Datacolor User to User Support Group.

I have a laptop and an external Samsung 204b LCD monitor. I use the spyder2  
suite. How can I calibrate both monitors? The laptop uses an internal Nvidia 
420  video card.
 
Allen
from Hermosa Beach, CA

--- In colorvision_group@yahoogroups.com, tourretired@... wrote:
>
> I have a laptop and an external Samsung 204b LCD monitor. I use the 
spyder2  
> suite. How can I calibrate both monitors? The laptop uses an 
internal Nvidia 
> 420  video card.

I am going to assume two things for this answer: first you are 
running Windows XP and second you are running the two monitors in a 
dual monitor configuration.

Microsoft has provided an add-on tool to manage/assign different 
monitor profiles to each of two monitors in a dual monitor 
configuration.  You can download it from: 
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/digitalphotography/prophoto/c
olorcontrol.mspx

If you run it from the Startup folder it will set the assinged 
profiles for each during the boot sequence.  Be sure to add a /L to 
the command string if you do.  This runs the program in quiet mode.  
Without the parm, the boot sequence will halt when the app runs to 
ask you to assign the profiles.  

For example:  "C:\Program Files\Pro Imaging Powertoys\Microsoft Color 
Control Panel Applet for Windows XP\WinColor.exe" /L

I run the Spyder2 against each monitor and build a profile for each.  
I give each a unique name so that I can assign them to the monitors.

I am running Win XP on a desktop using a dual monitor setup with the 
montors running off a single video card.

I hope this applies to your situation and that it helps,
Rollin

Today I set up an Apple 23" LCD display into my 1.8 dual G5. I
calibrated it nicely with my Spyder2Pro. Now I just plugged in my
Lacie Blue Eye 19" monitor to use as a second monitor. I tried to
calibrate it with both the Spyder 2 and the Lacie calibrator. Nothing
works. I can't get any red content really, this second monitor is flat
and dull and the color and luminance won't calibrate. 

Is there anyway I use this G5 with dual calibrated monitors if one is
an LCD and One a CRT? Actually I wasn't able to calibrate two CRTs
with it either either. Strange my old grey G4 did just fine. Would it
work if I put a second LCD in the other slot? 

Or, is it necessary to go out and buy another graphics card for the
other monitor? When I go to the Apple systems profiler and look for
the graphics card I only find the GForce FX5200 in Slot 1.

John

Thanks David,

Actually I don't need to do color correction on this second monitor,
and it doesn't need to perfectly match the LCD.

What is strange for me though is that I can't get any red content out
of the Lacie when I plug it in the second slot, even though it is a
great monitor otherwise. I mean in this configuration with the Apple
manual calibration assistant, Lacie software, or Colorvision noting
will budge it. The gamma looks flat too. It has to have something to
do with the way these two slots work together on the board. 

Like I mentioned, I couldn't calibrate two CRTS on this G5 machine
either. But either monitor works just right in the first slot. 

So, either I am going to have to buy an inexpenisve LCD for my tools
or buy a new graphic card ( or both) or just work with one monitor
because the uglyness of the second screen is just to distracting for
me or my clients.

I just didn't know if anyone else had been down this road. I don't
know if later G5s had different graphic cards or not.

John

John

  
> On a Mac, a second card shouldn't be necessary, you should be able
to both 
> calibrate and profile two monitors. I'm working on a G5 with two
calibrates 
> monitors as I type this. But a CRT and an LCD is not really
practical anyways. Its 
> like yoking a donkey and a racehorse to the same cart; you're
wasting the 
> racehorse, even if you can get them to pull together. An older CRT
is going to 
> have to be run reall dim, and a newer LCD will have to be choked WAY
back to 
> match, and it won't be a great match even then...
> 
> So I don't know why you are suffering this problem, but a fix won't
really 

> get you an appropriate situation anyways...
> 
> C. David Tobie
> Product Technology Manager
> ColorVision Business Unit
> Datacolor Inc.
> CDTobie@...
> www.colorvision.com
>

--- In colorvision_group@yahoogroups.com, CDTobie@... wrote:
>> In a message dated 1/21/07 10:04:16 PM, rhill3@... writes:
>> 
>> I run the Spyder2 against each monitor and build a profile for 
>> each. I give each a unique name so that I can assign them to the 
>> monitors. I am running Win XP on a desktop using a dual monitor 
>> setup with the montors running off a single video card.
> 
> But can you confirm that the applet is applying the correct and 
> unique video card corrections successfully to each monitor? Some 
> videocards have only one slot of calibration corrections...
> 
> C. David Tobie

David, I decided to try a test to see if I could confirm that each 
monitor is indeed being loaded with a different profile and that it 
is the one assigned to it using the WinColor applet.

