NEC LCD2690

smithkt said:
Hope it's OK to bump a thread after a few weeks. I have a simple question.

Am I correct in assuming the only difference between the BK and SV versions is the inclusion of the Spectraview software and colorimeter? The display itself is exactly the same? Is the $200 hit worth it?

I apologize if this has already been answered in this thread. I really tried to read the whole thing, but 72 pages is a lot to sift through...
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The only difference is if they stuff a spectraview ii kit in your box or not. The monitor itself is identical (both says lcd2690wuxibk)

Yes, it is very worth it. Spectraview ii can calibrate internal LUT of this monitor. Unless you already have an eye one display 2 colorimeter, then you can save yourself some money and buy the software without the bundled colorimeter.

If you decide to buy the kit later, software is around $100. The kit is around $250. So SV version indeed save you $50 dollars.
 
Thank you for the response. I can't seem to find the SV version in stock anywhere. My brother happens to have the same monitor, so I might have to consider the non-SV version and borrowing his colorimeter.
 
SV version seem to go out stock quite often.

You can copy and install his spectraview ii on your pc and just buy a eye one display LT colorimeter like this one for cheap. It's same thing as one included in spectraview kit.
 
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I just checked with him and he did not buy the SV version, so that's out of the question. Back to searching.....

It shouldn't be this hard to buy a monitor. Between the fact that I can't find the SV version in stock anywhere and I also can't find a retailer that has a good return policy. They all seem to defer to the NEC warranty. None of the local places carry expensive monitors like this, so I'm left making an online purchase.

Frustrating.
 
The SV version is always out of stock: they have to special order it and its drop shipped to you. Just order it, and they'll ship it to you.
 
I actually managed to find one in stock from Monitor Outlet. Should have it Monday or Tuesday, I hope.
 
But I don't fully get it with this Spectra View thing. Take a look at these 2 sites (geizhals.at.eu):
1st example
2nd exaple (SV)

The SV costs 600€ more!!! I mean, isn't the SV just regular 2690 with aded calirbration tool and software, or am I missing something here and looking at 2 different monitors?
 
uniphase said:
Spectraview II is just a rebraned version of Basiccolor Display 4, correct?
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No. The Spectraview II software which is available in North America is NEC developed software. In the EU the Spectraview software is a rebranded version of Basiccolor's Display 4.

But I don't fully get it with this Spectra View thing. Take a look at these 2 sites (geizhals.at.eu):
1st example
2nd exaple (SV)

The SV costs 600€ more!!! I mean, isn't the SV just regular 2690 with aded calirbration tool and software, or am I missing something here and looking at 2 different monitors?
Click to expand...

In the EU NEC charge a large premium for the Spectraview monitors and prevent the non Spectraview versions from working with the EU Spectraview software. NEC say that they test the Multisync xx90 series monitors and the best ones get the Spectraview treatment.

In North America the Spectraview and the equivalent non Spectraview monitors are identical and they will sell you the software at a later date so you get all the hardware calibration goodness if you didn't go that route with the initial purchase. NEC Europe do not and the situation in North America is much better.
 
Yeah im abit confused on this Spectraview kit thing too? Is it easy to use?

And is the Kit really required? How does the 2690 do right out of the box?

Anyone know where i can find the Spectraview 2 Kit to buy at another date?
 
Pajo said:
But I don't fully get it with this Spectra View thing. Take a look at these 2 sites (geizhals.at.eu):
1st example
2nd exaple (SV)

The SV costs 600€ more!!! I mean, isn't the SV just regular 2690 with aded calirbration tool and software, or am I missing something here and looking at 2 different monitors?
Click to expand...

it only cost $200 us dollar more, cheaper than most other pro calibration kit.
 
d3viant said:
Yeah im abit confused on this Spectraview kit thing too? Is it easy to use?

And is the Kit really required? How does the 2690 do right out of the box?

Anyone know where i can find the Spectraview 2 Kit to buy at another date?
Click to expand...

unwise to buy at a later date since it's much cheaper to buy with kit (in USA at least)

you can order it at nec website for $270
 
Im In canada , and I can't find the 2690 with SV anywhere.
Found a websight that sells the standard 2690 for 1100 bucks.
but would have to be the SV kit later.
 
