Color Management User Manual

Home , Color calibration, Color management

Color Management User Manual Disclaimer BenQ Corporation makes no representations or warranties, either expressed or implied, with respect to the contents of this document. BenQ Corporation reserves the right to revise this publication and to make changes from time to time in the contents thereof without obligation to notify any person of such revision or changes. Copyright Copyright 2013 BenQ Corporation. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted, transcribed, stored in a retrieval system or translated into any language or computer language, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, magnetic, optical, chemical, manual or otherwise, without the prior written permission of BenQ Corporation. Table of Contents 3 Table of Contents

Disclaimer ...... 2 Copyright...... 2 Introduction ...... 4 Key features ...... 4 System requirements ...... 4 Calibration overview ...... 5 Calibration workflow...... 5 Calibration target...... 5 Preparations...... 7 Installing Color Management...... 7 Connecting the color meter ...... 7 Connecting display(s) to the computer...... 7 Setting monitor ID...... 8 Warming-up the display(s)...... 8 Using the Color Management ...... 9 Performing calibration - a quick guide ...... 9 Overview of components and functions...... 16 Menu bar...... 16 File menu...... 16 Tools menu...... 16 Settings menu...... 17 About menu...... 17 Control panel...... 18 Display Wall tab ...... 18 Advance tab...... 19 Status panel...... 22 Troubleshooting ...... 23 Error message ...... 24 4 Introduction Introduction The uniformity in image representation is a vital element in creating a video wall that consists of multiple displays. However, due to factors like component variation and aging, it is inevitable for each display to produce images with slight differences in color and luminance even when related settings are identical among all displays. The Color Management is designed to minimize such differences and enhance the image uniformity of all displays in a video wall application. It works by first measuring and comparing the color characteristics of each display, and then calibrating all displays with a common and optimal setting. With the Color Management, you can also adjust color settings of each display easily on a host computer, or backup and restore calibration data quickly. Key features The Color Management provides the following functions and features: • Supported calibration targets: - Color temperature (6500K/9300K/11000K) - Gamma (1.8/2.0/2.2/2.4) - Brightness (backlight luminance) Refer to page 5 for more information about the calibration targets. • Supported display tiling matrix: 1x1~10x10 • Supported display parameter: 10 bits LUT (Look Up Table) for R/G/B • Supported internal test pattern: 256 R/G/B/W levels • Accuracy: Delta_x, Delta_y < 0.5% with (1) DVI source for 30%~80% white level and (2) I1D3 measurement • Colorimeter that displays the color meter measurement values • Local backup and restore functions that makes it easy to save and restore LUT and R/G/ B gain settings • Manual adjustment functions (brightness, contrast, R/G/B gain and offset) that allow fine-tuning of individual display System requirements The following items are required to use the Color Management. • A color meter (supported model: X-Rite i1 Display Pro) • A host computer (PC) that meets the following minimum hardware and software requirements: CPU Pentium 1GHz Free memory 1 GB Hard disk space 400 MB Operating system Windows XP (32-bit/64-bit), Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista (32-bit/64-bit) or Windows 7 (32-bit/64-bit) RS-232 port An available RS-232 port HDMI/DVI/VGA port An available HDMI, DVI or VGA output port • HDMI, DVI or VGA cable and RS-232 cable

The firmware version of the PH and PL series displays must be V1.06 or higher to work with the Color Management. Calibration overview 5 Calibration overview Calibration workflow The diagram below lists the basic workflow for performing calibration using the Color Management for the first time. If this is not the first time you use Color Management to calibrate the displays, you can start from step 2 directly.

