Review of the Pantone Huey monitor calibration system

[Witness]

Perhaps just to add my experience with what Nic has already mentioned. I'm no pro on this issue, but hope this helps.

The huey does give me pretty decent results on my fujitsu S7020U laptop. At least i get more or less proper blacks and neutral looking whites.

Regarding the yellowish tone, my cross comparison between the huey and the spyder that i also use is that it produces a smaller gamut as compared to the spyder, especially in the red and blue zones. This could be the reason why there's a so called yellowish cast, but its not strong on my laptop. As Nic has mentioned, this could be due to the fact that there are insufficient levels to determine a grey balance.

All in all, i also feel that this is a usable product, but for serious work, i'm definately sticking to the spyder, which i still use on my PC. But its compactability is pretty useful as i can calibrate on the go with my laptop, though i haven tried the ambient calibrator for obvious purposes (we kindda need consistancy with photo editing ya).

*do correct me if any of the terms are wrong.

Cheers
Gerald

 

[yyD70S]

Hi,

With regard to the "spyder"... (or any other hardware-based monitor calibrator),

my notebook has only brightness control (no control for contrast; is it possible to do the calibration?

Tks.

Perhaps just to add my experience with what Nic has already mentioned. I'm no pro on this issue, but hope this helps.

The huey does give me pretty decent results on my fujitsu S7020U laptop. At least i get more or less proper blacks and neutral looking whites.

Regarding the yellowish tone, my cross comparison between the huey and the spyder that i also use is that it produces a smaller gamut as compared to the spyder, especially in the red and blue zones. This could be the reason why there's a so called yellowish cast, but its not strong on my laptop. As Nic has mentioned, this could be due to the fact that there are insufficient levels to determine a grey balance.

All in all, i also feel that this is a usable product, but for serious work, i'm definately sticking to the spyder, which i still use on my PC. But its compactability is pretty useful as i can calibrate on the go with my laptop, though i haven tried the ambient calibrator for obvious purposes (we kindda need consistancy with photo editing ya).

*do correct me if any of the terms are wrong.

Cheers
Gerald

 

[Witness]

yeah man. Its still possible to calibrate. What i normally do is i set it back to the default settings first then i start my calibration.

In a way, the spyder's software is better as it allows you to set the control points in the curve or something like that. I'm not too proficient in explaining this man.

Cheers!

 

[Gamut Labs]

Hi,

With regard to the "spyder"... (or any other hardware-based monitor calibrator),

my notebook has only brightness control (no control for contrast; is it possible to do the calibration?

Tks.

Hi yyD70S!

I must add this point that there are 2 ways to color correct your displays.

1) Calibrate - Using advanced controls such as individual R G B, Brightness and Contrast controls. much like manual control on a microwave oven.

2) Profile - Not all devices allows you to adjust individual channels in case like laptops, Imacs, you can still bring it to a grey-balanced state even if you only have brightness control.

So don't confuse yourselves with the 2 terms!

Hope this helps.


Cheers,
nic

 

[Klose]

Digging this up again.

There's the 1.0.3 version of the software available now.

Download it here!

 

[Witness]

thanks alot of the link man...i tried it...and my calibration seems more accurate after checking the gamut now..

 

[yyD70S]

While it does "seem" to improve a little, I would say that the device is a major disappointment.

 

[Klose]

While it does "seem" to improve a little, I would say that the device is a major disappointment.

For the price I paid for... I would say it's worth it (It was a 2 digit figure :sweat: )

 

[E1g3]

Digging this up again.

There's the 1.0.3 version of the software available now.

Download it here!

This software has more color setting options than the earlier version.
Looks like the yellowcast disappeared from my monitor.
I chose web browsing/photo editing function.

 

[yyD70S]

Hey buddy,

How did you get this option? I'm still stuck with the usual three options; cool, normail, warm.

I chose web browsing/photo editing function.

 

[Witness]

eh...u downloaded the new software...huey 1.0.3? it should be the many many options now instead..

 

[E1g3]

Digging this up again.

There's the 1.0.3 version of the software available now.

Download it here!

I followed the link and did a clean install.
I uninstall the original gretagmacbeth that comes with the package.
You will get more options instead of 3.

 

[Tachi]

With the new driver, the yellow hue finally disappear from my Philips 17" LCD

 

[denniskee]

I followed the link and did a clean install.
I uninstall the original gretagmacbeth that comes with the package.
You will get more options instead of 3.

I did the update, do you mean you get options like :

1) gaming
2) web & photo editing
3) warm & low contrast
4) warm & medium contrast
5) warm & high contrast
6) cool & low contrast
7) cool & medium contrast
8) cool & high contrast

these are what i get.

the original give 9 options combination with

1) cool, normal, warm
2) low contrast, medium contrast, high contrast

but neither one give a "good" display if compare to "before calibration / berfore correction" for my LCD monitor. i wonder why???

