Calibrating LCD with Color Bars

Question

Level 1

30 points

Calibrating LCD with Color Bars

is there a way to calibrate my macbook pro's screen with the color bars provided my final cut pro?

i've read lots of forums in here and when people ask about calibrating their LCD screen on their macbook pro everyone goes crazy and just doesn't answer the question and just goes on and on about how it's not accurate and that they need to buy a monitor.

I know this. I am fully aware that my LCD screen on my MacBook Pro is not 100% accurate for color correction. All I want to do is get it to be the best I can get it. Please, refrain from answer this question unless you are planning on answering my question, which is...

"Is there a proper way to calibrate the LCD screen on my MacBook Pro using the color bars provided by Final Cut Pro?"

Macbook Pro, Mac OS X (10.5.4)

Posted on Aug 3, 2010 6:54 PM

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Answer 1

Studio X

Level 7

27,229 points

Aug 3, 2010 7:27 PM in response to bradhotdog

"Is there a proper way to calibrate the LCD screen on my MacBook Pro using the color bars provided by Final Cut Pro?"

no.

x

Please, refrain from answer this question unless you are planning on answering my question, which is...

fwiw - silly comments like this tend to irritate the residents. Thankfully, I am immune to hubris and idiocy.

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Answer 2

Shane Ross

Level 8

43,110 points

Aug 3, 2010 7:38 PM in response to bradhotdog

As X said...no way. Not without other hardware. And the ONLY device that allows for a computer display to be calibrated is the Matrox MXO

http://magazine.creativecow.net/article/matrox-mxo-broadcast-monitoring-on-a-des ktop-monitor

Shane

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Answer 3

bradhotdog Author

Level 1

30 points

Aug 3, 2010 8:18 PM in response to Shane Ross

cool, is there any way you'd suggest to just get the calibration on my screen to be the best it can be?

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Answer 4

bradhotdog Author

Level 1

30 points

Aug 3, 2010 8:22 PM in response to Studio X

Studio X wrote:

fwiw - silly comments like this tend to irritate the residents. Thankfully, I am immune to hubris and idiocy.

i'm sorry, it's just sometimes hard to bring myself to post questions on forums because it drives me insane when some people avoid answering or addressing the question at all.

thank you for addressing the question though, as easy of an answer it was, it was at least the answer to my question

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Answer 5

Shane Ross

Level 8

43,110 points

Aug 3, 2010 10:33 PM in response to bradhotdog

Well, people use the Spyder or the Eye2one calibrators for Photoshop and graphics work. But those colors differ from video colors. But they'll get you closer than doing nothing. But, there will still be a big difference you can see if you judge the image on the canvas, and then output to tape. You don't have the proper color controls on the monitor to balance to bars. That's why the MXO interface added them....to their software.

Shane

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Answer 6

e45blue

Level 2

220 points

Aug 4, 2010 5:30 AM in response to bradhotdog

is there any way you'd suggest to just get the calibration on my screen to be the best it can be?

you can not calibrate your Macbook screen for video work, however, what you can do is:

ensure display settings are set to Generis RGB
any other setting will create havoc with Final Cut Studio

system preferences > displays > colour tab - Generic RGB

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Answer 7

Aug 4, 2010 7:51 AM in response to Shane Ross

Yes, but monitors, no matter how well calibrated, are still variable, subject to viewing conditions and the competence of the dope tweaking the controls.
The single most important and totally objective tool you should know how to use is the set of scopes provided by FCP.

bogiesan

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Answer 8

bradhotdog Author

Level 1

30 points

Aug 4, 2010 9:20 AM in response to David Bogie Chq-1

David Bogie Chq-1 wrote:
The single most important and totally objective tool you should know how to use is the set of scopes provided by FCP.

bogiesan

Do you know where I can read about learning how to use the scopes properly?

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