the LCD hardware according to the profile. Is it really the best… who knows… but I got sold on the reviews. Here’s one:
<http://www.pcworld.com/reviews/article/0,aid,113145,00.asp>

I used to get great monitor/printer color matching with a CRT (it was a 21" Samsung Syncmaster) and had decent results with an LCD. However, I wanted better than decent. So I purchased the Eizo ColorEdge and the Gretag Macbeth Eye-One Photo. The Eye-One photo cost me $1400 and in the end it failed miserably. I spent endless hours, packs of paper, many ink cartridges, and correspondence with Gretag Support. They assumed I was doing something wrong, until Gretag tech support came to my home for about 4 hours and they left with the same horrible results, using my Eye-One and the the tech support’s Eye-One. They were going to try their best to find out why and get back to me. They thought it was Epson Premium Luster paper, but I got the same results with Legion, Tetenal, and Pictorico, so it is not the paper.

I then created profiles with Monaco EZColor ($300) and I have great matching, in fact, results as good as the CRT I had a few years back. My prints are almost identical to my soft proof in Photoshop. So basically, I now love the Eizo ColorEdge, but not the Eye-One Photo.

Just a piece of info that I learned when Gretag was at my house. Perhaps everyone knows this, but I didn’t. When you change monitor profiles in Windows (not the Mac), the profile really doesn’t change. I am referring to not when you create a new profile, but when you go back and select from a list of profiles you created. I had to download a utility from the Gretag Site that will change the profile on the hardware. You can see what I mean by right clicking on your empty desktop, click on Settings, Advanced, and then Color Management. Then, click on different monitor profiles in the list, assuming you have more than one. What should happen is that your display should change…i.e. get darker, lighter, etc as you click on each profile. In Windows however it doesn’t. So you think you selected a different profile but you are really still on the last one your calibration software created. On a Mac this is not he case. Turns out this was causing some of my problems, but not all. The utility I downloaded from Gretag pops up a window with all of the monitor profiles on your system. As you click on each one, you can see the display changing and it resets the monitor profile.

Anyway… this is more than you probably wanted to know…
DJ
dennis_johnson
Jan 17, 2004
As for the Artisan calibration "going out", I am still not sure how that is supposed to be a deal breaker. At the studio, we re-calibrate our monitors VERY frequently, and would do so no matter what make or model.

It’s a non-issue in this shop.

They will take this monitor only from my cold, dead hands.
LH
Lawrence_Hudetz
Jan 17, 2004
Rare earth phosphors are phosphors using minerals like scandium, yttrium, lanthanum and the 14 elements following lanthanum in the periodic table of elements. These minerals provide phosphors which possesses greater brightness and color purity, ie, their spectrum is narrower than common phosphors.

There used to be an easy way to determine when crt’s were using these types of phosphors. I suspect that rare earth is more common and not highlighted any more. Or, perhaps it’s the other way around; only the most expensive crts use them.

TV projectors were among the first to use rare earth, as they needed a bright, colorful output to be successful. Screen intensifiers like those used in xray apps also make use of them.

A search in Google did not reveal anything other than articles of interest to physicists and users of these materials.

So, your eyes need to guide you. How does the monitor look? Notice the raves about Artisan. I’ll bet they use these types of phosphors.
LH
Lawrence_Hudetz
Jan 17, 2004
I looked at the Artisan on Sony’s webpage, and I see a colorimiter attached to the screen. Now, unless this device is permanently in place, I don’t understand the "self calibrating" referred to earlier.
GC
Graeme Cogger
Jan 17, 2004
In article ,
says…
Just a piece of info that I learned when Gretag was at my house. Perhaps everyone knows this, but I didn’t. When you change monitor profiles in Windows (not the Mac), the profile really doesn’t change. I am referring to not when you create a new profile, but when you go back and select from a list of profiles you created. I had to download a utility from the Gretag Site that will change the profile on the hardware. You can see what I mean by right clicking on your empty desktop,
click on Settings, Advanced, and then Color Management. Then, click on different monitor profiles in the list, assuming you have more than one. What should happen is that your display should change…I.e. get darker, lighter, etc as you click on each profile. In Windows however it doesn’t. So you think you selected a different profile but you are really still on the last one your calibration software created. On a Mac this is not he case. Turns out this was causing some of my problems,
but not all. The utility I downloaded from Gretag pops up a window with all of the monitor profiles on your system. As you click on each one, you can see the display changing and it resets the monitor profile.