 

[kegler]

I did the update, do you mean you get options like :

1) gaming
2) web & photo editing
3) warm & low contrast
4) warm & medium contrast
5) warm & high contrast
6) cool & low contrast
7) cool & medium contrast
8) cool & high contrast

these are what i get.

the original give 9 options combination with

1) cool, normal, warm
2) low contrast, medium contrast, high contrast

but neither one give a "good" display if compare to "before calibration / berfore correction" for my LCD monitor. i wonder why???

Guess what u mean is before and after calibration no significant difference right? im wondering if mine is spoilt too... lol... can't see any difference at all
sigh

 

[denniskee]

Guess what u mean is before and after calibration no significant difference right? im wondering if mine is spoilt too... lol... can't see any difference at all
sigh

no, i mean was my LCD monitor looks "better" without calibration. than again, maybe that is why those photos i had posted looks fine with me, but most people tells me under-exposed, not contrasty.....

also, i cant see signiticant different between both version of driver. i have yet to post any photo after doing the calibration. will try to post this weekend.

 

[yyD70S]

While it does provide more choices after a clean install of version 1.0.3, it still looks better before calibration.

Another one bites the dust.

 

[Kho King]

So...say with this new software, is HUEY a good buy now?

 

[Lmodel]

Guess what u mean is before and after calibration no significant difference right? im wondering if mine is spoilt too... lol... can't see any difference at all
sigh

I guess the before and after function isnt working at all. After calibration, I can see the differences but it doesnt shows in the before and after.

 

[Liane May]

OK, try to post my comments on Huey again, as it did not work a few days ago....

Dear Huey Users,

first of all sorry for my very very late reply but I saw this forum the first time. I read all the postings on the Huey calibration device and would like to take the chance and post some comments on this. I am application specialist (located in Germany) and working for the support team of GretagMacbeth. I picked up some issues discussed previously and would like to comment them:


1) Yellowish cast after calibration:

this is something, that will be experienced very often from users (including me), who calibrate a display the first time from its native color temperature (something between 7000 - 9000K, which looks very bluish) to a lower temperaure like 6500 or 5000K (which looks warmer, yellowish). The human eye would need some minutes to adopt to the new white point until it accepts it as 'neutral' white. Additionally some Laptops may have a low native luminance. Calibrating these laptops to a lower color temperature decreases the luminance again, which still increases the appearance of a muddy cast (for the first minutes).

To reduce the yellow cast to a minimum the color setting 'Cool, High Contrast' would be the best option. To have this option available, please make sure you are using the latest version of the Huey software - version 1.0.3. It can be downloaded for free on http://www.gretagmacbeth.com.


2) Different monitors look still different after calibration

Beside a same color temperature and gamma, the displays would need to be calibrated to a same Luminance value. This is not supported by the Huey solution as this would be a feature for high-end environments (please see below the descripion of target market for Huey). So to calibrate a bigger monitor pool to the same appearance, a more specialised solution like Spyder or our Eye-One Display would be needed.


3) Better colors before or after calibration?

This is a question, which will be asked very often... How do I now, whether my colors would be better now after calibration? As you probably know, the colors on the monitor can shift by time very strange. One important advantage of Huey is, that you can calibrate your monitor (back) to stable, reliable color every time. So you have 'better' (stable) color over time. Another issue is, that different industry areas use different color viewing conditions (e.g. Photograpy 6500 0r 5500K, printing 5000K and so on). Huey allows you to adjust your display according to these popular standards, so you have 'better' (closer) colors to these standards. And finally you will also have ab overall objectively better color quality according to more neutral grays, smoother, better distributed gradations, details and so on.

And please not also, that Huey creates an ICC monitor profile and sets it as current system profile. ICC compliant applications like from Adobe use this system profile to display incoming colors correctly. So an image will be temporarily converted from its embedded or assigned ICC source profile to your individual monitor profile to get best possible true colors according to the original image colors.


4) Value proposition and target market of Huey

Of course I do not want to make product marketing at this forum but I think it is important to understand the intention of Huey correctly to judge, what can be expected from Huey.

Huey was designed as an 'Entry Level' solution, which allows novices on color management to optimize the colors on the monitor according to popular industry recommendations and different use cases. This should be done in a very view simple steps without any investigations on on color management and monitor calibration. The complete calibration will be done via gamma curves in the graphic card, no bothering hardware adjustments are needed. So the Huey solution cannot be compared to the possibility and resulting quality of High-End colorimeter solutions.


The big advantages of Huey are:

- reliable and repeatable color on the monitor for home
users, photo enthusiasts, gamers, surfers, etc.
- better overall color quality (gradation, details primaries...)
- more close colors between monitores and printers
- A very attractive price

OK, hope, this comments will help. And if you have any issues with the Huey, please do not hesitate to contact our support team. Please refer to http://www.gretagmacbeth.com/helpcenter. On this side helpful FAQ to Huey can be found and e-mails to the support team can be posted.

Best regards,
Liane May
GretagMacbeth