Monitor Calibration (Spyder X Elite) when going through an HDMI surround receiver?

[Niber]

This seems like it should be a common question, many people are using HDMI receivers, yet I literally can't find a single answer to this online.

 

My RTX3090 HDMI goes into my surround receiver, then in the receiver I can choose whether I want the screen output to go to my computer monitor (Samsung G9 Neo) or my TV (LG C9), as the receiver has a switch between its 2 hdmi outputs.

 

However calibration (especially on the LG C9) is awful, but luckily next week a friend is coming for a visit and he's bringing his 'Spyder X Elite' calibration. I don't want to hog this thing forever just want to use it and hand it back so I'm trying to figure out this question pre-emtpively...

 

Can windows color calibration be setup to have different profile for these 2 screens, even though the signal is passing through the receiver?

The scary part is that Windows recognizes the monitor as "AV Receiver" no matter whether I choose monitor A or B in the receiver, so I'm worried that Windows might not know which profile to apply.

[emosun]

If the pc has no way of knowing its connected to multiple displays beyond the receiver then it will output the same image regardless of what happens after the receiver. You could set up some profiles and just manually toggle them when you switch displays though.

[BobVonBob]

Calibrate the colors using the settings in your displays instead of in software. That way you won't have to bother messing around with changing color profiles and it will still be accurate if you ever connect other devices. It will probably take a bit more time, but the end result will be easier to use.

[SolarNova]

Do the calibration manually via the display OSD 1st.

Get is as good as u can/wish to spend time doing.

 

Then if need be, create a ICC profile for windows.

[Niber]

1 hour ago, BobVonBob said:

Calibrate the colors using the settings in your displays instead of in software. That way you won't have to bother messing around with changing color profiles and it will still be accurate if you ever connect other devices. It will probably take a bit more time, but the end result will be easier to use.

Are you talking about just eyeballing it, or somehow using the Spyder X to tell me which direction to calibrate it to?

I'm guessing you're talking about eye-balling it, to which I should probably have noted I do professional graphics (working from home) so I need it to be more than just guesstimated

[Niber]

37 minutes ago, SolarNova said:

Do the calibration manually via the display OSD 1st.

Get is as good as u can/wish to spend time doing.

 

Then if need be, create a ICC profile for windows.

Well yeah, but that's my question, can I do ICC profiles, if Windows doesn't know which ICC to apply for which monitor

[Niber]

1 hour ago, emosun said:

If the pc has no way of knowing its connected to multiple displays beyond the receiver then it will output the same image regardless of what happens after the receiver. You could set up some profiles and just manually toggle them when you switch displays though.

Ah ok, yes I would say that's an acceptable workaround IF that works. I think the SpyderX uses a custom software (rather than loading the ICC into the windows profiles) and I'm not entirely sure that it provides an easy "switch profile" method, but I guess I'm currently leaning towards that being my only hope. 

[Kilrah]

Well you can do 2 of them but will have to switch them manually every time. 

Might be better to connect both monitors straight to the PC and not through the AVR. 

[emosun]

Another work around is to simply connect the pc to the monitors and connect the receiver with rca which if youre using stereo sound would be the same as hdmi.

[SolarNova]

22 minutes ago, Niber said:

I think the SpyderX uses a custom software

Dont use the SpyderX software, use DisplayCAL, its far better.

[BobVonBob]

1 hour ago, Niber said:

Are you talking about just eyeballing it, or somehow using the Spyder X to tell me which direction to calibrate it to?

I'm guessing you're talking about eye-balling it, to which I should probably have noted I do professional graphics (working from home) so I need it to be more than just guesstimated

Not just eyeballing it. I should have specified I meant doing in-display color correction using your monitor's OSD or your TV's menu instead of creating software color correction profiles. The display calibration software you use with the Spyder can help you tune your displays.

[BuzzingBee]

Although people from above already likely answered your question there is another tedious solution. That would allow you to use G9 and C9's own ICC profiles at the same time.
Does your AV receiver support eARC? If so then you can try do the following:

PC  -> AV receiver -> Samsung G9
PC  -> LG C9 -> AV receiver (through HDMI eARC)

That way your PC will detect two display output: AV receiver and C9.

For surround sound you would need to change output to either AV receiver or C9 depending which display you're using.

EDIT: Forgot to consider whether your 3090 has at least two HDMi 2.1 ports.

[Niber]

1 hour ago, Kilrah said:

Well you can do 2 of them but will have to switch them manually every time. 

Might be better to connect both monitors straight to the PC and not through the AVR. 

If that was an option I would have loved to do that, but unfortunately then you don't get surround sound. HDMI is the only way to get proper digital surround sound from a computer to a surround amp.
or if you mean connecting them simultaneously (1 going through AVR for sound, the other one going DP), I'm trying to avoid that as it tends to cause problems. But if there's no other choice, then yes maybe I will do just that.

[Niber]

25 minutes ago, BobVonBob said:

Not just eyeballing it. I should have specified I meant doing in-display color correction using your monitor's OSD or your TV's menu instead of creating software color correction profiles. The display calibration software you use with the Spyder can help you tune your displays.

Oh I had no idea that was an option (I used to have a Spyder when I worked at an office, I don't remember ever seeing that option), yes that does sound like the best solution of them all: Would indeed mean that whatever I connect to the devices will have the same calibration! Thx!