Samsung PX2370 Calibration

AndyBurnes · 1 Jun 2010 at 17:10

Does anyone have any experience calibrating the Samsung PX2370 or the earlier XL2370? Just got one today and could do with some assistance tweaking all these options. Making matters worse, I'm colour blind, so determining what is 'correct' is mighty tricky.

Thanks in advance!

Adrianr · 1 Jun 2010 at 20:16

Calibration is not something you can do by eye. You can adjust the colours untill they look pleasing, but this is different to calibration. To calibrate the colours you need a colorimeter to read the colour produced by the screen, and adjust to a set target accordingly.

Forgive me (In no way intended as a hostile question), but if you're colour blind, does it really matter? Or is it for the benefit of others using the computer?

AndyBurnes · 1 Jun 2010 at 21:10

Well often you see recommended settings for brightness, contrast, etc in other threads, and those would be useful, but yes, it is for the benefit of others. I don't want someone to be watching a film and people's faces be bright pink!

What tech would I need then?

Adrianr · 1 Jun 2010 at 21:20

AndyBurnes said:
Well often you see recommended settings for brightness, contrast, etc in other threads, and those would be useful, but yes, it is for the benefit of others. I don't want someone to be watching a film and people's faces be bright pink!

What tech would I need then?

Other peoples settings are pretty much irrelevant due to every monitor being a little different. It may get you in the ballpark, but no closer than simply doing it by eye to what you find pleasing. Brightness will also be dependant on the ambient light when using the computer. You will want it brighter in brighter rooms, and vice versa.

If you're worried about rogue colours etc, have someone check this image whilst you adjust. If nothing is drastically wrong, it will be fine for normal home uses

http://www.cod.edu/photo/curto/images/PDI_Test_Image.jpg

If you wanted to calibrate it look into hardware such as the Spyder3 or Xrite i1. There are loads of options, but these are the accepted best of the low end bunch. You can pair the hardware pucks with different third party software too, you're not restricted to what the manufacturer provides (which is never the best anyway). However given your condition I certainly wouldn't see the point in purchasing one.

AndyBurnes · 1 Jun 2010 at 22:21

Thanks for the advice, I'll have some people with working eyes sit down in front of the screen.

CAT-THE-FIFTH · 1 Jun 2010 at 22:23

The OP should look at this webpage:

http://www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/

It won't replace a colorimeter but still should be useful to do some basic monitor calibration with.

PCM2 · 1 Jun 2010 at 22:34

I do have experience calibrating the XL2370 (I am posting a thorough review of the screen on my website this weekend). The main thing to bare in mind when calibrating (or attempting to calibrate) a TN panel is that due to colour shifts you are never going to get things anywhere near perfect. Everyone will have their own preferences, but in our testing we found:

- Brightness at 100% but lower if you suffer eyestrain or based on preferences

- Contrast should be lowered to 80% or possibly even 60% depending on your needs. If you use the supplied Natural Color Pro software there is a test with white circles that can help determine the correct setting for contrast. If you don't have this, the Lagom white saturation test is also useful. The Windows 7 calibration test is useful for adjusting colour balance, brightness and gamma but not contrast.

- Lower the blue level by '5 notches' on the Windows 7 calibration settings procedure. You could reduce the blue level in the OSD slightly instead - the XL2370 has a slight blue bias (as is common with TN panels) and the PX2370 probably does too

- Setting gamma mode to '2' improves the overall colour performance

- Don't sweat about the settings too much for games and movies - the presets work very nicely. Just enjoy the experience

Hope this helps.

AndyBurnes · 1 Jun 2010 at 23:58

Thanks for the advice and link. Tried 100% brightness but white pages/Windows Explorer were just too painful. Had to go down to 85%. Will continue to fiddle and will then see what the other half thinks tomorrow.

Thanks again!

AndyBurnes · 2 Jun 2010 at 12:37

Update: She's gone through all the tests and made it look right, but now it looks 'weird' for me because of the colour blindness! Is there any way to set up profiles (containing colour, gamma, contrast and brightness) that can be quickly swapped?