I couldn't find the SV kit anywhere either, ended up buying it separately from NEC for $270 + 30 S&H.
 
Just don't make my mistake and order from Provantage. I've been waiting one month now for my "special order" SV-II kit. They haven't answered my e-mails yet either (
 
Monitor Outlet has the SV version of the 2690 in stock. They are apparently reputable and I have read of people having good experiences with them.

I am waiting on a 2490 SV from provantage..... If Monitor outlet gets the 2490 in stock (they will call when it is available) before provantage fills my order I am gonna buy from them...
 
Liight said:
Monitor Outlet has the SV version of the 2690 in stock. They are apparently reputable and I have read of people having good experiences with them.

I am waiting on a 2490 SV from provantage..... If Monitor outlet gets the 2490 in stock (they will call when it is available) before provantage fills my order I am gonna buy from them...
Click to expand...

Yep. I ordered a 2690 SV from Monitor Outlet on Friday. It arrived today. cant' wait to get home and get it unpacked.... 1.5 hours to go.
 
Hey I got the SV version a few months ago and then calibrated it. Looks great.
I'm wondering, since it's calibrated now can i just sell off my SV kit to someone who needs it?
I'm quite willing to part with it since I need the money these days.
 
So, I'm up and running on the new monitor. No dead/stuck pixels. I'm a novice when it comes to calibrating these things.

First thing is it's freaking bright out of the box. If I adjust the brightness and contrast levels down, will this effect the calibration? I'd appreciate any advice on brightness/contrast levels and calibration tips.
 
jimmy43 said:
Hey I got the SV version a few months ago and then calibrated it. Looks great.
I'm wondering, since it's calibrated now can i just sell off my SV kit to someone who needs it?
I'm quite willing to part with it since I need the money these days.
Click to expand...

You could, except spectraview program only works with certain NEC monitors and some Lacie models. But the colorimeter is basically a i1 display 2.
 
jimmy43 said:
Hey I got the SV version a few months ago and then calibrated it. Looks great.
I'm wondering, since it's calibrated now can i just sell off my SV kit to someone who needs it?
I'm quite willing to part with it since I need the money these days.
Click to expand...

Probably, but then you wouldn't be able to calibrate your monitor again. Monitors do need recalibration.
 
smithkt said:
So, I'm up and running on the new monitor. No dead/stuck pixels. I'm a novice when it comes to calibrating these things.

First thing is it's freaking bright out of the box. If I adjust the brightness and contrast levels down, will this effect the calibration? I'd appreciate any advice on brightness/contrast levels and calibration tips.
Click to expand...

Brightness should not effect calibration too much, because ambient light will have effect on the brightness setting. Contrast, on the other hand, will effect calibration. I assume we are talking about calibrating with a calorimeter instead of visually calibrate. Visual calibration is never acurate. :D
 
lifanus said:
Brightness should not effect calibration too much, because ambient light will have effect on the brightness setting. Contrast, on the other hand, will effect calibration. I assume we are talking about calibrating with a calorimeter instead of visually calibrate. Visual calibration is never acurate. :D
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Yep. I'm talking about using the colorimeter which came with the display. The brightness out of the box at 100% was way to much. I've lowered it down to 30% and it's much better, though I may want to go a little lower. I've left the contrast at 50%.

The manual isn't really clear on the subject, so I assume it is reasonable to set the brightness to a comfortable viewing level, before performing the calibration? It's not going to effect the ability of the colorimeter to measure the screen properly?
 
Of course. Put your brightness wherever you want. I usually run mine at zero and chose manual brightness calibration and set it to zero then as well. I turn it up on bright days and it doesn't change calibration.
 
You actually set the brightness through the calibration program. The default calibration profile sets it at full brightness again. You can edit the profile and set it to whatever you want.
 
