No CMS Setting color/tint with meter

Chromapure



Adjusting Color Decoding
Overview

Use the Color Decoding module when your display lacks a full-featured CMS. Some displays have color decoding controls that allow you to independently adjust the brightness of each primary color and the hue of each secondary color. Most displays, however, only have a universal Color and Tint (or Hue) control.

Open the Color Decoding module.

Take an initial measurement of White, Red, Green, Blue, Yellow, Cyan, and Magenta.

The % error in RGB Color and RGB Hue will appear on the graph. RGB Color measures the % error of the brightness of each primary color. RGB Hue measures the % hue error of each secondary color (magenta-red hue, yellow-green hue, and cyan-blue hue).

Display a red test pattern.

Select the Red radio button.

Click the Continuous checkbox, and then click Measure.

ChromaPure will measure changes to the to the brightness of red in real time.

Adjust the color decoding control or the main color control to achieve the smallest % error as possible.

Click Stop.

Repeat 2-7 for the other two primary colors.

Display a magenta test pattern.

Click the Magenta radio button.

Click the Continuous checkbox.

Click Measure.

ChromaPure will measure changes to the red hue in real time.

Adjust the color decoding control or the main hue control to achieve the smallest % error as possible.

Repeat 8-13 for the remaining secondary colors.

Confusing, right? That was the help file from the Color Decoding section of Chromapure. The way I interpret it is in checking the other two primaries and secondaries some sort of compromise position might need to be reached. This is subjective of course and in my case left to the final adjustments being done with facial tones with familiar content.

The rest of that Chromapure help file:


What's the difference between the Color Decoding and Color Management modules?

Both modules measure the intensity of the primary colors and the hue of the secondary colors. However, there are 3 important differences between them.

The Color Management module uses a fixed set of references, which is defined by the color gamut selected in the Options module. However, the references for the Color Decoding module are based on the measured values of the primary colors (a standard white point is assumed).

The Color Management module measures the lightness of the primary colors, whereas the Color Decoding module measures the brightness of the primary colors.

Color Management gives the calibrator 18 points of adjustment: lightness, saturation, and hue for each of the six primary and secondary colors. Color decoding offers only 6 points of adjustment: brightness of the primary colors and hue of the secondary colors. These adjustments are offered because this is where the great majority of color decoding errors occur.

There is an in-between as well, the 2D CMS. My LG 42LK450 has a CMS with color and tint controls for all six colors, giving 12 points of adjustment. 'Tint' obviously effects hue but 'color' affects both saturation and luminance, though luminance might be the main thing 'color' affects (just like the main 'color' control).

Yes this is pretty much it.
Sometimes i use magenta instead of yellow.
You are trying to get the lowest avg Delta E's across the board, but likely prioritizing flesh tones, since when skin is off, it's the most obvious perceptually.

Its probably something that works perfectly fine with a display or picture mode that maps perfectly to rec709 gamut. However, on my Panasonic which maps red and green outside of that ideal, minimising error on one primary colour causes significant errors on the other two.

In my case, minimising the error between all three has been the best compromise.
All three look poor and it is a pet peeve with my TV, but it is better than having one perfect with the other two looking signficantly out of whack.

Color Decoding adjustments and color/tint control adjusting are not the same thing. Color Decoding and CMS adjustments are not the same thing either.

As pointed out in another reply, adjusting color and tint with a meter can produce unwanted results you may not see with calibration software measurements of primary and complimentary colors... it's quite possible to see something unpleasant in images after thinking you have found good settings for color and tint. So even though the meter may tell you that you found good settings... you can't assume the settings will be good because of how the TV creates colors other than the ones you measured at that specific luminance value.

Take a Y meter reading of a 100% white window 10% pattern.

Then display a 100% saturated red window 10% pattern and set the colour control on your display until the Y reading is 21% of the 100% white window Y reading.

Then display a 100% cyan window 10% pattern and adjust the tint control on your display until the x/y reading matches the HDTV - REC 709 cyan target of x=0.225 / y=0.329.

bruce

That still may not work if what Doug is suggesting was happening in the Display where for just one example, there is flawed color decoding - data looks right, content doesn't.... This is where the 'Art' comes into play with calibration (along with the decisions for the compromises made).

This is where most Enthusiasts and even some Professional Calibrators are going to be at a disadvantage where there is no experience in viewing content on an actual reference display (something like the current Panasonic BT Series i.e. TH-42BT300U). That's why the following (only as quoted) is one of the most important points in this Thread:

There is no one process because color and tint controls do different things in different brands/models. Most of the time, the best setting for Color and Tint are fairly close to the factory default settings. Occasionally, you find that moving one or both of them a little more has some beneficial effect but the calibrator has to know enough about calibration to know what parameters to look at and how to recognize something helpful vs. something that's worse. In any case, if you move the color/tint controls, as I said above, it's possible to get into other troubles that are much worse than what you are trying to fix. That's why you can't assume the settings you measure to be right aren't necessarily right for reasons you haven't measured yet or possibly the software won't ever allow you to measure the parameters ANd the color filter method of setting color and tint is just about worthless also because of filter inaccuracies, differences in the spectra of the colors between brands and models. Many times you find the settings you arrive at with the filters is wrong... but again, you don't notice those settings being wrong until you begin viewing video content and notice something that's "off".

I concur with the majority, Colour/Tint in practice works differently depending on the specific display.

If it works for you with getting better colours, then great, but I wouldn't put too much hope on it!

I have found that adjusting the user menu "color saturation" control to produce the correct luminance for red does not produce the best result, especially if the television's green is too bright relative to red. It is better (in my opinion) to back the color control down until the green luminance is closer to normal (I usually try to split the difference between red and green, leaving red a little too dim and green a little too bright).

I have heard it said that adjusting for red luminance is more important due to flesh tones, but an overly bright green does just as much (or more) to hose up flesh tones.

Although it looks like there is no one "right" way to do this, there is definite value in looking at the luminance numbers for each primary because it can tell you whether you're in the right ballpark (for example, if all three primaries are way too dim, it's safe to say your color control is probably set too low). And once you know you're in the right ballpark, I think you have to eyeball it using actual content.