Hardware calibration
Advantages
Hardware calibration enables easy calibration in a short period of time, using specialized hardware and software.
In addition, since hardware calibration controls the hardware of the monitor directly, this method offers high precision and good gradation characteristics.
As with the example for software calibration on the previous page, hardware calibration will be described here using the example of adjustment to 5,000 K.
When reducing green output to 85% and blue to 70% inside the monitor, hardware calibration differs from software calibration in that the number of gradations (reduced in software calibration) is adjusted to 256 with the hardware-based method. This adjustment allows for accurate gradation display, with no loss in the number of available gradations. In addition, since the calibration process is fully automatic, precision remains high even after repeated calibration. As a result, hardware calibration does not involve the minor variations with each adjustment that occur in software calibration, enabling the preparation of more accurate monitor profiles.
Drawbacks
Since calibration monitors are specially designed, they cost more than ordinary monitors. In addition, some monitors on the market that are compatible with hardware calibration have drawbacks: offering insufficient precision, for example, or requiring a very long time for calibration, even when fully automatic.