PA241W and Spectraview II

[WillH]

The last week of March came and went without my new display being purchased---my organization changed the rules and allowed a 1yr-max roll-over for "time-limited" funding. So I decided to wait to find out more about the PA241W. My main question is how does this fit into NEC's line-up? Is this a replacement for the 2690WUXi2 or will the 2690WUXi2 continue to be sold with the PA241W being a junior model to it? Since most high technology changes quickly it's usually a smarter purchase to buy the latest model. Is that true in this case?

The current LCD90 series will be phased out as the newer PA series takes over. The 24" PA241W is the first one released, followed by the 27" PA271W in a couple of months. The technology in the PA series takes all of the best features of the 90 series and adds a bunch of new features based on customer feedback we have received and the enhanced capabilities of the new internal color processor engine.

The displays can *very* accurately be adjusted to emulate color gamuts such as sRGB, AdobeRGB etc., so there is no longer a need to base your purchase decision on your color workflow and the color gamut of the display model. All of the PA series are native wide color gamut displays. Also you can now set the display luminance by an absolute value in Candelas rather than the typical 0-100% control.

[Paul Stalker]

Thanks for that info Will. (And to Andrew for earlier comments) I'll now be getting a PA model. It's been mentioned that they may not even need calibration by the end-user. Do we know yet it can be trusted without doing one? Other than paying a small cost premium later for it, should I then wait a while to see if I should buy SpectraView separately for it?
Part of deciding whether to wait on the PA271W is knowing the relative price for it. When will NEC be putting up a suggested list price? I haven't seen one anywhere yet.
cheers

[Roy]

The displays can *very* accurately be adjusted to emulate color gamuts such as sRGB, AdobeRGB etc., so there is no longer a need to base your purchase decision on your color workflow and the color gamut of the display model. All of the PA series are native wide color gamut displays. Also you can now set the display luminance by an absolute value in Candelas rather than the typical 0-100% control.

Will, does this mean that I could load the monitor with the profile for a printer/paper combination and see (within the limits of the gamut of the display) a preview of the printed image? Or is the monitor limited to standard gamuts?

[digitaldog]

Will, does this mean that I could load the monitor with the profile for a printer/paper combination and see (within the limits of the gamut of the display) a preview of the printed image?

Yes, my understanding is you can get a “soft proof” based on the full gamut of the display, not a dumbed down one based on an sRGB like display.

[Roy]

PA241/PA271 user manual now up on NEC web site:

http://www.necvisualsystems.com/cms/docume..._UserManual.pdf

[Chris_Brown]

PA241/PA271 user manual now up on NEC web site:
http://www.necvisualsystems.com/cms/docume..._UserManual.pdf

Thanks for the link.

I see it utilizes a Display Port connection, supporting 10-bit color depth. Does this require a certain brand/model of graphics card? I was planning on using an ATI Radeon HD 4870 or nVidia GeForce GT 120 with this unit, but don't know if either of these cards support 10-bit output.

[Czornyj]

Thanks for the link.

I see it utilizes a Display Port connection, supporting 10-bit color depth. Does this require a certain brand/model of graphics card? I was planning on using an ATI Radeon HD 4870 or nVidia GeForce GT 120 with this unit, but don't know if either of these cards support 10-bit output.

I think it still remains a ghost-feature. The DisplayPort interface is 10 bit, but AFAIK neither graphic card drivers, OS nor Photoshop support 10 bit palette. And so or so - even with 8 bit palette - the new PA241W is as smooth and neutral as a display can be, so there's really nothing to worry about.

[davidlang]

So the PA241W has gotten a couple more reviews so far:

http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/reviews/nec_pa241w.htm
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2362472,00.asp

Wondering whether to jump on this, wait for the SV version, or even the 27" to come out in a few months. Really tough to decide!

Anyone have more news/thoughts on the PA241W?

[WillH]

So the PA241W has gotten a couple more reviews so far:

http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/reviews/nec_pa241w.htm
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2362472,00.asp

Wondering whether to jump on this, wait for the SV version, or even the 27" to come out in a few months. Really tough to decide!

Anyone have more news/thoughts on the PA241W?

The new free MultiProfiler software, and an updated version of SpectraView II that supports the PA241W is now available online:

http://www.necdisplay.com/MultiProfiler/


http://www.necdisplay.com/SpectraView/

[Czornyj]

The new free MultiProfiler software, and an updated version of SpectraView II that supports the PA241W is now available online:

http://www.necdisplay.com/MultiProfiler/


http://www.necdisplay.com/SpectraView/

Thanks a lot, Will!!!

