Dell UltraSharp monitor calibration issue

[mcorrente]

Hello, all. I hope you can help me. I'm a complete noob so I imagine someone with some experience will be able to knock this out quickly.

First, my setup. I have two Dell UltraSharp U2713H daisy-chained on DisplayPort. I've been using x-Rite with an i1Display Pro for a couple of years. Decently satisfied with the results, although I can see slight differences between the two monitors even with my untrained eye.

I recently came across an article that informed me that Dell had its own variation of the X-Rite program for use with UltraSharp monitors and I should be doing a hardware calibration as opposed to a software calibration.

So I uninstalled X-Rite, reset monitors to factory, installed the Dell software, and calibrated. The right monitor (the one that is daisy-chained through the left monitor) looks great to me, what that's worth.

The left monitor, on the other hand, has a very noticeable greenish tint to it, despite calibrating several times. They're sitting right next to each other and I'm using the same i1Display and software. I have no idea what's causing the difference.

Like I said, I don't know much about this but I don't believe it's a result of the profile created. If I delete the profile, nothing seems to happen. It's only when I reset the monitor to factory again that the greenish tint goes away (and the luminance goes through the roof and all the other pleasant things that come out of the box).

I'm not sure if this means anything, but I can see the greenish tint come on right at the start of the calibration. The graphic telling me to take the cover off the i1Display Pro comes up, I do that, then start the color measurements. The screen goes brilliant white for a few seconds and then immediately gets a greenish cast before continuing through the measurements.

Any ideas? Any info I didn't provide that I should? I appreciate any help you can give.

[Shadowman]

Short answer, no two monitors are exactly the same; even if they are the same model number. Follow up to what you are doing, are you calibrating both monitors simultaneously, are the monitors equal distant to any interfering light sources, can you control the light source in the room so that light is equal?

[Manfred M]

First of all what operating system are you using and what graphics card (are you using to drive the displays)?

My first guess would be that the daisy chain connection rather than having two separate connections back to the video card is likely the issue. Each screen / output must have a separate look up table with the colour correction data. I suspect that the daisy chain connection might not be able to do this and is applying the same profile to both.

Try using two separate video outputs instead of the daisy chain and then run the profile / calibration software again to see what happens.

I use two Dell screens and have used both the i1 and ColorMunki for calibration / profiling, but use a dual output video card to drive the screens.

[mcorrente]

Shadowman: The monitors are exactly the same distance from the sole light source in the room. I probably should have taken a picture of the difference to make the issue clear - I'm confident it's something either I'm doing wrong or a problem with my configuration, because a great pic on one screen looks like kermit the frog on another.

GrumpyDiver: I'm using Windows 10 with dual Radeon HD 6870s running in Crossfire. I'll need to get another cable to test out your theory, but you may be on to something. The monitors I have come with embedded LUTs (which is why Dell provides the customized version of X-Rite) and those LUTs are accessed during calibration, but as I said, I'm a noob - I have a very tenuous grasp on what all that means.

As soon as I can, I'll try to get the second monitor on a separate connection and recalibrate. I'll report back.

[Shadowman]

Shadowman: The monitors are exactly the same distance from the sole light source in the room. I probably should have taken a picture of the difference to make the issue clear - I'm confident it's something either I'm doing wrong or a problem with my configuration, because a great pic on one screen looks like kermit the frog on another.

GrumpyDiver: I'm using Windows 10 with dual Radeon HD 6870s running in Crossfire. I'll need to get another cable to test out your theory, but you may be on to something. The monitors I have come with embedded LUTs (which is why Dell provides the customized version of X-Rite) and those LUTs are accessed during calibration, but as I said, I'm a noob - I have a very tenuous grasp on what all that means.

As soon as I can, I'll try to get the second monitor on a separate connection and recalibrate. I'll report back.

It would be good to see your setup.

[mcorrente]

Ok, so worked on this a bit more this morning.

GrumpyDiver: I now have both monitors not only in their own ports, but using separate and identical video cards. They are both connected to their own Radeon HD 6870 via DisplayPort cables. Attempted to recalibrate and issue remains.

Shadowman: During this most recent retry, I calibrated in the dark. I know that wouldn't give me the best results, but at the very least it should eliminate the possibility of environment affecting the two calibrations differently.

Here's a video I uploaded demonstrating the moment my left monitor turns green. It happens BEFORE the software even begins measurement and persists even if I cancel the calibration.



And here's a pic of the two monitors side by side after calibration:

[Manfred M]

Strange indeed. This is a question for Dell tech support. It seems that this is very specific to that one screen, so I wonder if there is a technical issue with it.

That flick to the green as you describe it is when Windows loads the colour profile.

[rpcrowe]

I don't know if this might help or if it is totally irrelevant: When I had a Dell Ultrasharp Monitor, the unit was manufactured by Samsung and rebranded as Dell. I presently use a Samsung branded monitor which I am pretty happy with. It seems to take less calibration than did the Dell branded unit. Although, I quit using the Dell monitor because it died, not because I was unhappy with its results...