My old NEC monitor started to flicker this morning, so I went and bought a new 24″ Samsung flatscreen, and I simply can not get the colors right. Right now whites almost hurt my eyes.
Can any of you think of any software I can download that will help me adjust my colors? I am simply unable to look at the screen for too long without it giving me a headache. I am running at 1900×1200 with an Nividia GeForce 7600 GS, and I have updated video and monitor drivers.
cleek
aren’t there buttons on the monitor itself ?
most monitors let you play with the color balance via the front-panel buttons.
Clutch414
IS there anyway to adjust the contrast or brightness on the front of the monitor?
TheFountainHead
Most monitors these days come with annoying and poorly designed software to allow you to do these things. It didn’t come with any?
Jay C
cleek was FRIST! – but I agree: first check the controls on the monitor itself: then see if the “Video and Outputs” (or “Monitor”) window in your Control Panel has brightness/hue controls.
Or: get some sunglasses.
4tehlulz
Do you have NVIDIA’s control panel applet? There’s a tool to help optimize your display on it.
JGabriel
John, this might help: Monitor Calibration Wizard 1.0.
You still need to know where the buttons are to adjust contrast, brightness, and color balance, though.
.
Walker
Color balance alone is probably not enough if John is asking for help. He may need to adjust the gamma/white balance. That requires color calibration software on the computer.
This is in the System Preferences in OS X. For Windows, get this free tool.
Walker
Damn. JGabriel beat me by seconds.
jibeaux
Maybe your kerning is off.
I don’t know anything technological. The best I can offer is snark. I am the Little Drummer Boy of Balloon Juice.
John Cole
Yes, there are buttons on the front but I can not get the damned colors right.
No, I did not get any usable software. I got a disc with html that shows me how to adjust shit, which any monkey can figure out how to do, but no color scheme help.
Yes, I have the Nvidia control applet, but it only has somethign for setting up multiple monitors.
What I want is a program that I had 15 years ago with a voodoo card and sony monitor that said adjust brightness until these two bars look the same. Adjust contrast until these two bars look the same. Adjust blah blah blah.
Asshole computer developers. The “better” this shit gets the more of a pain in the ass it is.
ThymeZone
The flourescent tubes in these monitors are replaceable, but the job is not one for amateurs.
But you can get it fixed, probably at a reasonable cost.
Darkness
You went through the calibration under preferences: Displays: Color (tab) and then the “calibrate” button and still no joy? Was the box open already?
lutton
Look for the ‘color tempature’ setting: warm (redder) cool (bluer), natural, etc.
It’s usually expressed as degrees kelvin.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_temperature
Llelldorin
If this is a montior connected to a Mac:
Go to System Preferences
Click on Displays
Click the “Color” Tab
Click “Calibrate”
That’ll let you set the target white point, the gamma, and so on.
Buck B.
Darkness is right, follow his steps. Then you get to play making the little Apple disappear.
Darkness
From ZDNET’s review
Punchy
So THIS is why you like Obama so much! Just download nothing but BET.
Racist!
El Cid
The NVidia graphics drivers which come as part of the GeForce software package that I have used offer an extensive ability to adjust nearly everything about the display. I forget what the control program is called but it’s something like “NVidia Desktop” or something, and it launches a whole setup program.
Mike in Denmark
If it’s a newish nvidia-driver do this:
Right click your desktop
Choose NVIDIA-control panel in the menu that pops up
In the control panel open the Display sub-menu
Choose “Adjust desktop colour settings”
myiq2xu
Racist!
Jerome McDonough
If nothing else works, and you’re willing to part with $260, pick up the Eye-One Display 2 monitor calibration and profiling tool from Gretag Macbeth (http://usa.gretagmacbethstore.com/). It’s not that difficult to install and use, and when you’re done, your colors will be *right* (you may still not like them, but they’ll be right). Alternatively, ask around any serious photographers/graphic artists you know and see if they have one they’ll let you borrow long enough to calibrate your new monitor and generate a color profile for it.
myiq2xu
Damn, Punchy beat me to it.
Ravi J
I believe your old monitor was a CRT while the new one is an LCD. If this is the case, then it happens initially when you switch from one type to another.
Punchy
Hang in there, amateur. One day you’ll make the big leagues. :)
Devilham
Try going into the Nvidia control panel and playing with the gamma settings, that should lower the intensity of the whites, usually it’s a slider bar (or 3 seperate ones) that you can muck around with.
Tsulagi
24” LCD monitor? I’m envious.
You might want to look again. The box I’m using right now has a GeForce card and I just checked what was available. In addition to setting up multiple monitors, clicking on a tab listing the GeForce model number caused a side menu to open allowing full color adjustment, brightness, contrast, saturation, refresh rates, an optimization wizard and more.
