Datacolor has been on the scene for more than thirty-five years, providing color- management and color-communications technology for numerous industrial applications. Under the rubric of ColorVision, the company also offers a range of “affordable, simple-to-use color-matching tools to creative professionals, digital photographers, and consumers.” Included in this line are “products for monitor calibration, printer calibration, and ICC profile editing.” The SpyderTV Pro system is the step-up version of Datacolor’s original SpyderTV calibration tool for home-theater displays.

Geared toward technicians—dealers and installers, as well as enthusiasts—the SpyderTV Pro has features that distinguish it significantly from its entry-level cousin. It is intended to help direct-view TVs and front/rear projectors in the home to display color, as well as black and white, material with as much fidelity to SMPTE standards as their accessible controls permit and to log the various corrections in customized reports for both calibrators and their clients. Its main advantage to this end, however, is its ability to adjust grayscale via red, green, and blue gain/bias parameters when they are accessible outside arcane service codes. This particular feature elevates the SpyderTV Pro’s results to a level that approaches, even if it cannot always match, those made possible by an ISF calibrator armed with far more expensive equipment.

The display that I calibrated with the SpyderTV Pro was a Sony KDS-55A2000 SXRD (LCoS) RPTV, which impressed me from the moment that I first set eyes on it, though its grayscale was obviously inaccurate. Before I began calibrating, I set up the Sony with parameters from CNET, which purported to derive from a thorough examination, and spent a few days getting acquainted with it this way. The A2000 series has an Advanced Video Menu, which is available only within the Custom Picture mode. Among other things, it contains individual gain/bias color-temperature settings, which the CNET reviewer had tweaked to remove a slight tendency toward blue. Without proper test instruments, no one should tinker with these settings. Altering the white/gray/black balance by eye can destroy a display's color fidelity, as well as its brightness and contrast. Enter the SpyderTV Pro.

Like the first SpyderTV, the Pro consists of a colorimeter that adheres to a display's screen (it looks like a spider) and connects to a PC or Mac--preferably a laptop--running proprietary software via USB. A DVD player is necessary to run the detailed instructions, show the various test screens, and, at the end, assess the results. After darkening the room to keep ambient light from affecting the results, the user supplies basic information about the display's characteristics for the software. Then the colorimeter begins taking the measure of the display through multiple snapshots of the test screens, while the calibrator follows instructions about how to proceed on the computer. The system analyzes contrast, brightness, and color temperature before it moves ahead to color and tint. It has no provision for sharpness, but sharpness sliders on modern sets are usually misplaced; the compensation for crude filtering that once justified them has not been necessary for a long time. At each step along the way, the calibrator can refer to a graphic illustration of how the new settings fit into the display's relative scheme of things. Before finishing for good, the Pro briefly double-checks its settings and offers a four-page printout, or PDF file, of its results vis a vis its preliminary readings. A few well-chosen still pictures on the DVD are available for before and after comparisons of black level, grayscale, and color.

Grayscale, the system's centerpiece, comes under study after contrast and brightness. The software shows a cylindrical graph of the relationship between the various intensities of red, green, and blue for both gain and bias. The object is to bring each color as close to the 100% baseline for intensity as possible. If a particular color cylinder's top edge is too far over or under this reference point, the computer program provides instructions on how to tame it. Displays will behave differently when confronted with this information. Some of them will be able to achieve good balance, within certain tolerances, and others will resist until the calibrator is, literally, blue in the face. In this case, the Sony was a real trooper, not quite capable of meeting the standard perfectly for each color's gain and bias but coming quite close. The pop-up target illustration showed that its white balance was just outside the bull’s-eye of D65. A little work in the service menu might be able to bring it even closer, but I don't think that the effort would be worthwhile in this case, though it might be with other displays. All told, the calibration lasted between forty-five minutes and an hour. Conceivably, someone might have to run it twice. It's possible to make a mistake when entering data and elicit a wildly inaccurate reading.

The initial calibration courtesy of CNET was certainly an improvement on the Sony’s performance out of the box, but the Spyder Pro seemed to go it one better. When getting familiar with CNET's version, I had a nagging sense that it left a little too much blue in the mix, despite the CNET reviewer's efforts to eliminate it by adjusting gain and bias. The Pro’s contrast (known as "picture" on the Sony), brightness, color, and tint ("hue") parameters either approximated or duplicated CNET's, but its gain and bias levels deviated favorably, removing the last vestige of a blue tinge. I could find no trace of it in black and white material (I hate a blue grayscale; if perfectly neutral were impossible, I would trade it for a hint of red).

The question remains, Should anyone but dealers and installers buy this product? With a price of at least $600, the Pro isn't cheap, but compared to the cost of dedicated ISF test equipment, or even some ISF calibrations, it's a true bargain. However, only enthusiasts with flat panels or RPTVs that have accessible grayscale controls would fare better with the Pro than with the less costly Spyder, which omits grayscale adjustment. Those with front projectors have no choice, since the original Spyder doesn't work with them, but front projectors are the displays most likely to have the kind of open architecture that features gain and bias controls. The upgraded software package is certainly a plus for technicians with a customer base, but it might not be a major enticement for users without an extensive clientele--paying or otherwise. Given these practical constraints, I recommend the SpyderTV Pro wholeheartedly to individual enthusiasts with grayscale control at their finger tips who otherwise lack the means to deploy it and, especially, to specialist dealers and service technicians. With an extra hour or so of their (paid) time, they can deflect many of the slings and arrows that impair the performance—and, in some cases, the health--of the displays that leave their shops. Their customers will thank them for it.

Colorimeter and software come in a small, lightweight carrying case. User must supply DVD player and PC/Mac.

Manufacturer’s Retail Price $699

Written by Edtyct, AudioReview.com's resident video expert. Discuss and Read more about the Spyder in our discussion forums.