When you change the profile in Windows, it _does_ apply the new profile. The problem here is that applying a profile doesn’t really do anything except tell apps like Photoshop which profile to use for the monitor. The display should not change since the profile is just information about the monitor.

What you are expecting to see, and what the GretagMacbeth utility does, is load the monitor calibration. When i1 (or even Adobe Gamma) runs it does 2 things:
1) Calibrate the monitor, first by getting the user to set brightness/contrast etc, then creating a lookup table (LUT) that the graphics card uses to adjust its output. This stage gets the monitor looking as ‘correct’ as possible, but has nothing to do with the monitor profile.
2) Measure the characteristics of the monitor (gamma,
whitepoint, colour gamut etc.), and create an ICC profile that describes it. This allows applications like Photoshop to make the appropriate adjustments when displaying images.

So – changing the profile in Windows does nothing except ‘label’ the monitor with a new ICC profile. When Windows starts, an application such as ‘Logo Calibration Loader’ or ‘Adobe Gamma Loader’ will find the LUT created during
calibration and load it to the graphics card. This is what makes the display change. The GretagMacbeth utility both applies the profile _and_ loads a new LUT.

As it happens, all the monitor calibration systems seem to ‘hide’ the calibration LUT in the ICC profile file. (The ICC spec allows for custom data to be added to an ICC file, although it does not form part of the profile). This is purely for convenience, and the LUT could be stored in a separate file without changing anything. The LUT is not part of the standard ICC profile and, for example, i1 and Adobe Gamma cannot read each other’s LUTs.

Sorry if this seems like a lecture 🙂
TM
Thomas_Madsen
Jan 17, 2004
For what its worth… I recently went with the new Eizo ColorEdge CG18 calibrator monitor which "supposedly" is the only calibrator LCD on the market.

The Spyder from ColorVision can handle LCD panels too.
<https://secure.colorvision.com/profis/profis_view.jsp?id=62>

My prints are almost identical to my soft proof in Photoshop. So basically, I now love the Eizo ColorEdge, but not the Eye-One Photo.

My prints (Epson 2100 which is the European equivalent to the Epson 2200) are very close to what I see on my LCD when I soft proof to one of my media profiles from inside Photoshop too, so on that point, everything is fine. The only little annoying gotcha is the fact that I can’t have colour management on both monitors at the same time.

As for the profiles that doesn’t change the behaviour of the monitor although you pick a completely different one, I think you’re right that it’s a Windows problem. I guess that’s the reason why OptiCAL installs a gamma loader that loads the profile into the LUT of the graphic card at start-up so I need to restart Windows if I want to use the profile for my Sony monitor instead.

According to the book ‘Real World Color Management’ by Fraser, Murphy and Bunting, a profile with a vcgt tag has the ability to change the behaviour of the monitor, so if the profile has the vcgt tag, there’s no need for a gamma loader.
My monitor profiles made with OptiCAL does indeed have a vcgt tag: <http://home18.inet.tele.dk/madsen/monitor/vcgt_tag.png> – but the program still uses a gamma loader to load the profile at start-up. It seems that it only needs the gamma loader on the Windows platform. OptiCAL doesn’t need a gamma loader on a Mac, as far as I know.


Regards
Madsen.
DH
Debbie_Howard
Jan 17, 2004
We have a new PC with similar specs and have just bought a LaCie photon20vision 20.1 inch LCD monitor. It is superb for an LCD and will be used for both digital photography with Photoshop CS and office apps. Our other (CRT) Monitors include a Sony 24 inch widescreen (rather old now) and a Dell badged Sony Trinitron 21 inch. Colour rendition on the LaCie seems better than either of them. LCDs and CRTs behave rather differently but if you are after an LCD, then I would recommend the LaCie.

