Sencore News: The OTC1000 Optical Color Analyzer Offers You Much More!
Oct 07
by Tom Schulte
The OTC1000 Optical Color Analyzer
Offers You Much More!
The OTC1000 Optical Color Analyzer now makes available a
video display measurement and calibration system with
significant advantages over the measurement tools that
have previously been available, at a value price. This new
ColorPro measurement and calibration system helps you
bring to light every ounce of picture accuracy and video
performance that the manufacturer built into your customers'
projection and direct-view display systems.
Tom Schulte, CET
Application Engineer
1.800.736.2673 or
1.605.339.0100
mailto:[email protected]
http://www.sencore.com
Non-Contact Optical Measurements
You can now precisely measure and calibrate a projector/screen's performance from the actual audience
viewing position, where it really counts, with the OTC1000 Color Analyzer's non-contact optical
measurements. The OTC1000 optical measurements accurately include the effects of luminance levels,
screen gain, uniformity, or hot spotting that influence how video will be seen at the viewing position. You
measure and calibrate exactly what the viewer will see, with non-contact measurement convenience.
The laser-aiming guide (center dot and circle) included
on the OTC1000 helps you easily target the center of the
screen viewing area for most measurements and
calibration, or target the corners of the screen for
uniformity tests. The OTC1000 integrates a projector's
luminance and chromaticity output within the ±3.5°
circular measurement area, to average out any nonuniformity over the image's central viewing area. This
lets you calibrate every projection display system for its
optimum viewing enjoyment.
Low Light Level Accuracy
Figure 1. Precisely measure and calibrate
a projector/screen’s performance from the
actual audience viewing position.
The OTC1000 is accurate to extremely low light levels, allowing you to accurately measure contrast ratio
on a projection or direct-view display system with excellent black levels, and calibrate display white
balance at 10 IRE and below. The tri-stimulus sensors provide excellent low light sensitivity, with
accuracy down to one one-hundredth of a foot-Lambert (0.01 fL), compared to typical spectroradiometer
light sensitivity that bottoms out at approximately one fL. The human visual system is especially critical
Sencore, Inc.
3200 Sencore Drive, Sioux Falls, SD 57107
mailto:[email protected]
http://www.sencore.com
1.800.SEN.CORE (736.2673)
1.605.336.0100
Sencore News: The OTC1000 Optical Color Analyzer Offers You Much More!
Oct 07
by Tom Schulte
of white balance at the lowest picture light levels, well below typical spectroradiometer sensitivity. Dark
parts of the picture that are just slightly too red or too green really effect our perception of image quality;
pictures that are just the right color are very much more realistic. The OTC1000 allows you to calibrate
every part of the picture to be exactly the right color.
Fast Measurement Updates
Due to its excellent low light sensitivity, the OTC1000 optical tri-stimulus colorimeter provides fast
measurement updates, even at extremely low light levels. White balance adjustments are very convenient,
even at the lowest IRE levels, with fast, continuous measurements and RGB adjustment indicators in the
ColorPro software guiding you to quickly adjust to your target white balance. Spectroradiometers
typically provide only single-shot Yxy measurements, leaving you to mentally calculate the appropriate
RGB offset or gain adjustments, and many other light measurement tools may provide only slow
measurement updates at the lowest light levels.
Figure 2b. CIE target
Figure 2a. Delta RGB graph
Calibration Control Center
The OTC1000 Optical Color Analyzer system goes far beyond just making fast, accurate luminance and
chromaticity measurements. The ColorPro software Calibration Control Center contains a full set of video
display measurement, analysis, calibration, and documentation tools, organized in a simplified workflow
process.
The Calibration
Control Center
doesn't lock you
into an all or
nothing set of
procedures, but
easily guides
even lessexperienced
personnel stepby-step through
a complete,
accurate video
Sencore, Inc.
Figure 3. Calibration Control Center tabbed menu items
3200 Sencore Drive, Sioux Falls, SD 57107
mailto:[email protected]
http://www.sencore.com
1.800.SEN.CORE (736.2673)
1.605.336.0100
Sencore News: The OTC1000 Optical Color Analyzer Offers You Much More!
Oct 07
by Tom Schulte
display calibration, while allowing more experienced technicians to choose the documentation,
measurement, and calibration procedures that suit their needs. Ten procedural tabs in the Calibration
Control Center guide you confidently, from documenting customer and video display information, to
measuring display system performance (pre- and post-calibration, to optimizing display adjustments, to
printing an impressive, comprehensive calibration report.
Automated Generator Control
The ColorPro software automatically controls the Sencore VideoPro generators for automated display
measurements and simplified calibration adjustments. During automatic gamma, luminance tracking, and
grayscale tracking measurements, the ColorPro software automatically switches your VideoPro generator
to the desired signal format and the required IRE level Window or Raster pattern (your choice). The
automatic gamut measurement switches test patterns to full field red, green, blue, cyan, magenta, and cyan
test patterns, to accurately define the display system's compliance to the color system standard you
specify.
