Monitor Calibration - Very Disappointed

[Heofz]

Just bought a brand new Spyder 4 Elite for around £80ish

I'm running dual HP LP2475w, both very nice screens however they are running different firmware (one is 068 the other is 076), and they are slightly different colour temperatures (the 076 is slightly cooler).

Got tired of seeing the slight colour differences when comparing images/text/documents/anything side by side, tried the Windows 7 built in Color Calibration wizard but it was pretty subjective and didn't really get me the results I was seeking.

Did a bit of reading and found out about the Spyder 4. Bought it, calibrated both screens, now it has given both screens a distinct blue tint The strange thing is that my mouse cursor is a much purer white against a supposed white (255,255,255) background.

What's more, my monitors STILL look different to each other in terms of colour temps. wtf? They should both be calibrated perfectly at this point right?

Am I missing something here? I would much appreciate any advice

 

[R B Customs]

I know you say that it has given them a distinct blue tint, but how long has it been like that before you posted this? i.e have you let your eyes adjust fully? going from a warm screen to a balanced screen will make it look distinctly blue at first.

 

[Baddass]

the Spyder devices arent the most reliable from my experience, a lot of inter instrument variation and some real issues measuring white point. not personally tested the v4 device but certainly issues with the v3 and v2 devices. could be related to that perhaps. have you tried any other software as well in case that gives you better control and results? maybe try the free trial of BasICColor Display?

 

[PCM2]

I would second what Baddass has said. It seems that the hardware variability was more extreme with the older pucks (Spyder3) but even the Spyder4 is quite variable in this respect. I own a Spyder4 myself but had some quite barmy results on LED backlit and WCG-CCFL backlit displays (like your HP) in particular. I confirmed by cross-reference with much higher-end devices that this was a hardware fault - got the puck replaced with one that is miles better.

Before deciding your hardware is faulty and entering into the lottery again (so to speak) it is also worth trying out the 'Studio Match' functionality which is designed to better match up multiple displays. Also make sure you configure it to 'WCG CCFL' or something along those lines if it doesn't auto-detect your monitor as this will improve calibration performance. It is also worth considering whether this apparent colour temperature deviation exists in the centre of the screen or whether it is more pronounced on the peripheral sections. It might be that you are seeing deviation across the screen which can't always be neutralised by calibrating based on central readings. As R B Customs mentioned the native white point of such monitors is usually quite warm to the eye so it will look cooler than you're used to if it is closer to 6500K - which is itself a 'cool-looking' (blue) white in tone.