Debbie Howard
JB
John_Blaustein
Jan 17, 2004
Madsen,

Well, it looks like we are both seeing the same things here:
1) Current monitor shows the #2 monitor, regardless of which monitor is selected in the Matrox Display Properties>Settings dialog. Matrox told us both the same thing — that this is a Windows problem. Perhaps it really doesn’t matter what that says since the profile loader (either Adobe Gamma or OptiCAL) loads the profile listed as Default Profile.
2) There is no chance of having different profiles applied to the two monitors. (For my purposes, I’m OK with that — I only use the second monitor for PS palettes.)

Based on your posts, I did an experiment: I used Adobe Gamma and created a profile that is clearly "way off" — that is, it turns the monitor very magenta. Using the Color Management window, I switched between my "way off" profile and my correct profile. As you pointed out, clicking Apply to the change does nothing, but when I reboot, Adobe Gamma loads the Default Profile. Obviously, Adobe Gamma and OptiCAl are working the same what here, loading the Default Profile.

I am interested, Madsen, that you say OptiCAL is working correctly for you on your primary monitor. It is not working for me, even though I’m using 3.7.7 and a brand new Spyder (which ColorVision sent me in an effort to get my system working). When I produce a profile with OptiCAL and save it as the Default Profile, it seems OK. However, two things are "broken" after that — when I open OptiCAL, the on-the-fly changes to temperature and gamma don’t work, and when I view an image in PS CS, the color is way off. For some reason, the profile made with OptiCAL is either not being applied correctly or is bad in the first place. When using OptiCAL, I am very certain to delete the Adobe Gamma shortcut from Startup, and visa versa.

Why OptiCAL is working for you and not for me is a mystery.

When I use Adobe Gamma, the profile is saved as the Default Profile, it is loaded on startup and the color in PS CS is fine. I will continue to use it unless someone comes up with a fix. As I mentioned, a tech at ColorVision told me on the phone two weeks ago that a dual monitor version of OptiCAL is in the works. At the time, he said "about two weeks," so that’s now, but I check their site daily and it’s not there.

This is all very frustrating.

John
TM
Thomas_Madsen
Jan 18, 2004
John wrote:

When I produce a profile with OptiCAL and save it as the Default Profile, it seems OK. However, two things are "broken" after that — when I open OptiCAL, the on-the-fly changes to temperature and gamma don’t work, and when I view an image in PS CS, the color is way off.

My monitor profile made with OptiCAL is called VP201s. That’s the only profile I have on the list inside Control Panel > Display > Settings > Advanced > Color Management for the primary and for the secondary display so that’s the default profile and it’s the one that OptiCAL Startup loads with Windows. Adobe Gamma Loader is removed from my Windows Startup folder.

If I open Adobe Gamma in the Control Panel, the VP201s profile is loaded there too. (OptiCAL did that automatically the very first time I used it).
< http://home18.inet.tele.dk/madsen/monitor/adobe_gamma_vp201s .png> When I’m inside Adobe Gamma to check if the VP201s is still there, I always cancel my way out to avoid that Adobe Gamma overwrites the profile made with OptiCAL.
In Photoshop’s color settings I can see that Monitor RGB is the VP201s profile.

If I open OptiCAL and changes the whitepoint level or gamma, both displays changes accordingly. If I do the same in Adobe Gamma, nothing happens but that’s okay because I don’t need Adobe Gamma when I have OptiCAL.

Why OptiCAL is working for you and not for me is a mystery.

Do you have both monitors on while you’re using OptiCAL? When I’m using OptiCAL on my primary monitor, I always disable the secondary inside Control Panel > Display > Settings. When the calibration and profiling is done, I just overwrite the old VP201s profile (and turns the secondary monitor back on, if I need it).

As I mentioned, a tech at ColorVision told me on the phone two weeks ago that a dual monitor version of OptiCAL is in the works. At the time, he said "about two weeks," so that’s now, but I check their site daily and it’s not there.

I’m looking forward for that update too then. I didn’t knew that Colorvison was working on it, so thank you for the information. 🙂


Regards
Madsen.
JB
John_Blaustein
Jan 18, 2004
Madsen,

We’re seeing the same thing as far as current monitor and default profile behavior. Also, I see the same thing when I open Adobe Gamma — it shows the profile that OptiCAL made. (Naturally, when I use a profile made by Adobe Gamma, I put the Adobe Gamma shortcut into my Startup folder. If I use a profile made by OptiCAL, then I put that shortcut into Startup.)

