Planar PX2611W 26"

Scyles said:
Guys, there shouldn't even BE a sharpness setting if you're using DVI like you should be. Is this sharpness setting something that you're adjusting in the NV control panel? Because, through DVI, the monitor's built-in sharpness setting is disabled since it is perfect.

If you have an issue with blurry text through DVI, then your issue is with ClearType or font smoothing.

When calibrated properly, the Planar should look just as impressive as the 2407, except without the black crush and color shifting issues. If pixel pitch is an issue, move the monitor back three inches...voilà!
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You say all that without even having used the monitor.

Yes, there is a sharpness setting, even with DVI. The sharpness should be set to 40%. Lower settings are blurry, and the default 50% has very subtle sharpness artifacts. I saw no difference between 50% and higher settings at the native resolution, so 70% shouldn't even make a difference except at lower resolutions.

One thing I didn't mention is I don't like the way H-IPS panels look. They look fuzzy to me. This applies to both the Planar and the NEC. I find it harder to focus on the image. It just doesn't look right to me. I really didn't want to mention this because it's highly subjective, but now that I see people trying to jack up the sharpness, I know it's not just me. I don't know what it is. It's not the pixel pitch because I've used 19" LCD monitors, which have larger pixels, and those never bothered me. No other panel type bothers me like this.
 
ToastyX said:
You say all that without even having used the monitor.

Yes, there is a sharpness setting, even with DVI. The sharpness should be set to 40%. Lower settings are blurry, and the default 50% has very subtle sharpness artifacts. I saw no difference between 50% and higher settings at the native resolution, so 70% shouldn't even make a difference except at lower resolutions.

One thing I didn't mention is I don't like the way H-IPS panels look. They look fuzzy to me. This applies to both the Planar and the NEC. I find it harder to focus on the image. It just doesn't look right to me. I really didn't want to mention this because it's highly subjective, but now that I see people trying to jack up the sharpness, I know it's not just me. I don't know what it is. It's not the pixel pitch because I've used 19" LCD monitors, which have larger pixels, and those never bothered me. No other panel type bothers me like this.
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That is pretty strange. I've never used the PX2611W, but my primary monitors are an S-IPS and a P-MVA (I think it's P-MVA, anyway; it's a VX2025wm, it's the main monitor I use at work), and I've not seen such an effect myself...

Have you compared with ClearType off? I've heard subpixel rendering can look nastier on some LCDs than on others (not just because of different stripes). I've never noticed it myself, though, so it might just be another suburban legend. Also, you're comparing between monitors of the same size and res, right? I have trouble focusing on individual pixels of the 2025 at work, because I'm used to the nice big pixel pitch of my 19"... never thought of it as blurry, though.

Oh, I'm not going to get touchy about panel types or anything like that, don't worry. I'm just genuinely curious about what's doing this for people-- as you said it seems to be more than just you, and it'd be nice if we could figure out just what's going on, if it's a display quirk or an intristic flaw or what.
 
svi said:
That is pretty strange. I've never used the PX2611W, but my primary monitors are an S-IPS and a P-MVA (I think it's P-MVA, anyway; it's a VX2025wm, it's the main monitor I use at work), and I've not seen such an effect myself...

Have you compared with ClearType off? I've heard subpixel rendering can look nastier on some LCDs than on others (not just because of different stripes). I've never noticed it myself, though, so it might just be another suburban legend. Also, you're comparing between monitors of the same size and res, right? I have trouble focusing on individual pixels of the 2025 at work, because I'm used to the nice big pixel pitch of my 19"... never thought of it as blurry, though.

Oh, I'm not going to get touchy about panel types or anything like that, don't worry. I'm just genuinely curious about what's doing this for people-- as you said it seems to be more than just you, and it'd be nice if we could figure out just what's going on, if it's a display quirk or an intristic flaw or what.
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Everything looks perfect for me now. I think that maybe my video card was set wrong possibly from the CRT that was on it before this monitor.

Its not that the images were to fuzzy or blurry...........they were too soft. Now they look great the text looks good and I am very happy.

By the way what is Clear Type and how do you turn it off??
 
How To Turn Off

1) Right Click your desktop
2) Select Display Properties > Appearance > Effects. Then unlick use Clear Type.

What is clear type.
 
clear type seems to work on old laptop displays but not on anything people would buy who read this forum.
 
Hi,
I am considering this monitor as well for professional graphics/photo work.

Am I losing to much with this monitor if i can only connect it through VGA?
(I work on IBM laptop with VGA port only)
I mean, spending some $$$ for quality monitor and losing it on a VGA connection?