Step 1: Install Color Management on a host PC (see page 7)

Step 2: Connect the color meter to the PC (see page 7)

Step 3: Connect the PC to the display(s) via RS-232 connection (see page 7)

Step 4: Set monitor ID on each display (see page 8)

Step 5: Open the Color Management and perform calibration (see page 9) Calibration target The Color Management calibrates displays by measuring, adjusting and synchronizing the following settings: Color temperature There are many different shades that are considered to be "white" for various purposes. One of the common methods of representing the white color is known as the "color temperature". A white color with a low color temperature appears to be reddish white, while a white color with a high color temperature appears to have more blue in it. The Color Management allows you to set a different color temperature as calibration target. However, if the selected color temperature is very different from the native one, a large correction must be applied and the maximum brightness will be affected. Gamma The gamma of a display is the relationship between the video input signal and the light output (“brightness”). The display is a nonlinear device. Doubling the level of the video input signal to the display does not double the light output. A gamma value of 1 would result in a perfectly linear display (doubling the signal level doubles the light output). You can use the Color Management to choose a different gamma target for all displays. 6 Calibration overview

Brightness The Color Management provides options for brightness adjustment with which you can change the display’s screen brightness level and synchronize it among multiple displays. According to the number of display(s) and your Brightness setting when the calibration project starts, the calibration method differs: • If a single display is being calibrated, the display’s brightness will be calibrated to your Brightness setting.

The tolerance of the target brightness is 15 nits.

• If multiple displays are being calibrated and all connected to the computer: - When Brightness is set to Auto, the Color Management will synchronize the brightness level of all displays with that of the darkest display. The principle is illustrated as follows: Before brightness calibration After brightness calibration

440 430 435 430 430 430

435 450 440 430 430 430

445 430 450 430 430 430

Brightest display: brightness level = 450 Darkest display: brightness level = 430 However, if any of the displays’ actual brightness level (as measured by the color meter) fails to meet the darkest brightness level (as read from the internal memories of all displays), the Color Management will re-synchronize the brightness level of all displays to the actual darkest brightness level. - When Brightness is set to other settings than Auto, the Color Management will adjust the brightness level of all displays to the target brightness setting. If any display fails to reach the target brightness due to various factors like hardware limitations and component deterioration, a warning message will appear. • If multiple displays are being calibrated but some of them are disconnected from the computer, a warning message will appear. In this case, brightness synchronization will not be performed by the Color Management. Preparations 7 Preparations The following operations must be performed before you can use the Color Management to calibrate your display(s). Installing Color Management Ensure that the computer meets the minimum system requirements set forth on page 4. 1. Locate the Setup.exe file and double-click it to begin installation. 2. Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the installation. To run Color Management in Windows 7, the User Access Control (UAC) must be temporarily disabled. To disable UAC: 1. From the Start menu, select Control Panel > User Accounts and Family Safety > User Account. 2. Click on the User Account Control settings link, and then drag the slider bar to the lowest value (towards Never Notify). 3. Click OK and restart the computer to make the change effective. Connecting the color meter Follow the instructions provided in the documentations of the color meter to connect it to the computer, and complete its hardware and software setup if necessary. Connecting display(s) to the computer HDMI/DVI/VGA input and RS-232C serial connections between the display and computer are required to transmit control signals. The diagram below shows the general connection schemes. For details on the location of ports and connectors, please refer to the documentations of the computer and display.

HDMI, DVI or VGA cable

Single-display connection IN RS-232 cable

HDMI, DVI or VGA cable

OUT

IN RS-232 cable RS-232 cable Multiple-display connection IN OUT

RS-232 cable

IN 8 Preparations

Setting monitor ID For the Color Management to calibrate multiple displays, each display must be assigned an unique monitor ID. Otherwise the display(s) will not be identified correctly. To assign monitor ID on each display, open the OSD menu of the display and select Settings > Set Monitor ID.

Be sure to assign a unique monitor ID for each display.

Warming-up the display(s) For a precise calibration result, the power-on time of the display(s) to be calibrated must be longer than 60 minutes before calibration. Using the Color Management 9 Using the Color Management Performing calibration - a quick guide This section provides a quick guide that walks you though the basic calibration procedures by creating a new calibration project. • For detailed information about the components and functions of the Color Management, please refer to "Overview of components and functions" on page 16. • Before you start, make sure that you have completed the initial preparations as described in "Preparations" on page 7. 1. Launch the Color Management by clicking Windows Start button and selecting Pro- grams > Color Management. You can also double-click the Color Management icon on Windows Desktop to launch the program. The Color Management main screen appears.

