Can a calibrator help alleviate black crush issues?

T

Trombe

Gawd
Joined
Jan 25, 2007
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Current monitor is Dell 2007WFP S-IPS Rev A02. I'm using this image as a reference frame for the black crush effect:

http://sr-388.net/images/patterns/Brightness.jpg

The image is supposed to be the numbers 1-4 in various shades of gray, but I can't see any of the numbers under normal circumstances. Brightness is currently set to 50, but turning it up to 100 still doesn't show any of the numbers. I cannot adjust contrast while connected to DVI for whatever reason (the option is there in VGA though...). However, turning on the Mac Mode or Gaming Mode presets does allow me to see the numbers, so I at least know the monitor is capable of displaying them. Unfortunately, these modes also tend to leave a wash out effect on other colors, and an incredibly annoying shimmering/shining effect on whites.

What I'm hoping for is that a calibrator (preferably a cheapish one, I don't think I can spare more than about $100 for this) can help fix these problems. Does anyone know whether they're capable of doing so, and if not, whether there's any other affordable solutions? Thanks.
 
Have you tried adjusting the Gamma/Brightness/Contrast settings on your video card? That's effectively what a calibrator would be doing, albeit with precision.
 
on an LCD...


probably not, if you don't like ur blacks, buy a CRT
 
Playing with the gamma for now, it helps a bit but it seems in order to make blacks turn out well I sort of have to deal with white crush instead now :(

I suppose I can consider a CRT too. Size isn't an issue, but weight is as this room is rather tiny and can't fit a real desk so I have a cheapish one from Office Depot, with no idea how much weight it can really support. The main concern though, is that I also have a PS3 connected to this over HDMI-DVI and a Wii over component->VGA transcorder. Moving the PS3 over to component is no big deal, but the Dell has scaling options to account for 4:3 and 16:9, and I'm not well versed enough in CRTs to know whether any models are capable of doing the same. Information seems scarce too because they're a dying breed, unfortunately.

For those of you that recommended going the CRT route, are there any other points to look out for similar in scope to the varying LCD panel technologies, etc, or can I just pick up anything that I determine can do aspect scaling and call it a day?
 
Trombe said:
Information seems scarce too because they're a dying breed, unfortunately.
Click to expand...

I'm afraid they're already dead and gone, for the most part. Unused, high-end CRTs are extremely rare these days. I'd try and find one locally, used or otherwise, that you can see in person before buying. Failing that, you could try Ebay, but it's quite a gamble. If you're dead set on getting one, I could recommend a few of the better models.

Personally, after five months of trying and returning different CRTs, I'd concluded that it's just not worth it. I managed to get one good one that I'm using now for all of my trouble, but I'm stuck with two 21" 80 pound beasts that are worthless by comparison and will have to be disposed of eventually (not looking forward to that).

It is true though that the CRT still has no equal for PC gaming, if that's all you're after. I don't play console games though, so I can't really comment on how well suited one would be to that. I would guess not very, considering 99% of CRTs have a 4:3 aspect ratio and would not be able to scale the signal automatically to a widescreen aspect.
 
Trombe said:
What I'm hoping for is that a calibrator (preferably a cheapish one, I don't think I can spare more than about $100 for this) can help fix these problems. Does anyone know whether they're capable of doing so, and if not, whether there's any other affordable solutions? Thanks.
Click to expand...

You might be able to achieve acceptable results by playing with your gamma settings in your video card's control panel. A calibrator would help more.

The S-IPS 2007 is not known to suffer black crush issues. It has more uniform blacks and better grayscale stepping than many LCD's, it just doesn't have deep blacks.
 
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