Calibrating a monitor

[OldMedia]

I have a Sony Trinitron 8'' Monitor Model PVM-80420. I need to calibrate it, and I am not sure how. I have recorded color bars from Sony Vegas, and I am playing them through my DVD onto the monitor. I am not sure my eye is the best tool in calibrating, and it seems that the monitor has a slight red tint to it that I can't get rid of.

[Case]

Perhaps this link will help you further?
http://www.mediacollege.com/video/test-patterns/colour-bars-smpte.html

[rcubed]

I have a Sony Trinitron 8'' Monitor Model PVM-80420. I need to calibrate it, and I am not sure how. I have recorded color bars from Sony Vegas, and I am playing them through my DVD onto the monitor. I am not sure my eye is the best tool in calibrating, and it seems that the monitor has a slight red tint to it that I can't get rid of.

OldMedia,
There are devices that will allow you to calibrate your PC monitor. I use a LaCie Blue Eye Pro to calibrate my displays. Word of caution they are rather expensive $200 and up. It uses software in conjunction with the device to come up with a calibration based on your display's responses. It produces an ICM profile which is then loaded. I noticed improvement with the light shadings on the columns in the Explorer widows. This calibration needs to be done from time to time as displays will age or drift or in the case of an LCD display the back light may change.

rcubed

[OldMedia]

I have a Sony Trinitron 8'' Monitor Model PVM-80420. I need to calibrate it, and I am not sure how. I have recorded color bars from Sony Vegas, and I am playing them through my DVD onto the monitor. I am not sure my eye is the best tool in calibrating, and it seems that the monitor has a slight red tint to it that I can't get rid of.

OldMedia,
There are devices that will allow you to calibrate your PC monitor. I use a LaCie Blue Eye Pro to calibrate my displays. Word of caution they are rather expensive $200 and up. It uses software in conjunction with the device to come up with a calibration based on your display's responses. It produces an ICM profile which is then loaded. I noticed improvement with the light shadings on the columns in the Explorer widows. This calibration needs to be done from time to time as displays will age or drift or in the case of an LCD display the back light may change.

rcubed

Its actually a CRT Video Monitor, and not a PC monitor. I don't know if that applys.

[rcubed]

double post when edited

[rcubed]

I have a Sony Trinitron 8'' Monitor Model PVM-80420. I need to calibrate it, and I am not sure how. I have recorded color bars from Sony Vegas, and I am playing them through my DVD onto the monitor. I am not sure my eye is the best tool in calibrating, and it seems that the monitor has a slight red tint to it that I can't get rid of.

OldMedia,
There are devices that will allow you to calibrate your PC monitor. I use a LaCie Blue Eye Pro to calibrate my displays. Word of caution they are rather expensive $200 and up. It uses software in conjunction with the device to come up with a calibration based on your display's responses. It produces an ICM profile which is then loaded. I noticed improvement with the light shadings on the columns in the Explorer widows. This calibration needs to be done from time to time as displays will age or drift or in the case of an LCD display the back light may change.

rcubed

Its actually a CRT Video Monitor, and not a PC monitor. I don't know if that applys.

You might do a Google on Video Monitor calibration and see what turns up. In the case of the LaCie I have it actually builds a profile that is loaded that tells the video card how to adjust the various colors. I don't know for sure, but I think it's more than one data point per basic pixel color, since part of the software program reads an area on the screen over which you place the calibration device and it automatically does different colors and different intensities to build the ICM file. Part of the process is a manual adjustment of intensity and contrast and each of the primary colors before letting the software do it's thing. Apparently if you have a LaCie monitor the settings for these primary controls can be done through the connection to the monitor under software control.

I don't know with what you are driving the monitor. RGB outputs from a video card or something else. Looking at the LaCie software there is a CRT mode not sure how that works since I've never used it. You also might look at the LaCie web site for additional information. You could also send a question to their support group and explain your problem and see if their calibration device would apply to your situation. Also there are other calibration devices by several manufacturers that range in price or less. I chose mine on their reputation and reviews on the web. Also at the time I was still working so I had a lot of $'s to spend on my hobbies. Since I retired I can't buy as many toys these days .

I know on my old rear projection TV there was a maintenance mode entered by a "secret combination of remote control inputs" that allowed you to adjust a whole bunch on things in the TV. Wrong settings could really mess things up. For color adjustments it took special calibration equipment. Usually is done by a TV technician with the accompanying $$$$$$service call charges. In the case of a pure TV it's different than a video card driving the display.

I can remember on my old Heathkit Color TV there were adjustments for screen drive and color intensity of each of the guns or some combination there of. If the screen drive was set too high for one of the screen drives the colors would be biased (tinted) that color. Also for CRT type monitors (or TVs) there is a process to converge the colors, basically that is making sure the blue beam hits the blue pixels, red the red, and green the green. Sometimes the convergence pattern is built into the TV or a special piece of test equipment is needed. Convergence was a big PIA. The Earth's magnetic field could have an effect, or magnets (such a stereo speaker magnets if too close) could mess up the convergence. On regular TVs the various adjustment rings and coils were done at the factory and were not easily changed. LCD displays don't have a convergence issue. It's been a long time since I've used that TV ( around 20 years so I'm dating my self here) the details are vague. I just remember the pain involved.

You might be able to get a service manual for your monitor, or a similar one to see what service features and adjustments are available.

I hope this helps. It's probably more information than you really wanted. My better half accuses me of that all the time . If so I apologize in advance.

rcubed

[OldMedia]

Perhaps this link will help you further?
http://www.mediacollege.com/video/test-patterns/colour-bars-smpte.html

This site actually worked perfect to calibrate my monitor, it was exactly what I needed.

[Knightmessenger]

I searched for monitor video calibration and all it turned up was descriptions of why it's important, some brightness patterns to check for and mentions of calibration software.

Isn't there a site that will give me step by step instructions using a brightness and color pattern to adjust for by just using the basic monitor controls? I've tweaked them so far to be pretty good I think but I'd really like to have another go at it with something to use as a reference.

EDIT: seems like the post above with a link to the color bars and instructions is exactly what I was looking for. I'll give that a try.

[jagabo]

EDIT: seems like the post above with a link to the color bars and instructions is exactly what I was looking for. I'll give that a try.

The procedure is right but the chart is wrong. And you need a calibrated device to make sure the feed to the monitor is accurate. Otherwise you will be calibrating to an incorrect signal. And you need to define whether you want to calibrate for the Desktop or for video.