Calibrating Dell 2408WFP monitors

[Walter Biscardi]

[Ernie Santella] “How are you guys setting your desktop monitors? “

I don’t. I just use the Apple Color Sync setup menu thingy to get the monitor to look decent. I only use the external reference monitors for judging anything to do with video quality or video levels. We don’t even have any matched monitors in the shop.

We use the same Dell series for our primary monitor but the secondary monitor is just a Viewsonic or Samsung that we picked up at Costco since we only put bins over there. All I care about is that the monitor is crisp so the text is sharp on the primary monitor, which the Dell is.

Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Biscardi Creative Media
HD and SD Production for Broadcast and Independent Productions.

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[David Roth weiss]

Ernie,

I have a Spyder and I spent hours getting my Dells to very closely match my broadcast monitors. While I don’t typically use them to grade video, it’s great to know that they are always very close to accurate, so when a I look or when a client looks at them no one ever freaks out.

And, when I doing web exports I’m also never surprised — what I see on my Dells is pretty much what others are seeing when they see my stuff, even on Windows machines, and that’s nice to know. If you can figure out where Apple stores the saved profiles I’ll gladly send you a copy, which I’m sure would work for you.

David

David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los Angeles

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[Ernie Santella]

Thanks guys. David, I agree, that’s why I would like mine to be accurate. I do a lot of WMV compression and I want to know they will look good. I don’t know why the Dells don’t look as close as my previous Apple 30″. I traded that for the two Dells. I had a hard time with all everything on one big monitor. Especially when set to the max resolution.

Ernie Santella
Santella Productions Inc.
http://www.santellaproductions.com

[David Roth weiss]

[Ernie Santella] ” I don’t know why the Dells don’t look as close as my previous Apple 30″. I traded that for the two Dells.”

It’s just that they need tweaking. Apple cinema displays ship more or less pre-calibrated. But the Dells can be very good if you have the right tools to help you do the job.

David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los Angeles

POST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™

A forum host of Creative COW’s Apple Final Cut Pro, Business & Marketing, and Indie Film & Documentary forums.

[Steve Ascher]

Hi David,

I have the i-one match spyder and have not been able to get our Dells to look right.

Would like to take you up on your offer to get a copy of your calibration profile. How would we do that?

thanks.

[Chadwick Chennault]

David, I too have a Spyder(3elite), and I would be interested in how you used yours to set up your monitors. I have a 2407 rev2. I have calibrated it several times using the NTSC profile that came with the Spyder software. Everytime I calibrate I get something RADICAllY different.

[David Roth weiss]

I’m in the middle of a big moving my office, so I don’t have the time to research where Apple saves the calibrations. If one of you can dig that up I’ll happily share with you all.

David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los Angeles

POST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™

A forum host of Creative COW’s Apple Final Cut Pro, Business & Marketing, and Indie Film & Documentary forums.

[Reid Caulfield]

” Profiles are stored in /Library/ColorSync/Profiles/Displays/ or /Home/Library/ColorSync/Profiles/Displays/ folder depending upon whether you’ve saved the profile for only your use or for all users. ”

[Ernie Santella]

Cool! Now if David can find time to share his file, we can try his settings.

Ernie Santella
Santella Productions Inc.
http://www.santellaproductions.com

[David Roth weiss]

[Reid Caulfield] “” Profiles are stored in /Library/ColorSync/Profiles/Displays/ or /Home/Library/ColorSync/Profiles/Displays/ folder depending upon whether you’ve saved the profile for only your use or for all users. ”
“

Found the folder Reid, but it’s empty. I have several profiles that show in the System Preferences>>Display>>Color, but they just don’t show in the Library in either of the locations you mentioned.

David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los Angeles

POST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™

A forum host of Creative COW’s Apple Final Cut Pro, Business & Marketing, and Indie Film & Documentary forums.