Hi

I'm very interested on this monitor... but I've a few questions before purchasing it:

1) How does it scale with resolutions lower than the native 1920x1200 for the Windows Desktop (not in games)? I'd like to know which is the text quality with these resolutions, at least with 1680x1050. I've the famous NEC 20WGX2 at the moment and I'm not satisfied with its interpolation algorithm. With resolutions lower than 1680x1050 text is very blurred with the 'aspect' expansion mode and it is impossible to work with. In the Prad.de review, only it is tested the interpolation algorithm in games, not in the desktop.

2) What is the *real* sRGB gamut percentage on this monitor? I suspect that the actual sRGB gamut is about 72% but I'm not sure of this. Can you confirm this? I know this monitor is wide gamut and the aRGB gamut is about 93% and the NTSC gamut about 91%. If this is true (the sRGB gamut is 72%) how does it affect to the color representation on this mode? Can you qualify it as poor?

3) I've read posts before that Painman has used this monitor in order to play games under real DOS boxes (i.e., classic games). I'm interested on this too, specially for the custom scaling feature. Since this monitor is wide gamut by nature, how does the color rendition is under real DOS games? Is it very oversaturated or in games is this not noticeable? Can you play classic games under DOS boxes in a comfortably manner?

Thanks very much for your help.

Regards
 
_HU_ said:
Hi

I'm very interested on this monitor... but I've a few questions before purchasing it:

1) How does it scale with resolutions lower than the native 1920x1200 for the Windows Desktop (not in games)? I'd like to know which is the text quality with these resolutions, at least with 1680x1050. I've the famous NEC 20WGX2 at the moment and I'm not satisfied with its interpolation algorithm. With resolutions lower than 1680x1050 text is very blurred with the 'aspect' expansion mode and it is impossible to work with. In the Prad.de review, only it is tested the interpolation algorithm in games, not in the desktop.

2) What is the *real* sRGB gamut percentage on this monitor? I suspect that the actual sRGB gamut is about 72% but I'm not sure of this. Can you confirm this? I know this monitor is wide gamut and the aRGB gamut is about 93% and the NTSC gamut about 91%. If this is true (the sRGB gamut is 72%) how does it affect to the color representation on this mode? Can you qualify it as poor?

3) I've read posts before that Painman has used this monitor in order to play games under real DOS boxes (i.e., classic games). I'm interested on this too, specially for the custom scaling feature. Since this monitor is wide gamut by nature, how does the color rendition is under real DOS games? Is it very oversaturated or in games is this not noticeable? Can you play classic games under DOS boxes in a comfortably manner?

Thanks very much for your help.

Regards
Click to expand...

LCD2690 version 2 just came out, with over 97.5% adobe rgb coverage cost only $100 dollar more, check it out.

monitor supports 1:1 pixel mapping, also scaling performance is above average, text is very readable,but not pretty when scaling is enabled under lower resolutions lower than 1280x1024

color representation is very accurate. of course everything not color managed appear to be saturated, which makes all the games looks really nice (personal preference, really) compare to pale color pallet of srgb models.
 
Ok, thanks for your answer, lifanus :)

The problem is I'm from Europe (Spain) and in my country revision 2 is not still available. I'm interested in a very good offer for the first revision on an internet shop in my country: I can buy it for 1060€ including taxes and shipping and I don't think I need revision 2, since I'm not a professional designer but a technology enthusiast.

What about the sRGB gamut percentage of this monitor?
 
1 question more, please:

According to a previous post of this thread:
darkerbight said:
meisterk there is a way to make your monitor SV compatible.

From Power of, start up the monitor by pressing Power + Input, this enters you into the advanced menu.

To Enable Spectra view press menu and choose tag E (its where the information is in the advanced menu.)

Pressing input + down gives you option to turn spectraview settings on/off. Choose on by pressing up.
mlewis said:
This does not work on the newer EU versions.
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Click to expand...
Is there any workaround for european new users (allow hardware calibration with non-SV versions)?

Thanks
 
_HU_ said:
1 question more, please:

According to a previous post of this thread:

Is there any workaround for european new users (allow hardware calibration with non-SV versions)?

Thanks
Click to expand...

Search this forum.
There are two threads devoted to this question.
 
