Sony Z12 colors are blown out

I just got a new Z12 with the Full HD screen and love it so far, except the colors on my monitor seem very blown out. I am coming off an SZ and I realize there should be some slight differences but it seems like maybe the color profile is wrong because things look VERY different. Any suggestions?

 

This review suggests the color setting is pretty good out of the box:
Sony Vaio VPC Z11 - DigitalVersus

 

my tv has a "dynamic" color setting and a "normal" setting, i always set it to dynamic because normal looks dull

imagine the z being set to "dynamic", and you should be happy, not many screens can produce these colors

chances are, your sz's screen isn't any more accurate than your z's, it's just that the z can produce more vivid colors whereas the sz cannot

 

Hm, thanks for the responses but it definitely looks odd compared to every monitor Ive used before. Can someone confirm what the color profile name should be?

 

Ah. The video equivalent of a "loudness" button, distorting the sound away from what those who produced it wanted it to be like.

I prefer displays to accurately reflect what is in the data they try to display, even when it's dull. If I take a picture something, then display it on the screen, and then print it out, I want the colours on all three to match as closely as possible.

If you want drums to sound louder, hit them harder, and if you want the lawn to appear greener in a picture, don't crank up the saturation, but water it.

 

It is odd. It's oversaturated. You can use a hardware colour calibration device to help with that, but that only helps with programs that actually use profiles (WCS or ICC). The Windows desktop itself doesn't.
However, you can turn off the Sony setting for "enhance color", and reboot. And then (and only then) adjust the gamma settings for red, green and blue for the two graphics cards.

 

Thank you Arth, I believe this is exactly what Im looking for. However I cant find the option to turn off the 'enhance color' in any Sony settings. Any advice?

 

I agree. The colors are oversaturated. It looks great for videos or pictures but text looks funny. HTML links especially look very neon blue. You can play with the hue and saturation using the various GPU control panels. The Intel one for the GMA, the nVidia one for the GT. I tried, but still couldn't get it to look right. In the end, I just got used to it.

 

I had the same reaction to my new VAIO TT screen last year. I tried modifying saturation, profiles etc without satisfactory success (although reducing saturation via the Intel tool was helpful for watching SD DVD material).

In the end, via research I found out the TT screen is a 'wide-gamut' screen, and while some colours are over-saturated, others were actually displaying more realistically, in particular 'hi-vis' and 'neon' colour ranges, which on my older VAIO TX look pale. Eventually I became convinced to leave things as they are and allow my brain to retrain, which 10 months on, I've quite happy to report has happened. Blu-Ray DVD's appear to me to have wider galmut colour coding, since they have always looked superb on the TT screen, the older DVD sources less so.

KJ

 

ahh kj, exactly what i wanted to say, although i wasnt able to put it as well as you did

 

Apples and oranges. The TT has an 8-bit IPS display, completely unlike the 6-bit TN (with an 8-bit driver) of the Z. It's like comparing studio monitors with a boom box with the bass and treble turned up.

Take pictures of colourful physical objects in your room. (Like a set of crayons.) Then view the pictures on the computer screen, and compare them with Real Life. Be astonished at (a) the garishness of certain colours, and (b) the colours that the notebook can't display at all, no matter how much you fiddle with the settings (like Pantone red and yellow, which would require a negative amount of blue).

 

Thank you for that - Very interesting. As an aside, not all TT's had the same LCD panel - eg later builds out of Asia had screen with a glossy coating. Is it possible the Z also had different spec panels sourced from different suppliers?

KJ

 

AFAIK there is only one LCD mfr that cuts 13.1" panels.

 

Hi,

I just got my VPC-Z1290S and I find that the screen is not bright enough even though I have brightness at max! I have an SZ series and the brightness/backlight is much better! Anybody experience this issue? Or is this so called HD screen supposed to be less bright! Colors seem very saturated compared to my SZ.

 

Have you checked the vaio control centre and confirmed that 'auto brightness' is off? By default it is on and users will generally report exactly this reaction...until they turn it off.

 

That solved my problem!! Thanks Carmien! I called Sony Tech support and they had no clue what to do..were asking me to take it to a repair centre or send it back for an exchange!!! I guess one can get more help here than by calling the Tech support!!