Be sure to reset all color settings before proceeding to the next step. Please refer to page 21 for more information. 2. Click File > New project to create a new project. The Create Project dialog appears.

3. Refer to the table below to set the parameters and click OK when finished.

Once a project is created, the parameters cannot be changed. You need to create another new project if you want to change these settings. 10 Using the Color Management

Option/Setting Description/Instruction Project Name Enter a project name for the calibration task. H. Monitors (number Sets the number of displays to be calibrated. of displays on the • If you are calibrating a single display, select 1 in both H. horizontal side) Monitors and V. Monitors. • If you are calibrating multiple displays in a display wall, set the number of displays in H. Monitors and V. Mo n it o r s . For example: 6 monitors 12 monitors

V. Monitors (number of displays on the vertical side)

H. Monitors = 2 V. Monitors = 3 H. Monitors = 3 V. M o ni to rs = 4 Connect Method Displays the connection method: RS-232C. Ta r ge t C T Sets the target color temperature. Ta r ge t G a m m a Sets the target gamma. Target Brightness Sets the target brightness.

4. According to the number of display(s) you wish to calibrate, there are 2 calibration scenarios: • Single-display calibration: refer to "Calibrating a single display" on page 11 for the next step. • Multiple-display calibration: refer to "Calibrating a multiple displays" on page 13 for the next step. Using the Color Management 11

Calibrating a single display 1. Click to select the display box that represents the display you want to calibrate on the Display Wall tab, and then click Calibrate Single.

• In the Color Management, each display is represented by a display box on the Display Wall tab. For more information about the display box, refer to "Display Wall tab" on page 18. • If the display is connected to the computer successfully, the “connected” icon appears on the upper right corner of the display box. If the “disconnected” icon appears, refer to "Troubleshooting" on page 23 for how to solve the connection problem. • The power-on time of the display must be longer than 60 minutes before Display box calibration. Otherwise a dialog asking you warm-up the display will appear after you click the Calibrate Single button. 2. The calibration window appears. Click Run to proceed.

You can also click Trac k to measure the CIE1931 (x,y) values of current W,R,G and B colors at level 255 for further analysis. 12 Using the Color Management

3. You will be requested to put the color meter in the center of the display’s screen. A center pattern is displayed on the screen for alignment at the same time. Click Yes.

4. The calibration starts, and the status will be indicated in the Calibration Status area.

- Initial: The computer is validating connection to the display and color meter. - Measure: The color meter is measuring the display’s color profile. - Produce: The Color Management is calculating for optimal values. - Write: The Color Management is transmitting the updated Look Up Table (LUT) to the display. - Fine-tune: The Color Management is fine-tuning the backlight.

During calibration, do not change the position of the color meter, move the display to another location or change display settings. Otherwise the precision of calibration will be affected. 5. When calibration is completed, the status bar of the display box changes from “Not Calibrated“ to “Calibrated”, and its color becomes green. The x and y values of the W/R/G/B colors will also appear in the box.

Now you have successfully calibrated the display.

You can fine-tune the calibration result manually using the Manual Adjust tool. Refer to "Manual Adjust tool" on page 21 for more information. Using the Color Management 13

Calibrating a multiple displays 1. Click Calibrate All on the Display Wall tab.

