Re: Barco v. Artisans
Re: Barco v. Artisans
- Subject: Re: Barco v. Artisans
- From: Andrew Rodney <email@hidden>
- Date: Thu, 22 Jan 2004 12:04:39 -0700
on 1/22/04 11:02 AM, Roger Howard wrote:
>
Aside from cost issues, can you provide any experienced remarks
>
regarding the merits of Artisans, especially in contrast with the
>
Barcos we've depended on for so long. Are the calibration and profiling
>
processes as tight as with the Barco? What are your experiences with
>
Sony's support - does this feel like a product line prone to possible
>
abandonment, or is Sony as committed as (obviously) Barco is to their
>
pro displays? What about bugs and anomalies? I've heard the Artisans
>
are not particularly friendly to multiple-display setups, for instance.
I had a Reference V running OS9 (at the time, about two years ago, there
were yet to be any OSX drivers for it). This was when I first started doing
beta on the Artisan. It ran OSX so at the time, this was a big advantage to
me.
After working with the Artisan for a few months, I decided to sell the
Barco. It's a superb piece of hardware and I felt it was as precise as
anything out there. I wasn't all that happy with the support and the speed
in which software development was going. Plus I knew, with the Artisan
coming, now was the time to "unload" the Barco.
I don't regret this decision. There were some important features of the
Artisan I really preferred and one (the 25 quadrant purity option on the
Barco) I missed. I like the ability to calibrate and profile multiple
aim-points in Artisan and have them load on the fly (with the ICC profile
being swapped automatically). I like the ability to calibrate to the native
gamma of the Artisan rather than force some pre-existing (1.8/2.2) setting.
I really like the way I can set a black for overall contrast ratio. I like
the software a lot more (it's not at all color geeky if that's what you
prefer). With the Artisan I put the puck on screen and press one button.
Now it's quite possible the Barco software does some of the above (and more)
as it's been a few years since I ran CalibratorTalk.
I prefer the flat CRT Sony tube over the Barco Hitachi. The price of course
is a factor!
I like that I can hook up two CPU's (usually the main box and a server) to
the Artisan and switch using the built in A/B button up front.
I have no science to say that the Barco was more or less accurate OVER TIME
than the Artisan. I relied on both with the highest level of confidence.
Sony support is OK. I'm lucky as being a beta, I was able to email the guys
who knew what was going on. I didn't have any issues (there were some who
did with early versions of the software on dual processing machines. I
didn't have a dual so no problems). The newest software seems to be stable
on all machines including G5s (not sure about Windows but I haven't heard
any complaints on other sites). The web page they have is kind of a mess
(not always easy to find stuff).
I have some associates with multiple Artisans and they match each other.
These guys are also working remotely with other Artisan users and again, no
complaints that multiple users are not getting accurate, repeatable and
matching previews.
You can't use two Artisan's on the same system and calibrate both of them!
I'm not sure why anyone would spend that kind of money on a display for
palettes.
As for the product being abandoned, I think that by the time your next CRT
is warn out (+/-3 years), you'll be hard pressed to find anyone making CRTs.
I still think CRTs are the most accurate mature technology for high level
calibrated display systems although some new stuff is arriving that looks
interesting in the LCD area. But the price point and track record isn't
known yet. LCDs or similar/newer technologies will certainly be where we
want them by the time you need to replace your next CRTs (if not sooner).
Andrew Rodney
http://www.digitaldog.net
_______________________________________________
colorsync-users mailing list | email@hidden
Help/Unsubscribe/Archives:
http://www.lists.apple.com/mailman/listinfo/colorsync-users
Do not post admin requests to the list. They will be ignored.