LCD Monitor Calibration - DVI connection to PC

[Digital_Dude]

I am using a Samsung SyncMaster 173P LCD monitor. It is an awesome monitor...the blacks are spot on, the colors are vivid...the viewing angle is amazing for an LCD....and after a year and a half, no dead pixels whatsoever. I have it connected to my PC via a DVI digital connection, therefore the only settings I can control on the monitor are brightness and contrast....colors/tones cannot be adjusted. Since it is a digital connection can I assume the colors I see on the screen are indeed the correct representations of the colors?

To get to the point of this post, should I switch back to an analog connection from the monitor to the PC and use a monitor calibrator/software? I can't see how a DVI connection could put up anything on the screen other than the actual/correct colors....correct me if I'm wrong!

Jason

[Landis]

#1 - NO
#2 - Yes

Jason, you cannot assume that you are even close to correct colors. Blacks are "spot on" because a black is a black, an area void of any light.

Just about all LCD monitors will give you "pretty colors that are very vivid" Are they true colors? I seriously doubt it. Here's a test for you: Work with a photo until you get it just the way you like it. Then print it with your printer. Are they the same??? NO??? I figured so.

I don't know what a DVI connector is but if it doesn't give you the true colors, it isn't worth 2¢.

[mchilt]

Jason,

If your monitor is a year and a half old you should consider calibrating it. Regardless of dead pixels, DVI or analog the monitors drift overtime and need to be "color corrected" periodically. That is the only way to know for sure your monitor is displaying "true colors".

There are very good products out there for a very reasonable price these days.

Matt

[Eskarel]

To give this a little perspective I work in the IT industry and know a bit about this sort of thing.

Basically what you're looking at DVI is undistorted colours, not necessarily correct colours.

Computers are digital devices and CRT monitors(and LCD's connected through a regular analog connection) are analog. This of necessity involves a conversion being done from one to the other, which introduces an additional step and an additional source of errors.

With DVI, this conversion is not necessary and so, presuming that your monitor is not faulty(it's hard for liquid crystals to drift and there are no moving parts), then the signal within your PC and the signal within your monitor should be the same.

This does NOT mean that the colours are correct, it means that what your PC told your monitor is, at least theoretically what it displays. If you want accurate colours you have to use or create a decent colour profile on your PC, there are a number of ways to do this, this site http://www.normankoren.com/makingfineprints1A.html has some pretty good steps for doing so.

That said CRT vs LCD is subject to the same provisions as any analog vs digital argument, I'm sure that you've heard em all by now so I won't repeat em.