Yahoo Groups archive

Datacolor User to User Support Group.

Index last updated: 2026-04-28 23:18 UTC

Thread

Dual Monitors

Dual Monitors

2013-02-16 by julia340@btinternet.com

Hello,

I wonder if anyone could advise me about the graphics card specifications when wishing to profile a system with dual monitors?
I am planning to purchase a Spyder4 Pro or Elite in the near future. I understand they are both capable of profiling dual monitors on one computer, as well as the Elite being able to profile a projector.
My question is whether the graphics card in the system needs to have any special capabilities before the Spyder is able to profile both monitors, or whether any graphics setup will suffice?
I'm a newbie on this group so hope I've made my query understanadable.
Many thanks. J.G.

Re: [datacolor_group] Dual Monitors

2013-02-17 by Cdtobie

On the Mac, there are no dual display video card conflicts; so if that's your platform, you are all set. 

With Windows, some single cards (particularly PCI Express cards) work fine; others don't register as two devices for profile assignment, or don't have two distinct slots for video card corrections (LUTs). 

With a desktop (you don't mention computer type, either) a second card will fix any issues (or the new card may run both correctly by itself, for that matter). 

With laptops, adding a card isn't typically an option. So for systems that can't handle two profiles and calibrations, a choice between them has to be made.  Calibrate the internal display, or the external. 

C. D. Tobie
Global Product Technology Mngr.
Imaging Color Solutions
Datacolor.com
CDTobie@...
Show quoted textHide quoted text
On Feb 16, 2013, at 7:52 AM, "julia340@..." <julia340@...> wrote:

> Hello,
> 
> I wonder if anyone could advise me about the graphics card specifications when wishing to profile a system with dual monitors?
> I am planning to purchase a Spyder4 Pro or Elite in the near future. I understand they are both capable of profiling dual monitors on one computer, as well as the Elite being able to profile a projector.
> My question is whether the graphics card in the system needs to have any special capabilities before the Spyder is able to profile both monitors, or whether any graphics setup will suffice?
> I'm a newbie on this group so hope I've made my query understanadable.
> Many thanks. J.G.
> 
>

RE: [datacolor_group] Dual Monitors

2013-02-17 by Bob Geoghegan

C.D.,

Looking at J.D’s question I wonder if there’s a pre-install indicator for likely success on Windows systems.  If you see different color profiles for each monitor under the control panel for display properties, Screen Resolution, Advanced Settings, Color Management (at least by Win7 64 bit navigation).  If the factory profiles are loaded and show as separate profiles for each monitor, would that be a sign of likely success for separate calibration?  My limited sample of 2 successful machines followed this pattern.  The DataColor profiles moved into the config slots that held the factory ones. These were both Lenovo ThinkPad T series machines running Win7 64 bit.

 

Just a thought,

Bob G
Show quoted textHide quoted text
From: datacolor_group@yahoogroups.com [mailto:datacolor_group@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Cdtobie
Sent: Sunday, February 17, 2013 2:10 PM
To: datacolor_group@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [datacolor_group] Dual Monitors

 

  

On the Mac, there are no dual display video card conflicts; so if that's your platform, you are all set. 

 

With Windows, some single cards (particularly PCI Express cards) work fine; others don't register as two devices for profile assignment, or don't have two distinct slots for video card corrections (LUTs). 

 

With a desktop (you don't mention computer type, either) a second card will fix any issues (or the new card may run both correctly by itself, for that matter). 

 

With laptops, adding a card isn't typically an option. So for systems that can't handle two profiles and calibrations, a choice between them has to be made.  Calibrate the internal display, or the external. 

C. D. Tobie

Global Product Technology Mngr.

Imaging Color Solutions

Datacolor.com

CDTobie@...


On Feb 16, 2013, at 7:52 AM, "julia340@btinternet.com" <julia340@...> wrote:

  

Hello,

I wonder if anyone could advise me about the graphics card specifications when wishing to profile a system with dual monitors?
I am planning to purchase a Spyder4 Pro or Elite in the near future. I understand they are both capable of profiling dual monitors on one computer, as well as the Elite being able to profile a projector.
My question is whether the graphics card in the system needs to have any special capabilities before the Spyder is able to profile both monitors, or whether any graphics setup will suffice?
I'm a newbie on this group so hope I've made my query understanadable.
Many thanks. J.G.