Thanks albovin and I did it, but the last posts indicate that NEC has locked the european versions of this monitor with its last firmware... I want any input about this issue... Thanks
 
Check MLewis' post here which confirms your concern:

http://www.hardforum.com/showpost.php?p=1033122804&postcount=1449

If absolutely perfect color calibration is required and you want it to work on all sources (not just PC), get the SV version and save yourself the trouble. This is the only one that allows hardware color calibration of the monitor's internal color tables in Europe.

I can confirm that BasicColor 4.1.8 cannot fully hardware calibrate the NON-SV version, and that is what SV software in Europe is based on.

Your other option is to get an older NON SV revision of the screen and enable Tag E through the menus as listed in this thread, and get the Eye One Display 2 colorimeter and SVII package from North America (or elsewhere).

Other option is to use NON SV model with the above colorimeter and another software package such as BasicColor Display 4 or Eye One Match and create an ICM profile, which will only work in Windows/Mac OS X, but not games, DOS, or non PC sources.

This monitor does have an sRGB mode that you can also "software" calibrate and create a profile. Not the best use of this monitor, but at least the sRGB mode is better than some of the other horrid sRGB emulations I've seen elsewhere on others.


_HU_ said:
Thanks albovin and I did it, but the last posts indicate that NEC has locked the european versions of this monitor with its last firmware... I want any input about this issue... Thanks
Click to expand...
 
Thanks very much, 10e!! I've read all posts of this thread through 74 pages... and finally I decided to purchase it :)

I've read that the SpectraView II software (american version) WILL calibrate by hardware european non-SV versions... I've the software and a valid serial number of a friend of mine... Do you think is it possible??

Thanks again, very much. Your help is VERY appreciated ;)
 
...I'll mention a couple of problems which I don't think anybody mentioned. I ended up buying the NEC 2690WUXI after reading all sorts of different sites and reviews, including this forum but then actually ended up returning it for the reasons below.

What I do the most on my computer is read black text on a white background. I don't know if everybody experiences this, but anybody who has worked on an Apple Display with a glass face will know what I'm talking about.

The artifacts I'm talking about are due to two reasons: 1) The 'sharpness' circuitry and 2) the anti-glare screen.

1) The preset 'sharpness' setting out the box is set at 28%. If you set it lower than this or all the way down, the image gets blurry. I don't know why this should happen, its DVI and its one-to-one pixel mapping. Why should pixels bleed into adjacent pixels? I don't know. But I found out it is the case with other IPS monitors also. Anyway, I don't know if anybody has ever seen the sharpness setting effect on a tube Television but what happens is if you turn it up, it has the effect of making the image look sharper but simultaneously there is an increase of an artifact which looks like 'grainyness' and around sharp edges you see artifacts. So if you turn up the sharpness on the NEC 2690, you will also start to see similiar artifacts, especially around black text on a white background. Now when you turn the sharpness back down to 28%, most of it is gone, but there is still a hint of these artifacts around the letters (especially small black text on a white background). Now combine this with ...

2) The anti-glare screen creates a sort of 'sparkly' effect, especially on a white background, and especially at angles when looking at the perimeters of the screen. I think this is common with all anti-glare filters, but this one in particular is extra-'sparkly'. This in combination with the sharpness circuitry having to be turned on makes it difficult for me to read small black text on a white background. It drove my eyes crazy after a while. Looking at a glass face monitor like the Apple imac or new Apple 24" Cinema Display, you do not see this problem, and this was a disappointment for me knowing that it didn't have to be like this. Especially since photo's and images look gorgeous, with deep rich colors and detail; even the Apple monitors don't show images as well as this. Most people will consider anti-glare to be a benefit. Maybe in a brightly lit office with windows behind you, but not at home where you can dim and control the lighting; in this case its more like having your glasses fogged up... its unnecessary. They should make two versions - one with a glass face like the new Apple Cinema Display.

That being said, color images do look really amazing; like nothing I have ever seen before. I owned an Apple Trinitron CRT display before this and have seen the Apple Cinema Displays, but they look washed out compared to this. It was really sad to let it go but I do too much reading and it was bothering my eyes.

