Computer Shopper - UK (2020-10)

MONITORS

ISSUE392|COMPUTER SHOPPER|OCTOBER 2020 65

toalaptop,inadditiontodisplayingvideo
fromit,sotheyallowforamoreelegantsetup.

LEAVETHE LIGHTS ON

It’salways nice when amonitor looksgood as
soon as you turn it on,but even that isn’t
stopping you using theOSD to change
gamma, brightness and contrast to your liking.
This maybeessentialifthe sunor
overhead lights hit your monitor,inwhich case
cranking up the brightness willhelp keep the
imageclearwithoutharming picture quality in
any way. Changing contrast requiresalittle
morefinesse: toohigh, andthe whole screen
willlookwhite-tinged and washed out; toolow,
and everythingwilllook bleakand dark.
Windows10has ahandy tool forthese
settings tweaks;search for‘Calibrate display
colour’in theStart menu, open the app and
follow thesimple instructions. This isn’t
calibration in the moreauthentic sense
(see ‘The calibration question’, right, for
moreonthat), but as it only involves some
slidercontrols, themonitor’sOSD andyour
eyeballs, not expensive light-analysing
equipment, it’s amuch simpler tool for
fine-tuning image quality.Use it to make
sure you don’t have gamma, brightness or
contrast toohighortoo low.

HIGHER RANGE

SpeakingofWindows, aquirk that’s befallen
many new owners of high refreshrate
monitors is thatthe OS won’t always detect
that asetting above 60Hz is available.Toavoid
paying fora144Hz display,then sitting in
confusion as youwonder why there’s no
visible difference, you’ll have to dive quite
deepintoWindow’s settings.
Start by right-clickingonthe desktop,
then click Display settings.Fromthere,
scroll down to Advanced display settings,
click on it,thenclick on Displayadaptor
properties forDisplay1(thiscouldbeDisplay
2orDisplay3ifyou have multiple monitors
connected).Finally,click on theMonitor tab
of this smaller box, where you canfinally see
the current refresh rate, andchoose the one
you want fromthe drop-down menu, before
clickingOKtosave.

The calibration question

Some monitors claim tobe

factory calibrated, meaning

colour reproduction, contrast

and brightness will have

already been tuned to

optimal levels by the time

you unpack it from the box.

Most, however,make no

such claims, which could be

interpreted as an admission

that there’s still room for

improvement. Should you,

then, calibrateyour new

monitor yourself?

Formost users, we think

the answer is no.For one

thing, calibration requires

buying acolourimeter device,

which are more than £100 even forabasic

model, and any monitor we recommend

buying will immediately perform well

enough formost everydaytasks anyway.

The exception is if you’re going to be

using the monitor forparticularly colour-

sensitive jobs such as photoand video

editing, in which case you’ll need the best

colour gamut coverage and accuracy

possible.Calibrating forthese tasks makes

alot more sense than it does forsimple

browsing or gaming, and forbest results

you mayeven wish to calibrateevery

fewmonths, just in case your monitor’s

picture quality degrades over time.

Here’s how to calibrateyour monitor

using acolourimeter:

Plug your colourimeter intoaUSB port; it

should download any drivers automatically.

Download and install the free calibration

software DisplayCAL (www.displaycal.net),

leaving the ‘Let DisplayCAL handle

calibration loading’ option checked. When

you first open it, you’ll be prompted to

install the ArgyllCMS colour management

software,sodothat as well, and select

Cancel forany other dialog boxes.

In the topmost Settingsbar of

DisplayCAL, select <Current>, then go to

the Calibration tab and ensure Interactive

displayadjustment is checked.

IntheProfiling tab,select the Testchart

as Default testchart formatrixprofiles,

then cancel the dialog box that appears.

IntheVerification tab,select the

Testchart as Verification testchart.

Then, next to the Simulation profile

tickbox, select the sRGB option. Click on

both the Simulation profile tickbox and

the Use simulation as target profile

tickbox, once it appears.

Return to the Display&instrument tab

and click the Calibrateand profile button,

then dangle your colourimeter over the

screen so the lens lines up with the central

marker.Itshould sit flat on the screen so

no ambient light reaches the sensor.

ClickStartmeasurementtoopen the

Interactive displayadjustment window,

then click Startmeasurement again.

Once the brightness measurements

appear,click Stop measurement then

Continue on to calibration.

Leavethe colourimeter and the

software to work forawhile;the

process will take aseveral minutes even

on avery powerful PC. Once complete,

you can choose to install the new,

calibrated displayprofile.

Optionally you can also return to the

Verificationtab and click Measurement

report. This also requires dangling the

colourimeter,but is amuch shorter

process that creates alist of detailed

measurements on how your monitor

performs with its current settings

and profile.

⬆The DisplayCAL software helps you get accuratecolours

⬆Calibrating with acolourimeter is only really

necessary if you’re doing colour-sensitive work

⬆You mayneed tochange the refresh rate
manually in Windows’ Displaysettings