Post Production Studio calibrations

[Anonymous]

I have no previous experience performing calibrations for post production facilities. I received the following email and I was wanting to know what would be uniquely different about calibrating monitors in a facility like this as opposed to what we would do in calibrating consumer displays. Of course one would do all of the research on these different monitors prior to doing the job but at this point I am simply wanting to learn the basic difference between the two. Below is a list of the displays that the client is interested in having calibrated:

24″ Cine-Tal Monitor in VFX suite
24″ Cine-tal monitor in color grading suite (Lustre)
Several Flanders Scientific monitors in edit suites

Most of our work is rec709 and occasional DCI.

Topic

[Gregg Loewen]

Usually / typically they will also have “client” monitors which are VT30s etc. I start with working on the client monitors, which should be extremely straight forward. Plug in a signal generator and calibrate to rec 709 in 422.

For the “reference” monitors, ( I use this term very loosely), they typically have 709 / DCI gamut selection, then gamma choice, and white balance controls (in addition to contrast and black level controls).

There is a great ability to screw this stuff up. The client often has non real expectations and they consider themselves “color experts” but are very often times lacking in expertise. They want all the monitors to look identical and this is impossible.

Get all the delta E values as close to perfect as you can, ensure that the light output of each monitor is also the same.

[Anonymous]

Gregg, do these monitors take an HDMI input or an SDI input?

[Gregg Loewen]

hi Chad.
they typically take both (and VGA too).
With SDI, I use a Quantum Data 701A, to set basic levels, then switch over to my QD 780 or Accupel 5000 and HDMI. First thing I do is ensure that SDI matches HDMI. Sometimes you can calibrate 1 input with HDMI then copy them over to the SDI input. ALWAYS VERIFY that you are decoding correctly, RGB, vs 422, (with correct black levels).

THXvideotech sells the Quantum Data 701A. Email sales@thxvideotech.com if youd like a price quote.

[Anonymous]

I was also under the impression that most of these type of studios also require a NIST certified high end Spectro to do the work?

[Anonymous]

@Shawn_Byrne 3586 wrote:

I was also under the impression that most of these type of studios also require a NIST certified high end Spectro to do the work?

I’ve seen David Abrams mention some require only Photo Research spectros, but this might have been before the Jetis were released.

[Gregg Loewen]

PR is the industry standard. Im sure they would be okay with a cs200 or a JETI. An i1pro would not be acceptable to a true post house / facility.

[Author]

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