I purchased this display and after setting it up next to my 30" cinema display it looks like it needs calibration. When i set it to sRGB it seems to be the closest. When it's on it's default the greens seem to be off and to blue. I want to get an xrite eye1 display 2 in order to calibrate the screen, but i'm not sure if it will work with this monitor since it's a wide gamma display.

NEC claims it can cover most of the adobe RGB color space, should i set the display profile to adobe RGB in my display preferences until i get it calibrated ? Any tips would be great. I'm using the display with a mac.

Why don't you use the factory profile? You can download it from Nec site, it's created for white point 6500K and gamma 2,2, so you should set these values in panels menu.

You should use Spectraview II from NEC to calibrate your monitor:
http://www.necdisplay.com/supportcenter/mo...s/spectraview2/

I guess what is confusing me right now is what the hardware should be set to in order for the profile to work. Unless it's set to sRGB in the hardware most colors look wrong. Greens are to blue for example. Now if i do set the monitor to sRGB am i not limiting the ability of it to almost view the whole Adobe RGB space ? The monitor is also very bright, when i darken it the numbers turn magenta and I'm also not to sure what that means. It seems like i need to set the brightness to 0 and up the contrast to make it be close to my apple cinema display which i run dimmed down all the way. I work in a darkened space and running any of those two monitors at their full brightness would make my eyes be in a lot of pain at the end of the day.

Profile will only work in color managed applications like PS. You should set your panel to 6500K gamma 2,2 to let it work properly.

The colors must "look wrong", this is a wide gamut display. If you set it to sRGB you'll get a better match with your ACD (that has a gamut that is closer to sRGB color space) but you'll limit softproofing abilities of the panel (and of course - the factory profile will become completly useless). Nec is very bright, so working with this panel in a dark place is actually not a good idea.

The option for hardware calibration (monitor LUT) is grayed out in the software despite my monitor supporting hardware calibration, any clue why that would be ?

- Do you have the latest SVII (10.0.42)?
- Does your video card support DDC/CI?

I'm using spectraview profiler which has a version of 4.1 (downloaded 2 days ago from the NEC site)

I don't know if my video card supports DCC/CI, i have two 8 core mac pro's, one is with the X1900 ATI card and the other is the nvidia GeForce 8800GT. I tried the software on both computers. Also with only the NEC monitor plugged in.

I out up the screen shot of the software, the manual says that the hardware calibration is the best, then everything else is one point lower as you go down the list. http://www.heliconmedia.net/files/spectraview.png

European Spectraview Display (aka BasICColor profiler) works only with Spectraview labeled panels. There's a method to switch a regular Nec to Spectraview mode, but it doesn't work with newest panels. Anyway, you may try:
Enter the advanced menu (turn the panel off, and turn it on holding the "input" button), select tag "E", press "select" and "down" simultenously. If nothing happens, you must get the american Spectraview II profiler:
http://www.necdisplay.com/SupportCenter/Mo...s/SpectraView2/

So do I get this right, you say we Europeans have to buy the NEC SpectraView 3090 version for approx 3000 EUR ($4670!) - which even ships without a colorimeter? I always wondered why SpectraView is never mentioned together with the normal NEC 3090 on the European hardware web shops I've visited even though everybody is recommending it here.

So what's the best way to calibrate and profile a NEC 3090 non-SpectraView monitor for Europeans (on Mac OS Leopard)? Won't a X-Rite EyeOne2 work fine? What advantage has SpectraView2 over it?

There are two posibilities:
- Try to switch 3090 to Spectraview mode with the above descripted method. If it works, buy basICColor display.
- Buy Spectraview II software in US. It works with Nec 90-series panels, no matter if they are Spectrview, or not.

Only Spectraview display, aka basICColor display and Spectraview II support hardware calibration. Other profilers won't utilize the whole potential of that panel, and won't make automatic calibration.

