SpectraCal, Inc. announced today the release of a free software, intended to provide professionals in production, post-production, and broadcasting industries a tool for testing the accuracy of their video monitors.
The software, CalMAN ColorChecker, will be available for free download beginning this week. Although CalMAN ColorChecker has been available for purchase individually and as an included workflow in other CalMAN products, SpectraCal has never before offered CalMAN software free of charge.
“ColorChecker is a revolutionary product for the studio industry, and we want everyone using it,” said L.A. Heberlein, SpectraCal’s CEO.
With a probe and a pattern generator, CalMAN ColorChecker allows users to chart the performance of their monitor and verify that the content displayed on screen is true to industry standards, such as Rec709, Digital Cinema, and Adobe RGB.
“ColorChecker gives users confidence that their monitor is performing reliably, and it only takes minutes to run,” emphasized SpectraCal’s Marketing Director, Joshua Quain.
ColorChecker also provides a useful platform for comparing color performance between displays, informing users of the degree to which one monitor’s performance varies from another. “Often times we hear from customers who are struggling to discover which of their monitors are closest to standards. With ColorChecker, you can easily test each monitor and find the closest match,” said Quain.
When creating the product, developers at SpectraCal envisioned studio professionals running ColorChecker daily. “It’s a quality assessment tool,” explained Founder and CTO, Derek Smith. “Run ColorChecker every morning when you come in, and know your video content is completely accurate for the rest of the work day.”
In effect, a successful run of CalMAN ColorChecker (indicated within the software by a green “go” light) will mean that the measured monitor is ready for use, while a red light indicates the device is in need of calibration.
“ColorChecker takes the guess work out of monitor calibration,” explained Quain. “If you’re using ColorChecker, you’ll know exactly when your monitor needs to be calibrated, and you can take the proper actions accordingly.”
In addition to offering ColorChecker at no cost to the user, SpectraCal has also eliminated all hardware restrictions for the software, meaning that ColorChecker supports a surprisingly wide range of probes and test pattern generators.
“You don’t have to buy our colorimeters to use this free software,” Quain said. “If you have any instruments in your shop already, CalMAN almost certainly supports them.”
CalMAN ColorChecker requires no previous knowledge of calibration technology nor experience with CalMAN software.
The free software is available for download from SpectraCal’s website, at http://studio.spectracal.com/calman-colorchecker
About SpectraCal:
SpectraCal is the worldwide leader in image fidelity solutions. SpectraCal provides everything needed for calibrating video displays in the broadcast, production, post-production, commercial A/V, and home theater industries. SpectraCal’s flagship product, CalMAN, is the mostly widely used video calibration software in the world. Please visit www.spectracal.com for more information.