NEC ColorComp? Yay or nay?

[xyeLz]

Finally got two NEC PA241w's that are ideal.

Calibrated them both with the SVII and i1NEC colorimeter. At first they didn't look even relatively close to each other but after some patience I got them to look similar without adjusting settings manually.

However, the black level on one of them seems to look different than the other. I would say it may be darker, but it just looks like a different shade of black (which really makes no sense, but when you're dealing with light I guess anything makes sense). The one on the left looks more blueish whereas the one on the right looks more brownish. When I use a white background, they pretty much look the same, perhaps the right one might look a very very very tad more gray.

I originally thought this was ColorComp, so this leads me to ask whether I should be using this anyways. Would turning it on or off have any effect whatsoever? Which would be the more ideal situation?

Does anyone have any suggestions to solve my problem?

 

[tk-don]

Definitely yay, but Colorcomp will not affect a completely black image (RGB={0,0,0}). It only affects shades brighter than this.
Does your colorimeter also verify this "mismatch" ? I don't know if SVII features this, but HCFR allows continous measurements to be made with real-time update of the color primaries, color temperature, light intensity and whatnot.
Do you use 52 grayscale steps during calibration with SVII?

 

[xyeLz]

Yes I used the 52 value, thanks for the input. I'm not quite sure how to check what you mentioned except using the "validate calibration" but that appears to be for each individual display, not matching both.

Here's an image. Right one is darker after the same exposure period.

 

[NCX]

Measure the contrast/black levels when set to the same brightness, I gaurentee the right monitor has a lower black level/higher contrast.

 

[XoR]

you need to work more on your calibration because colors don't match

ps. some uniformity issues are still there

 

[10e]

First off, what targets are you calibrating to?

Second, as I mentioned in your other thread, the SV II kit has some good features for checking things like color temperatures and brightness levels for white (and black) which might come in handy for you.

In Tools (menu) > Colorimeter window you get a nice big white circle you can check the color temperature and brightness on. By clicking on the continuous check box you can get the colorimeter to continuously take measurements of a spot on a screen, and you can move the circle back and forth to each monitor.

Take a measurement of the circle with white from the centre of the screen. Then if you click the "sample color" check box you can change the slider to black by dragging it all the way down, and compare the temperature and brightness given. The black temp is always higher than the white temp, sometimes as high as 10,000 K.

Also check to see if the difference in black shades has to do with viewing angles. Some IPS panels have a different tint to black when viewed from left or right. See if it's that.

BTW, if you feel the need to use color comp it will improve white uniformity generally, and you should turn it on prior to calibrating to get even results from one screen to another. I find a setting of 1 or 2 is best for balancing contrast loss with white uniformity.

 

[D65_D50]

It would help if you post a screenshot of the calibration results when the Spectraview II software is done calibrating. Something like this:

BTW, when I calibrated both my LCD2490wuxi monitors to D65, 2.2 gamma, 80 cd/m2, they look very similar. I think one of them has colorcomp at 5, the other at 3. See below:

 

[krazyatom]

NEC monitors are awesome, but too pricy

 

[knowone]

With my 2690 colorcomp reduced the contrast ratio, so i leave it off.

 

[D65_D50]

With my 2690 colorcomp reduced the contrast ratio, so i leave it off.

I find that, within reason (contrast ratio > 500), I can live with reduced contrast due to Colorcomp. This is due to a few things. My main manual adjustment, which is the backlight level,which governs the black level, is always set to 0 so that I get the best black level the monitor can get, and calibrate to the highest luminance I can get while not exceeding 80-100 cd/m2. In my relatively dim viewing environment, a white level luminance of 120 cd/m2 is too fatiguing for me. With my 2490wuxis (I have 3 units) black level usually ending up somewhere between 0.15 to 0.20 cd/m2, I end up with a contrast ratio of somewhere between 500 to 600:1.

With Colorcomp off, parts of the screen is noticeably dimmer/brighter than others when I view screens with largely the same color (eg: windows explorer full screen) and that bugs the hell out of me. So I make the judgment call that I'm ok reducing the contrast ratio from about 800:1 down to about 600:1 if it means the screen luminance is a lot more uniform by turning on Colorcomp to the suitable level. Black levels are maintained so the only thing is the display is less bright.

 

[xyeLz]

@10e: Thanks. I am currently calibrating to basic Photo Editing preset (2.2, D65, etc.) except I am doing it with sRGB preset and therefore I am making it a bit more bright at 160cd/m2. I used the exact same calibration for each monitor so I am not entirely sure what could be causing the issue.

Someone mentioned the black levels might be different, but I haven't been home to check yet. I will post screenshots from each for both.

 

[D65_D50]

@10e: Thanks. I am currently calibrating to basic Photo Editing preset (2.2, D65, etc.) except I am doing it with sRGB preset and therefore I am making it a bit more bright at 160cd/m2. I used the exact same calibration for each monitor so I am not entirely sure what could be causing the issue.

Someone mentioned the black levels might be different, but I haven't been home to check yet. I will post screenshots from each for both.

Yep please post some calibration results like the one in my previous posts.

And please make sure that when you do calibrations that you've waited ample time for them to warm up and stabilize. Otherwise you will get suboptimal calibrations since the monitor is getting brighter as it warms up as you are going through the calibration process. Ideally you turn both monitors on together, wait for about an hour, then calibrate one after the other using the same target.

