Calibrating Your Sceptre Monitor: A Step-By-Step Guide

Calibration is the process of adjusting the settings on your monitor to achieve optimal picture quality. This can include adjusting the brightness, colour, sharpness, and tint to your personal preference and ambient lighting conditions. Calibration is especially important if you have recently purchased a new monitor, as the default display settings may not be suitable for your needs. For example, the colours on a Sceptre 22-Inch Screen LED-Lit Monitor may appear washed out and require calibration in the settings. Both Windows and macOS have built-in calibration tools that are easily accessible and guide you through a series of steps to build and save a calibration profile.

Warm up your monitor for at least 30 minutes before calibration

Warming up your monitor is an essential step before calibration. This process can ensure that the display is producing images that are exactly as intended by the producers of the content you are viewing. It is also important to ensure that your monitor has stabilised to a consistent level of brightness before you begin calibration. This will ensure that any changes in luminance you observe are due to your adjustments, rather than the monitor warming up.

Different types of displays have different warm-up rates, and it is important to be aware of this when deciding how long to wait before calibrating your Sceptre monitor. For example, LCD, LED-backlit, and CRT displays all have different warm-up rates, as outlined in a study by SpectraCal. The study found that an LCD display took around 50 minutes to stabilise to a luminance change of less than 0.1% per minute, while an LED-backlit display took 70 minutes, and a CRT display took 40 minutes.

The warm-up rate of your monitor will also depend on the backlight. For example, an LG CCFL-LCD owner noted that their display required a warm-up period of 90 minutes to 2 hours, as the backlight did not reach 100% brightness within 20-30 minutes.

While waiting for such a long period of time may not always be feasible, it is generally recommended to wait at least 30 minutes before calibrating your monitor. This will ensure that the display is warmed up and that any changes you make during calibration will be accurate. During this time, you can browse the internet, or eat and prepare your workspace.

To warm up your monitor effectively, you can play a video with black and white flashing in a loop for 30 minutes to an hour. This will warm up the display evenly and quickly. However, you can also simply turn on your monitor and let it play regular programming for 20-30 minutes.

Set your monitor to its native resolution

To set your monitor to its native resolution, you must first determine what that resolution is. The native resolution is written in a monitor's specifications. For example, a monitor with a native resolution of "1920 x 1200" means it will light up or turn off 1920 horizontal rows (dots) and 1200 vertical rows (dots) of pixels to display images.

If you are using a Windows 10 operating system, you can change the resolution by going to the Settings app, choosing System in the main menu, clicking Advanced Display Settings, and scrolling down to click on Color Calibration. From there, follow the instructions that appear.

If you are using a Mac OS, click on Settings in the dock, open the Display System Preferences, click on the Color tab, and then click the button to calibrate. The calibration tool will guide you through configuring your computer's contrast, brightness, color temperature, and gamma correction.

It is important to note that if you are using your monitor at a different resolution, you should set it back to its native resolution during the calibration process. Additionally, make sure your display has been on for at least 30 minutes so that it is properly warmed up.

Calibrate in a room with moderate, ambient lighting

Calibrating your monitor in a room with moderate ambient lighting is an important step to ensure that what you see on your screen is an accurate representation of what your final product will look like. Here is a detailed, step-by-step guide on how to do this:

Preparation:

• Ensure your monitor has been turned on for at least half an hour before calibration to allow it to reach its normal operating temperature and conditions.
• Set your monitor's resolution to its native, default screen resolution.
• Familiarise yourself with your monitor's display controls. These may be located on the monitor itself, on your keyboard, or within the operating system control panel. Some displays even have their own remote controls.
• Make sure you are calibrating in a room with moderate, ambient lighting. The room doesn't need to be pitch black, but you want to avoid sharp glares and colour casts that can result from direct light. If in doubt, open a curtain or turn on a lamp to create moderate lighting conditions.