• In the Color Management, each display is represented by a display box on the Display Wall tab. For more information about the display box, refer to "Display Wall tab" on page 18. • If the display is connected to the computer successfully, the “connected” icon appears on the upper right corner of the display box. If the disconnected icon appears, refer to "Troubleshooting" on page 23 for how to solve the connection problem. • The power-on time of the displays must be longer than 60 minutes Display box before calibration. Otherwise a dialog asking you warm-up the displays will appear after you click the Calibrate All button. 2. The Select first calibration dialog follows. Click to select the ID of the first display to be calibrated and then click Set. 14 Using the Color Management

3. The calibration window appears. Click Run to proceed.

You can also click Tra ck to measure the CIE1931 (x,y) values of current W,R,G and B colors at level 255 for further analysis. 4. You will be requested to put the color meter in the center of the display’s screen. A center pattern is displayed on the screen for alignment at the same time. Click Yes.

5. The calibration starts, and the status will be indicated in the Calibration Status area.

During calibration, do not change the position of the color meter, move the display to another location or change display settings. Otherwise the precision of calibration will be affected. 6. A dialog requesting you to move the color meter to the next display (current display ID + 1) appears. Repeat step 4 and step 5 to complete calibration for all displays. Using the Color Management 15

7. The Color Management will calibrate and adjust all displays to the same color and backlight level. When calibration is completed, the status bar of the display boxes changes from “Not Calibrated“ to “Calibrated”, and its color becomes green. The x and y values of the W/R/G/B colors will also appear in the boxes.

Now you have successfully calibrated all displays.

You can fine-tune the calibration result manually using the Manual Adjust tool. Refer to "Manual Adjust tool" on page 21 for more information. 16 Overview of components and functions Overview of components and functions The Color Management main screen consists of the following components: 1. Menu bar 2. Control panel 3. Status panel

1 3 2

Menu bar

File menu Option/Setting Description Creates a new calibration project. A dialogue appears for you to New project set up calibration parameters. Open project Opens an existing calibration project file (*.vns file). Saves current calibration project file. By default, the project will be saved as a *.vns file in the same folder where the Color Save Management program files are located. (For example, C:/ Program Files/Color Management/) Save As Saves current calibration project as another new project file. Exit Closes and exits the Color Management. Tools menu Option/Setting Description Saves the LUT values and backlight settings of a display as a backup file. (*.lut file) Click to select a display (display box) on the Display Wall tab Backup and select this option. By default, the backup file will be named following the format below: ProjectName_SSerialNumber_MMonitorID_CTTa rg et C T _ GTargetGamma.lut Overview of components and functions 17

Loads (restores) the LUT values and backlight settings of a display from a backup file. (*.lut file) Restore Click to select a display (display box) on the Display Wall tab and select this option. You need to connect a color meter to the computer before loading the backup file. Settings menu Option/Setting Description Selects a COM port that is used for RS-232C connection. To select a COM port: 1. Click to select a COM port from the ComPort drop-down box. Connection 2. To apply the COM port setting to current display, select Single. Select All if you want to apply the COM port setting to all displays. 3. Click Connect to establish RS-232C connection to the display(s). If there are multiple color meters connected to the computer, Color meter you can use this function to select the color meter to use for calibration. Selects and displays a center pattern on the screen for color meter installation. To select a center pattern: 1. Click to select a pattern. 2. To display center pattern on the screen of current display, select Center pattern Single. Select All if you want to display center pattern on the screens of all displays. 3. Click Set to confirm.

The center pattern will not disappear from the display’s screen when you close the Color Calibration Tool. To close the center pattern, restart the display.

Language Selects a preferred language for the Color Management. About menu Option/Setting Description Displays the software version and other information about the About Color Management. 18 Overview of components and functions

Control panel Display Wall tab

The Display Wall tab allows you to view the status and color settings of all displays connected to the computer. Each display is represented by a display box, and the number and layout of the display boxes on the Display Wall tab correspond to the Tile Matrix setting when you create the calibration project. Please refer to the description below for the information provided in a display box. 1. Monitor ID: Shows the ID of the display that is set in 1 4 the display’s OSD menu. 2 2. Status: Shows the calibration status of the display: Not 3 Calibrated or Calibrated. 3. X and Y values: displays the x and y values of White/ Red/Green/Blue colors after the display is calibrated. 4. Connection status: Indicates the status of connection. - : the display is connected to the computer - : the display is disconnected from the computer. Overview of components and functions 19

Advance tab

The Advance tab provides tools and options that allow you to view and manually adjust color settings of the display selected on the Display Wall tab. Click a function button beside the tab to switch to a different function.