 

[xyeLz]

Left:

Right:

I see a bit of a difference but I'm not sure why and how to fix it. I'm new to this and I figured the colorimeter would have much better calibration than my eyes. Should I set the contrast to 500:1 (seems to be the max I am allowed to except for "monitor default" which is what is currently set)?

EDIT: Just calibrated them both at a 500:1 contrast ratio and the left one came in at 494 and the right at 464. It still looks the same as it did before. I have no clue.

Also, I have no idea how to update the firmware. If anyone could provide any help or clues if this will help, please let me know.

And as a third edit, I am also not sure why SpectraView II shows Display 1 as my right monitor and Display 2 as my left monitor when NVIDIA has Display 1 as my left and Display 2 as my right. I can change which monitor it "refers" to as Display 1, so for example I can tell it that Display 1 has serial XXX, but it still shows up in SpectraView II as the right monitor. Not quite sure if there's a way to fix this but it's bugging me.

 

[xyeLz]

Bump?

 

[10e]

@xyeLz

Don't bother manually setting the contrast. Leave it at Max or monitor default. It's not going to fix the black temperature variance anyway and if there is a difference it's likely to make it more visible due to raised black level.

Make 100% sure you have turned off the metamerism function on both screens first, then turn off ColorComp, then calibrate to your presets. The metamerism function will screw you up possibly even if it's on both screens.

Try the different presets like sRGB and Full Bright, etc... and see if they match visually from the Advanced OSD.

And do make sure that the correct monitor is being calibrated by going to Edit > Display Configuration in SV II and testing each monitor.

In Edit > Preferences under the Calibration Sensor tab use the "Average Low luminance measurements" setting

In the Calibration tab try using "Maximize Contrast Ratio" or "Best grayscale color tracking" and see if one is better than the other.

Basically mess around a bit more with SVII. Even try the trick with the "Colorimeter Window" I mentioned earlier, where you can get a black color and measure the color temp of it just for comparisons between the two monitors.

You can do this by checking the "continuous measurements" checkbox and the "sample color" check box. When you select the "sample color" check box you can move the slider that appears and move it all the way down to display a black color and drag the window between the two screens to measure the difference in black color temperature.


@D65_D50

There are two things that limit contrast with this display, ColorComp and how much you adjust the white color temperature.

Depending on the uniformity of the panel obviously, ColorComp may have larger or lesser effect on displayed white level for a certain back-light intensity.

Also, depending on how many RGB adjustments need to be made to get white to a certain color temp. can have an effect. My LCD2490WUXI2 can get 895:1 contrast when set to "native" white color temperature even though it's only 6670K which is 167K from ideal D65, yet, when set to D65 it's like 640:1.

The one thing too with the WUXI/WUXI2 series is the limited back-light adjustment. Generally less than 140cdm/2 white means you are losing contrast because it's now using digital darkening to reduce white color. If you were using 120cdm/2 your contrast would be higher. The nice thing with the PA-series is their back-light which can go darker and preserve contrast at lower brightness levels.

 

[xyeLz]

Really starting to bug me at this point.

I appreciate your input 10e, but nothing seems to be affecting the black color. I refer to it as "color" rather than "level" for a good reason. Adjusting black level will just make it more "gray". Turning off metamerism has a good effect in terms of color, but doesn't affect the black color at all.

The only thing that seemed to have any difference on the black at all was digital uniformity but even then I couldn't match them up. It just looks like one monitor is normal and one has like an unfixable car tint on it or something, I don't know. I'm waiting for firmware download to be sent to me. If that doesn't fix it, I'm at a loss.

I'm not sure how to proceed from here. Boy would it be fantastic if NEC would send someone to my house.

Please someone help.

 

[10e]

And you're sure it's not just angle related?

I know some IPS panels the black glow is different when viewed from the left or right angles. My 2490WUXi2 shows a bluish tint to black glow when viewed from the left versus the white/silver glow from the right.

Or is it something viewable from straight on too? White is easy to adjust using the monitor LUT, black is basically impossible. It could be something like a different batch panel.

Let us know what the firmware does for you.

 

[xyeLz]

And you're sure it's not just angle related?

I know some IPS panels the black glow is different when viewed from the left or right angles. My 2490WUXi2 shows a bluish tint to black glow when viewed from the left versus the white/silver glow from the right.

Or is it something viewable from straight on too? White is easy to adjust using the monitor LUT, black is basically impossible. It could be something like a different batch panel.

Let us know what the firmware does for you.

That's a good thought but it was my first thought as well. Definitely not an angle issue. You can see it from straight on. I am hoping that it's firmware because if it's a different batch, I would have to send one back and gamble that the next one is the same (and you know how good my luck is with gambling ).

When you walk in the room it's noticeable if the screens are dark and both screens are facing the door at the same angle. I'm not sure if this helps but they both appear (to the naked eye) to look exactly the same when a white background is shown.

 

[wasserkool]

That's a good thought but it was my first thought as well. Definitely not an angle issue. You can see it from straight on. I am hoping that it's firmware because if it's a different batch, I would have to send one back and gamble that the next one is the same (and you know how good my luck is with gambling ).

When you walk in the room it's noticeable if the screens are dark and both screens are facing the door at the same angle. I'm not sure if this helps but they both appear (to the naked eye) to look exactly the same when a white background is shown.

PM ArtMarshall he is the NEC Professional display product manager and he might be able to help you out with the issues you are facing.

I have an older NEC 3090 WXQi and a PA301W side by side and was able to calibrate to have them match perfectly!