Calibration:

• For Windows 10/11 users, open the Settings app and click on System in the main menu. Then, select Display and scroll down to click on Advanced Display Settings. Finally, scroll down again and click on Color Calibration.
• Follow the on-screen instructions to calibrate your display's gamma, brightness, contrast, and colour balance settings. Use the provided sample images to adjust your display as needed.
• Once the calibration wizard is complete, choose to either reset to the previous calibration or select the current calibration if you are satisfied with the results. The new calibration settings will be saved as a colour calibration file (.ics file) and will show up as a new International Color Consortium (ICC) Profile in the Color Management settings app.

Tips:

• If using a Mac, the Display Calibrator Assistant can be found in the System Preferences under the Displays tab, in the Colour section. Alternatively, try entering "calibrate" in the Spotlight search to scan for the utility.
• If you are a novice, it is best to stick to the default settings as these can be altered later once you are more familiar with the process.
• Calibrate your monitor regularly, especially if you are a content creator, as accuracy can drift over time due to panel degradation.

Familiarise yourself with your monitor's display controls

Before you begin calibrating your Sceptre monitor, it's important to familiarise yourself with your monitor's display controls. These may be located on the monitor itself, on the keyboard, or within the operating system control panel. Some displays even have their own remote controls.

Your monitor should have buttons located on the front that allow you to adjust the screen's colour and brightness. Check the owner's manual for specific instructions, as these functions differ by brand. If you have misplaced your monitor documentation, you can search the internet for the model name or number of the monitor to obtain it.

• Power: Turns the monitor on or off.
• Brightness: Increase or decrease the brightness on the screen.
• Contrast: Increase or decrease the amount of contrast on the screen.
• Horizontal Size: Allows for the picture on the screen to be stretched to the horizontal edge of the monitor.
• Vertical Size: Allows the picture on the screen to be stretched to the vertical edges of the monitor.
• Horizontal Position: Allows the picture to be moved horizontally.
• Vertical Position: Allows the picture to be moved up or down.
• Fullscreen: Sets the monitor to fullscreen.
• Degauss: This button will degauss the CRT (Cathode Ray Tube), restoring possible colour impurities.
• Corner and Trapezoid Correction: Using this button or wheel, the user can either round the edges of the picture or move the picture inward like an hourglass or outwards.
• Vertical Linearity: Sets the width of the vertical lines.
• Moire: Removes or reduces the Moire effect, if any.
• OSD Controls: If the monitor contains OSD (On-Screen Display) controls for the OSD menus to be adjusted.
• Power Management: Allows the user to define the power management settings through the monitor itself and not the software.
• Monitor Status: Displays the current monitor settings such as the refresh rate and other settings.
• Language: Sets the language on the monitor.

Once you have familiarised yourself with the monitor's display controls, you can begin the calibration process.

Use built-in Windows and Mac tools to calibrate

Calibrating your monitor will help you get the best picture possible. It's especially useful if you have multiple displays that are different sizes or from different manufacturers or if you're upgrading to a new one.

Before starting the calibration process, make sure your monitor has been on for at least half an hour so it's properly warmed up, and set it to its native screen resolution.

Windows

Windows has had a built-in display-calibration tool since Windows 7.

To open it, launch the Control Panel. On Windows 10 or 8.1, you can do this by right-clicking the Start button and selecting "Control Panel".

Click "Hardware and Sound" in the Control Panel window, click "Display", and then click the "Calibrate color" link at the left side of the Display control panel.

You can also open the Start menu, type "calibrate" into the search box, and click the "Calibrate display color" shortcut that appears to launch the calibration tool directly.

The Display Color Calibration tool will appear. This tool will walk you through adjusting the various options—gamma, brightness, contrast, and colour balance—explaining what each option means and what you're looking for when adjusting each one.

Mac

Mac OS X has its own display calibration tool built-in. To open it, click the Apple menu on the menu bar at the top of your screen and select "System Preferences". Click the "Displays" option in the list, then click the "Color" tab at the top of the window, and then click the "Calibrate" button.

This opens the Apple Display Calibrator Assistant. It will walk you through calibrating the display's various settings, explaining what you need to know and how to select the ideal option. Different settings may be available on different displays. The assistant will explain what you need to know and what you should look for when adjusting various settings.

Frequently asked questions