For white balance calibration, software controls allow you to conveniently switch between selected high
IRE and low IRE Window or Raster patterns. During guided user-control adjustments, the software
automatically displays the proper test patterns for adjusting brightness, contrast, color, hue/tint, and
sharpness/edge enhancement. You concentrate on the art of display system calibration, rather than on the
mechanics of generator settings.
Ambi-Block™ Ambient Light
Cancellation
Not every home theater environment has the
perfect light control that we would desire, but you
still want to optimize your customer's video
display system for the best possible performance
in every situation. Rather than having ambient
light inaccurately offset your luminance and
chromaticity measurements, as it does with any
other lensed measurement tool, the ColorPro
software exclusively provides Ambi-Block™
ambient light cancellation. You simply capture a
sample of any ambient light present on the display
screen, without projector illumination; then let
Ambi-Block totally cancel the effects of the
ambient light from your projector measurement.
You get the same accurate measurements you
would have gotten if you had total light control in
the theater environment. That allows you to
optimize picture accuracy in every lighting
environment, regardless of ambient light (see
sidebar).
Sencore, Inc.
3200 Sencore Drive, Sioux Falls, SD 57107
Optimize Picture Accuracy
The human visual system has a
characteristic called chromatic adaptation
that allows it to minimize any coloration
offset effects of ambient light. Chromatic
adaptation is the ability of the human
visual system to discount the color of a
light source and to approximately
preserve the neutral appearance of an
object. For example, a white piece of
paper appears to be "white" when viewed
either under outdoor (bluish) light or
indoor (reddish) light. To optimize video
display picture accuracy, as perceived by
the human visual system, the display
system white balance should be
accurately calibrated to the color system
standard white point reference (i.e. D65),
independently of ambient light that may
be present in the viewing environment.
mailto:[email protected]
http://www.sencore.com
1.800.SEN.CORE (736.2673)
1.605.336.0100
Sencore News: The OTC1000 Optical Color Analyzer Offers You Much More!
Oct 07
by Tom Schulte
Calibration Report Database
The ColorPro software Calibration Control Center is built on the foundation of an extensive Microsoft©
Access©-based calibration report database. Standard customer detail data fields plus a free-form text
notes field, on the Customer page, allow you to document as much or little customer information as you
desire. The Display page provides data fields to document brand and model, display type and serial
number, white reference and gamma target, plus the display input and viewing mode being used for the
current calibration session.
The Pre-Calibration and Post-Calibration Capture pages provide data fields to document user control
settings (i.e. brightness, contrast, gamma, color temp, etc.) and white balance control settings (i.e. offset,
cutoff, drive, gain, etc.). Again, you enter as much, or little, information as you wish, to suit your
documentation needs.
All the automatic display performance measurements (color gamut, gamma, luminance tracking,
grayscale tracking, uniformity, etc.) automatically save measurement results in the database, for
permanent documentation and reporting.
Calibration Reports
A calibration reports may end up being the most significant tangible result to your customer from a video
display calibration. You are selling your customer video calibration to provide them the utmost picture
accuracy and performance, and your customer will visibly appreciate that, but the calibration report ends
up being your "Proof of Performance".
Figure 4. Calibration Report
Sencore, Inc.
3200 Sencore Drive, Sioux Falls, SD 57107
mailto:[email protected]
http://www.sencore.com
1.800.SEN.CORE (736.2673)
1.605.336.0100
Sencore News: The OTC1000 Optical Color Analyzer Offers You Much More!
Oct 07
by Tom Schulte
The ColorPro Video Calibration Report is designed to fully document the performance improvements you
achieved for your customer's video display system. The complete set of performance graphs and data,
perhaps incompletely understood by your customer, nevertheless reinforces in their mind the value of
your service. The impressive report even helps promote "bragging rights" to their friends, as they describe
the magic you performed on their projection or direct-view display system, illustrated with their colorful
report, as they recommend that their friends would appreciate similar enhancements for their own home
theater systems.
High Performance at a Value Price
The OTC1000 ColorPro Optical Color Analyzer delivers
high technical performance and high business value, but at
a price far less than alternative measurement solutions. If
you are currently using a compromise measurement system
for calibrating projection display systems, or if you would
like to add video calibration services to your business
offerings, call Sencore at 1-800-Sencore (736-2673). Learn
how you can enjoy the benefits of the OTC1000 video
calibration system, with a modest investment. Video
calibration training classes are available world-wide.
Figure 5. Optical Tri-stimulus Color Analyzer
Learn more - OTC1000 ColorPro Optical Tri-stimulus Colorimeter: http://www.sencore.com/products/otc1000.htm
Sencore, Inc.
3200 Sencore Drive, Sioux Falls, SD 57107
mailto:[email protected]
http://www.sencore.com
1.800.SEN.CORE (736.2673)
1.605.336.0100