Having bought a new Samsung 226bw last week, I was disappointed to receive one of the newer no panel versions. While, not strictly true for it does of course have a panel there is now no marking to indicate which panel is inside.
Having tested it I found it was too bright with very uneven colours that had a strong blue hint. I searched on the web and found numerous colour profiles, none of which seemed to fully correct my problem.
I have now bought a colorvision spyder2express and have decided to calibrate my monitor myself. It only takes about 5 minutes but i noticed a considerable improvement. I am still not sure if I will keep this monitor as i feel extremely let down by Samsungs poor customer service in this panel lottery and their determine that each panel is exactly the same. For this is not true and if you receive a poorer panel then the colours at least in my opinion are so bad as to be unacceptable.
Since so many people seem to be having problems with this monitor and the colours they are getting i have decided to post my profiles here for everyone to use
Please note that this will not work for all versions of the 226bw, it will only work if you have the same panel as i do
Settings:
Brightness: Varies (download correct profile on left for brightness you require)
Contrast: 75
Red: 50
Blue: 50
Green: 50
Everything else is left as default.
How to use
1. Simply download the correct profile on the left for either 100% 75%, 50% or 25% brightness (i am using 25% myself) by right clicking the link and choosing save link as.
2. Browse to C:\windows\system32\spool\drivers\color\ and copy the downloaded profile to here
3a. If you are on Windows XP, download Microsoft Wincolor and install it. Browse to your control panel and locate the new applet called "color" select the Profiles tab, and load the downloaded profile. Next, go to the Devices tab, choose Displays, and click Add. Now select the profile you want to use, hit OK, and choose Set as Default.
To get the profile to load on startup, right-click the Start button » Open All Users, navigate into Programs » Startup folder. Put a shortcut to WinColor.exe here. Right-click the shortcut, click Properties, and add /L to the end of the Target field, so it looks something like this:
“C:\Program Files\Pro Imaging Powertoys\Microsoft Color Control Panel Applet for Windows XP\WinColor.exe” /L
3b. If you are running Microsoft Vista, right click on the desktop, and go to the personalize menu, select display parameters » advanced parameters » color management tab. Check Use my parameters for this peripheral. Click Add and select the ICC profile you want for the monitor, and set it to default. Click on the Advanced tab in the peripheral profile, select the desired ICC profile, and click OK. You should see the change instantly at that point.