Planar PX2611W 26" Widescreen LCD Monitor?
 

I'm looking for a monitor to use with editing. I want a 1920 x 1200 LCD with a IPS panel and was looking to see what was out there compared to the 23" Apple cinema display. I found most of the offerings are 24" and cost more than the Apple monitor so are out of my budget. Then I found this Planar monitor. I haven't heard of them before. Has anybody used these monitors?

You can do better with the NECMultiSync 2690WUXi . Order the Spectraview software, which stores the calibration tables in the monitor. Then, you don't need a video card that will reduce the 8-bit data space.

I have the 2190 for photo editing, and it is fantastic - very easy to calibrate. Though, I don't know about HD color spaces and these onitors. I just need an accurate sRGB for photo editing.

This does look like a good monitor. A little out of my budget but I may save some more for the 12 bit data space it offers. I will have to check on the color space issues. How does the LUT work with the monitor?

If you buy the Spectraview Software and any of the recommended calibrators, the calibration is performed on the monitor-resident LUT. You may not need to calibrate at all, but the monitor is excessively bright out of the box.

Also, the NEC is color-accurate with its SIPS panel. Unfortunately, its time response is not as snappy, so it will blur fast motion. Though, no doubt, it looks better than the Apple Cinema 23" in my office.

I've decided to save a little more and go for this monitor. I already have a Spyder 2 for calibration that I can use. Thanks for the help on this.

Tim, you might also want to have a look at the LaCie 324. It doesn't have the IPS panel, but that doesn't seem to stop it from outputting really good video. It is slightly more budget friendly than the NEC and looks almost as good. For me, it has better controls and GUI but the touch sensitive buttons seem to give big fingers a problem. Not sure if this matters to you but it has an HDMI input where the NEC does not. And it's LUT is 10 bit vs the 12 bit for the NEC. LaCie has a similar calibration program, but I don't know if it supports the spyder. So some good, some bad, but over all a good monitor for the price.

The HDMI input is useful but easily remedied with an HDMI->DVI conversion cable.

Does the Lacie store its calibration info in the monitor? Otherwise, the calibration is lost when its used in the absence of a computer graphics card that does the conversion. The advantage of the NECs is that all of the calibration conversion is done in the monitor.

Hmmm... good point. I'l have to find out.

Another issue is the LaCie has a S-PVA panel. From what I have read, those panels will tend to color shift or lose contrast when you move your viewing position a lot more than the IPS panels. If I have to pick from more accurate colors vs motion I will go with the colors. Not that I want to pay more, but..
Gints - you said that if you calibrate with a video card it would be 8 bit. Does that mean that even though the LaCie is 10 bit if you calibrate with a video card (I have the Quadro FX m1600) you will be actually sending an 8 bit signal to a 10 bit monitor?

There is a new 10-bit extension in HDMI 1.3, but I don't see DVI providing support for more than 8-bits. Neither the NEC nor the Lacie will provide you with a path for more than 8-bits per color channel. So, if you use a graphics card for the calibration, you will be eating into the 8-bit space. The advantage of the NEC is that all of the corrections are performed in a 12-bit space as well as allowing you to use the monitor without a calibrating gfx card.

I got it. It's the same idea as when we record video 8-bit but edit in 10-bit.

Gints, I'm not sure I follow how you would calibrate with the video card (PC) and then use without??? Wouldn't the calibration only be good for the calibrated source??? Especially if that other source is a video source and not another PC source??? Case in point: PCs define the white point as 255 on an 8 bit grayscale, and black as 0; however, for video sources the white point is 235 and the black is 16. Then what about calibrating via DVI from a PC that outputs RGB and then connecting to a source that outputs YCrCb??? To me calibrating on one and then using the other wouldn’t look right. Assuming you have a monitor that even undestand the differences, wouldn't it be best to calibrate with the set up it is to be used in. The obvious exception being a broadcast monitor which is designed to be “self calibrated”.

Enlighten me please.

Hey Mark,

I'm just commenting on using an NEC display without connecing it to a PC. Windows (at least for me) has made it difficult to have two different monitor profiles without two different graphics cards, and the NEC internal calibration solves that. I use one head of my nVidia 7800 card (AGP) for my NEC 2190 and a cheaper PCI card for my smaller NEC 1880SX. In retrospect, I guess I didn't really need to calibrate the smaller monitor as I use that for control panels. This was a difficult time in life when I was doing some color work on photos and found that my perception changed if the monitors weren't very close. Also, I changed the lighting in my room to match 6500K as well.

You're totally right about about needing the source for calibration, but what computer allows for a "camcorder" profile to be included in the workflow? Photoshop allows for source profile (i.e. scanner or camera) as well as a print profile, not to mention a monitor profile. I think that video is behind in color management in affordable software.

Got it... that would make dual monitors easier to do. I have a one-track-mind on this subject... external monitoring not via video card... and totally missed that this is what you were refering to. Thanks.