Monitor Calibration (11 Series)

[John Tissavary]

I'm not Mike, but I'll try to respond here...

Plasma displays have (for lack of a better description) swirly, unstable pixels. Looks stable from a distance, but if you put your eye right up to the panel you'll see what I'm talking about.

A contact probe with a small aperture like the i1 display will give different readings each time it samples a pixel. Therefore it is necessary to sample the color and luminance from a distance to get accurate, useful readings.

Examples of non-contact probes are x-rite Hubble, Konica-Minolta CP-200, Orb-Optronix SP100, Photo Research PR-655, etc...

All of the devices I've listed are extremely accurate and useful for profiling plasma displays as well as projectors.


cheers,

JT

[Kujtim Ereqi]

Thanks John. That's quite clear for me now.

So, it seems that I definitely need a non contact probe for calibrating plasma monitors. But those probes are much more expensive than the Panasonic plasma 11 pro series itself. One of the reasons made me think buying that monitor - besides its accuracy and size -, is its price, which is quite affordable for me at the moment. So there is no way for me to go for a non contact probe for the moment.
Also getting a proffesional guy to make the calibration for me, is almost impossible where I live.

So.. What are the other alternatives to acceptably calibrate this monitor. And by acceptable I mean a reliable calibration not a perfect one.

P.s. I'm planning to go for Black Magic Ultrascope. I think that will help me to be in the right track..

[M Most]

So.. What are the other alternatives to acceptably calibrate this monitor. And by acceptable I mean a reliable calibration not a perfect one.

P.s. I'm planning to go for Black Magic Ultrascope. I think that will help me to be in the right track..

Well, since it's already an HD video monitor (as opposed to a computer monitor), you can use some of the various consumer setup DVDs. There's one on BluRay that's pretty good ("Digital Video Esssentials: HD Basics"). The one thing you really can't get from these is color temperature (you really do need a probe for that), but for everything else, they're pretty good. I guess the question becomes are you doing work for yourself, or are you doing paid work for clients? If it's the former, the DVD setup disks should get you to a pretty good place. If it's the latter, well, you need to have proper tools in any business and the post business is no different. If you can't afford it, you can't do it. Simple. But there are a lot of ways to acquire something you don't necessarily need every day without laying out the full price for it up front. You might be able to rent one (either locally or not), you might find someone who's willing to lend one to you, or maybe some other arrangement. But in the end, if you're going to do something professionally, you need certain professional tools. The fact that a probe costs more than the monitor is irrelevant. High quality glass often costs more than the camera it's put in front of. The Red Rocket card costs more than most of the computers that will host it. A good microphone can cost more than the digital recorder it plugs into. The world is full of such things.

[Kujtim Ereqi]

Thanks Mike. Always your posts have been very useful and informative. As a matter of fact, it was your posts that made me think seriously buying a plasma. Before that I was planning to get a LCD monitor.

And certainly, I really do agree with you that - as you said- : "If you're going to do something professionally, you need certain professional tools".

What I had in mind, but did not point out in my post, was: If I can't afford a non-contact probe to professionaly calibrate a plasma monitor, maybe I should think again of the LCD monitor alternative, since contact probes are much affordable, even that plasmas in general are better than LCDs for Color Correction.

Do you think it's a good idea.