Blackmagic Forum

I have looked everywhere but I can’t find help for this… Is there a detailed ”idiot’s guide” on how to setup and calibrate my workstation for video production (not photo)…? I only produce corporate stuff and videos for Vimeo, and I am never quite pleased with the results, even though I consider myself a half decent colorist…

1 - My Eizo ColorEdge CG319X is hooked up via HDMI to a Decklink Mini 4K and has a built-in calibration device… But then I can only view content on the Eizo when I use Resolve, how can I calibrate it with Color Navigator then…?

2 - In Davinci there are slots to insert monitoring luts, do I need to do that…?

3 - After my attempts at calibration, it still says on the Eizo that the input signal is Limited Range, shouldn’t it say Full…? Isn’t the signal from the Decklink Mini supposed to be full, 10 bit…? How do I change that setting out of the Decklink?

4 - I think it is almost impossible to nail contrast because the recommended setting of 120 nits is so dim… In youtube tutorials (like Waqas Qazi), his reference monitor seems way brighter and more vibrant… My Eizo is so dim and dull at 120 nits so that it feels more like a lucky accident if I get the image looking right… Is there some setting that I should look at to fix this…?

Best regards, Michael in Sweden

Apart from the Decklink, have you connected the monitor to your computer with a usb3 cable? This will allow the ColorNavigator software to talk to the monitor.
If you haven't got the ColorNavigator manual you will find it here.
https://www.eizo.com/eizo/media/contentassets/2020/07/22/UM-03V27604K1-EN.pdf

If you scroll about three quarters of the way down on this page it has a how-to on calibrating this monitor.
https://www.color-management-guide.com/eizo-coloredge-cg319x-monitor-review.html

Thank you… I am trying now, but I can’t view the test patterns or anything (Colornavigator > Tools > Test Pattern) on the eizo when I am calibrating, even though I am hooked up via the USB as suggested… I can only see test pattern on the second monitor, but I want to ”drag it over” to the Eizo but that is impossible… I am supposed to have the eizo hooked up via the Decklink right…?

Not using a Decklink I cannot give you an exact answer. You may have to plug the monitor into your GPU to do the calibration.
For my part, my Eizo is plugged into the GPU and, as it is not self calibrating, I use an external Datacolor SpyderX Pro colorimeter.

Also, while I think of it, you said about the brightness of the monitor at 120 nits (cd/m2). You should have no problem with it at this level. As an illustration the pic below shows my two monitors at this brightness.

The self-calibrating Eizo monitors can be set up to calibrate on their own by using the menu on the monitor itself. You will need to set up your desired color space and gamma (e.g., Rec 709 and either gamma 2.4 if you're grading for TV or gamma 2.2 if grading for viewing on a computer monitor in an office-type environment), and then you can run the self-calibration procedure entirely from the monitor itself.

Thanks for your help, guys! Feels like I am heading down into a rabbit hole here, since I don’t know what the settings mean…

Brad: are you using a Decklink card? I have heard that is an important part of getting the cleanest image… Should I calibrate the monitor when it is hooked up via the GPU or via the Decklink? I don’t have any way of seing test patterns and such when using the Decklink…

michael_72 wrote:Brad: are you using a Decklink card? I have heard that is an important part of getting the cleanest image… Should I calibrate the monitor when it is hooked up via the GPU or via the Decklink? I don’t have any way of seing test patterns and such when using the Decklink…

Yes, I am using an ultrastudio (same thing as a decklink card). When you self calibrate the monitor from its own menu there are no test “patterns,” only a series of colors. The little calibration sensor pops up and the monitor runs through a bunch of colors. I haven’t tried calibrating it using the software on the computer for the same reasons you mention…even with a USB connection I can’t get the software to find the Eizo monitor.

I see… I haven’t looked at performing a full calibration directly from the Eizo itself, without color navigator… I’ll give it a try… When I hooked up the Eizo with USB, I found the Eizo settings using my other monitor and calibrated the Eizo from it, but I couldn’t drag the test patterns over to the Eizo… Do you ever use test patterns? I am interested in seing that the Eizo shows all shades of white and black correctly, do You use patterns within Resolve for that…?

Charles: You where right, 120 nits is starting to grow on me… I was just used to the extremely punchy look of my OLED tv…

michael_72 wrote:When I hooked up the Eizo with USB, I found the Eizo settings using my other monitor and calibrated the Eizo from it, but I couldn’t drag the test patterns over to the Eizo… Do you ever use test patterns?

No, I haven't used the test patterns. If I were doing videos for clients and for anything other than online viewing I'd do a more rigorous calibration (using an external device), but since I'm only working on my own material and it's all online-only I'm not too fussy.