Easy on a PC; no doubt that Apple stuff makes it even easier.
John Cole
I use a pc at home. Apple at work. Laptop is pc.
myiq2xu
I use a Commodore 64 myself.
kid bitzer
you need someone who is aware of the internet.
john mccain is aware of the internet:
http://www.americablog.com/2008/06/john-mccain-is-aware-of-internet.html
and it’s not too much to assume that he’s aware of all the traditions, too.
Crusty Dem
I always pictured myiq as an ASCII-porn afficiando.
JGabriel
John Cole:
That’s exactly what the Monitor Calibration Wizard, which I recommended above, does.
Give it shot. It sounds like that’s what you’re looking for.
.
The Moar You Know
John: if you want to adjust the color balance on your monitor, the XP NVidia driver/control software for your video card can be downloaded here and that’s what you want to do it with.
However, let me respectfully suggest that the problem isn’t with the monitor, it is with your brain.
Let me explain.
I, too, recently upgraded to one of the Samsung monitors; in my case, the gigantic 30″ 305T. And the white was hard to deal with at first. The problem is that you’re not used to seeing accurate colors (most CRTs are horrible in this respect) and it will take a while for your brain to adjust to what you’re looking at.
I wouldn’t go back for the world. It’s the only monitor that I’ve seen that’s better than Apple’s, and that’s saying a lot.
JGabriel
By the way, forgot to mention, the MCW is freeware.
.
Tsulagi
Well, for me the path was Control Panel>Display>Settings>Advanced to get to the Nvidia control applet, which is contained in the card drivers. Then as I mentioned, clicking on the GeForce card model tab brought up a full menu of adjustments that could be made.
If you can’t adjust using monitor controls, then using the Nvidia control applet would be best. Next after that would third party software. I believe a lot of Adobe software like Photoshop allows you to calibrate your monitor too .
Molly McRae
John, thanks for asking this question and lutton for providing an answer that helped me adjust my monitor. Maybe I will be able to stay online longer now.
John S.
John-
Speaking as an Art Director, there is truly only one way to get the colors on a monitor to look correct: Optical calibration.
Try the Spyder 2 Express. It’s about $79, and it will get the colors on your monitor to look as true to life as they possibly can. Strictly software calibration tools are shit by comparison.
You can also get optical calibration for your TV, but that shit is even too hardcore for me.
The Moar You Know
Here’s my procedure for getting to color management on my laptop (GeForce 6800GS):
right-click on desktop
select “properties”
click “settings” tab
click “advanced” (lower right hand corner)
click “color management”
manage color
John S.
Be careful when tinkering with color temperature as it varies by platform.
Macs tend to run a Whitepoint of 9300K with a Gamma of 1.8 while PCs tend to run a Whitepoint of 6500K with a 2.2 Gamma.
John S.
Oh, and if you do go with optical calibration, be sure to disable Adobe Gamma (under Control Panel on PC) because it will interfer with your custom monitor profile.
bartkid
>I am simply unable to look at the screen for too long without it giving me a headache
Your lucky, at least you can change your monitor.
Me, I’m looking at a website which has a Pjammie Media banner ad. I am simply unable to look at the screen for too long without it giving me a headache
John Cole
Jgabriel- I tried that and could not get it right.
I think you all are missing the point. I can adjust the colors on my monitor, and I can adjust the nvidia settings, I can’t get it looking RIGHT. The whites hurt my eyes almost.
cleek
OT: “I really didn’t love America until I was deprived of her company,” said war-hero, patriot, maverick, John “St. BQQ” McCain, to Sean Hannity.
myiq2xu
I prefer “connoisseur”
John S.
One final thought…
Color calibration is VERY difficult on an LCD monitor. I run a dual monitor setup at the office, and while my primary is a 24″ LCD, my secondary is a 22″ CRT because it reproduces color MUCH better.
Not that you should ever have this problem, but if I did all my graphic design on the LCD without color correcting on my CRT, everything I had printed would look pretty fucked up. The reason for this is primarily the brightness/contrast issue, which is vital for proper color accuracy. LCDs still don’t come close to matching CRTs on that score.
Going by my optically calibrated CRT, I can make sure that any ads, billboards, postcards, etc. that I create end up getting reproduced with 99.9% color accuracy by most printers. In other words, what I see on my screen pretty closely translates to what the finished piece looks like.
cleek
too bright, too red, too blue, too green ?
Punchy
Looks like Dick Roddy wasn’t the only ‘Neer making mad bank at the Dub-Vee.
John S.
This could be caused by any number of combinations – color temperature, brightness/contrast or gamma. You can tinker around until it looks ‘good’ to your eye, but you may not be seeing colors as they are intended to be seen.
Get a Color Spyder and be happy, citizen.