After booting the machine, I used the applet to assign a profile to 
the secondary monitor which caused the monitor to produce a very dark 
image.  I set it as the default for the monitor.  

I then rebooted the machine.  During the boot sequence, the 
appearance of the monitors changed as follows:

1. Shortly after the desktop appeared, both monitors changed to what 
I am assuming is a no profile state.

2. Later, the appearance changed to what I know both monitors look 
like with the profile for the primary monitor applied.  I would guess 
this is Win XP or the NVidia driver applying the same profile to both 
monitors which is the expected behavior since I have a single video 
card.

3. At the very end of the boot sequence, the secondary monitor 
changes appearanceto what matches the dark profile I assinged to it 
using the WinColor applet.  The primary monitor does not change.  
This, to me says that the applet has loaded a different profile and 
applied it to the one monitor but not to the other.  I have the 
applet in my startup folder with the "/L" parameter so that it runs 
with no input required.

I do not know what the applet is doing, but it does appear to be 
applying separate profiles to the monitors.  In my case, I built the 
profiles using the Spyder2 and gave each a unique name based on the 
monitor type,  I have assigned these profiles as the default profile 
for each monitor using the WinColor applet in interactive mode.

For the record, my video card is an NVidia Quadro FX 3400.  My 
primary monitor is an IBM C220P CRT and the secondary is a Dell 
1905FP.

Is there something else you would like me to check to help answer the 
question about whether or not the applet is applying the unique set 
of corrections to each monitor?

Rollin

In my case with the dual monitor problems there is something the
matter with my video card. In the case of both my Mitusbishi Pro 22"
and the new Apple 23" lcd that I just set up, after booting up I have
to unplug my monitor and plug it back in to see the screen. Otherwise
it is very dark and solarized, almost totally black. 

Also I getting ghosting with the Apple and the previous one that I
retuned because I thought I had monitor problems, which I didn't. By
ghosting I mean when I have a bright page on the monitor and turn it
off I see its ghost burned into the background for a minute or two.
I've never seen that before with Apple LCD.

So, if you have strange things happen with your monitor, it could very
well be your graphic card got zapped by a surge or something. Apple
told me to clean the dust off of it. That didn't do anything.

John


 > 
> No doubt a second videocard (even a low cost one) would do the
trick. But on 
> a Mac as new as a G5 the FIRST videocard should be capable of
providing two 
> calibration slots... so its a mystery to me.
> 
> The warning about CRT/LCD combos is mostly for those using an
expensive CRT, 
> and an LCD as a palette monitor; if the LCD is brighter than the
CRT, it will 
> bias your vision's whitepoint, and the CRT won't look right. Doing
it the 
> other way around, with a brighter calbrated LCD, and a CRT palette
monitor, won't 
> cause that problem, it just looks odd... in terms of the deeper CRT,
and the 
> dimmer CRT screen, and the difference if focal plane and sharpness
between the 
> two. With the cost of a cheap LCD these days, I can't see bothering
with a 

> mix.
> 
> C. David Tobie
> Product Technology Manager
> ColorVision Business Unit
> Datacolor Inc.
> CDTobie@...
> www.colorvision.com
>

Sorry about leaving all of the quoted lines below but did not see a 
way to delete most without loosing the thread.

David, all I can say is that it appears the correct profiles that I 
built using the Spyder2 are being applied to the monitors and at the 
end of the boot sequence that is what I end up with.  I use the CRT 
as my soft proof monitor in Photoshop CS2 and it gives me the results 
I expect in that I am able to use the softproof to evaluate my images 
for printing using a profile for my paper/ink/printer that I built 
with PrintFix Pro.  This is what I want.  In PS, I have the color 
preferences set so that the RGB is Adobe RGB, not my monitor 
profile.  

My secondary monitor is an LCD with limited controls.  I can set 
brightness (to a limited degree) and the 3 colors, but not the 
contrast. Like most LCDs, it was way to vibrant, bringt and 
contrasty.  To tame the monitor down, I am using the video card 
controls to alter the bringtness and contrast in an effort to get it 
to be as close to the CRT as possible.  Between the adjustments and 
the Spyder2, I can get it to the point that it is close to the CRT 
which is fine as I use it for the tool, pallets, info window, etc.