Is there any other solution to get a DVI port out of my laptop?

thanks
 
There are docks available for some models of IBM laptop that provide DVI ports.
 
Luthorcrow said:
How To Turn Off

1) Right Click your desktop
2) Select Display Properties > Appearance > Effects. Then unlick use Clear Type.

What is clear type.
Click to expand...

It was on Standard when I brought it up. I will have to play around with the different settings. I never knew about this area on Windows for font. Thanks for the info.
 
solaris54 said:
It was on Standard when I brought it up. I will have to play around with the different settings. I never knew about this area on Windows for font. Thanks for the info.
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Personally I think either ClearType or off.. Standard doesn't look that good imo.
 
I said F U to dell

I realized something 21 days no questions asked ='s 9 days less than CDW.

CDW has a direct line to your salesperson. A real, non-zombie-Indian.

You call up once. they get a quote for you. You call them back, they say cool deal, set you up.

30 days money back/ship back garauntee.

You pay for shipping but 30 bux is worth it over some craphole like buy.com or newegg.com

Pixel policies dont exist. You call up, get a new one. you dont mention anything just, this one is crappy, need a new one. ok. new one.

Andres there was nice. really personable. they seem to be not mailing my stuff today. which sux. but that happens with shipping departments. Newegg is awesome at shipping out and getting it there fast. But they suck in so many other ways, its nuts. they REFUSE to answer questions about quality, features, anything pre-sales. they refuse to talk to people other than recite the 3-4 lines of text you yourself can read on their site. its good for like, graphics cards, chips, motherboards. thats about it im realizing.
 
So, when are you expecting your Planar to arrive, ~El~Jefe~? We're interested in your review.
 
well. it seems like Wednesday or thursday I will be getting it. Fedex is usually decently fast. It is only going from Chicago to NY. I would think thats a 3 day start to finish. It is being shipped monday. which sux being that I paid for it on friday (yesterday).
 
Hi all, I'm pretty interested in this Planar 26" thanks to Mr. El Jefe talking to me about it earlier today.... :) (thanks Jefe)

Quick question that has me concerned... I'm into Digital Photography and want to get a great new large LCD for it, and am worried about getting a monitor that has a wider gamut than sRGB like this 26" Planar PX.

I hope this makes sense. For example, if I shoot in sRGB on my Nikon D200, tweak the image in Photoshop CS3 on my Planar PX 26" that has a wider gamut than sRGB, and then send the image off to the Pro Photo Lab who's printers are usually sRGB, I'm worried the prints won't come out exactly how they looked on my monitor. Anybody know what I'm worried about, and if it's even a valid concern.

Also, I have the Eye One Display 2 calibrating kit. If I calibrate the Planar PX 26" for sRGB with it, is that just messing things up since the Planar has a wider gamut than sRGB?

I'm confused, and am hoping somebody with a lot more experience than me can help me out here (hudder? anybody?). Thanks so much for reading this. I've done a lot of research, and feel like I'm just about sold on this Planar 26".
 
jeez thats a good question and I know it can be answered.

it is odd how having a better flourescent tube can change things like this so much.
 
nikolausp said:
I hope this makes sense. For example, if I shoot in sRGB on my Nikon D200, tweak the image in Photoshop CS3 on my Planar PX 26" that has a wider gamut than sRGB, and then send the image off to the Pro Photo Lab who's printers are usually sRGB, I'm worried the prints won't come out exactly how they looked on my monitor. Anybody know what I'm worried about, and if it's even a valid concern.
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If the display is profiled, images will appear correctly in color-aware programs like Photoshop, but outside of those programs, images will appear oversaturated.

nikolausp said:
Also, I have the Eye One Display 2 calibrating kit. If I calibrate the Planar PX 26" for sRGB with it, is that just messing things up since the Planar has a wider gamut than sRGB?
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You can't calibrate a wide-gamut display to sRGB. Calibration only affects the gamma curves and white point.

If you work exclusively with sRGB images, get the 23" Apple Cinema Display instead.
 
And I still say that it shouldn't be as Windows has a valid, default sRGB.ICM or ICC file associated to it (install the optional Color panel for XP to see it). Does anyone on these forums work for NEC another panel maker? I still say this has to be by design as it is not a limitation of the hardware. Otherwise these panels would not display sRGB correctly in coloraware programs.

Folks often refer to Windows as not coloraware which only half true, it is coloraware in that the default color profile is sRGB but it is not coloraware in that you cannot change and nor does it recognize and display other profiles correctly unless you are using a coloraware program like PS.

