Hi David,
Owning a monitor calibrator is the first step to matching monitor to prints and making the most of Qimage with Colour Management.
Christmas is coming, put one on the present list. 
Terry.

Thanks Terry.  Yes, you are quite correct and I am currently looking!  Regards,  David

I d/l ColorEyes Pro software calibrated my monitor (Dell U2410) using OptixXR with it. It doesn't require any adjustment on the monitor itself, like color, brightness, etc.  You just set gamma, black point and more in software and it does the rest. How does software itself control monitor? I must say that I'm impressed with the result.

Hi Adam,
I have an Eye One Display 2 and have been very pleased with it on a laptop, budget monitor and now an Eizo wide gamut monitor. There is now a W7 version of the iMatch 3 software which I assume is ok.  for 64 bit. You'd have to check the X-Rite web site to confirm. Compared to the Spyder, I like the compact sensing head.
One other possibility, depending on your budget, is a ColorMunki. This is a true spectral device and can be used for several purposes in addition to monitor calibration.  I understand it is excellent for that purpose and can make printer and projector profiles. It's on my wish list  
Terry.

I stumbled on a shareware calibration program that is awesome. It calls Argyll. There also is GUI interface for it called DISPCALGUI and one more, but I don't remember its name. It's on source forge.
It's the best and its free. Much better than OEM programs. It supports most colorimeters.

Hi Terry,
Installation took only 4 minutes. It's not geeky at all and very simple, if you know a little bit about calibration of anything.
The other GUI has an option for printers, scanners, monitors, projectors, etc....and it's more icon oriented I guess. For dummies?
No reason to be upset that it's so good.
Are you calling me names? Geek....

Hi Adam,

Thanks for the link. I've seen it at just about the right time. I installed it - the gui - and followed the instructions. No problems. The dll for my xrite dtp94 installed flawlessly  . I've profiled my monitor three times so far, playing around with trying to get the best settings in the monitor hardware, and seeing the effect of different ambient lighting settings and so forth. It is slow, since it is doing a lot of work, but it is thorough and precise, gradually tuning the settings as it proceeds, sort of.

I have just got back into this vdu profiling, having recently bought a different printer, and I do not want to waste ink or canvas, and this software, in particular the help/explanation file, is far better than the Monaco Optix software I have been using, imnsho. Unfortunately, both my monitor and puck do not allow some of the adjustments/settings available on more advanced equipment, but I expect I can email the author and get a reply to more appropriate general settings. As far as I'm concerned, this software is allowing me to get a better understanding of what is happening compared to the information available from optix, since fewer assumptions are made. In fact in some areas, the instructions for optix conflict with their actual software settings  .

Best wishes,

Ray

Hi Adam,

It's a NEC multisync LCD2070NX. I've just found it has an inbuilt setting for 5000 colour temp, and adjustable rgb, i was using it on it's default of 'Native'. I've also emailed the author re. possibility of using the puck as an ambient light meter. Optix say you can, but it is not mentioned in their software, afaik. A minor snag, is that the monitor menu appears dead centre, as does the software colour patch. As best as I can tell, using an old  Weston M5 light-meter and doing conversions, is that my ambient lighting is about 40lux, but I've no idea as to the colour - it's one of these low energy fluorescent lamps.

Best wishes,

Ray