Dell monitor calibration help

[Joe]

My Dell Ultrasharp 2209WA monitor is connected to a Dell Inspiron laptop (new, Windows 8). I`m trying to

calibrate the external monitor with Spyder 4 pro. I`m not using advanced settings, just following instructions

prior to basic calibration: room lighting, resetting default monitor settings and letting the software/hardware

do the rest.

 

Compared to the uncalibrated monitor the calibrated monitor is as dull as dishwater with a brownish colour cast.

 

Anyone out there had a similar experience with Spyder 4 pro/Dell monitor?

 

 

Thanks

 

Joe

[IDP]

Joe,

 

I had some problems back at the end of 2012 when I first got Spyder4 Pro. Amongst other monitors, I was calibrating a Dell U2711 monitor and it was giving me a very strong colour caste. I spent months going back and forth with Datacolor support but finally gave up because of the length of time they take to respond! They insisted that there was nothing wrong with their hardware or software, although I found the Spyder4 to be far less reliable than Spyder3 Elite. 

 

What does help greatly is to have your white point set to Native and not 6500K. I also bit the bullet and got the Elite software upgrade, which does give you more control.

 

By the way, I've found similar colour caste problems when calibrating LG and other Dell monitors with Spyder4

 

Ian D

[Joe]

Thanks, Ian. Nipping out now, i`ll try later, setting white point as suggested.

 

Thanks

 

Joe

[M.Chapman]

I had problems calibrating a Dell display with a Spyder under Windows 7. It really messed up the shadows (turned grey instead of black) and the images lost all their punch. I gave up in the end and swapped to an i1 Display Pro, no problems since.

[Joe]

I`m still getting the same results setting native white point. As i mentioned in my original post, the monitor

is connected to a Dell Inspiron ( Windows 8 ) laptop. Is it possible to isolate the displays when calibrating?

When i calibrate the external monitor it calibrates the laptop display as well. If i disconnect the external

monitor and calibrate the just the laptop, it looks okay, but when i reconnect the external monitor

it uses the calibration profile from the laptop display.

 

Joe

[Guest]

....

[Joe]

Thanks, Geoff.

 

I emailed Datacolor earlier. This is their reply:

 

Please make sure the displays are not in mirror mode when calibrating.

Please also be aware of this:
Here is some more information about using two seperate displays on one single video card on a Windows system:
Each ICC profile has got two parts. One part will be used by the color management of Windows and it's applications, the other second part will be loaded into the Lookup-Table (LUT) of your video card. This is what the ColorVision-Start-Up (Spyder2) or SpyderUtility (Spyder3 and Spyder4) does on boot-time. See the LUT as a kind of translation table for creating the right colors.
To calibrate and use two displays on one and the same Windows computer, you need a video card with two separate Lookup Tables (LUT).
But this exists only on newer and high quality video cards or if you have two separate graphic adapters in your system.
Several video cards offer two or more display connectors, but they only have one LUT. Therefore it's impossible to use two separate correction curves for these two connected screens.
But you can still calibrate your main display and use the second one (uncalibrated) for tools and pallets.
From the outside, you can't see if your video card has got one or two LUT. To be sure about this, please get in touch with the manufacturer directly.
Most Windows laptops use standard video cards with one single LUT!

It sounds from your description that your graphic card has only one LUT.

You can calibrate also w. only one monitor running = either the external or the internal and name the profiles different.

 

 

And there was me thinking i could plug it in and make a coffee while it calibrated. My IT skills are pretty basic, can`t

fathom out how to check if monitors are in mirror mode. I`ll have another bash this afternoon before assigning Spyder

tp the bottom draw.

 

Joe

[jwalrath]

Hi Joe, my name is John Walrath and I am the Imaging Training Manager for Datacolor
 
I am not able to look up your ticket but from your description it sounds like your computer only has one LUT or Look Up Table (as our support team suggested).  Our software will make a file that your LUT will use to adjust the output of your video card so your monitor is displaying color accurately.  Just because you can hook up an external monitor doesn't mean your laptop can color manage both.  
 
If this is indeed the case, you will need to choose a monitor as your main display.  I would suggest your external display and use your laptop screen for photoshop tools and word processing, etc.  
 
If your displays are mirrored, they you will see the same thing on both screens.  If you do, then it is a setting in your Control Panel->Display->Project to a Second Screen.  In here, you will choose one of the extend screen options so you can work on two different displays.  
 
In your Spyder4PRO software you can choose the display you want to calibrate.  This option is in the Calibration Settings screen.  In the top right you can choose the display.
 
I hope this helps!  If you need anything from us, our US support line is 609.924.2189 and our European support line is 41 44 8353830

Best,
John