[jkcheng122]

Tried running the Eye-One Match 3 software on 2 different monitors with settings set to Medium White 6500K and Gamma 2.2. On both monitors the calibration resulted in very redish/pinkish whites. I've also tried Spyder2Express and that yielded much better results though I'm not sure if it's using 6500K or 7500K and it does not support 2 monitors. I tried just putting it on each monitor and set the monitor to clone but kept getting errors (gamma error I think it was) when putting it on the second monitor.


Am I doing something wrong? Do I have to use the "Check Ambient Light" feature when I'm doing the calibration with lights in the room turned off?

 

[BWDinc]

the problem is you have a bad meter that isnt red accurate

 

[PlasmaPZ80U]



Quote:
Originally Posted by jkcheng122 /forum/post/18176521


Tried running the Eye-One Match 3 software on 2 different monitors with settings set to Medium White 6500K and Gamma 2.2. On both monitors the calibration resulted in very redish/pinkish whites. I've also tried Spyder2Express and that yielded much better results though I'm not sure if it's using 6500K or 7500K and it does not support 2 monitors. I tried just putting it on each monitor and set the monitor to clone but kept getting errors (gamma error I think it was) when putting it on the second monitor.


Am I doing something wrong? Do I have to use the "Check Ambient Light" feature when I'm doing the calibration with lights in the room turned off?

If it's under warranty, get a no-charge replacement from X-Rite. I had a similar (but milder) form of the issue you describe.

 

[jkcheng122]



Quote:
Originally Posted by PlasmaPZ80U /forum/post/18178260


If it's under warranty, get a no-charge replacement from X-Rite. I had a similar (but milder) form of the issue you describe.

No longer under warranty (purchased September 2008), I've emailed X-Rite to see what my options are.

 

[PlasmaPZ80U]

I think they offer a discount if the warranty is over. However, Amazon might sell it even cheaper ($125ish for the LT)

 

[adrift02]



Quote:
Originally Posted by PlasmaPZ80U /forum/post/18178260


If it's under warranty, get a no-charge replacement from X-Rite. I had a similar (but milder) form of the issue you describe.

I am currently going through a warranty claim for the same issue (reddish calibrations). I am only 30 days into my purchase though. Unfortunately for you, if you are not under warranty it's just time to buy a new meter. These things are inaccurate after about a year, and from talking with a tech they cannot be calibrated and are just throw-aways when they have drifted. Therefore, I highly doubt X-rite offers any sort of discounted service when out of warranty.

 

[adrman]

Seems to be going around. I have a rev. B with the same problem. Adrift, you probably saw my posts about it over in the S1 owner's thread.

 

[denness544]

Same problem here with my Disply LT Rev. B. Just bought it and every calibration comes out reddish. I will be returning it to Amazon.

 

[PlasmaPZ80U]

I would recommend the following to maximize the meter's life:


Store the meter (with the protective cover/diffuser on) in a sealed airtight ziploc bag (removing as much air as you can before sealing it). Then put that bag in another ziploc bag with a high-quality desiccant (silica gel), likely the one that the meter comes with and also seal it after removing as much air as you can. Then, put the bags into a black case (or any opaque color that effectively blocks out light) and store it in a cool, dark, dry, and non-dusty place.


I believe dust and humidity degrade the filters rapidly (especially the red filter) and temperature and light exposure also the degrade the filters, but less significantly.


This advice is especially helpful if followed from the moment you unpack your new meter and are ready to store it.

 

[jkcheng122]



Quote:
Originally Posted by PlasmaPZ80U /forum/post/18189376


I would recommend the following to maximize the meter's life:


Store the meter (with the protective cover/diffuser on) in a sealed airtight ziploc bag (removing as much air as you can before sealing it). Then put that bag in another ziploc bag with a high-quality desiccant (silica gel), likely the one that the meter comes with and also seal it after removing as much air as you can. Then, put the bags into a black case (or any opaque color that effectively blocks out light) and store it in a cool, dark, dry, and non-dusty place.


