Just put my new 22" widescreen monitor on, and I have a few questions.

1) I remember sometime ago, finding a little program that would help you calibrate and setup things like brightness, contrast etc etc, any suggestions to something similar?

2) For whatever reason, I can't install the correct driver for the monitor, all I get is "plug and play" monitor, is this ok?.

3) On the CD is a "color file" (ICM I believe) should I use this?

Cheers

Dan,

1. I have used monitor testing and calibration software before, it's really useful stuff but most of it is otly useful to CRT monitors, TFTs don't get anywhere near as many problems. I can't imagine setting brightness, contrast and backlight (if you have it) settings for the appropriate background light level will take too much tinkering. I think the ideal settings will vary between manufacturers and models but from what experience I've had with TFTs, images look best with both settings quite low. I think to a large extent it's personal preference though.

2. So long as you can select the appropriate resolution and refresh rate, then I don't see any advantage to having the monitor detected correctly. Even then you get around the problem with over-rides (all of my monitors are picked up as default monitor (thanks to the DVI dongle, but that's another story)).

3. Never used, can't comment. I don't think they're of much benefit unless you're a graphic designer.

I have a 20" widescreen LCD monitor.

1. Why would you need such a utility? My monitor worked perfectly right out of the box, and it has buttons on the side for brightness, contrast, etc.

2. Who made your monitor? What's the model? Are there no drivers on the manufacturer's web site?

3. If you have no problem with the current colors, there is no reason to change anything. But you can try it and see if it makes any difference, as you can switch back to the original at any time.

1. http://www.prad.de/download/eizo-monitortest.zip best one i know ... has pretty much anything you could wish for (including crt stuff)
2. as long as it offers the res youre looking for absolutely
3. if its a generic colour profile that came with the cd its probably completely useless

eizo-monitor test was EXACTLY what I was after, nice one .

As for the drivers, snagged the ones off the website, which must be different, because they work.

As for the colour, I discovered my GFX card has a DVI output (my old TFT only had D-SUB, so I never used DVI), plugging in the DVI cable removes most of the brightness and contrast controls, is the correct?.

Thanks for the help, after using the same monitor for 4 years, it's gonna take a little getting used to with the new one.

afaik with dvi most of the monitor settings are to be done in the gfx driver settings

Ahhh.....ok, makes sence.