Pantone has introduced Huey ($89), a low-cost monitor calibration tool designed for digital photo enthusiasts, gamers and any computer user wanting ‘absolute’ colour and clarity.

Developed in partnership with GretagMacbeth, Huey is based on GretagMacbeth’s technology and promises a true breakthrough in terms of form, function and usability.

About the size of a small marker, Huey claims to deliver excellent results on LCD, laptop and CRT displays without requiring you to have any knowledge of colour management. In addition, Huey is the first monitor calibration device to continually adjust the monitor as room lighting changes.

Huey is the newest gadget for any consumer or photo hobbyist looking to improve the colour and clarity of their display. In less than five minutes, Huey can calibrate your monitor and adjust it based on your primary viewing activity, such as viewing photos, playing games, creating graphics or browsing the Web.

‘The convergence of publishing, the Internet and entertainment has led to a generation of computer users whose primary media is the computer screen,’ explains Doris Brown, vice president of marketing for Pantone. ‘This has big implications in terms of colour. In printed media, colour can be carefully controlled during the printing process to ensure the viewer sees the intended colour. Different monitors, on the other hand, interpret colour differently, leaving a big question mark in terms of colour accuracy. With Huey, wondering if your colour is right is a thing of the past.’

‘Huey breaks new ground in terms of size, performance and ease-of-use,’ adds Iris Mangelschots, vice president and general manager of digital imaging at GretagMacbeth. ‘We’ve been able to leverage the technology used in our professional products, package it in a very affordable and convenient form factor and combine it with new software designed specifically for the non-technical user. Our partnership with Pantone and their ability to reach consumers is important to the success of Huey.’

As part of its strategic partnership with GretagMacbeth, Pantone is also bringing two additional monitor calibration tools to market specifically for professionals: Eye-One Display LT and Eye-One Display 2. Eye-One Display LT ($169) is designed for creative professionals just getting started with colour management and Eye-One Display 2 ($249) lets advanced professionals control every aspect of colour management onscreen.

Eye-One Display LT features more advanced controls than Huey. A software wizard calibrates the monitor to produce consistent, predictable colour in just a few simple steps. Eye-One Display LT can also be used to calibrate multiple monitors connected to a single workstation. It is pitched as the ideal entry-point for the price sensitive creative professional and can also easily be upgraded to the capabilities of the Eye-One Display 2 as your needs expand. Eye-One Display LT includes a profile summary reporting capability that shows target colour temperature, luminance and gamma, and stores all the information in a profile, which is ideal for post profile analysis.

Eye-One Display 2 includes all the features of Eye-One Display LT and also provides unlimited control and customisation capabilities over the gamma and whitepoint settings. Its lightweight, sleek design comes with an ambient light head that easily snaps onto the device, also acting as a dust protector designed to ensure the sensor’s longevity. Eye-One Display 2 creates high-quality ICC profiles for accurate, onscreen softproofing.

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BIOS, Jan 20, 06 | Print | Send | Comments (0) | Posted In Monitor