Also another thing I will mention is that the 26" screen will make you go blind when you click on Firefox (full screen) to go the Google's start page which is all white, or any other white page. Its was just too many powerful LED's all on at the same time. You can try turning it down, but then it will look horrible. My solution to this was minimizing the screen. Also I will mention that the pixel density on a 26" screen with its native 1920x1200 resolution is not that dense, so the jaggedness of text, especially single pixel text, really stands out. I think if I were to buy or try another NEC LCD, I will try the NEC 2490WUXI since its the same native resolution with a higher pixel density (also I heard the image is even nicer with less problems). Also the 26" felt a little too big anyway and looking at the far edges of the screen was uncomfortable so I would always end up having to minimize my window and drag it to the middle anyway, so whats the point of all the extra space, unless its to look at images; and I'm not one of those photographer dudes.

If you want a smaller IPS screen for mostly normal work, I can recommend a very cheap 22". For normal work, the image is similar but not even nearly as nice for photo images; but who cares when your saving $700! It's the Dell 2209WA. I'm writing this post on it right now. Still has some sparkles from the anti-glare screen, but I can live with it for this price. ... and who knows, maybe when I get my Spyder 3 Pro and calibrate this baby photo's will look better too.
 
I also noticed the sharpness setting seemed counter-intuitive when I first got my 2490. At the stock setting I don't see any sharpening artifacts (sharpening is actually a local boost in contrast - it will brighten the light side and darken the dark side of a transition to make it appear more sharp. Any experienced digital photographer will know all about this. The side effects are known as "halos" in those circles).

What I did find is that I could not get comfortable text for my likings with ClearType on. I installed the Cleartype tuner, studied it for a while, and went through my whole system disabling any kind of Cleartype. It took me a couple of days, but my text is very comfortable now.

I also noticed the sparklies, coming from a GDM-F CRT, but I thankfully grew accustomed to it and it doesn't stand out anymore.

I would never have parted with a 2490 just because netural sharpness didn't say 0% - that seems a little strange. I think the control is 0-100% but is actually -25%-75%, hence your observation of blurring below default setting. I've never experienced any artifacting or side effects at the default setting. Remember that this display is intended for many purposes - medical imaging, graphics professionals, trading floors, information displays etc... If the scalar is actually used routinely a sharpness control becomes perfectly relevant for purposes other than general computing despite this being a digital 1:1 DVI display.

If I simply couldn't get used to the sparkles, that's a different matter. Unfortunately these NECs don't have a lot of sparkle on the sparkle scale so "most" non-glossy LCDs will be worse.
 
Hmmm, that's weird. I find the 2209WA to be more over sharpened at default 50 than the NEC 2690 at default of 28.6%. I turn the 2209WA down to 40 to remove the slight haloing I see with black on grey text.

I also find the Dell to have a more sparkly coating than the 2690 which is possibly a touch grainy, but not "sparkly shiny".

The only visual advantages 2209WA has (for me) over the 2690 are standard gamut and reduced input lag. My colorimeter tells me it has better black levels too, but the lack of A-TW polarizer reduces/negates this advantage due to off-angle black glow/shimmering. At lowest brightness the 2690 is capable of .23 cdm/2 black while the 2209WA is capable of .15 cdm/2. Lower is darker.

I'd probably recommend the Eye One Display 2 colorimeter over the Spyder series for LCD screens though, Norakat.
 
10e said:
At lowest brightness the 2690 is capable of .23 cdm/2 black while the 2209WA is capable of .15 cdm/2. Lower is darker.

I'd probably recommend the Eye One Display 2 colorimeter over the Spyder series for LCD screens though, Norakat.
Click to expand...

I think I've seen my 2490 down in the .14 territory for 0% backlight black levels, FWIW.

Make absolutely sure that Spectraview isn't elevating your blacks trying to match greyscale. See the "a fresh look at an old favourite" thread and my back-and-forth with Snowdog as I figured things out. At one point despite the fact that I selected "maximize contrast ratio" instead of greyscale tracking, it was still elevating my blacks trying to match greyscale at very low intensity.

Tell SV to display your applied correction curve and check that there isn't a hockey-stick at the low end...
 
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