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Datacolor SpyderTV - Calibration.

10009 Views 28 Replies 18 Participants Last post by  SlimDiesel, 
57
Read about this in Popular Science. They said US$250. Anyone used it?

http://spyder.datacolor.com/spydertv_usa.shtml
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T
Dumb Question(s) for Today!

SpyderTV requires a computer with:
  • Windows 2000 or XP operating system
  • USB port
  • Pentium II, 800Mhz, 256MB RAM, 100MB free drive space
  • Video Card 1024 x 768 resolution
  • 24 bpp colour (16.7 million colours)

Now for the dumb questions. (Be kind; I'm a golfer not a computer guy)

Would a 'newer' or 'more powerful' computer compromise the Spyder software? In particular, the frequency (800Mhz) and the resoulution 1024 x 768.
How about the Pentium II (Intel) as compared to a cpu using the AMD Turion processor? Will SpyderTV know or care what cpu is running it?

Folks, I don't know if older software is compromised by newer technology.
I can, however, bend a golf shot either way! Make them fly high or low.
Sometimes on target too!

Your knowledge and expertise is appreciated.
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Jake
No not at all. As long as you are equal or greater than those specifications there will be no trouble. A typical PC from 2002 would be able to handle that software.
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T
Terrific!
Thanks ever so much, Jake.
Fore!
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T
(Dumb) Question for Today!...one in a continuing series

A question for those having used SpyderTV's suction cup.

Have you had any sucess applying the colorimeter to the screens of crt rptv?

In my case, there was no way that it was going to stick to the Hitachi 57f59's plastic screen.
A little improvisation with a telescope tripod got the job done.

As one would suspect, the little sucker worked like a charm on the glass screen of the crt direct view television.
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57
I have used it on all but one of my setups. A recent one had a ridged screen on the outside, however, on all the others I was able to stick it to a relatively smooth surface.

One time it wouldn't stick to a plasma, but it turned out that the plasma had been open in a house with a lot of construction, so there was a lot of dust on the screen. Once the screen was clean, all was good.

On the CRT-RPTV which had the ridges, I also improvised with a cardboard tube leaned up against the "spyder" to hold it against the screen while hanging from above.
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S
OK, I realize this is a pretty old thread but I just got to it via a convoluted path from a recent post.

I recently bought a Spyder3Pro from Henry's for, I think, $159 when they were on sale. Out of the box, its only a Windows monitor calibrator but there are several solutions to make it into a TV calibrator. I'll mention only the two I have looked at - there are more (and the prices are 'more' too).

The OEM solution is to buy the Spyder3TV download edition from the Colordata website. Its only $US59 and you get a ZIP with the ISOs for the software install and test material DVDs (if you can burn the DVDs yourself there's no need to pay $20 more to have them ship them to you). There are also Spyder3TV tutorial videos on the Datacolor website.

Cheaper (free) is HCFR. While they have plans for a DIY colorimeter too, the software does support the Spyder3 - I've had it running and you get a virtual information overload out of it. Will probably take a bit to figure out how to use it properly because the documentation is in French.

I bought it to use with my Pio 710HD RPTV but that died before I got to it. I'm now going to use it with my Panny PT-AE4000U projector - yes, it says the Spyder3 does front projection... it even comes with a holder to mount it on a tripod. I haven't quite got to that yet - the system's only one month old.
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M
Greetings

Does front projectors ... and does them well are two different things.

If the FP is a crt based unit ...maybe. On LCD ... you don't know what you will get. Maybe close ... maybe far off.

regards
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B
SlimDiesel said:
Cheaper (free) is HCFR. While they have plans for a DIY colorimeter too, the software does support the Spyder3 - I've had it running and you get a virtual information overload out of it. Will probably take a bit to figure out how to use it properly because the documentation is in French.

I bought it to use with my Pio 710HD RPTV but that died before I got to it. I'm now going to use it with my Panny PT-AE4000U projector - yes, it says the Spyder3 does front projection... it even comes with a holder to mount it on a tripod. I haven't quite got to that yet - the system's only one month old.
Click to expand...
HCFR is the way to go. Use this link to get full instructions in English on how to do the calibration using HCFR.

http://www.curtpalme.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=10457
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S
Thanks a million!
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