Problems calibrating a 2407FPW with Mac OS Display Calibrator Assistant

Question

Just got a 2407FPW to use with a Mac G5 Dual 2.0 GHz running OS 10.4.7. I know Mac users are the minority here, but here goes: It was easy to select the correct resolution in Displays Preferences, but I'm having problems with the Apple Display Calibrator Assistant. The 'Display Adjustment' page says to first set the contrast control to the highest setting. This made everything so washed out that the rest of the calibration was extremely difficult, and the results were just plain odd. I don't have the color/graphics vocabulary to describe what it looked like, but overall the color and contrast and brightness didn't look right. I started over with the default settings and just tweaked it a little till it looked ok, but it still seems off. For example, the colors in the borders of windows and dialog boxes have a greenish tint that wasn't there with my CRT displays. Has anybody out there successfully calibrated a 2407FPW (or similar model) using the Mac Display Calibrator Assistant? Or can you recommend free or inexpensive Mac software to do this? So far, at Apple's site, I haven't found any support docs or forum entries specifically about the Display Calibrator software in Mac OS X. Despite the calibration problems, I'm impressed with this display. Edit: In 'Using the OSD' in the User Guide, I found that there's a 'Mac Mode' in the Color Settings submenu. This setting improved the image, but it still didn't make the Mac's Display Calibrator Assistant work any better. I'm glad to find 'Mac Mode', but it would have been nice if they had mentioned this in a separate heading in the table of contents - something like 'using the 2407FPW with a Mac.' Message Edited by BobK88 on 08-02-200601:53 AM

speechrecogniti · Answer

Hi just noticed your question. I just got a mac mini and while the 2407 seems to run fine on my windows vista box, when i hook up the mac mini the display quality is not acceptable. We tried eveything you diod as well but no luck so far. I would rather keep this monitor than get an Apple display but I really don't like what I am seeing thus far.

I called up Dell support and she told me to try and hook it up to a windows box and do a comparison. Has nyone with a mac got it to work properly? Thanks.

BobK88 · Answer

Now that I've spent another day with it (after making the Mac settings in the display itself), I'm pretty happy with the image quality. It may be a little too bright, but basically I think the display is working as it should, and with practice, I may be able to eyeball the adjustments to my satisfaction.

I'm still frustrated that I can't get satisfactory results fine tuning with the Mac OS Display Calibrator, and can't tell if it's a problem with the display or with the Calibrator software, or both.

Can you be specific about the problem(s) you're having?

Message Edited by BobK88 on 08-04-200601:53 AM

speechrecogniti · Answer

Hi Bob (and enyone else),

Thank you for writing back. Much appreciated.

We use as our benchmark the front page of the new york times. Their text font is a dark grey instead of a black, and this makes the fuzziness that is there in text really apparent.

Both with DVI and VGA connections we are not able to access the 'sharpness' setting in the front panel buttons. When we use VGA we can access 'phase' and 'clock'. This helps a little but it still leaves us with a monitor that is equivalent to other monitors we have with the sharpness turned down.

Thank you for any feedback.

BobK88 · Answer

I was thinking maybe the graphics power of the Mini isn't enough for such a large display, but its specs say it supports up to 1920 x 1200, which is the recommended resolution of the 2407. The specs also say it supports the 20 and 23 inch Apple Cinema displays, but I wonder if going over 23 inches places some kind of strain on the Mini's video processing. It's just a hunch, but you might want to ask Apple about this.

Monitors

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