OK: Spectraview 2690 vs. the Dell 2709W:

...
Dell 2709W ($1000.00):
Panel Size:
27"
Resolution:
1920 x 1200
Contrast Ratio:
3000:1 (dynamic) typical
Brightness:
450cd/m2 (typical)
Response Time:
6 ms (gray to gray) typical
Viewing Angle:
178° / 178° (typical)
Color Support:
1.07 billion colors; 110% color gamut
Pixel Pitch:
0.303 mm
CONNECTIVITY
(HDMI) (DVI) (HDCP) (VGA), Composite Video, Component Video
STAND
Height-adjustable stand, tilt, swivel USB 2.0 Hi-Speed Hub with 1 USB upstream port and 4 USB downstream ports
9-in-2 media card reader
Weight:
18.3 lbs


...
Spectraview ($1200.00):
NEC SpectraView 2690: NECM008 (25.5 inch)
1920x1200 pixels
contrast ratio of 800:1 and 400 cd/m² brightness for vivid graphics
Internal programmable 12-bit lookup table (LUT) providing for calibration as well as more points of shading between white and black and overall improved representation of gamma curves. ColorComp technology compensates for slight variations in the white uniformity level, improves the color, and evens out the luminance uniformity of the display
color representation encompassing 91% of the Adobe RGB color triangle.
Weight 27.1 lbs
Dot Pitch / Pixel Pitch 0.287 mm
Max Resolution 1920 x 1200 / 60 Hz
Color Support 24-bit (16.7 million colors)
Max Sync Rate (V x H) 85 Hz x 91.1 kHz
Response Time 6.5 ms, 8 ms (grey-to-grey) with overdrive technology
Signal Input DVI-I, DVI-D, VGA
Features No Touch Auto Adjust, Ambix 3, Eco-Mode, 12-bit gamma, Overdrive technology, AutoBright technology – automatic control of the brightness depending on contents or room illumination (with front sensor)
AmbiBright – power saving ambient light sensor
OmniColor™ - sRGB and 6-axis colour control
RapidMotion feature guarantees smooth representation of moving images
Ultra-thin frame (18.8mm)


(Also):
Eizo CE240W-BK ($1729.00)
Display Type Flat panel display / TFT active matrix
Built-in Devices USB hub
Weight 22.5 lbs
Diagonal Size 24.1" - widescreen
Dot Pitch / Pixel Pitch 0.27 mm
1920 x 1200
Color Support 24-bit (16.7 million colors)
Response Time 8 ms
Controls / Adjustments Brightness, H/V position, H/V size, saturation, gamma correction, color temperature, phase, smoothing, clock
Signal Input 2xDVI-I
Features SRGB color management, ArcSwing 2 Stand
Image Color Temperature 9300K, adjustable, 5000K, 6500K, 5500K, 7500K, 7000K, 10000K, 8000K, 6000K, 9000K, 4000K, 8500K, 4500K, 9500K
Brightness 450 cd/m2
Contrast Ratio 1000:1

It seems like the specs for the dell are the most vague and how can it support "billions" of colors when the graphics card is only sending it 8 bits per channel of data. I'm also curious how the contrast ratio was calculated. I know the dells are nice panels, a lot of folks used to get them as a cheaper alternative to the apple displays. A friend of mine has one and he is happy. He did have to dim it down all the way plus use extra software to take it down beyond that. Apparently is was way to bright.

The interesting part is the rather wide dot pitch on the dell and any of the 27" panels for that matter. If you notice the apple 23" panels have the same resolution but pack the pixels more densely. Maybe that is why they look sharper with very fine details.

Nec 90 series and Eizo CE/CG series are professional monitors, dedicated for color-critical application. They have 10/12bit programmable LUT, so can be hardware calibrated. 2690UXi is H-IPS wide gamut panel, while CE240W is S-PVA normal gamut panel.

Dell is just an usual monitor.

So is having a LUT more important than possessing a 91% vs. a 110% color gamut (and a loss of an almost 4x contrast ratio)?

I'm not sure about the color gamut, but i can guarantee you that contrast ratio wise you are not loosing anything. Remember that some monitors costing 5k or more have lower contrast ratios. Contrast ratios are a marketing tool just like megapixels are in point and shoots.

Generally you get what you pay for. If there is a product that claims it's twice as good as the competition for half the price something is usually left unsaid.

That said I can't speak for the dell as i don't own one. I only have an apple 30" and a NEC 30" and both panels have their pro's and con's.