Chuck Butcher
Don’t force that son, get a bigger hammer
kindness
You may be “aware of all modern internet protocols” but do you know how to work your monitor?
Somehow that probably doesn’t look so good on a T-shirt I bet.
John Cole
Can you tell me what your settings are and I can try them?
Dave Trowbridge
I have the same monitor, and had a similar problem, but it came with something called Natural Color Pro that let me adjust it to me preferences.
It looks like you might be able to download a version here.
John Cole
This is actually the first monitor I have bought brand new since I bought a gateway 2000 486sx33 in 1992.
The NEC that just died I have had for 4-5 years and bought off ubid.com for 150 bucks, used. That used to be a great site. I used to use them and pricewatch.com a lot.
Egilsson
Well, if you aren’t running the flat screen in native resolution, it’s going to look pretty bad.
I don’t know if the native resolution of this monitor is 1900 x 1200. Probably is, but if not, change to the native resolution.
It doesn’t sound like a color problem; sounds like contrast is too high. Just dial back whatever setting is skewed too far to the right, and go more left (seriously).
John S.
Well, being that my monitors are optically calibrated, my settings aren’t going to work for you, I’m afraid.
But in general, make sure that on your monitor (not NVIDIA control panel):
– Reset to default
– Verify color temperature is 6500K
– Set your contrast to the maximum
– Adjust the brightness to a tolerable level
– Set your resolution to 1920 x 1200
Let me know what issues you have after that.
Countervail
If you’re on a Mac, try a little piece of software called MacShade. Sometimes new monitors are just too bright and this allows you to darken beyond the adjustments in your brightness setting.
dagon
john, your tech shit does not concern me in the least. buy an alienware with more RAM and graphics power than 2 generations of programmers could only dream of and you’ll be ok.
peace
bman
Have you tried running the refresh rate up as high as it will go? It probably defaults to 60hz. which always gives me a headache.
Jim
I have an Acer 24 inch and the whites hurt my eyes. This thread prompted me to tinker around with the controls and I found an auto adjustment on the front buttons that had a setting for “text” and the bright white became a duller white with a grey tint, which is easier on the eyes (unfortunately, not in the sense that Maria Sharapova is easier on the eyes than Martina Navratilova, but I digress). I know my HP 22″ monitor comes with software, but everything I read about it suggests it is next to useless.
The Other Steve
Give the monitor to me. It is obviously too sophisticated for you, and besides I only have a 19″ monitor.
mymassivecock2xu
I heard there is a tape somewhere of Michelle Obama saying the same thing.
JGabriel
John Cole:
Sigh. Try this.
Assuming that your brightness and contrast settings measure from 0-100, push your contrast down to about 85, and the brightness down to about 60.
Go down to 75 and 50 if that’s still too harsh.
If it still feels ‘off’, try adjusting from one of those two settings.
Also try setting your screen background to black/none, and keeping open a window with a lot of white in it, like the ‘Balloon Juice’ page, so you can compare the contrast and brightness better as you play around with them.
Finally, you might want to try setting the text background in apps to a light grey – which is what I do.
You can do that by right clicking on any empty spot in the main screen area, then selecting Properties | Appearance | Advanced, clicking on the Active Window background area, and changing the ‘Color 1’ setting to grey or the color of your choice using the drop down box.
.
Tsulagi
It might be a little of that transition from CRT to LCD Moar mentioned. As I recall now, I wasn’t real happy with my first LCD after my 20” Sony CRT at home died. It was a big-ass bastard, but I loved the color on it.
Since I’m not a geek by profession nor an art director, I’ll bow out of this now. Good luck.
crw
Ah. Welcome to the wacky world of LCDs. Most LCD monitors are set up with migraine inducingly bright white levels out of the box because it looks better in a brightly lit showroom. This produces way to bright an image for your average lit office, den, or bedroom. Depending on the specific model of your LCD, you’ll need different, relatively low levels of both brightness and contrast to get an acceptable white level. Unlike CRTs, you almost never want to run a high contrast level on LCD monitors. You also may have to turn off a feature called MagicBright, which overrides your settings in a (usually pretty horrible) attempt to overcome LCDs naturally lousy contrast ratio.
FWIW, on a Samsung SyncMaster 2493HM setting contrast and brightness both to 40% results in a much easier on the eyes 100 nit white level (100 nits is approximately the brightness of a well lit book). Getting color accuracy on an LCD is a bitch. The people suggesting optical calibration are right. That’s the only way to get even remotely close.
Fuzzykisser
I have a similar Samsung with the Nvidia FX550, so this may help.
1. I’ve set the Nvidia to B=25%,V=0%(default),C=30%,S=0(default) and Gamma=30%.
(This gives a “graph” which is approximately (.12,0) to (.65,.50) to (1.0,.85).). This is a bit extreme!, but it will get you in the ball park.
