Widescreen Gaming Forum

I haven't tested the newest version of Spectraview Profiler yet, so I can't say much about its performance.

What I suspect is that the 12-bit gamma correction is still on programmable when you use the preset. Set it to 2.2 or custom when you use the presets. Off/none before you use the sRGB preset. When you do LUT calibration, it automatically puts it back into programmable (since it programs the gamma correction at the same time for optimal results).

But why use the presets?

Spectraview profiles stores your settings and the programmable lut into the profile. Inside Spectraview profiler, you can open and select different profiles and it will load the lut into the programmable and also adjust brightness and other settings that you have calibrated it to.

Lets say you use D50 and D65. Make 2 LUT calibrated profiles. You can use different brightness settings etc. Call one D50 and one D65.

Inside Spectraview profiler, choose file -> select system profile. From there, you can switch profiles instead of using presets. Allow it some time to internally adjust brightness and stabilize colors (it has advanced electronics for that). The profile will automatically be set as default, loaded into GFX lut and Photoshop will automatically use the new profile. No need to change anything else in your color management chain. You don't need to have your calibration probe attached to switch profiles. :)

Not only easy, but you get optimal results as well.

When it comes to the numbers you talked about, I'm not sure what values you are speaking of. If its DeltaE94, then the profile is useless. It should be beneath 1 in maximum on this type of screen. You might get it at 0.1 average even, but as long as its below 1 it wouldn't be any visible difference.

I'd like to add a bit info about a discovery concerning the 2690's blacks that I've posted on another forum. NEC advertises it with "CRT like" blacks and I wondered a bit about it:

There have been raised questions about different 2690's having different hue in the mura effect at angle. Some see red and others green. Also, it has puzzled me how black looks black on this screen even if calibrated to a high black point. I've tried with a black point at 0,87 cd/m2 and still it looked black, not grey. The reason for this was simple and right in front of my eyes all the time. Though the polarizer in the NEC improves black at angle, thats not why black is so black.

In the advanced menu, there is an RGB control on the black level adjustment. With this, you can control the "black point" as you would with the white point. Try this with your screen. Adjust red a bit higher and look at a full black screen at angle. You'll see that the black adopts a red hue. As "whiteness of white" is not entirely dependened upon the level of brightness, so is the "blackness of black" not entirely dependened upon the level of brightness.

Upon LUT calibration, it seems like it balances out the mixture of Black RGB as well as white RGB. Even if your black point is measured with a high luminance, it still looks black. No need to use the black level adjustment when hardware LUT calibrating, but its a nice option when doing manual calibration.

Its pretty unique, so I thought it was worth mentioning.

Enter the advanced menu:

Hold down input button while powering on the screen. Press menu and choose tag E (its where the information is in the advanced menu).

Pressing select + down gives you option to turn spectraview settings on/off. Choose on.


this do not work. serial nr start with 8 and was bought in March 2008. There are no menus or Lut options under TAG E in the advanced meny.


are there some other options available?



Tiger

Sory for bumping this thread, but 'm very interested on this monitor and I've a few questions before purchasing it:

1) How does it scale with resolutions lower than the native 1920x1200 for the Windows Desktop (not in games)? I'd like to know which is the text quality with these resolutions, at least with 1680x1050. I've the famous NEC 20WGX2 at the moment and I'm not satisfied with its interpolation algorithm. With resolutions lower than 1680x1050 text is very blurred with the 'aspect' expansion mode and it is impossible to work with. In the Prad.de review, only it is tested the interpolation algorithm in games, not in the desktop.

2) What is the *real* sRGB gamut percentage on this monitor? I suspect that the actual sRGB gamut is about 72% but I'm not sure of this. Can you confirm this? I know this monitor is wide gamut and the aRGB gamut is about 93% and the NTSC gamut about 91%. If this is true (the sRGB gamut is 72%) how does it affect to the color representation on this mode? Can you qualify it as poor?

3) I've read posts before that Painman has used this monitor in order to play games under real DOS boxes (i.e., classic games). I'm interested on this too, specially for the custom scaling feature. Since this monitor is wide gamut by nature, how does the color rendition is under real DOS games? Is it very oversaturated or in games is this not noticeable? Can you play classic games under DOS boxes in a comfortably manner?

4) Tamlin, is it possible with your workaround to work comfortably in the sRGB color space? Can the monitor be calibrated by hardware under the sRGB space or is this not possible yet (only via the graphics card LUT)?

Thanks very much for your help.

Regards

No problem. :)

1) The interpolation works well with text. By the nature of the H-IPS pixel structure and the polarizer used, the image is softer then average. You don't have the cornyness of the agressive polarizers found in ACD 30" and the like and not the image reflection you get on the 20WGX2. Its very comfortable to work with when it comes to text and images due to this.
On windows desktop in 1680x1050, the interpolation works well. You will notice that the text becomes softer, since after all it will use 1920x1200 pixels to draw a 1680x1050 picture, but this you can also compensate to a degree with the sharpness control. The effect depends a bit if cleartype is used or not. I would leave it on. Most should be able to work within this mode as well, but I can't see why you would want to use a non-native resolution on windows desktop.
Both the sharpness control and the scaling choice will stick to the resolution chosen, so you can have different settings on each resolution. If you work only with text, then you can select opt/dicom under gamma settings (advanced menu) for greater contrast. This should give you optimal reading I think.

