New M6500 Discussion Thread

Please keep us updated on the display color calibration issues. I ordered the m6500 primarily for image editing, based on the full coverage of adobeRGB color space and ability to display 16.7 million colors (8-bit panel vs the normal 6-bit laptop panel).

Based on what I've read about the "hit and miss" ability of colorimeters to calibrate wide-gamut displays, I will be attempting to calibrate my display with the ColorMunki spectrophotometer when it arrives. I'm hoping the spectrophotometer delivers more consistent results than the colorimeters.

You might also want to try selecting the setting for adobeRGB color space or sRGB color space in the Dell Control Point software. I would certainly expect the sRGB color space to tone down the saturated colors.

 

I use color munky and I think it is way easy to calibrate dual monitor, laptop, and printers.

I have the Axio Hardpack backpack because I ride motorcycles and the M90 fits in.

 

THANK YOU!!!

Installing Windows 7 from scratch without installing Dell's Control Point software puts the display in NTSC mode. Installing Control Point not only got me a new tsr program, it allowed me to change to sRGB or Adobe RGB mode.

But there is a problem. The color temps are skewed for me in sRGB and Adobe RGB.

sRGB:
11,000K @ 210 nits (full bright)
10,900K @ 150 nits (5 down)
10,500K @ 90 nits (5 up)
9,700K @ 13 nits (lowest bright)

Adobe RGB:
8,621K @ 266 (full)
8,476K @ 185 (5 down)
8,398 @ 136 (5 up)

NTSC:
7,262 @ 320 (full)
7,146 @ 222 (5 down)
6,810 @ 127.1 (5 up)

Oh - and the native gamma is a very MAC LIKE 1.8 - not 2.2 which is the standard used by PC users (and the web).

So, to get closest to 6,500K which is the standard for photo editing, you have to put the lcd into NTSC mode and drop the brightness down to 5 (of 15).

After running a full calibration at the 5up setting in NTSC mode I am getting decent results, but not perfect. Running calibration in sRGB or Adobe RGB gives me weird colors and a yellow tint.

I am getting closer to having good color, but I am not quite there yet...

 

Other systems that use an internal LUT to select the display color space depend on the use of a specific display driver in order to properly translate color between windows and the display itself. Is it possible that in your "clean install" of windows you overlooked the installation of a display driver?

Dell advertises their Premiere Color systems (precision laptops with RGB LED screens) as having "Consistent and precise color: PremierColor-supported Dell PrecisionTM laptops are shipped with factory level pre-defined color space such as AdobeRGB, sRGB, and NTSC to deliver accurate image color data." If this is true, the sRGB and Adobe RGB settings in Control Point should result in an "industry standard" gama of 2.2 and white point of 6500K. Your results seem quite different from this, so I wonder if there is a missing driver or monitor profile?

I don't have my M6500 yet, so can't compare settings. (My current ship date is 21 Jan, but I'm hoping it moves up from there.)

 

Hi Bokeh,

Is this a new M6500?

What are you thinking, you haven’t called Tech support, and then replace it
Am I missing something here or what?

 

Yes, its a new M6500. I did a clean install since I purchased my own 6
500gb hard drive instead of paying Dell for one. The 160 that came with it has not been booted yet.

I have searched for an lcd driver online and on the cds that came with the machine. No luck yet.

 

I suppose you could boot with the original drive and compare the screen colors with that configuration. (Especially the colors in the sRGB and adobeRGB modes.) At least that would tell you if there was a potential driver or system setup issue, or if the screen is just "off."

 

You’re doing this all wrong; put the factory drive back in and go throw the install steps.
Did you check the new drives that you bought, are they formatted to NTFS

And hope you didn’t trash your System.

You should never just stick a new drive, in your system without checking the drive first

 

Formatted as NTFS and allowed it to create the system reserved partition. Installed drivers that were available online, then from the included dvd. I had been in on windows 7 since the first betas on the e6500 and was familiar with the system. At work we all have technet and msdn accounts. We all go through extensive training and certs from Dell and Microsoft.

I do admit that this is the first wide gamut display (other than the U2410) that I have worked with though. I do have a lot experience with color calibration from the crt (lacie and sony) and regular lcd (sony, dell, and apple) worlds. I know how to get great colors from an Epson 9600 at the end of a managed digital photography workflow.

I know that sharing things with an online community as I learn leaves me open to sounding like a noob, but I have seen a lot and have a lot of training. I am just ok with not having to always sound like i jave all the answers. Too often people in the IT world value their self worth on never having to ask for help and always knowing everything. I just choose to be open to learning.

 

I am planning to. Also reading up on what those with the studio xps 16 are doing. Will let you know how it turns out.

At the end of the day I hope to have the same color response on the m6500 lcd that i have on the 2408 and u2410.