When I check the properties for my monitors under Windows, they show 
that the profiles I built are the ones that are applied.  I can use 
the applet interactively to apply different profiles and when I apply 
the one I built, there is no change in the monitor so I am assuming 
it is the one that is applied.

If I use the ColorVision Profile Chooser, it open two windows, one 
for each monitor, and I am able to select a different profile for 
each.  When selected, the profile only impacts the monitor selected, 
not both.  The profiles listed are the ones built wityh the Spyder2.

I am always looking for better color management tips so if there is a 
better way, please make suggestions.

Rollin

--- In colorvision_group@yahoogroups.com, CDTobie@... wrote:
>
> 
> In a message dated 1/23/07 10:48:23 AM, rhill3@... writes:
> 
> 
> > David, I decided to try a test to see if I could confirm that each
> > monitor is indeed being loaded with a different profile 
> > 
> But thats the wrong question, and the reason so many people are 
deceived by 
> this issue. The OS does not load a profile, it just makes it 
available to 
> applications. On Windows it does not load videocard corrections 
either, unless a 
> utility makes that call. This utility should be making it, but does 
it flash it 
> uniquely, and successsfully, for each monitor?
> 
> 
> > and that it
> > is the one assigned to it using the WinColor applet.
> > 
> > After booting the machine, I used the applet to assign a profile 
to
> > the secondary monitor which caused the monitor to produce a very 
dark
> > image.  I set it as the default for the monitor. 
> > 
> That would be the video correction for one or the other monitor 
(assumedly 
> the correct one) being applied to that monitor. If this works 
right, it should 
> remain looking just like this thereafter...
> > 
> > I then rebooted the machine.  During the boot sequence, the
> > appearance of the monitors changed as follows:
> > 
> > 1. Shortly after the desktop appeared, both monitors changed to 
what
> > I am assuming is a no profile state.
> > 
> How do you assume that? We have to assign obviously wrong, and 
obviously 
> different, LUT data to both monitors to determine when one, the 
other, or none, is 
> being applied...
> > 
> > 2. Later, the appearance changed to what I know both monitors look
> > like with the profile for the primary monitor applied.
> > 
> No profile is being applied to the monitors, VLUT calibration data 
is being 
> applied.
> 
> >   I would guess
> > this is Win XP or the NVidia driver applying the same profile to 
both
> > monitors which is the expected behavior since I have a single 
video
> > card.
> > 
> Applying the same LUT data (as I would expect) to both monitors... 
wrong data 
> to at least one of them at that point.
> > 
> > 3. At the very end of the boot sequence, the secondary monitor
> > changes appearanceto what matches the dark profile I assinged to 
it
> > using the WinColor applet.
> > 
> So now different LUT data is being used for each. Thats half the 
battle.
> 
> >   The primary monitor does not change. 
> > This, to me says that the applet has loaded a different profile 
and
> > applied it to the one monitor but not to the other.
> > 
> But will applications like Photoshop actually get the different 
(and correct) 
> profiles assigned for both monitors as well. VLUT calibration data 
is still 
> only half the battle...
> 
> >   I have the
> > applet in my startup folder with the "/L" parameter so that it 
runs
> > with no input required.
> > 
> > I do not know what the applet is doing, but it does appear to be
> > applying separate profiles to the monitors.
> > 
> We'll assume its assigning the profiles for the monitors (for 
application 
> use) as well as utilizing the VLUT data from them. But you would 
have to prove 
> this by seeing that each is using a seperate profile in Photoshop 
or some other 
> application to be sure its all working.
> 
> >   In my case, I built the
> > profiles using the Spyder2 and gave each a unique name based on 
the
> > monitor type,  I have assigned these profiles as the default 
profile
> > for each monitor using the WinColor applet in interactive mode.
> > 
> > For the record, my video card is an NVidia Quadro FX 3400.  My
> > primary monitor is an IBM C220P CRT and the secondary is a Dell
> > 1905FP.
> > 
> > Is there something else you would like me to check to help answer 
the
> > question about whether or not the applet is applying the unique 
set
> > of corrections to each monitor?
> > 
> Short of sending you monitor profiles with clearly wrong profile 
> descriptions, and ones with clearly wrong LUT data, so you can 
confirm whats what, there 
> isn't much more you can check the way you're doing it. Sounds 
promising though; 
> let me know, off list, if you are interested in getting such 
profiles from 
> me...