Thanks again!!

 

I just got my VPCZ12 the other day and like you I have found the colors to be oversaturated. Trying to adjust the colors via the nVidia and Intel control panels is near impossible to get what matches on every other laptop/lcd moitor screen I've compared it to.

Some people have just said they got used to it but for me I can't, as I used this machine for web design, so color is very important.

Do we know why the colors are like this or what's causing it?

Has anyone else had any luck in getting the colors to be more natural?

I wonder if this is something Sony can fix?

 

There seems to be a lack of awareness in this thread.
If you are serious about colour you need to calibrate your screen.
Every screen is different so there isn't a common solution.
Google is your friend from here.

 

I had a VGN-Z591 before and upgraded to the VPC-Z12 with a FHD screen. I agree the other posters in this thread. The colors are not vibrant and the font is just way too small making reading very uncomfortable when compared with my old model. I regret I picked up the FHD option on my CTO model.

 

Hardware calibration only helps for programs that use the (WCS or ICC) profiles. The Windows desktop doesn't, and browsers like IE only does it for images, not for text and background colours. So when you specify LimeGreen as the colour in web design, it won't be LimeGreen even after calibration.

So you're left with adjusting the gamma, brightness and contrast for the display drivers. Which doesn't help all that much.

 

eh?
maybe there is some misunderstanding.
Calibrate your display
"The new calibration will be associated with your screen display and used by color-managed programs"

 

Yup... tried that already, that was one of the first things, all that does is create and icc which isn't used across all of windows... doesn't help...

 

I'll guarantee this won't be colour accurate but there does appear to be a Windows 7 tool to deal with this in some way:
Neowin.net - Windows 7: Calibrate your display

 

I hope I don't seem belligerent, but what do you mean by 'all of windows'?

 

onimod: that's cool, let me try to explain, it's my understanding that icc profiles are only used by programs that support them and usually just for things like images, so things like Windows desktop or IE(except images) don't (that's kinda what I meant by all of windows... excuse the generalisation)

Where this becomes an issue is say I'm building a website and I specify the color of a div to be yellow via hex code, the actual color on screen is not a proper representation of yellow even with calibration, it still comes out brighter/saturated than it should be.

I've also just tested the calibration with an image as a desktop background and it doesn't work, colors are way too warm.

So things like Stryder aren't going to help here cos they create icc profiles.

Also, you are correct in saying that web design is done on larger monitors, but when on the road or meeting clients, the work is usually shown on laptops and it then makes it difficult to do little tweaks here and there cos the representation isn't correct.

Hence why this color issue is a pain...

 

Is that what the other posters in this thread are saying? I read exactly the opposite.

Also - adjust your font DPI to make the text normal sized.

 

cheers theaccent
I'm dabbling in the Z issues because I expect to get one soon.
I'm currently driving the wheels of an older SZ (Vista) that mostly sits on my desk connected to an Eizo which I calibrate with an i1.
My desktop colours change in line with calibration and you are absolutely correct about not all programs being colour aware. There are enough that are though so that if it's important you an limit yourself to using those when it's important. My understanding is that Firefox can be colour aware; I don't know about IE and I'm not sure about what you use in the course of your business.
I know that no matter how much I fiddle with my laptop screen it will never look like the Eizo - it's just not capable and I don't expect the Z to be much better. I would expect it to be good enough to fool most uneducated clients though.
Of course the corollary of that is that if they're educated clients they'll understand the limitations of laptop screens and ask that you display your work on a calibrated system.
That's a lot of words but no solutions.
I think the best you can do is to fiddle with the Nvidia settings so that your whole OS is close and then calibrate so that the colour aware programs are even closer.
I wouldn't dismiss the possibility that you have a dud screen either.
Oh, and you are correct - colour is generally a pain and it begins with the fact that everyone sees it differently.

 

Read your own quote. "Used by color-managed programs" means it isn't used by programs that aren't color-managed. That's most of them.

But don't take my word for it. Switch between a bunch of different profiles, and notice what happens to your desktop: Absolutely nothing. Cause only programs that are color-managed (like Photoshop) will use them.

 

Maybe the confusion is occurring because when I change profiles my desktop clearly does change. My reading of the Microsoft blurb says the same thing.