Milori ColorFacts CF6500
Jul 1, 2004 12:00 PM,
By Jeff Sauer
Milori ColorFacts CF6500
“I don’t know what’s good, but I know what I like.” It’s an old adage that usually describes an outsider’s approach to appreciating art, but it could work as well for a well-calibrated display. When colors are strong and accurate, onscreen content can seem to sing in visual harmony. The trouble is that it’s extremely difficult for the average person — heck, even for the experienced expert — to just eyeball changes in color, hue, and tint.That’s where a professional calibration tool like Milori’s ColorFacts CF6500 ($2,999) comes in. Using light and color-sensitive meters to measure and report values, calibrators can help match the vision of the content creator with the images on the monitor — be it a plasma, a projector, a CRT, an LCD, or something else. When it’s done and done right, skies are blue, grass is actually green, and the picture can be worth the proverbial thousand words. With large-screen display products increasingly being installed both for business and home theater, more users are looking to get the most out of their investments, and calibration is an important business opportunity for knowledgeable AV contractors.COLOR ME HAPPYColor and brightness calibration can be a tedious science, but Milori has built a reputation for developing easy-to-use and relatively affordable Windows software featuring graphics that are easy to read and to understand. Thus far that software primarily has been bundled with third-party colorimeters and spectroradiometers. In its new ColorFacts CF6500 bundle, Milori matches branded hardware with a new v. 5 of the ColorFacts software toolkit.The ColorFacts interface now features about a dozen different test instruments, including a standard CIE chart, histograms, luminance and color temperature meters, color tests, and a built-in test-pattern generator. For v. 5, Milori adds to the existing thorough gray-scale calibration with new measuring and calibration tools for primary and secondary colors. ColorFacts’ CIE chart can also now be viewed in CIE 1931 and uniform 1976 UV space. There’s also a new DLP projector color reference.The test instruments are expandable and easy to read, with bright graphics and, for the most part, bold readouts. What’s more, Milori uses the relative freedom and power of a computer program to show unobtrusively the ideal target values for each test. You simply have to match your readings with the targets in order to make adjustments. These targets are typically shown as dotted lines, so calibrating is often as simple as matching lines.You can adjust the properties of most of the test instruments by right-clicking and entering a properties dialog. A row of large button icons across the top of the interface toggles each of these instrument windows open and closed, or you can achieve the same through keyboard shortcuts. ColorFacts allows you to save a custom work space to suit your own work habits, though unfortunately, only one. There’s no reason why Milori couldn’t allow you to save multiple desktop configurations, even toggle between them with keystrokes, based on specific job routines or display technologies. ColorFacts does, however, remember individual instrument window positions when toggled on and off, and an autoarrange returns everything to the default placement.Where ColorFacts really distinguishes itself — and leverages the power of a general-purpose computer — is in the wonderful wizards that walk you through the process of calibrating and optimizing displays. Essentially, just a couple of mouse-clicks to select specific tests sets ColorFacts to work measuring information for brightness uniformity, gray scale, contrast, or those aforementioned primary and secondary colors. There’s also a setup wizard for taking a “dark reading” to properly set up a meter and isolate any residual electrical charges. Another wizard generates reports that you can leave with your customers. There’s even a built-in customer database creator.These wizards are efficient for professionals, but they are also wonderful education tools for calibration novices or video enthusiasts because they describe the tests being performed, why they are important, and how to read and interpret the results. A portion of those educational tools are in the form of pop-up dialog boxes that can thankfully be set not to appear again once you’ve read and understood them. Of course, you can always look directly at the raw data ColorFacts generates. For advanced calibrators, ColorFacts even allows you to use a VB-like scripting language to build macros that can run a series of set tests. In a sense, you’re building your own wizards.SO MANY COLORSColorFacts’ most exciting new features are in hardware. First, you can control and work directly with third-party signal and pattern generators via RS-232. ColorFacts has always been able to internally generate test patterns that can be used onscreen to take measurements, and that’s still extremely convenient. In fact, Milori has added two test patterns for sharpness and tracking.However, the accuracy of results can vary depending on the quality of the graphics card in the computer running the ColorFacts software. This is often a portable notebook computer with a built-in controller. What’s more, televisions and other video displays often do not have a 15-pin VGA or DVI connection. That’s left ColorFacts users to generate test signals externally, thus losing ColorFacts’ facility to interact with the test patterns.The new serial control of common signal generators — AccuPel HDG-3000, Sencore VP300 series and VP400 series, and QuantumData 700 and 701 — takes the host computer graphics card out of the equation but retains ColorFacts’ ability to call up test patterns. Once connected, those devices become part of ColorFacts’ arsenal of tests, listed in the Test Pattern dialog box.The other big change with the CF6500 bundle, as compared with the still available CF6000, is the included meter. Although the CF6000 comes standard with the GretagMacbeth EyeOne spectroradiometer, the new CF6500 includes Milori’s own Trichromat-1 tristimulus colorimeter, a USB device that’s similar in terms of design and specifications to the Sencore ColorPro colorimeter that comes with that company’s CP5000.One reason for the switch is that the Trichromat-1 is an excellent tool, especially in its low-light performance as compared with the EyeOne, but it also reduces the price of the CF6500 bundle by $200. The caveat is it is not an appropriate solution for LCDs. If you get the CF6500, the EyeOne spectroradiometer is available as an option ($850), and the same is true of the Trichromat-1 if you choose the CF6000 bundle.COLOR COMMENTARYEither way ColorFacts is significantly less expensive than the competition, with software that is easier to use and arguably more powerful. (Competing most directly is the roughly $5,000 Sencore CP5000.) That’s not to say that Sencore doesn’t offer more options and a broader line of testing devices than Milori; indeed, Sencore’s test-pattern generators are wonderful accessories to ColorFacts. For the price/performance, though, it’s hard to turn away from the bright hues of ColorFacts.PRODUCT SUMMARYCompany: Milori; www.milori.comPros: Wizards walk users through the interface, which includes a dozen different test instruments.Cons: Included meter not appropriate for LCDs.Applications: Display calibration for novices and experienced pros alike.Price: $2,999SPECIFICATIONSDefault Hardware Specifications Trichromat-1Trichromat Description Trichromatic light sensor with three light-sensing ICs, three tuned color filters, integrated microprocessor and USB connection with Octopad suction cups for manual placement to the display. Includes tripod mount for front-projection analysis.PERFORMANCE CHARACTERISTICSMeasurement range 0.1 to 800 cd/m2Accuracy (xy) ±0.004Accuracy (Y) ±2.5 percentShort-Term Repeatability (xy) ±0.002Short-Term Repeatability (Y) 1 percentRELIABILITYElectronics MTBF 15,000 power-on hoursMax. Sensor Cable Strain 5 lb.Max. Drop Heights 0.5 m to smooth table, 1 m to carpeted floorPOWER AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONSPower USB poweredDimensions (H × D) 22 mm × 55 mm; 145 mm cable lengthAccessories USB cable, tripod mountSYSTEM REQUIREMENTSOperating System Windows 98/ME/2000/XP/2003Processor 400 MHz Pentium min.Memory 128 MB min.Drive Space 20 MB for product, more space for user-generated files (graphics, data files)Video Resolution 800 × 600 min.Video Color Depth 24- or 32-bit color recommended (for internally generated test images)
