X-Rite EyeOne Display 3 PRO Colorimeter with ChromaPure $519

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RadXge

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$50 off until January 15.
This is a good deal for those interested in display calibration.

http://www.curtpalme.com/ChromaPure_EyeOneDisplay3.shtm

While the retail hardware can be found on Amazon for $260 (minus a $50 MIR), this is is still a good deal since
1) Meter is more accurate than the retail or OEM version
2) Includes Chromapure, one of the best calibration software in the market.
 
0055 said:
How much better is this than a colormunki?
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Which Colormunki? ColorMunki Design (which is a spectrophotometer) or the ColorMunki Display (which is a colorimeter)?

I assume that you refer to the ColorMunki Display as the Design is a bit pricey.

The Colormunki Display is pretty much the same hardware as the Eyeone Display 3.
However, the Eyeone Display 3 PRO is more accurate when used with the Chromapure software. In fact, the software reflects that the Display 3 has been individually profiled against a very expensive and accurate hardware.

Note also that the Colormunki Display will only work with X-Rite software or HCFR, there is no official 3rd party support for the meter.
 
sonicboom said:
I was wondering something similar. Is this better than spectraview ll?
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Spectraview II is software, not hardware. If you are talking about the co-branded colorimiter that comes with it, then it depends on the version. If it is the teardrop shaped one with suction cups, that's an i1 Display 2 and this one is better. If you are talking about the one with a flip off top, that's an i1 Display Pro, the same as this.

If your purpose is to calibrate an NEC monitor using Spectraview II, you can get just an i1 Display Pro by itself for $250 from Amazon.

With this, you are paying for Curtpalme's software used mostly for calibrating TVs. If your goal is to calibrate your TV, then this is something worth looking at. If you just want a better meter for Spectraview, get the one off Amazon.
 
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If someone doesn't want to fork out $500, another option is to rent a kit from Spectracal.

I rented a C6 from them earlier this year, and their support staff is absolutely phenomenal. I have never seen customer service like that in my life. Obviously the down side is you don't get to keep it, if I didn't already have something for everything other than my HDTV I might have considered other alternatives.
 
I was referring to the spectraview 2 kit , which had a colorimeter based on the X-rite i1 Display Pro. So the only difference here is the chroma software. Not worth the extra cash then.
 
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Cerulean said:
What does this product do? :?
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This product, if correctly used, should optimize your display to look like the studio grade monitors. In other words, to see art the way the artist wanted it to look.

Manufacturers of TVs and projectors want to show the consumer the brightest image, with the most “pop.” In almost all TVs, this sadly means the TV in the store and what you bring home will not reveal proper shadow detail and the color balance will be too blue.
 
sonicboom said:
I was referring to the spectraview 2 kit , which had a colorimeter based on the X-rite i1 Display Pro. So the only difference here is the chroma software. Not worth the extra cash then.
Click to expand...

That is not the only difference.

The spectraview 2 software only works with PC monitors only (as the calibration is performed through the video card) while Chromapure is intended to by used with HDTVs. I would say that these softwares are complementary.
Also, the meter has been enhanced to be more accurate.
 
RadXge said:
That is not the only difference.

The spectraview 2 software only works with PC monitors only (as the calibration is performed through the video card) while Chromapure is intended to by used with HDTVs. I would say that these softwares are complementary.
Also, the meter has been enhanced to be more accurate.
Click to expand...

Depends on what you want to do. Spectraview II is only for NEC monitors. It's whole purpose in life is to calibrate NEC's hardware. It doesn't calibrate other monitors, and most other software won't calibrate NEC's hardware.

So if that's what you are doing, it is the one to own.

I'm also not sure that any of Curtpalme's measurements help with Spectraview, it uses its own correction data and won't read any third party information.

Basically Chromapure is something to look at if you want to calibrate TVs/projectors. If your purpose is calibrating NEC's monitors, which I would presume is why he has Spectraview II since he owns a 2490, then it is not useful.

It's also a real question of how much you care. The i1 Display Pro is extremely good at repeatability. It's measurements do not seem to vary. So while it may not be bang on accurate in absolute terms (and it is still pretty good), its results are internally consistent so it does a good job of making your display look good and maintain that.
 
I own one, heres the lowdown:

The software is pretty good. The only thing I wish it came with was a better pattern generator and a plethora of test images and videos built in. Better narrated step by step videos would also be a plus. Since this is such a niche market, the software is very expensive and to get say the plus / pro version with a signal generator, well, you'd have to be loaded to justify the purchase. You can also get a lumagen and the auto-calibrate software but this again is an additional $1500+. I feel like one of the reasons the standard software is lacking in the display great patterns and make it super easy to calibrate on your own department is to facilitate the sales of the aforementioned professional calibrating gear. When I enabled the built in test patterns buried in the options menu, it just displayed in a window and would not full screen on my HDTV.


So for those of us that can barely talk ourselves into affording the $500 package, and are willing to download some of the free test pattern discs online and make the effort:

--You usually do not get $500 value calibrating one screen with this, plan to get your value over time calibrating multiple screens.
--Plan for additonal expense every ??? years as the device goes out of calibration itself and must be recalibrated
--Its not as big of an improvement as if you spent the extra $500 on a better display.
--You can calibrate by eye (using a Disney WOW bluray for example, or the AVS disc) and get the best bang for your buck. Getting back shadow detail, and making sure you're seeing the full range 0-255 when using a computer as a display is the most important thing. After that, the amount you gain using a tool like this is hard to discern with the average eye. Knowing your display is within spec is worth the money to a lot of people, but just keep that in mind.

Every display is different, and the amount out of spec it will be (in terms of color accuracy) from the factory varies per display. If I had to put a price on how much better my display looked after calibrating it with this tool vs by eye I'd say (for me) it could be valued at no more than $100. So I will have to calibrate my next 4 TV's and factor in a re-calibration of the device somewhere in there to get my moneys worth.

On the plus side you can re-calibrate your devices every 6-12 months VS paying someone to come out and do it and spending more than this in the long run if you are a frequent re-calibrator or use a projector so often you burn through bulbs.
 
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