Control Cal to access displays that have ISF Modes

[gadgtfreek]

I just ponied up the $50 to get access to my VT50 modes, after seeing it in action its well worth it for you self calibrators.

Trying to adjust 2pt grayscale, 10pt grayscale, 10pt gamma and then Gamut going through the Panny menus is PAINFUL!!! My VT50 is on my wireless network so Control Cal wont even require a wired connection. You just enter in a couple of parameters on your laptop for the software, and it connects to your display wirelessly, pretty cool.

Now that Im practiced up on my VT50, Im going to calibrate ISF Night mode tonight, and then put the meters in the closet for a few months . ISF modes offer nothing more than Custom already does, but with the Control Cal access it saves you a lot of time, and they are liked. You also have the ability to export your settings to save, and someone else can actually take that file and load your custom settings onto their display, of the same model of course.

 

[teachsac]

No RS232 port? That's what I always use.

S~

 

[gadgtfreek]

You can, but with it working over the wifi its pretty darn easy. Just enter a port number and bam, you have control.

 

[teachsac]

Until you drop wifi right in the middle of something

S~

 

[gadgtfreek]

LOL.

 

[gadgtfreek]

Man, CC made it so much faster, well worth the small donation for the software.

She is dialed in now!

 

[teachsac]

Looks really good. Did you not have Gregg come out on the 8th? So what gear do you have for calibrating.

S~

 

[gadgtfreek]

I did, he did THX modes for me (Night/Day/3D). It was more a visit to do some experimenting while he was in my area, and I wanted 3D calibrated. I also got to see Control Cal first hand which made me want to get it. Ive tried 3D calibration before and its just a PITA.

I have Calman 5 Control, with an I1 Pro 2. Since its more a reference meter than my other, I use it for 20-100 stimulus and Gamut(even though 20% is pushing it for the I1 Pro 2 since its not so reliable with low light). Once all that was done, I switched over to Chromapure where I have a i1 D3 pro. Great little meter, especially in low light, just not as accurate as the I1 Pro 2. What I then do is read 10-100, especially paying attention to 30-100 to see how it is off vs the I1 Pro calibration. What Ive found is with RGB flat on the i1 pro 2 grayscale calibration, they read R and B around 104% and Green Around 98% with the D3 Pro. So its close, but it reads Green low and the other two high. I then adjusted 10 and 20 to get them as close as I could to mimic my 30-100 readings.

Basically, I calibrated to the error of the D3 Pro in low light where my I1 Pro is not good. I also used the D3 pro to adjust gamma at 10 and 20%. Overall gamma and the gamut chart were very close with the D3 vs the I1 Pro, its just the grayscale I wouldnt take to the bank. I can see why a calibrator would choose a i1 Pro 2 as his only option under $1000 if there could be only one, and why THX requires it as a minimum. You can profile em and gain more speed, plus it should make the D3 more accurate, but I just prefer to do as much of the calibration as possible with the i1 Pro 2, then swap over to the D3 to finish up. I should have gotten an i1 Pro to begin with , but glad I did now.

I also figured Id give Calman 5 a try because Ive heard nice things. It is great software, but Chromapure is simple and easy to use, but I'd combine the best features of both if I could.

 

[teachsac]

Have you ever used the spectracal C3? Are you using a testpattern generator or test patterns from DVE, etc.?

S~

 

[gadgtfreek]

No, but id probably go at least i1 display. I had the previous version of the C3 and was never impressed. Their C6 is the Spectracal version of the Chromapure D3 Pro I have, it just has preloaded profiles from a reference meter for plasmas and other display types. The problem is the profiles might help, but as I proved last night, they arent as accurate (I also found the same low green and high red/blue vs Gregg's Photo research meter) as they want you to believe.

Im not sure how much you want to spend, but one option would be to get the I1 Pro 2 and the C3, and you can profile the C3 off the I1 for your low light work. I have not purchased a pattern generator, I used to have an Accupel 4000, but havent felt like spending the $1400 for a 5000. Currently, there are two discs on AVS I like, one is by Masciola and the other is the Gamut Calibration Disc (GCD). I use these in my Oppo and feel they do a great job, plus the math has been tested and their patterns are correct. AVS709 is great, but their windows are too large for a plasma, so I use the Masciola disc which has 6.5% sized Wwndows. This is the size THX and Panny went with for the THX modes.

Chad B also has a disc with 4% patterns. I recently checked his disc vs 6.5% and 10% on Masciolas and found little variation. Biggest issue is adjusting 10pt gamma if the window is too big for the plasma and ABL kicks in, you want to make sure you have something small enough. For an LED LCD, you can use full fields so the test pattern matters little. I'll probably buy an Accupel by years end, since ive invested in an i1 pro 2, there really is no need to hire anyone now; I might as well get the generator. If you spend the top money on the best Accupel, it has 3D patterns and motion/resolution stuff built in.

 

[teachsac]

Well, I got rid of all of my equipment when I sold my business to my partner. Looking for home stuff. Profiles are a great starting point.

S~

 

[gadgtfreek]

I like both Calman and Chromapure. I really like the D3 Pro I got from Tom Huffman, and you can get it cheaper than the C6 from Spectracal.

 

[teachsac]

Going to see if I can find a used Minolta CS200. Can't afford the 2000. I could, but I've got three girls in college and I'm not looking to get back into it full time. Might start a side business on the weekends/summers.

S~

 

[gadgtfreek]

There is a guy with an i1 pro in the avs classified.