I still say this is an attempt to by manufactures some gloss on the beast to move panels.:p

P.S. I did look at the default profile you posted and all I could tell was, one the gamut is wide (duh) and that the default brightness and contrast settings for a LCD don't play well with CRT. Nearly burned off my eyebrows.:eek:
 
The default sRGB profile describes a generic sRGB device. It doesn't do anything other than tell color-aware programs that your display is sRGB. It doesn't make a wide-gamut display act like an sRGB display.

Unless your monitor happens to be perfectly sRGB, that profile is useless. Using that profile on a wide-gamut display will cause images to be oversaturated in color-aware programs. You need to profile your display for images to appear correctly in color-aware programs.

Everything else is mapped by RGB values. Gamut and color saturation are directly related to each other. On a wide-gamut display, the same RGB values are more saturated. That's all there is to it. There is no funny business going on.
 
ToastyX said:
The default sRGB profile describes a generic sRGB device. It doesn't do anything other than tell color-aware programs that your display is sRGB. It doesn't make a wide-gamut display act like an sRGB display.

Unless your monitor happens to be perfectly sRGB, that profile is useless. Using that profile on a wide-gamut display will cause images to be oversaturated in color-aware programs. You need to profile your display for images to appear correctly in color-aware programs.

Everything else is mapped by RGB values. Gamut and color saturation are directly related to each other. On a wide-gamut display, the same RGB values are more saturated. That's all there is to it. There is no funny business going on.
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First of all, thank you very much for your response, I really appreciate your time, you clearly have a lot of knowledge on this subject.

Ok, I'm trying to understand what that means, as it relates to me having the Planar PX 26", calibrating my screen to 6,500 kelvin color temp and 2.2 gamma, and 120 luminance with my Eye-One Display 2 (which I'm pretty sure are optimal sRGB settings for photographs), and sending prints off to a pro photo lab and having them print how they look on my screen.

I'm sorry to ask this, but is there any way you could possibly dumb-down your explanation for my benefit, as it pertains to wanting my monitor to display colors very close to how they will print out at a Pro Photo Lab in town? And how having a sRGB only, or Wide Gamut color monitor like the Planar PX 26" factors into this, if it does indeed factor in at all.

I guess the thing is, I've read that most pro photo labs print with sRGB profiles, and not advanced Wide Gamut ones. Maybe I should just find a Photo Lab with the technology to print in wide gamut, and calibrate my monitor for Adobe-RGB or something? I dunno, it's a little confusing.
 
nikolausp said:
Ok, I'm trying to understand what that means, as it relates to me having the Planar PX 26", calibrating my screen to 6,500 kelvin color temp and 2.2 gamma, and 120 luminance with my Eye-One Display 2 (which I'm pretty sure are optimal sRGB settings for photographs), and sending prints off to a pro photo lab and having them print how they look on my screen.
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That reply was for Luthorcrow. I answered your questions above Luthorcrow's post.
 
ToastyX said:
The default sRGB profile describes a generic sRGB device. It doesn't do anything other than tell color-aware programs that your display is sRGB. It doesn't make a wide-gamut display act like an sRGB display.
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I think you are wrong on that point but I will research this point a little bit more. The point of Windows having a default sRGB profile is to ensure that windows content is displayed in sRGB. This is not the profile used by other color aware programs for sRGB (at least not on my PC). And has nothing to do with your monitor profile.

Unless your monitor happens to be perfectly sRGB, that profile is useless. Using that profile on a wide-gamut display will cause images to be oversaturated in color-aware programs. You need to profile your display for images to appear correctly in color-aware programs.
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I think you are confusing a monitor profile with a color space profile. They are not the same thing. In fact the Color panel XP clear notes when a profile is a for a monitor, other device or a color space. Again I will research to verify but my point is the the default color profile for windows is not a monitor profile but a color space profile not unlike the one used by PS.

Everything else is mapped by RGB values. Gamut and color saturation are directly related to each other. On a wide-gamut display, the same RGB values are more saturated. That's all there is to it. There is no funny business going on.
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That is not exactly correct. The color shift between wide and narrow gamut is not really accurately described as "oversaturated" although that is the effect of a narrow gamut image viewed in a wide gamut color space and desaturated for the reverse. What is actually happening is that you have the same number of data points (16.7 million in an 8 bit world) that are simply mapped differently in the wider gamut vs. sRGB. Its not an issue of saturation but of different RGB values for the same color. It is a point plotting mismatch. So in the case of the Windows content being viewed in a wider gamut it appears oversaturated not because the wider gamut is more saturated but because the values are wrong for the color space of the image.

Your monitor profile should have zero impact on color space beyond accurately reflecting the unquie properties of your panel. Any monitor that covers the sRGB color space should be able to display it correctly in windows.

