Proper Video Card to Calibrate using a Eizo CG223W
 

I'm so confused on what I actually need to fully use my Eizo Color Edge CG223W. Right now the monitor is connected to my Mac Pro using DVI, but I was told I needed a device in between the monitor and MacPro to display the image correctly.

I edit and color wedding videos for SD and HD

I use Final Cut 9 and FCP X.

I understand that Blackmagic Intensity only throws a YUV signal.

I've read about the Matrox MXo2 Mini and read this review which scares me from buying it.

"Matrox goes out of their way to tout the MXO2 mini's "blue only" calibration feature as a way to turn any HDMI monitor into a somewhat accurate broadcast display. All this feature does is calibrate the signal going to the monitor. Your monitor's color could be way off, but the matrox software will show clean calibrated colorbars on the screen. Many have noticed that the color bars are pretty much perfect right out of the box, without any adjustments. Isn't that convenient! All it does is calibrate a digital signal, which should already be accurate --- also note that this calibration utility does not adjust the analog component signal. So, maybe this box is great for capturing video, but I bought it for playing back video and it's pretty useless at that unless you already have a proper broadcast monitor, and if you do, there are other much less expensive cards that will output the same HDMI and component signals. So, this MXO2 mini is just not worth the money."

Who has my similar setup and what do I need to get my monitor working correctly.

Also, what settings do you use on your monitor? Color Temp, Gamma.
Do you use the REC 709 or a custom setting?
Do you use Color Navigator, Eye One or something similar when calibrating your monitor with the X-rite?

Re: Proper Video Card to Calibrate using a Eizo CG223W
 

Here is my question but with more detail:

I've been trying to find out what equipment I need to properly get the
correct signal to my Eizo monitor. I was told that to get the correct color I
need something like the Matrox box.

I have a Mac pro with no Thunderbolt and the C223W that doesn't have HDMI.

Do I need such a device and if so which one? I would also like to have the
option of out putting a signal to a HDTV for clients to see there projects, so having a HDMI out would be nice.

I'm on a Mac and use Final Cut Pro 9 and X.

Lastly, the color on my monitor looks super dull and the flesh tones and whites
tend to go towards pink. I've tried using Color Navigator and a X-rite device to
set my colors.

Currently my monitor is set to 2.2 gama, Rec709 and temp at Standard. Does this
sound right? I'm mainly coloring for Wedding Films that will play on HDTV's.

Thanks for any tips.

Kelly

Re: Proper Video Card to Calibrate using a Eizo CG223W
 

Hi Kelly!

So sorry for the delay with answering your post and thanks for creating this thread so others can benefit from what I'm about to tell you. Unfortunately, I wish that I did not have a good (or bad) excuse for the delay - I photographed my sister's wedding on the 22nd and on the following day, I realized that my 64GB Transcend 400x CF card had been corrupted and I spent 2 days scanning it with 6 different recovery programs to try to get the photos back. So far, I have only gotten ~700 of the 1300 photos with ALL 400 from the ceremony missing. However, I had a 2nd camera with a Sony Zeiss 85mm f1.4 on it and got over 100 photos from the ceremony with it in addition to my biz partner with a 7D & 70-200, who got some great shots as well. So, I have lost 400 photos from the ceremony from my Sony A900 & Zeiss 24-70 lens which includes all of the wide shots of the entire wedding group. 400 sounds like a lot but I was literally shooting like crazy during the 15 minute ceremony. After taking 600 photos, I should have noticed something was wrong when it took 5-6 seconds for an image to appear on the LCD after taking a photo. I will never use any Transcend card again.

So, on to the topic. You typed FCP 9 but there is only 6, 7 and X (10). Did you mean to type "6"?

Let's begin with the 1st issue at hand: FCP 6 and X. FCP 6 does not display an accurate image within its Canvas; thus, it requires an I/O device like the BM Intensity or Matrox Mini to view accurately. To my knowledge, FCP X is similar; however, it does not have an ability to display video accurately through an I/O device, which was one of the biggest complaints from high-end users and post facilities. Actually, I just did a quick google search and read about the 10.0.4 update improving video output quality for broadcast monitoring. Please look into this to see how much the quality has improved and whether its accurate enough for true broadcast monitoring. However, one major issue with using both FCP 6 and X is that there are different drivers for these I/O devices to use with 6/7 and X. Thus, you must create a dual-boot setup with FCP 6 on one drive and FCP X on the other in order to use an I/O device with both FCP programs. If you only want broadcast monitoring with 6 (or X) and never the other, then a single boot system is fine.

2nd issue: which X-rite colorimeter did you use? Is it compatible with Color Navigator? What Color Space(s) did you try to calibrate to within Color Navigator? (ie. Rec 709, Rec 601 aka SMPTE-C <--this is Standard Def's color space and should be used only when broadcasting in SD)

3) Because neither FCP's display color accurately within its canvas/windows, this is most likely the reason you are seeing odds colors thru your Eizo. However, you are not using the Calibrated setting and it sounds like you are using a Custom setup because the Rec 709 preset calibration says 6500K for its temp and once you change the Temp setting, it goes to Custom - I just checked for this on my Eizo. You need to calibrate your monitor with a compatible X-rite device using Color Navigator with Rec 709 as the color space, Temp set to 6500K, 2.2 Gamma and 120cd/m2 brightness/luminance. On my Eizo, 25% brightness is very very close to 120cd/m2 which I have setup within the 709, 601 & sRGB presets. Make sure the room's lights are off when running the calibration and have as little light in the room as possible (ie, turn off all LCDs & TVs). And then when you grade, make sure lights are off and there is as little ambient light as possible. A single light behind you causing light to reflect off your Eizo greatly affects the color cast of your monitor. When I say greatly, I mean that its slightly noticeable but has enough affect to greatly alter your perception of the LCD's color. I have tested this myself at home with a 40w lamp and in my studio with overhead florescent.

FYI, the Matrox Mini's 'calibration' tool was designed for computer LCDs, not HDTVs or Plasma TVs. I read this either on Matrox's forum or another website and one of their engineers explained it.

Side note: I read that with a Matrox MXO and a 2nd LCD, you can hit Command F-12 keys to switch between the OSX desktop displaying and the I/O device. I don't know if this is unique to Matrox or not but it could be useful. Otherwise, you can simply connect the Mac Pro's video card to one input on your Eizo and the I/O device to the other input.

So, which I/O device to get - The 2nd most affordable option is the BMD Decklink Studio 2 ($670) and the HDLink Pro 3D DisplayPort ($470). You get HD-SDI and HDMI in/out with the Decklink and the HDLink takes the SDI into it and displays thru DP to your Eizo which will give you a 10bit pipeline from the 10bit HD-SDI to the 10bit DP to the 10bit Eizo. FYI, only DP supports 10bit in the Eizo. DVI is still 8bit only. Also with this setup, you get HDMI output to your HDTV for client viewing. Another feature of the HDLink is that it can be used on set while filming; so, you can feed SDI into it and then monitor with DP or HDMI/DVI with a converter cable in addition to using a HD-SDI monitor with the HDLink's SDI output (and its 3D capable too).

The most affordable option is to replace the HDLink with the BMD SDI to HDMI converter box for $280 and then a HDMI to DVI cable to feed your Eizo. http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/857474-REG/Blackmagic_Design_CONVBATT_SH_SDI_to_HDMI_Battery.html
Hope this helps :)