I believe dust and humidity degrade the filters rapidly (especially the red filter) and temperature and light exposure also the degrade the filters, but less significantly.


This advice is especially helpful if followed from the moment you unpack your new meter and are ready to store it.

Ha no kidding, it's a bit late for my i1LT now, I'm not contemplating whether to buy a new one and take your advice with it or get the Pantone Huey Pro.

 

[Dralt]

Dang, that's a bit of a worry. Is there a way to validate a LT?


How do I make sure the meter actually works?


Sure, large errors should be visible, but what about lesser errors?

 

[batpig]

the only way to do it would be to have a 'reference' meter to compare it to


if the errors do not result in a visibly degraded picture (e.g. the grayscale is obviously reddish) then you are probably fine -- after all, the point is about making it LOOK good right? It is, after all, a $150 meter, so there WILL be errors, but as long as the errors are small enough that they are not overtly visible, and you end up with a calibrated grayscale that is pretty close to flat, I think you are getting your money's worth.

 

[jkcheng122]

out of luck probably, in fact I think my Spyder2Express is exhibiting the same issue but not to the obvious extreme of my i1LT. I'll probably looking at a replacement soon in either a new i1 LT or Huey Pro and take much better care of it this time around.

 

[Dralt]



Quote:
Originally Posted by batpig /forum/post/18192525


the only way to do it would be to have a 'reference' meter to compare it to


if the errors do not result in a visibly degraded picture (e.g. the grayscale is obviously reddish) then you are probably fine -- after all, the point is about making it LOOK good right? It is, after all, a $150 meter, so there WILL be errors, but as long as the errors are small enough that they are not overtly visible, and you end up with a calibrated grayscale that is pretty close to flat, I think you are getting your money's worth.

Honestly, I fear I am not qualified to decide if there is too much red in my gray scale. Obviously, if it were pinkish, I could tell, but otherwise...you gotta cross your fingers and hope your colorimeter is OK.

 

[jkcheng122]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Dralt /forum/post/18199475


Honestly, I fear I am not qualified to decide if there is too much red in my gray scale. Obviously, if it were pinkish, I could tell, but otherwise...you gotta cross your fingers and hope your colorimeter is OK.

If it doesn't look pinkish and looks good to you then just be happy. Problem with ours is it's a very noticeable defect. Another way to tell if it's messed up I suppose is to see if colors on the screens matches your printouts. Not really a problem for me in that regard as I don't do photo editing and I use a monochrome laser printer.

 

[hellerbrewing]

I think I have run into this same issue. I have a i1LT that I bought in Dec of 08 to calibrate my LCD monitor. I chose this meter because I was reading that it was supposed to be much beter than the spyder meters and people were having alot of success using it on their TVs. So now that I am finally getting aroung to calibrating my TV (TH-58PZ800U) with calman, I go to take a color temp measurement and the best setting I can find (THX warm) dials it in to 9000. I figure it can't possibly be this high and the meter must be bad. I have been on the phone and exchanging emails with Bruce from x-rite, finally he wanted me to send him some color profiles using the meter. I tried creating a new one with the meter and the i1 match software would error out every time. I had some that I created soon after I recieved the meter, which looked redish at the time so I never used them, and sent them to him. I told him that they were created initially and that I could not successfully get the meter to create a profile now. He sent me an email back saying that he used the profiles I sent him and got no color cast and was very close to 6500.


I decided to purchase another display LT from amazon to compare the old one to, knowing that I could return it if needed. This weekend I hooked this new one (which has a calibration date of 7/09 BTW) up to calman and took another color temp reading on my plasma. This time it came out to 7500, I haven't gotten to the point of adjusting the cuts/drives in the service menu yet but the initial greyscale adjustment reading is saying green is pretty high.


So I sent another email to Bruce at x-rite yesterday saying that I have compared it to a new meter and that the old one is that far off. I doubt I will get a response given that I am a couple months past a year since I purchased the original. It is really a shame that these are such a disposable item. I am thinking of returning the new meter to amazon and maybe pursuing a return of the calman software to spectracal/curtpalme, so I can purchase one of the combo deals they are running now. I was thinking about the calman tweaked spider 3 but it appears that it is not listed on their site anymore. They are running a deal on the Monaco optix DPT-94 with calman home for 379. Is this going to be a meter that will last a while with proper care? Is it alot better than the display LT/2?