Colorimeter tool

The Colorimeter tool shows the results measured by the color meter after you calibrate the display. You can click the Measure button to manually perform measurement again. • Use the Center Pattern function in the Settings menu to display center pattern on the display’s screen before you perform measurement. • The center pattern will not disappear from the display’s screen when you close the Color Calibration Tool. To close the center pattern, restart the display. 20 Overview of components and functions

Test Pattern tool

The Te s t P a t t e r n tool allows you to display test patterns on the display’s screen for verifying color uniformity. To display a test pattern: 1. Click to select a test pattern. 2. Click to select a color temperature setting from the Color Temperature box (optional). 3. Specify the color level (0~255) of the test pattern in the Level box (optional). 4. To display test pattern on the screen of current selected display, select Single. Select All if you want to display test pattern on the screens of all displays. 5. Click Set. • It is recommended that you set the display’s Picture Mode setting to Standard before using the test pattern. • The test pattern will not disappear from the display’s screen when you close the Color Calibration Tool. To close the test pattern, restart the display. Overview of components and functions 21

Manual Adjust tool

The Manual Adjust tool allows you to manually fine-tune color settings after calibration. To manually fine-tune color settings: 1. Click the radio button of a color setting. For example, the Gain radio button of Red. 2. Enter the desired value in the Adjust box. 3. Repeat step 1 and 2 to fine tune the settings of other colors. 4. Click Set. The settings will be applied and the measured values will appear in the table on the left of the Adjust box. If you want to apply color settings without performing measurement, check the Without measurement checkbox before clicking Set. • For the adjustments you performed using the Manual Adjust tool to take effect, you need to restart the display. • Be sure to reset all color settings by clicking the Set default button before performing a new calibration. 22 Overview of components and functions

Status panel The Status panel indicates the status and provides detailed information about the display selected on the Display Wall tab.

Item Description Project Name Current project file name. H. Monitors Number of displays on the horizontal side. V. Mo n it o r s Number of displays on the vertical side. Monitor ID The ID of the selected display. Model Model name of the display. Connection Connection method: RS-232C. Number of the COM port currently being used for RS-232C ComPort connection. Connect Status Current connection status. Meter Type Model name of the color meter connected to the computer. Meter Status Connection status between the color meter and the computer. Ta r ge t C T Value of the target color temperature setting. Ta r ge t G a m m a Value of the target gamma setting. Ta r ge t B r i g h t n e s s Value of the target brightness setting. Video source being used for calibration. • Internal: The display is currently using the White, Red, Video Source Green, or Blue test pattern for calibration. • External: The display is currently using the External test pattern for calibration. Project Status Status of calibration. Troubleshooting 23 Troubleshooting If you encounter problems during calibration, please refer to the following troubleshooting tips to try to solve the problems by yourself. If the problem persists, please contact BenQ Customer Support for help. Problem Solution Check the following: • Check the cable connection. Is the display correctly Cannot connect to the connected to the computer? display(s) • Is the display turned on? • Is the COM port setting in Settings menu > Connection correct? Check the display’s ID setting. When calibrating multiple The display is not on the displays, each display must be given an unique ID for the Display Wall tab Color Management to identify correctly. 24 Error message Error message If an error occurs, an error message dialog will pop up on the screen. Refer to the table below for the information about the error messages. Class Function Error code RS-232 RS-232 - Setting i1d3 i1d3 - initial C10x adjust BL C12x measure raw data C20x Calibration produce LUT C30x write LUT C40x adjust LUT C50x tracking C52x New P10x Load P20x Project Save P30x Save as P40x Backup T10x Tool Restore T20x Colorimeter A10x Advance Test pattern A20x Manual adjust A30x Others Others O10x

9/10/13