Dual Monitor color not matching - best way to fix it?

[unseengundam101]

I just bought 2 Asus VS248 monitors. The problem with them is the colors are different when they are using same exact setting (color profile, brightness/contrast, etc). My question is what is the best way to get these monitor's color to match?

I prefer a free method versus one of $100+ calibration tools. Also, should I just try RMAing one of these monitors and get new one to try out?

 

[cantholdanymore]

I guess your best bet is to manually adjust the monitors to look the same, NOT to have the same values in the brightness, etc. Need to dig deeper in the user interface and mess around with the colors, use a nice picture of something you're familiar with or download a reference image. Another option is to use the color management utility form Win 7 if that is what you're using.

 

[Mark R]

Consumer grade monitors will not have consistent colors between different monitors of the same model. (This isn't a fault, so you won't be able to RMA, it's just the natural variation).

They also don't have all the adjustments needed to precisely match them, or calibrate them (even with a proper calibration tool).

Essentially, you'll just have to weak settings manually (both on the monitor, and the graphics card video levels), until they look "about the same". You'll probably find this much easier with a hardware calibrator - but the ones under about $200 are limited in their accuracy and what they can do.

If you must have precisely matched color images, then you need to use "professional" level monitors which can be directly programmed by high-end calibrators. But this is a whole new level of pricing.

 

[vbuggy]

You'll need a calibrator but most of the comments by Mark R is off the mark. Any monitor can be calibrated - obviously if it's *totally* screwed in some form or another then it's not going to be possible but it's not like any monitor is unusably bad these days, even the bottom-drawer TN stuff like the Asus.

You could do it by the 'squint eyes manual calibration' but the results are usually not worth it, not to mention you spend a long time staring at the monitor getting more and more frustrated. If you want a reliable way of matching colour across multiple monitors, a hardware calibrator is the only way to go. RMAing will do nothing.

However, given that colours will shift on a budget TN monitor when viewed even slightly off-angle - which is further aggravated by the fact that it's a large TN monitor - I wonder if it's worth the effort, i.e. if it's that critical then buy something actually decent, and calibrate that instead.

 

[unseengundam101]

Thanks for the responses.

I wonder if I can borrow one my friends hardware calibration tool, he supposedly bought a ~$200 one. For right now, I will just adjust with my eyes as best as possible.