 

[batpig]



Quote:
the initial greyscale adjustment reading is saying green is pretty high.

this is typical for a Panasonic plasma in WARM color temp, so the new meter is probably correct. what you should do is calibrate with the new meter, and then compare grayscale measurement you get on the "calibrated" set with the old meter. red will probably measure way off....

Quote:
It is really a shame that these are such a disposable item.

well, you do get what you pay for. This is a sub $150 item being used for a task for which professional gear costs tens of thousands of dollars. It does suck that they can go out-of-whack after a year or two but, really, what should you expect? For $400-500 you can get a meter which will be more robust (e.g. Chroma5 or ColorMunki).

Quote:
They are running a deal on the Monaco optix DPT-94 with calman home for 379. Is this going to be a meter that will last a while with proper care? Is it alot better than the display LT/2?

the DTP-94 is the predecessor to the i1 LT/D2 and is nearly the same, but it has slightly different hardware any may be a little more robust / accurate. It's not "a lot better". For more info, you should read through this thread: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=958099


If you want "a lot better" and this is going to be a serious, long term hobby, stepping up to the Chroma5 or ColorMunki is probably the way to go. If you look at it as an investment vs. spending $130 on an i1 LT every couple years it's not so bad.... that's probably what I will do whenever my i1 LT bites the dust. Thankfully I live in San Diego so things are naturally temperature- and humidity-controlled so no problems yet after 2+ yrs

 

[Ronomy]

Don't forget you can't use the diffuser for RGB measurements or you will end up with a reddish pink image. The diffuser is only for lumen measurements.

 

[hellerbrewing]

I know the diffuser was not on the meter. It would not even attach to the monitor with it on, and the software tells you to take it off before taking readings. Thanks for the suggestion though.


Batpig, thanks for your help as well. Seems I run into you in lots places on avs! I was able to do the simple calibration (30% and 80% only) in calman last night. It appears that my set was actually not that far off. I could not figure out why it was fairly good when I would go into the service menu but then blue (sorry, not green like I told you earlier) would go up alot when I would go back out. Then I realized that I was selecting Cinema Warm (as intended) in the service menu but I had it in THX cool out of the service menu. I must have left it on cool after testing color temp with the bad meter, I had it on warm before. Once I changed it back to warm, things seemed to correlate much better. I tested a few blurays after this initial calibration (Cars, rattatouille, and DVE samples). Everything seemed to be a slightly more accurate with a little more pop but the colors of the cars on cars seemed to be a little more dull, maybe this is how they are intended to be. I will try out the next most advances calibration process and see if I can't get more points on my curve. I will try to get a seperate thread put up tonight.


As far as my meter conundrum.... The colormunki looks pretty interesting as it is a spectrophotometer like the i1pro and should last longer. It seems to be somewhat reasonably priced from amazon and B&H. Is buying it from spectracal worth the extra $400? Are the adjustments they make going to make it that much better of a meter? Also, I see that they have a calibration service to make it accurate for LEDs, will they do this for meters not purchased from them? Seems like you need to purchase a different license for spectrophotometers, will they convert this over or am I going to need to purchase it again anyway?


Sorry about all of the questions, I am really wondering what to do about a meter at this point. I am pretty sure I am going to send the displayLT back shortly as it is so far past factory calibration and I payed 160 for it.

 

[batpig]

I forgot to mention that tidbit about Panny service menu's -- not only does the service menu sometimes change the picture mode (e.g. defaulting to VIVID / COOL) but it also changes the grayscale!


unfortunately, with Panny consumer plasmas I believe you have to measure out of the service menu, open the service menu, make an adjustment... and then back out of the service menu and measure again... it's tedious but the only way to get accurate results.


I can't answer your questions about meters and Calman, you can contact them directly and get a lot of info I'm sure.