Properly calibrating monitor for Dreamcast?

[gabe]

I just purchased a 21" CRT monitor which I intend to use exclusively as a Sega Dreamcast display.

Does anyone have any tips on how I might go about properly calibrating the monitor for this purpose?

Is my best bet to hook it up to a PC and use one of the many tools? Would calibrating it on a PC be completely useless, as the PC is NOT the Dreamcast? Should I just go with the factory defaults and tweak it until I say "that looks pretty good"?

[mrsmiley381]

I've never done a monitor setup with a Dreamcast, but I did have to do some adjusting when I got my JAMMA video to VGA converter. Your best bet is to open the monitor's options and see what default video settings there are. If there happens to be more than one, cycle through them and see which looks best. If there are no default color options, you might just have to play with it until it looks good. The Dreamcast outputs VGA natively, so I doubt you will run into too much trouble getting it to look good.

[gabe]

Your best bet is to open the monitor's options and see what default video settings there are. If there happens to be more than one, cycle through them and see which looks best. If there are no default color options, you might just have to play with it until it looks good. The Dreamcast outputs VGA natively, so I doubt you will run into too much trouble getting it to look good.

Heh - that is actually how this whole thing started. The monitor is a Sony E540, that seems as though it was intended for the likes of graphic designers in its prime. It has a few different presets, and I've found a combo that looks OK... But I also discovered a labyrinth of complex setup menus, that are offering me a degree of fine tuning unrivaled by any other display in my collection. Now that I've discovered the advanced setup options, I'd really like to make use of them. I would sleep better at night knowing that I was displaying games the way the developer intended.

[stuntman]

http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=35554

[Zeron]

Trinitron tubes are awesome you proabably dont need to calibrate anything.

[RGB32E]

I would sleep better at night knowing that I was displaying games the way the developer intended.

Considering that there isn't a standard for which displays are calibrated to for video games, the way the "developer intended" doesn't apply. Seems like a bad take on "Director's intention" with movies... Even current gen games have problems with keeping gamma correct!

However, setting white balance to around 6500K, and adjusting white level and black level properly are the main things to adjust with your monitor. Picture/Contrast (white level) set high enough without blooming, and brightness (black level) to it's lowest without removing picture information.

The test suite Artemio has been developing should be sufficient for white balance, and black/white level adjustments.

[gabe]

http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=35554

Wow - I was hoping such a tool existed, but I thought there was no way in hell... Can't wait to try it out. Thanks!

Also, thanks for the info RGB32E.