2. On the display: Hit the menu button, and choose the (2nd?) ‘picture’ choice, then choose ‘custom’, and use something like B=25, C=60. The latter is simmilar to choosing the “Internet” option for the display, so this is not so extreme.
The Samsung is noted for its VERY bright display.
If none of this makes immediate sense – I guess I have a different model, with different software.
And oh yes, upgrade the Nvidia display driver – but it won’t solve your problem.
DSB
John, if all this doesn’t work and you still don’t know what to do, try the Spyder2PRO 2.2. Not sure how much it is, we just have one hear at work that we use once a month to make sure our colors are correct. It makes a real difference and if you work with photos, it’s essential.
Dork
Clearly JC needs a green-screen old-school monitor/computer with the built-in keyboard and 4 decibytes of RAM. Anything more advanced and he’s snookered.
Or, just wait for the first 3rd grader who schlepps by your abode and has tape on his oversized glasses. Promise him a Mr. Goodbar and some imaginary friends and you’ll have the prob solved in 5 minz.
Cris
install linux, problem solved
Mac from Oregon
Sunglasses.
OriGuy
The future’s so bright, he’s gotta wear shades.
MNPundit
You should have gotten a Westinghouse like I did…
Ryan S.
Just out of curiousity, Do flourescent lights hurt your eyes? Just wondering because thats how many displays are lit up with I have had some ppl complain about then hurting their eyes. You might need to return that display and purchase a crt instead.
Marcus
Maybe try Screen Check.
John S.
Technically, they hurt everyone’s eyes.
I know we’ve all seen the ‘flicker’ of a monitor when someone videotapes a computer screen. Having a higher refresh rate helps to minimize that flicker, but even at a higher rate your biological eye sees it even if your naked eye does not. Fluorescent lighting flickers at a different rate (all artificial light does to some dgree) and it is the competing flicker between the two light sources that can leave your ocular cavities feeling a bit savaged.
LCDs have less flicker than CRTs, and incandescent lighting flickers less than fluorescent.
Ryan S.
True, but some people seem to be very sensitive to LCDs and fluorescent lights. I know one person I met who would get nausea and headaches when in fluorescent lighting for more than about an hour. Solution: in his office we literally put in a couple incandescent lamps.
Another thing with CRTs is that they often support a wider range of refresh rates than do LCDs.
Jon H
“Another thing with CRTs is that they often support a wider range of refresh rates than do LCDs.”
Refresh rate is pretty much meaningless for LCDs, because unlike a CRT the entire screen isn’t being repainted, so there’s no flash. On an LCD it’s a constant illumination and the pixels in front of the light change. There’s an issue with the pixels being able to change fast enough to not blur when showing moving video, but it’s not the same as the problem from a low-refresh CRT.
Any problem from LCDs wouldn’t be from the refresh rate of the screen, it’d be from the frequency of the fluorescent backlight tubes. That would be entirely independent from the rate that things are actually displayed on the screen.
Of course, now that they’re moving to LED backlights, like on my Mac laptop, that probably isn’t an issue.
John S.
Exactly right, Jon H.
And speaking as a long-time PC user, I am looking forward to my new Mac overlords next year. I have been one of few holdouts in my industry in terms of using Mac, and that is a decision I have come to regret now that I have Windows Vista.
I have a Pentium Core 2 Quad with 3gb of RAM, and with only having ONE Adobe app open, my PC runs like dog shit and frequently crashes. My boss (also a Mac holdout) and I are so thoroughly disgusted with the new machines with Vista that come next year, we’re converting our entire operation.
Yeehaw.
Billy K
Just use a Mac at home, too. Problem solved.
Seriously, every time I see something like this I just can’t believe people go through this shit in the year of our Lord 2000 and 8. I’ve never in my life had to deal with shit like this. But then I’ve never owned a PC.
John S.
Well, Billy, I sure hope Mac is all you Macophiles say it is – and then some. You’ve set my expectations extremely high (although Microsoft has lowered them considerably as of late).
Mark S.
The white almost hurting your eyes could be a screen flicker that’s hard to notice…. Maybe your first monitor wasn’t screwed up after all. It could be that your video card is damaged.
Billy K
It is what it is. It’s not going to make you a better person, though it may change your life in some noticeable ways. YMMV. It’s all I’ve ever really known. Every time I attempt to interface with Windows (I recently installed Boot Camp on my MacBook) I recoil in astonishment at the ridiculous crap 90% of computer users deal with on a regular basis. Mac/OS X is not perfect, and Cole will attest there is a learning curve for switchers, but it is far, far better than dealing with Windows.
justinb
Simple. Run linux. Done.
Kat
Don’t adjust the color — adjust the brightness.
rachel
Ah! But what distro?