EliteBook 8740w /w DC2 calibration

I purchased a 8740w with DC2 option 2 weeks ago. I am somewhat confused with HP MObile Display Assistant utility and user calibration.

First of all, I though the display assistant will let me choose between Full (DC2 native), AdobeRGB, sRGB etc. color spaces. But the profiles drop down only has 7 entries named "ST-Factory-1" through "ST-Factory-7". What's up with that -- I cannot tell which is which?

And then I have a Spyder3Pro with v4.0.2 drivers. I asked Datacolor and they told me the Spyder3Pro supports wide gamut displays such as the DC2 and I should not have any problems. Before spending the additional cash on the DreamColor APS I would like to try the Spyder3Pro out but I don't know where to start. If I calibrate it, will my custom profile appear in the Mobile Display color space utility selection drop-down list? Is there any profile in the Display Utility I should preselect before using the spyder to calibrate?

Any insights appreciated!!

 

Something's f'ed up regarding the presets. My pull-downs read Full/Native, Adobe RGB, sRGB. Rec.601(SMPTE), Rec.709, etc... The last one is Native/User.

Have you tried clicking the "Factory Reset" button on the right? If that doesn't set things straight, contact HP support, as what you describe is not the way it should behave.

I'm afraid I won't be of much use regarding the calibration as I have no experience w/it and the DC2. I may be doing an injustice repeating inaccuracies, but what I'd read regarding the stand-alone DreamColor monitor is HP "locks out" other calibrators (if that's actually possible).

What I 'think' however is the Native/User selection would be the calibrated selection. (?) But, and I'm guessing further, only if HP's calibrator is used as I'd assume is made to work w/the HP MDA and install (and alter) profiles. I think you have to use the native Windows's monitor calibration feature with other calibrators; and that's not in effect on our 8740w's.

So, I am skeptical a non HP branded calibrator will integrate with their branded MDA. I can cross my fingers and hope you report that it's possible however.

...I really aught'a stop procrastinating and get me one of them.

 

I just calibrated using Spyder3Pro with driver version 4.0.2.

The trick is to first do a factory reset ( BTW m80 -- no the factory reset does not make the color space names appear -- still the same stupid ST-Factory-1, ST-Factory-2 etc.) then choose the 7th (User/Native -- or in my case ST-Factory-7) profile. Then go to Display Assistant and change settings to prevent it to run at startup/show in taskbar etc.

Then initiate a full calibration using the Spyder3Pro software. The calibration takes about 6-7 mins to complete -- if you chose brightness as "LCD" instead of "Native", you'll be prompted in the middle of the process to change brightness to the ballpark of 120 CD/m-sq.

After all this is done, save the profile and then config the Spyder3Utility to load the calibration to LUT everytime it starts. That seems to do it.

The profile thus greated seems to me to be the best in terms of highlight retetion and shadow details. I have some Velvia/Provia/E100VS slide film scans in Ligroom in ProphotoRGB space and they look "deep" like never before-- I can see a lot more detail in the shadows while the highlights are not blown out. Same thing with raw captures from Nikon D70, D200, Fujifilm S100fs and Olympus E-PL1 -- now I think I am at a point where I am able to perform reasonably "color critical" post processing.

So I guess the lesson learnt is that even a generic wide gamut calibrator like the Spyder3Pro with v4.0.2 drivers can give you a profile that is noticeably better than the canned profiles. I can guess it will only be better with the DreamColor APS but at this point I am not that hard-pressed to shell out the additional cash ...

Hope all this is helpful in some manner.

 

So, just wondering...did you ever get it to show the correct color space names? I just got my 8740 yesterday and I'm seeing the same thing.

 

Have you tried simply reinstalling the MDA?

 

yep. It was like that with the factory install, and it was the same after I reinstalled the OS and installed it from disk. Hmm...maybe I'll try to reinstall it with downloaded bits instead.

 

nope, that didn't do it either. Weird.

So, I'm curious, what does your registry look like for this.

Specifically, does it have the correct names in the values for DisplayMode1, DisplayMode2, etc.? You can see in mine that those are the mystery ST-Factory-1, ST-Factory-2, etc.

This just seems very strange. This is what I've tried so far:

I have tried uninstalling and reinstalling the MDA several different ways. I have even reinstalled the OS. I tried using the install package included on the disk that came with the laptop. I have also tried installing the download from the HP support site. And finally, I tried installing the download from portrait.com. All have the same result - no actual names listed in the Color Space dropdown. I even bothered to scan through the registry after uninstalling looking for some sign of something that was left behind, but there was nothing.

