In our tests, monitor profiles generated by X-Rite i1Profiler, i1Display Pro, and ColorMunki Display software were very good but did not match the quality of profiles from the best of the competition. X-Rite mentions that the ColorMunki Display will only be officially supported by their own software. As with the Discus, software to make use of the i1Display Pro is limited, but more packages are due to support it. The ColorMunki Display is limited to a measurement speeds five times slower than its more costly sibling and ships with a feature-limited software package. At $170 it shares identical hardware and has the same measurement accuracy as the i1Display. X-Rite also offers the ColorMunki Display. The i1Display Pro (aka i1 Display 3) requires more care to use than the Discus but certainly wins on the affordability front. It comes close to the Discus in accuracy and intra-unit variability, and also is compatible with all display types.
Additional profiling software for the Discus is scheduled to arrive soon.įor $250, the X-Rite i1Display Pro is also a capable instrument. As of mid October 2011, monitor profiling support for the Discus is limited to one commercial software package, albeit a good one. It also costs $1300 (all prices are street). It offers superb, consistent accuracy when measuring any display technology.
If cost is no object, the BasICColor Discus is an exceptional piece of equipment. Software support (Fall, 2011) is spotty at best, but will improve. The new products are, hands-down, the winners of our tests. Summer of 2011 brought two new measurement products to market that - finally - were designed to measure all typical display types and that could be software-programed for new monitor characteristics when they arise. These customized sensors work admirably well, but only for the monitor they are paired with. High-end monitor vendors offer sensors tuned to their particular displays. Until mid-2011, we were left trying to measure today's monitors with sensors designed for monitors last manufactured many years ago. Gone are CRT monitors, replaced by LCD screens not only offering standard color gamuts (roughly covering sRGB) but also wide-gamut monitors capable of displaying colors exceeding the Adobe RGB range. Display technology, however, has advanced considerably. Kudos to Datacolor for bucking this trend with their Spyder products. Summaryįor nearly a decade, the general trend in the most common display measurement hardware has been to trade off measurement accuracy and robust construction for lower manufacturing cost and increased measurement speed. We measured the accuracy in white, middle gray and darkest usable black. The display models ranged from sub-$300 basic graphics-editing monitors to high-end (and high-dollar) state-of-the-art panels. These included both standard (sRGB compatible) and wide-gamut (Adobe RGB) displays and Cold Cathode Fluorescent (CCFL) and both RGB and White LED backlight technologies. We compared the measurement accuracy on a range of commonly available display panels. An inaccurate instrument will not produce an accurate monitor profile. Determining why requires investigating whether the measurement hardware is up to the task or if the software is the culprit. Some monitor profiling packages work well with certain displays but not with others. Update: More results for OEM calibrated Eye-One Display 2Īs part of updating our review of monitor calibration tools, we evaluated most of the commonly available measurement hardware. Update: May 24, 2011: BasICColor DISCUS results Update: October 21, 2011: i1Display Pro/ColorMunki Display results Display Calibration Hardware Capabilities
0 kommentar(er)