I think I am going to write NEC / Planar and see what offiical response I can get out of their tech support.
 
nikolausp said:
Hi all, I'm pretty interested in this Planar 26" thanks to Mr. El Jefe talking to me about it earlier today.... :) (thanks Jefe)

Quick question that has me concerned... I'm into Digital Photography and want to get a great new large LCD for it, and am worried about getting a monitor that has a wider gamut than sRGB like this 26" Planar PX.

I hope this makes sense. For example, if I shoot in sRGB on my Nikon D200, tweak the image in Photoshop CS3 on my Planar PX 26" that has a wider gamut than sRGB, and then send the image off to the Pro Photo Lab who's printers are usually sRGB, I'm worried the prints won't come out exactly how they looked on my monitor. Anybody know what I'm worried about, and if it's even a valid concern.

Also, I have the Eye One Display 2 calibrating kit. If I calibrate the Planar PX 26" for sRGB with it, is that just messing things up since the Planar has a wider gamut than sRGB?

I'm confused, and am hoping somebody with a lot more experience than me can help me out here (hudder? anybody?). Thanks so much for reading this. I've done a lot of research, and feel like I'm just about sold on this Planar 26".
Click to expand...

As far as I understand you here, you are asking if you can use this screen to accuratly edit and display sRGB images and if the wide gamut would prevent you from this?

The NEC 2690WUXi supports sRGB as well as wide gamut.
link

This is done through a sRGB preset which also limits the gamut. As far as I can tell, the Planar has a sRGB preset as well. Usually, it means you can calibrate GFX lut and profile the monitor with your Eye One Display 2 and get a pretty accurate sRGB profile. Also outside of coloraware applications, you'll view the content as sRGB.

Basically, unless ToastyX figured something out about this screen I haven't read yet, you should be able to switch between aRGB and sRGB. For accuracy, you should then use the LUT loader to change profiles (in addtion to switch in the OSM menu). I use the profile chooser for spyder2pro myself.
 
Tamlin_WSGF said:
As far as I understand you here, you are asking if you can use this screen to accuratly edit and display sRGB images and if the wide gamut would prevent you from this?

The NEC 2690WUXi supports sRGB as well as wide gamut.
link

This is done through a sRGB preset which also limits the gamut. As far as I can tell, the Planar has a sRGB preset as well. Usually, it means you can calibrate GFX lut and profile the monitor with your Eye One Display 2 and get a pretty accurate sRGB profile. Also outside of coloraware applications, you'll view the content as sRGB.

Basically, unless ToastyX figured something out about this screen I haven't read yet, you should be able to switch between aRGB and sRGB. For accuracy, you should then use the LUT loader to change profiles (in addtion to switch in the OSM menu). I use the profile chooser for spyder2pro myself.
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Ok, good, that's the info I was looking for, sounds like if I want/need to stick with sRGB for some shoots, the Planar has the option for that, which makes sense. What is LUT Loader? (i'll do a google search too, just thought I'd pose the question here as well)
 
nikolausp said:
Ok, good, that's the info I was looking for, sounds like if I want/need to stick with sRGB for some shoots, the Planar has the option for that, which makes sense. What is LUT Loader? (i'll do a google search too, just thought I'd pose the question here as well)
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The lut loader you can find in your startup folder if you have installed a calibrator.
This page might answer your questions about lut loaders and GFX LUT calibration:
http://www.normankoren.com/color_management_2A.html
 
The sRGB preset on the Planar is useless. It doesn't reduce the gamut. It just turns the screen pink. Not only that, the saturation setting doesn't work in DV modes that don't have banding, so you can't do it manually either.
 
the "wide colour" is based upon the better or rather different flourescent tube in the back of the panel.

that can never be altered without replacing it. I would guess this is why such settings are faulty.

however, if he submits his work to PRINTERS, he wants as much colour as possible, toasty seemed to have said in a chat online with him.

why do people insist on sRGB? its such a geek limiting factor for art.
 
If the sRGB preset is useless as ToastyX states, then you should look elsewhere (as the ACD 23" ToastyX suggested). Provided that Planar doesn't fix its sRGB preset.

Even though you will be able to use sRGB, you'll loose some shades in the process. Since the Planar have its 16,7M colors/shades mapped within a wide gamut, the smaller gamut of the sRGB would loose all the shades mapped outside its colorspace. The shades needs to be remapped within the monitor LUT then. You can't do that unfortunately. Thats why the preset is important.

Outside of coloraware application, everything would be "upscaled" to the monitors native gamut, which means you'll see everything close to aRGB.
 