Re: [datacolor_group] Dual Monitors

2013-02-18 by C D Tobie


On Feb 17, 2013, at 2:48 PM, Bob Geoghegan <bob.geo@...> wrote:

Looking at J.D’s question I wonder if there’s a pre-install indicator for likely success on Windows systems.

No. but that would be a great idea.

If you see different color profiles for each monitor under the control panel for display properties, Screen Resolution, Advanced Settings, Color Management (at least by Win7 64 bit navigation). If the factory profiles are loaded and show as separate profiles for each monitor, would that be a sign of likely success for separate calibration?

No, that would indicate separate ICC profiles for each, but would not indicate separate calibration LUTs. To test that, you would change the profile for one screen to something different, that showed a flash from the LUTs loading. If the other display also flashes, then that would indicate a ''shared" calibration LUT. If not, that should indicate separate LUTs. We might have a Support FAQ on this, but the original poster had not yet contacted support...

My limited sample of 2 successful machines followed this pattern. The DataColor profiles moved into the config slots that held the factory ones. These were both Lenovo ThinkPad T series machines running Win7 64 bit.

Most systems work, these days. Its not a huge issue, but its only fair to warn people that there can be problems.

C. David Tobie

Global Product Technology Manager



Datacolor
5 Princess Road

Lawrenceville, NJ 08648, USA

609.924.2189


Phone: 207.685.9248

Mobile: 207.312.0448

Fax: 207.685.4455

Skype: cdtobie

RE: [datacolor_group] Dual Monitors

2013-02-18 by Bob Geoghegan

Thanks C.D. and Laurie.  Somehow I knew it couldn't be that easy.

BG
Show quoted textHide quoted text
From: datacolor_group@yahoogroups.com
[mailto:datacolor_group@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of C D Tobie
Sent: Sunday, February 17, 2013 9:09 PM
To: datacolor_group@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [datacolor_group] Dual Monitors

 

 

On Feb 17, 2013, at 2:48 PM, Bob Geoghegan <bob.geo@...> wrote:

 

Looking at J.D's question I wonder if there's a pre-install indicator for
likely success on Windows systems.

 

No. but that would be a great idea. 

 

  If you see different color profiles for each monitor under the control
panel for display properties, Screen Resolution, Advanced Settings, Color
Management (at least by Win7 64 bit navigation).  If the factory profiles
are loaded and show as separate profiles for each monitor, would that be a
sign of likely success for separate calibration?

 

No, that would indicate separate ICC profiles for each, but would not
indicate separate calibration LUTs. To test that, you would change the
profile for one screen to something different, that showed a flash from the
LUTs loading. If the other display also flashes, then that would indicate a
''shared" calibration LUT. If not, that should indicate separate LUTs. We
might have a Support FAQ on this, but the original poster had not yet
contacted support...

 

 My limited sample of 2 successful machines followed this pattern.  The
DataColor profiles moved into the config slots that held the factory ones.
These were both Lenovo ThinkPad T series machines running Win7 64 bit.

 

Most systems work, these days. Its not a huge issue, but its only fair to
warn people that there can be problems.

 

C. David Tobie

Global Product Technology Manager


cid:image001.gif@...420300


Datacolor
5 Princess Road

Lawrenceville, NJ 08648, USA

609.924.2189

www.datacolor.com <http://www.datacolor.com/> 


Phone: 207.685.9248

Mobile: 207.312.0448

Fax: 207.685.4455

Email:  cdtobie@...

Skype: cdtobie

Re: Dual Monitors

2013-02-18 by julia340@btinternet.com

Thank you so much for your helpful replies. Sorry I forgot to include my system details, so here goes. 

I run two seperate desktops, but each has dual monitors. Both run Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit. The graphics card on my oldest system is an Nvidia 8800GT PCI Express and the processor is a Core 2 Duo E8500 running on a Gigabyte mobo. From C.D.'s reply it seems that this should support dual profiling. However my new system is still set up with the onboard graphics processor. It runs with an i7 CPU on a Gigabyte Z77-3DH mobo with 16Gb ram. From your comments, I doubt that this will support dual profiling so shall be looking for a fast Graphics card before too long.

I had been told that each monitor would need its own "color lookup table" and I have no idea what this means, so it confused me a bit, but your graphics card explanation helped.

Anyway, your info has really helped. So thank you all again.
Julia. 


