The ColorPro Display

Calibration Report

Establishes You As The Expert And It Generates Repeat Business Too…

You've spent the last 45 minutes with your Sencore ColorPro Color Analyzer tweaking the color controls of your customer's rear projection television working to get the color measurement cursor to fall precisely into the reference D65 target. You've got the gray scale tracking so tightly you're confident that even Joel Silver from the ISF would step back and take note. As you pack up your video generator and color analyzer you anticipate the oohs! and aahs! You'll hear from your customer as they see the vast improvements you've made to their display's performance.

Another successful calibration job? Almost, but you've missed one vital step—calibration documentation. Generating a ColorPro 'Display Calibration Report' after each calibration helps you capture and quantify your unique skills and the expertise you've applied to maximizing the display's performance. It's the tool that helps you turn your technical calibration skills into business profits.

1. It sets you a cut above the installers that do no calibration or do calibration but don't document their work.

2. It establishes you as the technical expert in the eyes of your customers (people with technical expertise can charge more and make more money).

3. It connects, in your customer's mind, the visual improvements you've made to their display and what you've technically accomplished (once your customer learns this, don't you think they'll tell ten of their friends?)

4. It documents your work for accounting and invoicing purposes.

5. It provides you a database of all of your calibration jobs (wouldn't it be helpful to pull up documentation of the last model xyz you calibrated?).

6. It helps you generate repeat business.

Collecting the color analysis data and generating a 'Display Calibration Report' with a Sencore ColorPro Color Analyzer is simple—the reports are built into the software so the data collection is automatic. The report is preformatted, ready to give to your customer when you print it out.

Here's how to document a display's performance:

Connect the display to a video signal source that generates a WINDOW pattern with variable IRE levels (such as Sencore's VP300 VideoPro Multimedia Video Generator). Set the video generator to generate a 20 IRE WINDOW pattern, measure the display's chromaticity and luminance values with your ColorPro and capture the values in the report software (Figure 1).

Fig. 1 — The ColorPro Display Calibration Report Lets You Capture Pre and Post Color Chromaticity and Luminance Values

Repeat the steps in Part 1 capturing the chromaticity and luminance values of the WINDOW pattern between 20 IRE and 100 IRE (in 10 IRE increments). Enter pertinent information about the customer and the display into the report software. Save and print the report.

The ColorPro 'Display Calibration Report' provides concise documentation of the work you've performed. It shows your business information (with your business logo if you chose), the customer's name and address, information on the display, a CIE chromaticity diagram that shows pre and post calibration information and the date when the display will require recalibration.

If it is possible, spend 10 minutes with the customer going over the 'Display Calibration Report'. Have along a color CIE Chromaticity Diagram (Sencore can provide you a copy) and explain to them the different temperatures of white and the importance of calibrating a display to perform at D65. Relate the CIE Chromaticity Diagram to their 'Display Calibration Report' showing them how their display performed before calibration and how it performed after your calibration. Talk to them about the need for an annual calibration and tell them you'll make a follow-up call in 11 months to schedule another visit (how about that for a revenue stream of repeat business).

Often the steps between being a good business and a really exceptional, profitable business are just the little extra things (not rocket science type things) you do for your customers that set yourself apart from the rest of the pack. Generating a 'Display Calibration Report' is one of those 'little extra things' that you can do that will give you that competitive edge.