Thanks for your reply PB. I have been searching the net and I can't believe there is nothing out there in the form of a simple(inexpensive)plug-in for Windows to calibrate monitors. I just came across information regarding Adobe Photoshop Gamma calibration and I am about to run it...I'll post the results...

Anyone familiar with Adobe Gamma calibration?... Any other suggestions??

MoBetta

"Use Google et al. to find smpte bars (I get mine off tape)." Sorry - I may be missing something here, so apologies first - Don't we have said SMPTE bars within Vegas? If I'm missing something here, I'm willing to learn . .

Grazie

Paint Shop Pro also has a gamma calibration display. I can call it up and then go into my TNT video card's menus to adjust the gamma there.

Test Patterns 1.01
Available free at www.presentationstation.com

Pixel Phase
Outline
Crosshairs
S,M,L Grids
SMPTE, Gray, Blue Bars
Black, White, 50% Gray
CMY
RGB

Hi All,

The SMPTE bars in Vegas are just fine...

The blue-gel gag can work if the blue is truly blue; special filters are available for this... if the blue is shaded, your adjustments will be too.

As noted, a production-grade monitor with "blue-only" is the optimal way to go.


HTH, MPH

Tips:
http://www.martyhedler.com/homepage/Vegas_Tutorials.html

Since I wrote a tutorial on how to do monitor calibration using the traditional method, this may come as a shock...

The other day I noticed what I thought at lease was some minor differences in the video playing off the external monitor I use for editing with Vegas and when viewing the same finished video on my big screen TV in the family room. I had previously adjusted both sets as close as possible with SMPTE color bars, etc..

Well there were differences. How could I tell? By playing the same video off the same source at the same time. Not as simple as it sounds, but it can be done. Here is how I did it.

Ran out to Radio Shack and got their Video Distribution Amplifer. A simple "black box" that has "S" video, plus the yellow, red, white RCA jacks. One input, 4 sets of outputs, each with those jacks.

After letting both TV's warm up for a good half hour, I made a short video under good lighting conditions, then fed the input from my digital camera to the distribution amplifer. Sure enough my "memory" was right, the video looked different on each television. Oh not much, but enough that it annoyed me. We've all seen it, when you visit any electronics store with row after row of TV's all tuned to the same channel.

The question some may be asking is why? After all the whole point is to do the color bars things and adjust levels accordingly. Right? Well right sure and if you're making videos that you are going to distribute to others that's all you can do. However for hobbists that are only going to view off their own in-house TV's the final tweaking may make you rest easier.

I have two TV's I use for playing videos. Both the Sharp brand, a tiny 13 inch as my external monitor and a giant screen (not projection) one in the family room so the on screen setup is the same and either can use the other's remote. How much were they off? Well the hue was the most off one set required two points into the red, the other was one point into the green. Also minor differences in picture (contrast) and brightness levels. Again, not a lot, but a one point (click on the remote) different on picture level and two on brightness to bring the sets into perfect alignment. The most likely reason is the large size difference in the picture tube, and some minor difference in the color phosphor of the picture tubes.

Anyhow, this knob twister is now happy both his sets show his videos as close as the same as I can humanly make them without expensive test equiptment, and even if I had that, I bet there may still be a tiny tad of a difference.

Billyboy, that is the NTSC standard (Never The Same Color).

:)

>We've all seen it, when you visit any electronics store with row after row of TV's all tuned to the same channel.<
Good point BillyBoy, it ain't gonna look good on everyones set regardless of how accurate one's monitor is. I have a set-up something like yours to where I can view the same source at the same time on my monitor and our semi big screen. What I've done was to get the picture looking good to me on a satellite feed on the 32"and then (visually) matched my monitor to it. I haven't had any compliants as of yet (fingers crossed).
Randy

Having worked for a major TV Retailer, I can tell you this. They DELIBERATELY miscalibrate them to make them appear brighter and more saturated than is desirable from a video editor's point of view. Not that they get them all miscalibrated the same way, but miscalibrate they do.

LOL! I always suspected as much. Of course the TV manufacturer's themselves fudge it too since consumers are use to overly adjusted contrast and brightness. Chances are pretty good out of the box that new TV you just got is 'misadjusted' on purpose a little. Ditto for focus/sharpness or fine tuning which if turned up too high actually makes the picture more fuzzy. Ah... the things we do.

Funny story...giving away my age again. Anyhow my family's first TV was a small black and white, (all thay had back circa early 1950's... Well they delivered the set and as was the practice way back then, a service man was suppose to come out to make final adjustments or something before turning it on. The TV had a big red tag taped to the screen saying something along those lines. So the guy comes out, my mom points out the warning, the guy says, oh don't worry done this a bunch of time, that don't mean nothing, plugs in the set and there's a loud pop and there goes the TV.

Back in the late 1980's when I was involved in the HDTV end of the video industry, I came across a book written by George Brown, one of the godfathers of color television. He related that back when color NTSC was just getting off the ground in the early 1950's, RCA would transmit a color reference image from their studio in the Empire State Building after their regular monochrome broadcast day ended at midnight. The signal would be broadcast from the antenna at the top of the building to various reception sites, including one in New Jersey, where RCA engineers would check out various receiver parameters. Mind you, this was back in the days when the color receivers would occasionally "drift" and cause fleshtones to gradually turn green or magenta (hence the "Never Twice the Same Color" joke).

George asked an assistant named Marie to sit in front of the huge RCA color camera and hold a bowl of fruit. Before switching on the transmitter, he saw a bucket of blue paint left over in a corner of the studio. He carefully painted each banana bright blue, then put them back in the bowl.

About 10 minutes later the engineers in New Jersey called. "Is your camera properly calibrated?" they asked. George assured them, "What you are seeing is exactly as it appears in the studio."

A half-hour goes by, and the phone rings again. It's the engineers in New Jersey again. "Well, we've gotten the bananas to look pretty good, but the rest of the picture is horrible..."

I stand corrected, the Vegas SMPTE bars work fine. The blue gel I mentioned is as listed above. Fold it over two or three times to get the best result. You could problably get the same result with a swatch book, if Rosco still gives them away in the USA. Up here we have to buy them. Regarding "pro" monitors, our portable 8020 and 8042 both have the blue only; the Sony 14NU(?) high res does not, but its more expensive brother does. We use the gel for the 14NU btw. Maybe we'll have a better year and can get the fancy 14" with all the buttons and 16:9 underscan!!

Peter