fl0at
27-05-2004, 10:12 PM
Hey guys
Thought i'd just post this little piece that i've written up. Hopefully some of you should be able to make use of it.
One thing that is often overlooked when tweaking our systems, is the Monitor. A lot of us push our systems to the limits to get anything from a few more fps or to improved visual quality, but what a lot of people fail to realize is that if your monitor isn’t set up correctly (the monitor hardware itself) then you’re selling yourself short.
When a developer creates a game, they try and make the game run as best as possible on a variety of systems, but one thing they can’t take into account is your monitor as each monitor varies in colour, with most being stronger in either Red Green or Blue.
That’s where this simple yet effective process comes in. Attached you’ll see an image that you’ll use for the calibration process. You might have seen something similar in some games you play. The difference is that we’re going to adjust the colour directly on the monitor. In my experience this gives the best result, and you’ll be pleasantly surprised how much of a visual difference it can make.
First of all –
On my Philips 109P I have 4 different colour settings
9300Kelvin
6500Kelvin
5500Kelvin
sRGB
User Preset
Most monitors should have the first 3 settings, and then a User Preset setting where you can configure the individual value of the RED, GREEN and BLUE channels. That’s what we’re after.
Before you start, ensure that all Video Driver colour settings are set back to normal, ie. In the ATI/ Nvidia control panel.
Also if there is a profile associated with your monitor (eg. Default RGB Profile) then remove it. This is located in the Advanced Settings for your Display.
Now – Open the image that I’ve attached. If possible try to keep it the original size as enlarging it will distort it, and thus it won’t work properly.
1. Set your monitors Contrast and Brightness to exactly half way (eg. 50 Contrast, 50 Brightness). If your monitor is not overly bright, then you might want to raise it a bit, just make sure that you keep the values in sync for now.
2. Try find the User Preset setting on your monitor. I’m positive there will be one somewhere.
3. Drag the PNG file that I attached to a corner of the screen so that the Monitors OSD doesn’t cover it.
4. Make sure the values for RED, GREEN and BLUE are all set to the same initially. For my Philips 109P I set them all to 50.
5. Now for this process you’ll need to sit away from the Monitor. The further the better, although you should be alright sitting a couple of feet away
6. Start with the RED value. Slowly Increase (Or possibly decrease depending on the Monitor) the value until the left hand side of the Red bar blends perfectly with the right hand side of the Red bar. Squinting often does help with this process, though don’t squint your eyes too much or things will appear darker than they are.
7. Now do the same for the GREEN value. Take your time – often increasing a value by 1 can make a surprising difference.
8. Again, do this process for the BLUE value.
It’s as easy as that. Contrast/Brightness are usually up to personal preference. The best tip is to start at equal values for both, and then slowly increase one to find what works for you. Personally I leave my Brightness at 50 and increase my contrast slightly so that the image gets that extra sense of depth.
That’s it! Give me some feedback if it made a difference for you.
Thought i'd just post this little piece that i've written up. Hopefully some of you should be able to make use of it.
One thing that is often overlooked when tweaking our systems, is the Monitor. A lot of us push our systems to the limits to get anything from a few more fps or to improved visual quality, but what a lot of people fail to realize is that if your monitor isn’t set up correctly (the monitor hardware itself) then you’re selling yourself short.
When a developer creates a game, they try and make the game run as best as possible on a variety of systems, but one thing they can’t take into account is your monitor as each monitor varies in colour, with most being stronger in either Red Green or Blue.
That’s where this simple yet effective process comes in. Attached you’ll see an image that you’ll use for the calibration process. You might have seen something similar in some games you play. The difference is that we’re going to adjust the colour directly on the monitor. In my experience this gives the best result, and you’ll be pleasantly surprised how much of a visual difference it can make.
First of all –
On my Philips 109P I have 4 different colour settings
9300Kelvin
6500Kelvin
5500Kelvin
sRGB
User Preset
Most monitors should have the first 3 settings, and then a User Preset setting where you can configure the individual value of the RED, GREEN and BLUE channels. That’s what we’re after.
Before you start, ensure that all Video Driver colour settings are set back to normal, ie. In the ATI/ Nvidia control panel.
Also if there is a profile associated with your monitor (eg. Default RGB Profile) then remove it. This is located in the Advanced Settings for your Display.
Now – Open the image that I’ve attached. If possible try to keep it the original size as enlarging it will distort it, and thus it won’t work properly.
1. Set your monitors Contrast and Brightness to exactly half way (eg. 50 Contrast, 50 Brightness). If your monitor is not overly bright, then you might want to raise it a bit, just make sure that you keep the values in sync for now.
2. Try find the User Preset setting on your monitor. I’m positive there will be one somewhere.
3. Drag the PNG file that I attached to a corner of the screen so that the Monitors OSD doesn’t cover it.
4. Make sure the values for RED, GREEN and BLUE are all set to the same initially. For my Philips 109P I set them all to 50.
5. Now for this process you’ll need to sit away from the Monitor. The further the better, although you should be alright sitting a couple of feet away
6. Start with the RED value. Slowly Increase (Or possibly decrease depending on the Monitor) the value until the left hand side of the Red bar blends perfectly with the right hand side of the Red bar. Squinting often does help with this process, though don’t squint your eyes too much or things will appear darker than they are.
7. Now do the same for the GREEN value. Take your time – often increasing a value by 1 can make a surprising difference.
8. Again, do this process for the BLUE value.
It’s as easy as that. Contrast/Brightness are usually up to personal preference. The best tip is to start at equal values for both, and then slowly increase one to find what works for you. Personally I leave my Brightness at 50 and increase my contrast slightly so that the image gets that extra sense of depth.
That’s it! Give me some feedback if it made a difference for you.