I'm a little confused calibrating this monitor. It has RGB and Adobe color choices. In addition under custom color tab it has GAIN, SATURATION, HUE and OFFSET. Which of those should I use calibrating?
You need to read the manual, assuming you got one with the monitor; it may be on a CD that came with it, if not you can download it here:
http://support.ap.dell.com/support/edocs/monitors/U2410W/en/index.htmIt's an html document, unzip & copy contents to a folder and then double click the index.htm file.
I had a quick glance, RGB is something to do with how it's connected DVI or analogue I think. I assume Adobe color is a preset for the colour space rather than using an actual profile made by calibration.
You really need to read this and get familiar with the calibration software and the section that allows you to set brightness (luminance).
In addition under custom color tab it has GAIN, SATURATION, HUE and OFFSET
The gain controls (if it's like mine) allow you to set RGB individually and set the colour temperature (6500K say). This is not essential because if specified at the start of calibration, it should be set by the graphics card LUT values. Doing it manually just means there's less adjustment for the Graphics card to do.
SATURATION, HUE and OFFSET I would leave alone.
Your main problem is to get that brightness to a sensible level.
I found a review of the software here:
http://www.camerahobby.com/Digital_MonacoEZ_Color_OptixXR.htmYou can see that one of the early screens in the process asks if you want to "calibrate & profile" or just "profile". You need to choose the former which will allow you to adjust the brightness in the process.
I hope that gets you a little further in your set up & calibration
Terry.
Edit
Also, how does room lightning affect brightness?
While calibrating, as long as there is no strong light falling on the screen, all should be well.
As far as viewing, the brighter the ambient light the brighter the screen needs to be and visa-versa. Some screens have a sensor that adjusts the brightness automatically, when that is the case, the feature should be turned off during calibration.
T