Can iMac have two concurrent display profiles?

[myc5]

I currently have a Windows XP machine with a NEC 2690 wide gamut monitor. I want to keep the NEC display and replace the Windows XP desktop with a new 2011 iMac and use the NEC as a second display.

Can OS X utilize two display profiles simultaneously? One for the iMac display, the other for the NEC.  If yes how? (I don't have the iMac yet, but had a MacBook Pro briefly)

Or do you need to say use a NEC profile (via i1 & Sepctraview II) and do the critical color work on the NEC?

[kikashi]

Can OS X utilize two display profiles simultaneously? One for the iMac display, the other for the NEC.  If yes how? (I don't have the iMac yet, but had a MacBook Pro briefly)

Yes. You use the Monitors panel of System Preferences to select an appropriate profile for each monitor: it puts up one window on each screen. Some software (such as that which comes with the entry-level gadget Huey Pro) will do it for you automatically.

Jeremy

[howardm]

What Jeremy said.  I have the same setup (iMac & NEC PA monitor) and it works well but it's a bit involved since I have an older iMac (one of the super bright CCFL ones).  The i1D2 that comes w/ the SV calibration kit won't do a  great job on the iMac so that kinda forces you to have 2 calibration solutions.  I solved that by using a ColorMunki (spectroradiometer) and BasICColor software (which does the same hw calibration on the NEC that SV does but also can do sw calibration for the iMac).

 a number of people simply use one calibrated unit (like the NEC) and then use the other monitor for Photoshop panels and pallets (non color critical) plus the fact that it's going to be hard to get a great white point match between the 2 monitors.

[digitaldog]

Can OS X utilize two display profiles simultaneously?

For decades now.

Or do you need to say use a NEC profile (via i1 & Sepctraview II) and do the critical color work on the NEC?

Ideally yes. IOW, you can have dual profiles and one can be just OK but that defeats the purpose of having a SpectraView! So calibrate and profile it as best as it can be calibrated and profiled. That means using (ideally) the matted colorimeter and SpectraView II. Or at least a supported instrument and SpectraView software.

[Wayne Fox]

I just set up something similar. The key for the NEC is to not set the profile on the Mac.  When you create a profile with Spectravision, it will create and store a profile in the OS.  However, that profile is only a small part of what the NEC is doing to manage the color.  You can create multiple profiles for your NEC (AdobeRGB and sRGB for example) but just switching the profile in the Mac's Displays preference pane won't adjust things correctly.

If you launch the spectraview software, and choose your setup there, it will automatically change the profile used by the OS to the correct one, and of course more importantly make all the changes in the the display itself where the NEC controls most of it's color.

Additionally the NEC version of the i1Display included seems to do a very poor job of calibrating other displays (not sure what they've done to it)..  You probably won't be very happy with the results if you use it with something like i1Match to calibrate the iMac.  I have my NEC next to a 30" ACD, and tried it ... didn't work too well.

[Evanford]

Bumping this old thread because I need to calibrate a new Mac Book Pro (running Lion) with external NEC Spectraview monitor (2490wuxi2).  I wish to run both monitors at the same time.   I have Spectraview II with an I1DisplayPro puck for the NEC and I1profiler for the Mac.  Glad to see Mac OS supports dual profiles.  Any gotchas with such a setup?  Earlier this year I tried the same thing with a Windows 7 laptop and got myself into a whole heap of trouble.   Took me months to figure out how to fix my situation.  I am hoping for smooth sailing this time.   

Also, I notice in the display preferences box for the laptop there is a checkbox for 'automatically adjust brightness'.  I take it I want this unchecked? 

Thanks,

Evan

[darlingm]

Bumping this old thread because I need to calibrate a new Mac Book Pro (running Lion) with external NEC Spectraview monitor (2490wuxi2).  I wish to run both monitors at the same time.   I have Spectraview II with an I1DisplayPro puck for the NEC and I1profiler for the Mac.  Glad to see Mac OS supports dual profiles.  Any gotchas with such a setup?  Earlier this year I tried the same thing with a Windows 7 laptop and got myself into a whole heap of trouble.   Took me months to figure out how to fix my situation.  I am hoping for smooth sailing this time.   

Also, I notice in the display preferences box for the laptop there is a checkbox for 'automatically adjust brightness'.  I take it I want this unchecked? 

Thanks,

Evan

I have to skip the Mac questions you have, but I can say you definitely need to turn off 'automatically adjust brightness'.  That feature sounds like it has a luminosity sensor, and will adjust the brightness of the screen based off the current lighting conditions.  Changes in the brightness level will invalidate the color accuracy you're striving for.

[Evanford]

Oh so close to a joyful calibration.  I1profiler profiled the MacBook beautifully.  Unfortunately I could not get Spectraview to work for the 2490wuxi2.  Both the monitor and i1 DisplayPro puck were detected by Spectraview, but I got the dreaded, "unable to communicate with monitor" message when trying to run it.  I used the same DVI cable and monitor input used for successful windows calibrations, but of course I had to attach the Apple supplied mini-display port to DVI converter dongle.     

I will re-read the readme file to see if there is anything I missed and then open a case with NEC, but if anyone has any ideas please let me know.  Kinda of a bummer.

-- Evan