A hardware calibrated monitor will be color accurate regardless of which source or computer you connect to it. If you use multiple sources with your monitor, each one must have its color calibration stored independently. With a hardware LUT, the monitor receives the unadjusted RGB signal from the computer and then applies the color corrections using a chip on the display itself where the corrected values are stored.Ī software calibration LUT needs to be reloaded every time you reboot your computer and only works with that computer's video signal. A hardware LUT, which is used for hardware calibration, is stored on a dedicated chip inside the display. When using software color calibration, the LUT is stored on your computer where the color corrections are software-processed first, and the corrected RGB values are then sent to the monitor.

A LUT (Lookup table) is used to calculate corrections inside the LUT, each RGB combination has a new value assigned that reflects the values specific for a monitor to display accurate colors. Once the necessary adjustments for each reference value have been calculated, they need to be stored somewhere to adjust every color that the monitor displays. The main difference between hardware and software calibration comes at the next step of the calibration process.

This process is repeated until everything falls within accepted tolerances for the monitor to be considered color accurate. Whenever differences exist, the computer performs calculations to adjust the color and sends a corrected signal to the monitor then, measurements are retaken. A specialized optical tool measures the actual colors produced by a monitor and compares them to reference values. After manufacturing, a monitor can be color calibrated by the manufacturer or the end-user. At BenQ, we use high-precision equipment in the manufacturing process to minimize these discrepancies however, it's practically impossible to eliminate them altogether.Ĭolor calibration helps reduce the impact of those discrepancies on color performance. If you display the color cyan as defined by its RGB values on such a monitor, it will look slightly bluer than it should.

For example, the blue pixels on a specific monitor could be slightly bluer than another one, even from the same brand and model. How that cyan looks on the screen is affected by several factors, but the most common is an uncalibrated screen.Īll computer monitors incorporate small variations due to the nature of manufacturing. These numeric values never change, so cyan will always be the same, but only numerically. For example, the color cyan is 100% green, 100% blue, and 0% red.

Inside a computer, numerical values of red, green, and blue define all possible colors, but what we use to reproduce that color will affect the result.

Mac color calibration for color blind