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Date Created: 6/14/2011   Date Modified: 3/21/2012

+Display QA Fails With Some Targets and Passes With Others

A profiled monitor could pass Display "Quality" with the ColorChecker Classic target but fail with others (IDEAlliance testcharts, IT8.7-3 CMYK, IT8.7-4 CMYK, etc...).

The "Pass"/"Fail" result in Display QA is determined by two things: "Average dE" (average color difference of all the patches) and "Maximum dE all patches" (the patch with the worst color match). If either one exceeds the user-defined tolerance, the user will receive a failing grade. 

The ColorChecker Classic target has a collection of 24 colors that are fairly reproducible on most displays.  This will typically result in a "Pass" in most well behaved monitors.  The remaining charts are actually designed for printer profiling and have a number of color patches that are not very reproducible on even the very best monitors.  Even though the "Average dE" might receive a passing grade, a single out-of-gamut color patch could result in a failing grade in the "Maximum dE" field. 

When using Display "Quality", it would be advisable to review all data in the "QA Report" workflow step...not just the overall "Pass"/"Fail" grade.  For instance, perhaps the "Lowest 90% dE of the "Average dE results" would provide good feedback for checking the display's true performance.