[Czornyj]

I think it still remains a ghost-feature. The DisplayPort interface is 10 bit, but AFAIK neither graphic card drivers, OS nor Photoshop support 10 bit palette. And so or so - even with 8 bit palette - the new PA241W is as smooth and neutral as a display can be, so there's really nothing to worry about.

Correction - according to the last gossip that I've heard, Photoshop CS5 will be supporting 10bit output, so CS5 + Windows 7 + 10 bit graphic card with display port may potentially provide full 10 bit path (I don't know about Snow Leo)

[JeffKohn]

I know the latest generation or ATI Radeon cards support 10-bit color on Windows, but I don't think any of the previous generation cards do, and I don't know how good the driver support is. And it may just be Windows 7, I'm not sure about Vista.

In theory, application support for 10-bit color should be pretty trivial to implement once the OS and graphics driver support it.

[RobWalstrom]

Correction - according to the last gossip that I've heard, Photoshop CS5 will be supporting 10bit output, so CS5 + Windows 7 + 10 bit graphic card with display port may potentially provide full 10 bit path (I don't know about Snow Leo)

Yep, check out the end of this thread and the information by Chris Cox of Adobe.

The PA241W sounds like a great monitor. I'm holding out for pricing on the PA271W and with Spectraview II supporting the PA series now I hope to see a bundle in the very near future.

[Czornyj]

Yep, check out the end of this thread and the information by Chris Cox of Adobe.

The PA241W sounds like a great monitor. I'm holding out for pricing on the PA271W and with Spectraview II supporting the PA series now I hope to see a bundle in the very near future.

Yeah, it is great! The display is very flexible - it may work as wide gamut softproofing monitor @160cd/m^2, and in a blink of an eye it can be transformed into web design sRGB screen @80cd/m^2. The new Multirpofiler is nice - it can change the gamut of the display, so it can mimic synthetic editing spaces, or specific printer+paper color space - with the paper white and black ink simulation option, and rendering intent selection.

The display uniformity is also very good, the one I measured max deviation was 2,4 dE (94), with 1-1,5 dE (94) on average.

There's wide backlight regulation range, so calibration (with i1pro rev.D) validation results for 80cd/m^2 are as good as for 120 or 160cd/m^2:

[rickhatCHROMiX]

I just happened to be strolling around on NEC's website and noticed the new Spectraview II software as well. Yes Mr Hollingworth, thank you. I haven't seen any formal PR announcements yet, but this does seem to be the new production version compatible with the PA241W and the MultiSync PA Series (that we all have been waiting for). It does list the PA241W and the PA271W models. No Windows 7 compatibility yet, and there are some 'red-marked' caveats for a few Mac OS's to pay attention to.

<http://www.necdisplay.com/SupportCenter/Monitors/spectraview2/>

rickhatCHROMiX

[WillH]

It does list the PA241W and the PA271W models. No Windows 7 compatibility yet, and there are some 'red-marked' caveats for a few Mac OS's to pay attention to.

rickhatCHROMiX

Windows 7 is supported. Where did you read that it wasn't?

[JeffKohn]

Windows 7 is supported. Where did you read that it wasn't?

This page doesn't list Windows 7 as a supported OS, although it also doesn't explicitly say it's no supported.

http://www.necdisplay.com/supportcenter/mo.../compatibility/

[WillH]

This page doesn't list Windows 7 as a supported OS, although it also doesn't explicitly say it's no supported.

http://www.necdisplay.com/supportcenter/mo.../compatibility/

Oh! You are right. Seems the spec on that page wasn't updated. Should be fixed by Monday. Thanks for pointing that out.

[degrub]

Will,

Slightly OT - What is the dead pixel policy on the PAs for warranty ? i was not able to find a listing on the website.

Thanks.

Frank Worley

[RickBerger]

All of the PA series are native wide color gamut displays.

According to tftcentral, the PA231W will be 75% of AdobeRGB ... is that correct or did they get it wrong?

I'd really prefer a standard gamut display.  I'm still concerned that the colorimetric distance between any two colors is much larger on a wide gamut display.  Does a 10-bit panel give me better emulation of sRGB even if I'm not using a 10-bit application?  Why would the PA231W emulate sRGB better than an LCD2690WUXI?  I'd love it if someone could explain this.