Plugging and Calibrating Dell U3014 on New Mac Pro

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Level 5

4,889 points

Plugging and Calibrating Dell U3014 on New Mac Pro

My 30" Apple Cinema Display is dying and I just bought a Dell U3014, which has the same resolution. It has a DVI-D cable so I presume I can fit this monitor in my DVI-D to Thunderbolt adaptor and it "should" work correctly.

My question is: Is there a way to hardcore calibrate this LUT monitor from the Mac Pro, using an x-rite spectrometer?

If not, is it possible to software calibrate it, always using the x-rite spectrometer, or otherwise?

Help would be greatly appreciated. If I cannot solve this problem, I will return the monitor without even opening the box.

By Jove, I would love to be able to buy a decent Apple display.

Mac Pro, OS X Yosemite (10.10), Mac Pro 2014

Posted on Mar 7, 2015 6:57 PM

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Answer 1

lllaass

Level 10

210,513 points

Mar 8, 2015 12:46 AM in response to RTP

That monitor

http://www.dell.com/ed/business/p/dell-u3014/pd

has

2560 x 1600 at 60 Hz

Connectivity

1 Dual Link Digital Visual Interface connectors (DVI-D) with HDCP
1 DisplayPort 1.2 (DP)
1 Mini DisplayPort 1.2 (mDP)
1 High Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI)
1 USB 3.0 upstream port
4 USB 3.0 downstream ports
1 DisplayPort out (MST)
1 Audio out
DC power connector for Dell Soundbar (AX510)

If you use the DVI connection you will need the $99 mini displayport to DVI dual-link adopter. I would get a $10 mini displayport to mini displayport cable and use the monitor's mini displayport input.

The Dell link abpove includes:

Calibrate in-house using Dell UltraSharp Color Calibration Solution software with the optional X-Rite i1Display Pro colorimeter2 (sold separately).

Also, update yur profiles since you have a late 2013 Mac Pro since Apple has not updated the late 2013 Mac Pro since its initial release

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Answer 2

RTP Author

Level 5

4,889 points

Mar 8, 2015 3:43 AM in response to lllaass

Thanks for your reply, lllaass. Unfortunately, my problem is much deeper than that. I already had this Dell link on my desktop. The problem is:

• The i1 Display Pro doesn't work with x-rite software a Dell monitor like the U3014.o You need the Dell software.

• The Dell software for using the x-rite i1 Display Pro on macs… does not exist. There is a Mac version for other ultrasharp Dell monitors, but not the U3014.

BTW, the U3014 apparently cannot be hardware calibrated either from a virtual Windows partition. I presume it should work using Windows with bootcamp , but I cannot know as info is very scarce, not till I've tried it myself.

On the other hand, I wouldn't know how to "update the profiles" on my Mac Pro. It's running the very latest version of the OS and would have presumed that OS updates would have done that for me. If not, how can I do it, and most important, how can I find a generic colorsync or icc profile for that monitor?

Besides that, one gets fed up reading Dell forums and be considered as an imbecile because you're using Macs. Hard on the nerves…

So I'm really looking for someone using this monitor, in order to know if really there is a solution to all this.

Thanks again,

Roger

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Answer 3

RTP Author

Level 5

4,889 points

Mar 10, 2015 8:03 AM in response to RTP

What a shame about Apple Support Communities…

I'm writing this in a very dispassionate fashion: for me, what used to be called "Apple Discussions", not called "Apple Support Communities", are most of the time useless when I come up with a non-standard problem, one that would actually take time to think about and answer. This question is the perfect example, a question where no one can hope to rake in ten points in two minutes with a copy-paste answer.

It's hard to believe that there isn't a single one hundred thousand point guru knowing enough about high end displays to chime in. But that's the way things are, and this is one reason why a lot of guys from the old bunch don't bother to come here anymore.

The times they are a-changin… not for the best.

Don't Buy Dell!

I solved my problem very simply: I cancelled my order. Exit Dell. Dell has no decent Mac support for anything including its monitors. Calibrating a Dell U3014 monitor on a Mac is a mess… if at all possible. Simple advice: Never buy a Dell monitor.

Invest just a bit more money (just a bit, not much) and buy a Mac-friendly high end display. I'm talking here about 27 in or 30 in, in 2560x1440 or 2560x1600 resolution. There are several of them. NEC displays are a good example. The NEC PA272W may seem a bit expensive for a 27 in, but it comes with its own colorimeter, and this brings the price back in line with an equivalent Dell monitor.

Most of all, NEC displays, software comes for Mac, Linux… and Windows. Those are not Mac-unfriendly monitors, contrary to Dell.

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Answer 4

salmanlv

Level 1

0 points

Aug 10, 2015 6:46 PM in response to RTP

This is what I found on 'TFT Central', as I am looking to buy a U3014 for my MacPro:

Hardware Calibration

Updated 29 October 2014

One thing which separates this screen from many mainstream monitors, including the previous Dell 30" offerings, is the support for hardware calibration. Users can program the monitors 14-bit Look Up Table (LUT) if they have the appropriate software and hardware to achieve higher levels of accuracy, something which professional users require and one of the reasons why pro-grade screens from NEC and Eizo have always been popular in such markets. The software part of is easy, Dell provide their own free "Color Calibration Solution" software which is available to download from Dell.com. This is a piece of software made for Dell by X-rite and allows the user to access the hardware LUT to calibrate the screen in two available modes. Currently the latest version is v 1.5.3 for Windows operating systems (Win 7, 8, 8.1). There is also now a Mac OS version availablehere. These versions should work with all the hardware calibration supporting UltraSharp models, despite the download page only listing the UP2414Q and UP3214Q.

Important: The second part is not so easy however as you require a compatible calibration tool to work with this software and allow hardware calibration. Dell, or rather the software provider X-rite, have locked this so that you can ONLY use the X-rite i1 Display Pro colorimeter, or i1 Pro / i1 Pro 2 spectrophotometers. Other devices are NOT compatible at all, including the i1 Display 2, ColorMunki, Spyder series or any other colorimeter. The software was co-designed between Dell and X-rite and X-rite have recommended the use of the i1 Display Pro or i1 Pro devices with the wide gamut backlighting.

Users who already have another type of colorimeter will be disappointed as although they will be able to software calibrate their screen (profiling) as we have done in the previous sections as normal, they will not be able to use it for the all-important hardware calibration. I'm sure consumers will argue they should not need to buy a new colorimeter to use with this screen and that other devices should be compatible. We would be inclined to agree, but unfortunately the reality is that you can only take advantage of the hardware calibration of the U2413 (or 27" U2713H / 30" U3014) if you have a compatible X-rite device. If you don't own any device yet, these are obviously the ones to get for these displays.

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