And now it's just become a mission to get this figured out. I'm pretty sure I know which "Factory" name maps to which actual name (at least the top few), but it's just bizarre that only a couple of us have had this. Maybe it's a problem with the upgrade path? Or more to the point, maybe I need to install an older version, and then upgrade to 2.02. Anyone else out there that has only had version 2.02 not seeing this? What does your registry look like?

 

Heh, that didn't do it either. I give up.

 

You're definitely on to something there. I imagine if you change your registry's settings to the same names as mine, the current display and maybe even what's displayed after a 'Restore' will render the correct names.

 

Tho it's worth mentioning I notice the name is also in the registry sub-setting's calibration table, which is a binary value and may 'break' if you try to set/change it. That may be where the names come from on a factory reset.

 

This just seems bizarre to me...I went ahead and changed the values in both places (after backing up my registry, of course), and then when I opened MDA, it changed them both back to the ST-Factory number. So clearly it's getting them from somewhere else.

I submitted a support request to portrait.com describing the behavior. We'll see if they have anything helpful.

If the problem truly is only the way the names get displayed, I might be able to live with it. But my concern is what else might be different/wrong?

 

Well, portrait.com was not helpful, so I opened a ticket with HP. I've gotten past the customer service guy and have been talking to a service tech. He's been providing good service, but has not really been able to help with the problem.

He's passed it up the chain, and so far no one has been able to repro it or have even heard of this happening before.

He thinks there will be a new ATI driver and new version of the MDA coming out fairly soon (next few weeks) that might address the issue. Otherwise, my only other option is to send them my unit.

At this point, I think I'll just wait to see if the driver or MDA update fixes the issue.

 

Just got off the phone with my service tech. It sounds like they now think that my panel made it out of the factory without actually being calibrated. So now they want it back to recalibrate it or possibly just replace it.

That certainly confirms my suspicions that it was in fact something wrong with the panel itself, and not the software. Feeling better about pursuing this now.

 

I just recieved my dreamcolor 8740w yesterday. Unfortunately, I have the same problem as gr0m1t, HP MDA does not have the usual srgb adobergb color spaces to choose, instead color list availble are "st-factory1", "st-factory2".. "st-factory7". Any news on how gr0m1t or anyone else resolved the issue?

 

great... mine is supposed to arrive Friday, will be interesting to see if I have the same issue

 

I've made a few more posts in the main 8740W Owners thread about the issue. But the short version is that they wanted me to send mine to them so they could diagnosis the problem. And I just got word today that they are going to just give me a new panel (and then continue to try and figure out what went wrong.)

I'll let you know if I learn anything else.

 

Thanks Gr0m1t for your feedback.
My customer rep told me "theres a patch coming" to fix the problem, so I think they are trying to stuff me around based on your experience.

 

Not sure the problem is patchable. Here's what my rep just told me:

"At this point, it appears that a few panels may have escaped the factory without being calibrated properly. Yours is the only one that has been brought to our attention to this point. Any others that you are in communication with that have run across the same problem should call HP tech support and request that the panel be replaced through the normal warranty process (mail in to HP repair depot or onsite, as per their warranty)."

 

Just wanted to chime in that I had the same experience - panel came with the profiles drop down having only has 7 entries named "ST-Factory-1" through "ST-Factory-7".

From this thread and another I was able to get tech support to come out and physically replace the panel. That's all they did - they didn't install any software, didn't change anything else on the machine, they *just* replaced the panel.

This did fix the problem - now the dropdown has real names like sRGB rather than before where it had the "factory" names.

Just wanted to be clear - replacing the panel and nothing else, no software updates, updated drivers, etc etc fixes the problem.

 

I'd like to confirm that Bios, Driver, or OS updates did not fix this. Replacing the unit did.

 

hello
i have hp 8560w with dream color
i try hp mobile display assistant and hp display assistant but doesn't work
no options no color profile no possibility to calibration

 

It's so boring. After weeks of waiting HP did bring a new 8560w with a calibrated panel. Before replacing the panel of the new notebook into my already installed and upgraded 8560w I checked the panel with the Mobile Display Assistant and and the dropdown did show all the different color profiles.
Well after replacing my old uncalibrated display panel with the well working new one and reinstalling Mobile display assistant, the tool did show up again with ST-Factory1...
That's sick. Mobile Display Assistant does not refresh the data from the new panel. A stetting's reset does not help too.
So the question is: where does Mobile Display Assistant store it's data??? There is nothing left in the registry after uninstalling it...
Does anyone know a solution???

Thank you so much

donmarkuso

 

We discussed this issue in the 8740w Owner's Lounge. Since it seems this same problem occasionally happens with the current models, I'll link this thread to a post I made on HP support forums. It details my experience with this exact issue.

8740w DreamColor missing color spaces

tldr: the only solution is a new panel...this is not a software issue