m11xR2 calibrated LCD ICC profile

[slickie88]

01.01.2011 - New profile added (attached below). This profile was created after 6 months of heavy daily use. For those of you with AUO panels that have similar mileage on them you might find that this profile is a slight improvement. Give both a try.

Updated ICC installation and configuration procedure

A little background is in order to explain why the following procedure is necessary in order to have a calibrated ICC profile work properly in Windows 7.

There are a huge number of events that will reset your video card's gamma LUT in Windows 7 (and Vista).

• a reboot
• waking from sleep
• logging in after the system has been locked
• the UAC prompt
• running Media Center, or XBMC and Boxee
• starting a game
• etc., etc...

ICC/ICM profiles have two different "parts" to them. The first is a color-correction section which "maps" the colors produced by the video card to match the correct color output as defined by your monitor. "Blue" on your monitor may be different from the "blue" on your mother's - that's what the monitor-calibration and gamma-correction software seeks to fix. Once you "regulate" the colors on your PC, you're using the "real" blue, one that the color industry has reached a consensus over.

The second section of the ICC regulates the gamma output. In order to make certain colors match up, the gamma (more or less the amount of black/bright your display shows) is modified to tally-up with the correct settings. With properly-calibrated monitors, an image will display (almost) exactly the same - with the same hues, midtones, and shades; with the same brightness; and the same overall effect. Gamma plays a very important part in this, regulating the highly-varying brightness/contrast settings on monitors to produce the same image in the end.

With Windows Vista, when you first load an ICC profile, the correct color and gamma settings are applied. But when you lock the screen, log off, or do a bunch of other things, the gamma LUT is reset. The correct colors are still applied, but depending on your configuration your display might now be a garishly bright hue of green or blue!!

Source: Windows Vista's Gamma Table Bug — The NeoSmart Files

So now you have a better understanding of the problem let us look at the fix for the M11x.

First off calibrate your display. If you or someone you know owns or has access to a colorimeter that's going provide you a much more accurate calibration than a software based calibration tool. If you don't have access to a colorimeter then the Display Color Calibration wizard in Windows 7 should provide you with a decent improvement over an uncalibrated display.

For those of you with and R2 and the AUO panel, you can try out the profile I've provided here. It was produced with the X-Rite i1 Display 2.

## This procedure does not apply for those of you who use the color and gamma settings in the Intel Graphics Properties to get the results you like, as that method of adjustment does not involve an ICC profile. That method of adjusting color is a reference-less means of eyeballing it.##

Procedure for installing the ICC profile:

1. Download and unpack the attached profile to a temporary folder
2. Copy the ICC profile to C:\Windows\System32\spool\drivers\color

Procedure for configuring an ICC profile:

1. Click the Start button
2. Type "color" and open Color Management
3. Go to the Advanced tab at the top and click the Change system defaults button
4. Make sure the Device dropdown list has Intel(R) HD Graphics selected and check the "Use me settings for this device" box
5. Click the Add button
6. Scroll down to ICC profiles and locate the m11xR2_xx-xx-xxx.icc profile
7. The profile is now set as the default ICC profile for the Intel HD Graphics adapter
8. Go to the Advanced tab
9. Check the "Use Windows display calibration" check box
10. Click the Close button
11. Click the Close button again

Almost there!

The last thing we need to do is to disable the Intel Persistence Module (igfxpers.exe) from loading. You can do this through msconfig, Autoruns, CCleaner or any other utility that disables startup items. This has no negative impact on your IGP that I'm aware of. I've been running without it for months without any loss of functionality on my system. Each time you update drivers for the Intel HD IGP you will need to do this step again.

The key I'd been missing was step 9. The last step of disabling igfxpers.exe is something unique to Intel adapters though.

That's it. I can't tell you how frustrating it is to fire up XBMC or a game to have your calibrated output suddenly reset. The procedure I've outlined here solves this problem for good on the R2. No more over-saturated skin tones making people look like they've fallen asleep in a tanning booth. No more grays with color casts.

[YodaGoneMad]

Did you do this while on the 335? Or does the R2 not go through a noticeable change from integrated to dedicated?

Wonder if this would be good on the R1, would love to have better colors on my R1.

Also, thanks a ton, that is a $200 device you used, and this is really pretty valuable for image quality.

[slickie88]

Given that I can't force the 335 to activate on the R2 (that I'm aware of) I'm not sure how I'm going to get its output calibrated. REALLY wish R2 had a manual switch...

Give it a try on your R1, although I'm pretty sure I saw one floating around here for the R1 already.

[DrGoodvibes]

I downloaded and used the one calibrated on an M11xR1 and it works OK, however it may need to be developed a bit more to give the best coverage on both discrete and integrated graphics. Also HDMI and DisplayPort seem to have there own idea about the colour display depending on the device you're connecting to.
I have another ICC profile for my external Dell IPS monitor.

Previous M11xR1 ICC Profile follows:
AW M11x: monitor ICC color profiles for windows/linux?

[ninja2000]

Also it may be worth noting what panel you have? There is at least two in circulation with different colour characteristics in the m11x r1 and we dont know what has been used in r2 yet. What panel did you get slickie?

[duckwing89]

how do you know which LCD one you have? which one is considered better?

[nosoupforu28]

Thanks for the info Slickie!

[Simonnim916]

I applied the icc profile. But I am noticing a blue tint like image still.

[vengance_01]

I applied this profile as well, but I don't think I see any differences. Still a Blue tint. I have an R2 and the AUO panel.

[tassadar898]

I applied this profile as well, but I don't think I see any differences. Still a Blue tint. I have an R2 and the AUO panel.

me too annyoing