Widescreen Gaming Forum

Hi all

I took delivery of a LG L194WT yesterday and so far I'm really pleased with it, except with regard to setting it up properly.

I have several areas of confusion/difficulty:

1) I've set the monitor to sRGB as opposed to a kelvin value, since I photo edit in sRGB and this seems like a good idea (is it?)

2) The f-engine is confusing. I'm not really bothered about the dynamic contrast, but what's the difference between Normal/User/Text/Movie? I can see a visual difference but I'm wondering which one gives the standard sRGB output. Is User just Normal, edited with whatever changes you make? It seems obvious but I get the impression it's not as simple as that.

3) Given that I'm connecting with DVI and am using the sRGB setting on the monitor, do I have any need to calibrate? Photoshop tells me that the monitor profile is defective (that is, the one that came on the monitor's CD) and I've tried Monitor Calibration Wizard but it gives a blue cast which is not as nice as the monitor's default profile. I've read in several places that Adobe Gamma is not suitable for LCDs so I've avoided using it. Since I'm using PS for some important stuff (please don't say anything about the monitor being a TN panel.. I know all that stuff) I want to be sure it is displaying colours as truthfully as possible. Is it likely that the Monitor Calibration Wizard profile is accurate? It certainly seems a bit off to me. Could be my eyes, I suppose.

4) When I try the MonitorTest program, gradients going from black-white (or any colour) have a far deeper black when the black is at either the top or the sides of the screen. When the black comes from the bottom, it's quite a lot less 'black'. I don't think it's backlight bleed since the a) the colour is very constant and b) it doesn't feel like monitor bleed. It's also not to do with the angle of the monitor because I have tweaked that and moved my head etc.

5) I have two monitors now (the 19" LG and my old 15" LG) and when I try to change the profile with MCW it changes it for both. The Displays control panel has the facility to have a different profile for each, is it easy enough to 'force' a profile for each monitor?

Can anyone give me any pointers, specifically people with this monitor? I guess folk with LG monitors that have f-engine might know a thing or two about my f-engine confusion.

I would buy a Spyder or other hardware calibration tool but I just don't have the cash. So that's not a solution, alas.

Any help would be much appreciated, apologies for the long post!!

Cheers in advance

-m

PS After opening the Service Menu, then restarting the monitor, I'm now able to change the Contrast and Gamma settings, which I wasn't before?? What the hell is going on?!
PPS It turns out that setting to sRGB disables Contrast and Gamma. Trouble is, the picture looks really good with the gamma turned down, and therefore with something other than sRGB set. Is this a good thing? 6500K seems the best to me, from sight alone.