Reference Monitor vs Client Monitor

Hi everyone,

This is more of a real world client question than a technical one. I have my color reference monitor and then a wall mounted client monitor. Of course they don't match perfectly in every bit of the color gamut. I was wondering how any of you handle this when explaining to the client the difference between the reference & client displays; and when they ask which one they should be looking at. Any tips would be appreciated! Thanks in advance!

I will not try to have two viewing environment if they are not aligned. Period.

If the two monitor are not calibrated (or they cannot be) that will lead to insane amount of frustration form the client and you.

Why do you have the necessity to have two monitor? you should see the same thing that the client is seeing...

Having a 24inc calibrated form you and a 60 inc for show is not a good idea if you cannot calibrated both.

I will not try to have two viewing environment if they are not aligned. Period.

If the two monitor are not calibrated (or they cannot be) that will lead to insane amount of frustration form the client and you.

Why do you have the necessity to have two monitor? you should see the same thing that the client is seeing...

Having a 24inc calibrated form you and a 60 inc for show is not a good idea if you cannot calibrated both.

Thanks for the reply. They are both calibrated but I thought it was impossible to perfectly match two displays even if they're the same model displays. I don't mean my displays are way off, it's just in narrow areas of the color spectrum - mostly in the aqua areas. I know it's mainly due to the technology in the displays, parts, manufacturing etc. I've never experienced insane confusion but every now and then it comes up. I know some colorist have a few calibrated displays to show the client a real world example of what they're project will look like across different types of display technology. ie tv, ipad, monitors. Then, finding the grade that looks great for all of them. Was just wondering how Colorists explain this normal minimal discprency between displays when it comes up. Thanks!

Yes, there will be differences.

I usually have (the luxury) of a DLP Di grade environment and we calibrate that with a spectrometer very often... In the rooms that do not have that, we will put one main monitor and we calibrate that as close as possible to the specification (BTU.1886).

For HD color critical we have monitors with LUT that correct some of the issue in representation.

We have a Sony OLED as our grading monitor and a professional Panasonic Plasma as our client monitor.

After calibration they're CLOSE... but not exact obviously.

We just explain that the image on the Sony OLED is the best it's ever going to be viewed, and that the image on the client monitor is what people are going to seen in the best possible case in the "real world".

What we've found is that it's much more important to make sure the grading monitor matches the monitor we use for online (which is in a different room all together).

We have a Sony OLED as our grading monitor and a professional Panasonic Plasma as our client monitor.

After calibration they're CLOSE... but not exact obviously.

We just explain that the image on the Sony OLED is the best it's ever going to be viewed, and that the image on the client monitor is what people are going to seen in the best possible case in the "real world".

What we've found is that it's much more important to make sure the grading monitor matches the monitor we use for online (which is in a different room all together).

Very helpful! Thanks!

we have similar setup ... JVC broadcast monitor for operator , and Panasonic 10bit plasma for clients .. Both are calibrated ..