 

--- In datacolor_group@yahoogroups.com, "Bob Geoghegan" <bob.geo@...> wrote:
Show quoted textHide quoted text
>
> Thanks C.D. and Laurie.  Somehow I knew it couldn't be that easy.
> 
> BG
> 
>  
> 
> From: datacolor_group@yahoogroups.com
> [mailto:datacolor_group@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of C D Tobie
> Sent: Sunday, February 17, 2013 9:09 PM
> To: datacolor_group@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: Re: [datacolor_group] Dual Monitors
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> On Feb 17, 2013, at 2:48 PM, Bob Geoghegan <bob.geo@...> wrote:
> 
>  
> 
> Looking at J.D's question I wonder if there's a pre-install indicator for
> likely success on Windows systems.
> 
>  
> 
> No. but that would be a great idea. 
> 
>  
> 
>   If you see different color profiles for each monitor under the control
> panel for display properties, Screen Resolution, Advanced Settings, Color
> Management (at least by Win7 64 bit navigation).  If the factory profiles
> are loaded and show as separate profiles for each monitor, would that be a
> sign of likely success for separate calibration?
> 
>  
> 
> No, that would indicate separate ICC profiles for each, but would not
> indicate separate calibration LUTs. To test that, you would change the
> profile for one screen to something different, that showed a flash from the
> LUTs loading. If the other display also flashes, then that would indicate a
> ''shared" calibration LUT. If not, that should indicate separate LUTs. We
> might have a Support FAQ on this, but the original poster had not yet
> contacted support...
> 
>  
> 
>  My limited sample of 2 successful machines followed this pattern.  The
> DataColor profiles moved into the config slots that held the factory ones.
> These were both Lenovo ThinkPad T series machines running Win7 64 bit.
> 
>  
> 
> Most systems work, these days. Its not a huge issue, but its only fair to
> warn people that there can be problems.
> 
>  
> 
> C. David Tobie
> 
> Global Product Technology Manager
> 
> 
> cid:image001.gif@...
> 
> 
> Datacolor
> 5 Princess Road
> 
> Lawrenceville, NJ 08648, USA
> 
> 609.924.2189
> 
> www.datacolor.com <http://www.datacolor.com/> 
> 
> 
> Phone: 207.685.9248
> 
> Mobile: 207.312.0448
> 
> Fax: 207.685.4455
> 
> Email:  cdtobie@...
> 
> Skype: cdtobie
>

Re: Dual Monitors

2013-02-19 by julia340@btinternet.com

I've now received a reply to my enquiry to the Datacolor Europe support team....I'm based in U.K.
Basically they say that the video card would need two LUTs in order to calibrate the two displays and this would need a modern high-end card. The only way to find which cards have two LUTs is by contacting the manufacturer because it's not obvious from looking at the card or (I think) its specs. As you said earlier in this thread.
So I guess it will be simpler to stick with calibrating one display and using the other as a work area.
Thanks to you, and kindest regards.
Julia

Re: Dual Monitors

2013-02-19 by Rollin H

--- In datacolor_group@yahoogroups.com, "julia340@..." <julia340@...> wrote:
> Basically they say that the video card would need two LUTs in order to calibrate the two displays and this would need a modern high-end card. The only way to find which cards have two LUTs is by contacting the manufacturer because it's not obvious from looking at the card or (I think) its specs. As you said earlier in this thread.
> So I guess it will be simpler to stick with calibrating one display and using the other as a work area.

Try this link to an article about dual monitors on Win7:
http://www.laszlopusztai.net/2009/08/23/stop-losing-display-calibration-with-windows-7/

It is a bit long but worth the read. At the end there are specific instructions on how to get it to work.  When I was on Win XP, I had a system with one video card that had dual heads.  I was able to make it work using a Color Management application from Microsoft that let me assign profiles to each monitor.  When I moved to Win 7 I also changed my hardware and now have two video cards so no longer need to play games getting the profiles assigned.  I hope this helps.

Under the XP, single card, each monitor displayed per the profile assigned and all worked under Photoshop.

Rollin

Re: Dual Monitors

2013-02-19 by Rollin H

Here is an additional link concerning Win 7 and dual monitors that might be needed as it addresses problems with having the correct device drivers assigned to each monitor:  http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-hardware/cannot-set-separate-profiles-for-monitors/a45b540c-b71c-4f5e-9022-2531383999cc

Rollin

Move to quarantaine

This moves the raw source file on disk only. The archive index is not changed automatically, so you still need to run a manual refresh afterward.