I think this all illustrates the point that the Planar is basically marketed for people who want an S-IPS (or H-IPS) panel and don't require the professional, more expensive electronics nor can afford to pay for them. For the people that truly need the professional spot on color, they pretty much have to either give up total accuracy or a ton more money.

So, it's really just competition against the Dell 2407wfp-HC and 2707wfp monitors, an IPS option, rather than one geared toward professional photo editing.

Although I do have to reiterate, those extra electronics probably cost a whole $50 more.. But everything geared towards professionals are always priced for rich professionals with money and/or expense accounts to burn! :D
 
You could probably work with the Planar professionally too. I only have my reservations about the sRGB limitations (with a defect sRGB preset) and using it for sRGB softproofing. Many labs accepts now aRGB and CMYK, which this screen would be better to use then the ACD 23" which has a limited gamut. Since new camera's often give you choice of raw and aRGB, with larger gamut then sRGB, I would consider it an advantage to have the Planar. Its cheap today to move completely over to an aRGB workflow compared to earlier. You can get cheap aRGB color printers for home use even. :)

Did anyone receive this screen with the sRGB preset working btw?
 
Tamlin_WSGF said:
You could probably work with the Planar professionally too. I only have my reservations about the sRGB limitations (with a defect sRGB preset) and using it for sRGB softproofing. Many labs accepts now aRGB and CMYK, which this screen would be better to use then the ACD 23" which has a limited gamut. Since new camera's often give you choice of raw and aRGB, with larger gamut then sRGB, I would consider it an advantage to have the Planar. Its cheap today to move completely over to an aRGB workflow compared to earlier. You can get cheap aRGB color printers for home use even. :)

Did anyone receive this screen with the sRGB preset working btw?
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Yes the sRGB preset does work.
 
UrielDagda said:
I think this all illustrates the point that the Planar is basically marketed for people who want an S-IPS (or H-IPS) panel and don't require the professional, more expensive electronics nor can afford to pay for them. For the people that truly need the professional spot on color, they pretty much have to either give up total accuracy or a ton more money.

So, it's really just competition against the Dell 2407wfp-HC and 2707wfp monitors, an IPS option, rather than one geared toward professional photo editing.

Although I do have to reiterate, those extra electronics probably cost a whole $50 more.. But everything geared towards professionals are always priced for rich professionals with money and/or expense accounts to burn! :D
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be confident though that it is 600 dollars less yet is 2 frames less of lag!

They dont boast or advertise h-ips. I dont believe anyone besides forum posters and some under paid asian people in a foreign land actually know what their products are.

GI JOOOOEEE!!!
 
All I know is, if I get one that doesn't have bad backlight bleed or borked pixels, I'll most likely be happy with it.. I look at photos sometimes, but I don't do any editing. As long as text, games and video looks good.. woot! :D
 
yeah, I dont do any computer editing either.

i think computers + art = sham

it's like saying you did a true work of modern art with Light Brite.
 
~El~Jefe~ said:
yeah, I dont do any computer editing either.

i think computers + art = sham

it's like saying you did a true work of modern art with Light Brite.
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Jefe, the reason I want to get things to be sRGB on all ends (camera + monitor profile settings), is so I DON'T have to edit things ("sham" in your eyes) much on the computer to get it to print well at the photo lab on their sRGB printer (which most all Pro Photo Labs are). Shooting in raw bogs down the workflow with more photoshoping that I don't like to mess with either. It's a hotly contested argument, but in my opinion, I prefer to get the exposure and settings right in the camera, so much so that I can nail things right in sRGB with my camera, and not waste time manipulating RAW's on the computer before taking files to the lab to print.
 
nikolausp said:
How well does the sRGB preset work? does it look great? The other poster said it had a pink tint to it or something and didn't work right. Are you saying it works good?
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Yes it does seem to turn things more pink/red. I havent been using it.
 
nikolausp said:
Jefe, the reason I want to get things to be sRGB on all ends (camera + monitor profile settings), is so I DON'T have to edit things ("sham" in your eyes) much on the computer to get it to print well at the photo lab on their sRGB printer (which most all Pro Photo Labs are). Shooting in raw bogs down the workflow with more photoshoping that I don't like to mess with either. It's a hotly contested argument, but in my opinion, I prefer to get the exposure and settings right in the camera, so much so that I can nail things right in sRGB with my camera, and not waste time manipulating RAW's on the computer before taking files to the lab to print.
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I use film :)

If i did it as a job, I wouldnt as I hate jobs. I would give them whatever crappy version of art they asked for I guess and see their pathetic minds enjoy it.

It still is on its freakin way here. CDW is a great company though.
 
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