Widescreen Gaming Forum

hehe im indeed from Norway and the outdoor beers have made its mark already :lol: "got to love Norway" - that can be discussed!

I have a uncle and aunt in the US (even how cliché that might be), so that should be doable.

For pure curiosity; how well is the 2690 calibrated with only the i1D2, compared to the spectraview2?

I've read alot of places people have been happy without the spectraview, and i must admit if its not that big of a difference im temted to just leave it

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If i decide to buy the spectraview2 from the US, whats the process?
Download the software (trial) from nec.com and get only the serial key from my contacts down there. Then just doing a standard install and use the key to activate it?

The difference between calibrating by software (GFX LUT calibration) and hardware calibration (monitor LUT calibration) is large in theory. In practical terms, people won't notice, since they have no reference point.

The theory is this:

The screen is 8-bit per RGB. The colors are mapped within the screen itself in the monitor LUT (lookup table). This gives 256 colors for red, 256 colors for green and 256 colors for blue (256x256x256=16,7M colors).

Lets say you wish to adjust the white point. The white point is a mixture of red, green and blue. As mentioned, you have a range of 0-256 for each primary color.

When you adjust it in GFX lut, there is a compensation going on. In effect, you are reducing the range of your primaries to get the "proper mix for given white point). This is because the monitor LUT remains the same (same white point, same range).

When you adjust it in the monitor LUT, you are changing the screen itself with no compensation going on. You preserve the color range.

The NEC's have 12-bit lut and 12-bit gamma correction to ensure that you get smooth stepping without banding also after calibraton.

In additon, if you calibrate with colorcomp on, it will even out the brightness, so that the colors are even across the display. As you might or might not know, colors are usually not uniform across a display. You can calibrate it to a perfect DeltaE level in center, while 5cm left it will be a totally another story.

Here's an illustration:

Before colorcomp:


After colorcomp:

http://www.prad.de/en/monitore/review/2007/review-nec-lcd2690wuxi-part9.html#Image

Note that this has nothing to do with the uniformity of black, but the uniformity of the colors. So you cannot measure or see it with a totally black screen. 155 is 155 cdm2, which means brightness, not black level/black depth.

If you wish to buy Spectraview 2, you need to transfer money to your US relatives (or receive it from an uncle in america as in monopoly). This is because they have blocked EU creditcards so we cannot buy it. Then they need to send you the serial and you can download the program from NEC's homepage in USA.

Just install it with the key and you are set to go (and you don't have to press any buttons on the screen to do so ;) ).

Thanks for the good explanation, i can finally relax and buy my display with no more 'worries'! :D

Im exited to see how counter strike source is with this screen! 8)

No worries. I think you have enough to make an informed decition now. :) Best part is NEC's warranties in Norway:



In Norway, they honor this. Also in US according to ToastyX and Painman. You get new screen on the door while they pay for shipment both for the new and the old one. They send the new screen first and you send the old back afterwards.

I haven't played CSS on it, but I have played a lot of ET - quake wars on it and a little of some other FPS games (like COD5). There's an average of 33ms input lag on this screen, but I haven't noticed it in the accuracy readings after the games. RPG games looks stunning on this screen due to the wide gamut and I must confess that I have given the accuracy the boot and turned the saturation control up to 6 on all 6 axis for some extra boost in WOW some time ago.

The beauty of this screen is that, unlike GFX calibration where games doesn't honor your profile, your calibration is in the screen, so games always honor it. In some games, its fun to have a gamma of 2.4 or 2.5 and since its hardware calibrated, you don't get the banding and it keeps the black seperation pretty decently.

You'll be amazed by the scaling options if you like to play older games as well. You can adjust sharpness individually for each resolution.

There is 3 inputs (DVI-I, DVI-D and VGA). Each input can have its own preset. LUT calibration (programmable color and gamma) can only be done on one preset at the time, so you have to reload for each input though. The spectraview 2 (and profiler) can be installed on unlimited amount of machines that you can connect to the screen, so switching profiles is really easy once you get used to it.

Ok, but how can they send a display which they dont build anymore?
I asked the store how they would handle a faulty display which is not anylonger produced, and he said they will try to fix it or i will get a replacement screen (not necessary the 2690wuxi in other words),
That can either be bad or good :roll:

I'll give feedback of how the display turned out and how it works with css for those who wants.
8)