Topic: Monitor calibration

Your problem is not the Spyder2, but that you have not calibrated the color houses monitor using the Spyder pro. I have a Spyder3 and have found that unless I calibrate every monitor I display my work on I will get different results and the color from monitor to monitor will be different. Create a new monitor profile on any monitor using the Spyder2 and accompanying software and you will find that your results will not look so totally different.

I have two 23 inch Apple Cinema Displays that, out of the box, looked completely different. The same monitors by the same company and one looked reddish the other greenish, I calibrated them and now they look the same. How can you expect a completely different make and type of monitor to look the same without some common reference point? This is what the Spyder and other such calibration tools are for. You have to take a known set of values like inside the hardware and software of the Spyder2 to each device and ‘calibrate’ the monitors to one device and not some arbitrary reference points. The Spyder tools enable you to have all monitors referenced to one source and not simply JVC’s, Sony’s or Apple’s color calibrators. Monitor manufacturer;s have their own ideas how their monitors should be set up, but in the real world we need one standardized reference point so that we are not constantly color correcting from my computer to yours and so on.

Whenever you calibrate one device to a standard, you must calibrate every other device that is used to display your work. In this way, you have ONE reference point that is common to all of your devices instead of several reference points that have no relationship to one another. It is a real pain in the butt to implement and to get those you work with to agree to this, but in the long term it will make your work flow much more efficient. I used to have several different monitor profiles for different jobs I do. I now have one set of profiles for theseven monitors I work on and all of my monitors display color more accurately as a group.

Topic: Monitor calibration

There are twelve “Targets” in the Spyder2Pro software. I know since I own one :)
Choose the “PAL SECAM” and recalibrate. See if thet gets you closer to the monitor in the facility.
The color temperature should be set to 6500K. (The D65 standard is actually 6504K)

Topic: Monitor calibration

For PAL and NTSC you’re better off with a cheaper broadcast monitor than a calibrated computer LCD monitor.
I guess you already know this but even the best LCDs still have a hard time matching a good CRT. I bought a JVC CRT as an editing and color grading monitor for this reason. It’s not a grade 1 monitor but it does the job better than any LCD in the same price range. But if you just want to do some training and learn the application then you should be fine for now with the Spyder calibrated LCD. There are both NTSC and PAL/SECAM presets in the Spyder software to get you in the ballpark.

And when you get hired for a job – buy a Kona or Decklink card and rent a broadcast monitor.