2) I'm not sure what you mean with "real" sRGB gamut percentage. sRGB gamut is 72% of aRGB, this screen is 93% or 94.5% of aRGB depending on where you read. The sRGB preset emulates 72% aRGB (sRGB) very well and people do work in sRGB mode with it.

3) You have a choice of which gamut you want to use under DOS mode. You can either select sRGB or wide gamut. None of them will interfere with your choice of scaling. Personally I prefer wide gamut in most games. This is manly due to the nature of wider gamut. Though its less "colormetrical correct" in a game based on sRGB, colors are less "muddy" and seems more pure. Green tentacle in Day of the Tentacle looks more green. Colormetrical standards doesn't matter much for me when gaming and I always have a choice to enter the menu and select sRGB if I please. :)

4) Yes, you can work comfortably in sRGB space as mentioned above. The sRGB preset is well made, so you won't notice the emulation of the smaller gamut of sRGB. It also have its own LUT, so your hardware calibration in wide gamut won't affect it. You cannot recalibrate the preset, so you are forced to use GFX LUT as with standard screens. Good news is that you will have a DeltaE of less then 1 (actually you can get it less then 0.5 depending on your screen) after calibration. No colors are oversaturated in sRGB mode. With Spectraview profiler, you switch calibration profile in your GFX lut on the fly, but you need to change your preset manually when going to sRGB (to wide gamut, it changes automatically to programmable and loads appropriate LUT from the calibration file you selected).

Thanks very much Tamlin, your help is very appreciated.

Nowadays, it is not easy to get an answer about this old model :( , since this model will be superseded by 2690WUXi2.. The reason I'm interested on version 1 is because in my country (Spain) I've found a good offer for it: 1060€ including taxes and shipping :) and I don't think I need the new revision for its higher gamut (I'm not a professional designer but a computer student), and I need a new monitor to work with web design, programming, Office, E-mail reading, PDF reading/editing, watching movies and for playing games occasionally (under Windows and DOS boxes)... and I think this NEC is an all-rounder!! :roll:

Can you do me a favor? Can you post some photos with text under Windows Desktop at 1920x1200 (without interpolating) and at 1680x1050, 1440x900 and 1280x1024 with ASPECT and FULL SCREEN expansion modes? I'd like to get a picture about the interpolation image quality of this model. I would be satisfied if the interpolation quality is better than my 20WGX2...
It is something like what Prad.de performs in their tests (Sample demonstrating the EXCELLENT interpolation image quality of an Eizo under Windows).

Thanks in advance :wink:

I am a very bad photographer, but did the best I could. Didn't have a stand, so I had to use a stack of dvd covers on my desk. Took them in sRGB, but the colors don't quite match what I see. It can also be tweaked more with sharpness etc. (did a little tweaking). They are also downscaled from 3648x2736.

Can't do better without spending much time learning the camera. (and I don't have time since I'm married) :P

Here goes (full screen):


1920x1200:




1680x1050:




1440x900:








1280x1024 (scale to aspect):

Very good interpolation quality! :shock:
Much better than my 20WGX2 for sure... Despite the high dot pitch, the interpolation algorithm is as good as the Eizo's of the screenshot :)

Good news is that you will have a DeltaE of less then 1 (actually you can get it less then 0.5 depending on your screen) after calibration.

Do you mean is it possible to reach that impressive DeltaE under sRGB mode or only under aRGB mode?

Thanks very much for your help Tamlin. Probably, I'm going to buy this baby soon :D, although it won't be the SpectraView version. Can I calibrate by hardware the monitor anyway (no SpectraView)?

;)

Tamlin, I've edited my original post and included 2 questions. Thanks :oops:

Sorry for late reply. I work a lot these days (just had a vacation and lots of catching up to do).
Yes, you can obtain such results by calibrating via GFX LUT when using sRGB preset. :)
There is no way to hardware calibrate the screen without Spectraview 2 or spectraview profiler software. Hardware calibration is done by adjusting the 12-bit LUT and the 12-bit gamma correction. Only NEC's own spectraview can access it. Good news is that if you are able to get a copy from USA (they don't accept EU credit cards, only USA and Canadian), you will be able to hardware calibrate an EU multisync version.

Hi Tamlin:

Yes, I have the SpectraView II software downloaded from NEC America and I have a valid serial number from a friend of mine (don't know if this it's legal, sorry) :oops: . The SpectraView II software is version 1.0.42 and I cannot install it because my 20WGX2 is not found in the list of accepted models...
Do you think with this software I will be able to calibrate by hardware the MultiSync EU version in aRGB mode (since sRGB mode is not calibratable in this way)? That will be GREAT!

In the other hand, I've read lasts posts on HardForum (you posted there too! :D ) indicating that new MultiSync EU versions have been locked against SpectraView activation :( Quoting the post from [H]:

meisterk there is a way to make your monitor SV compatible.

From Power of, start up the monitor by pressing Power + Input, this enters you into the advanced menu.

To Enable Spectra view press menu and choose tag E (its where the information is in the advanced menu.)

Pressing input + down gives you option to turn spectraview settings on/off. Choose on by pressing up.
[quote]This does not work on the newer EU versions.

Do you know something about this issue? :( :(

Thanks very very much in advance :)