I wonder if one can make a profile with OptiCAL and have it loaded with Adobe Gamma?

You wrote:

If I open OptiCAL and changes the whitepoint level or gamma, both displays changes accordingly. If I do the same in Adobe Gamma,
nothing happens but that’s okay because I don’t need Adobe Gamma when I have OptiCAL.

This is what’s not working for me, but maybe you’ve explained why it’s working for you:

Do you have both monitors on while you’re using OptiCAL? When I’m using OptiCAL on my primary monitor, I always disable
the secondary inside Control Panel > Display > Settings. When the calibration and profiling is done, I just overwrite the old VP201s profile (and turns the secondary monitor back on, if I need it)

I don’t think I’ve done this — I’ve had dual monitors enabled when I’ve run OptiCAL. (I’ve tried so many different things, I have trouble remember what I did and didn’t do.) So, you actually disable the dual monitor function all together, then run OptiCAL, save the profile, then re-enable dual monitor support? And after you’ve re-enabled dual monitor support, the whitepoint and gamma dropdowns in OptiCAL work? And, of course, your colors in PS are good. This is has not been the case for me.

I should add that when I disable dual monitor support, OptiCAL works fine. The problems only occur when dual monitor support is enabled. I don’t think I tried the exact series of steps that you’ve described.

Adobe Gamma is working for me now, so I may just wait until ColorVision releases the dual monitor version of OptiCAL.

John
TM
Thomas_Madsen
Jan 18, 2004
John wrote:

I wonder if one can make a profile with OptiCAL and have it loaded with Adobe Gamma?

My OptiCAL profile is loaded in Adobe Gamma, but Adobe Gamma can’t change the behaviour of the display when the OptiCAL profile is loaded. No matter what I change in Adobe Gamma, nothing happens. The only way to change the behaviour of the display with Adobe Gamma is to load another profile than the one made with OptiCAL.

So, you actually disable the dual monitor function all together, then run OptiCAL, save the profile, then re-enable dual monitor support?

Yep.

And after you’ve re-enabled dual monitor support, the whitepoint and gamma dropdowns in OptiCAL work?

Yes.

And, of course, your colors in PS are good.

They’re very good.

I should add that when I disable dual monitor support, OptiCAL works fine. The problems only occur when dual monitor support is enabled. I don’t think I tried the exact series of steps that you’ve described.

I think you should try that.
As far as I remember, I’ve once calibrated my primary monitor while the secondary was turned on and the result was a very wacky profile with a significant green cast in Photoshop afterwards.


Regards
Madsen.
JB
John_Blaustein
Jan 19, 2004
Madsen,

In reviewing my previous attempts to get this all to work, I’m almost certain I DID try your scenario — calibrate using OptiCAL with dual monitor support disabled. It didn’t work for some reason. When I re-enabled dual monitors, the profile that OptiCAL loaded on startup created wacky colors in PS.

I may have to try it again. I’m hopeful that ColorVision will have the dual monitor version available soon (as they indicated on the phone two weeks ago).

Thanks for all your help with this!

John
TM
Thomas_Madsen
Jan 19, 2004
I’m hopeful that ColorVision will have the dual monitor version available soon (as they indicated on the phone two weeks ago).

I’m waiting for that update too because it ought to work with dual monitors.

Thanks for all your help with this!

You’re welcome.


Regards
Madsen.
RG
randy_gay
Jan 20, 2004
I am thinking about increasing my ram from 1 gb to 2gb. Can someone point me to forum messages discussing potential problems. I’ve searched and really haven’t found anything.

Randy
JB
John_Blaustein
Jan 20, 2004
Madsen,

I just called ColorVision and was told the release of OptiCAL with dual monitor support has been pushed back until the Spring!

John
TM
Thomas_Madsen
Jan 20, 2004
I just called ColorVision and was told the release of OptiCAL with dual monitor support has been pushed back until the Spring!

D’OH!
Well, there’s probably nothing we can do about it other than wait.


Regards
Madsen.

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