By Aaron Westgate

X-Rite’s (http://www.xritephone.com) new version of the US$169 ColorMunki Display not only calibrates your display, but it will also calibrate projectors, measure ambient light, and correct for display surface glare. Designed for simplicity, the ColorMunki Display comes with its own wizard-driven software or presets.

Except for the color of the unit, the ColorMunki Display looks identical to the new i1Display Pro. Just like the i1Display Pro, it has a lens sitting in front of the sensor, with a movable arm holding the ambient diffuser. The bottom has a tripod thread for calibrating projectors, and a blue LED flashes when the instrument is measuring. Although the ColorMunki Display looks identical to the i1Display Pro, it’s about five times slower.

The ColorMunki Display software auto-detects any type of LCD screen or projector, and it lets users match display settings on multiple displays connected to the same computer; however, ColorMunki Display lacks extensive quality control and it doesn’t test the uniformity of your display. The software gives users only basic control over profile settings, but it can measure both standard and wide-gamut displays equipped with either fluorescent (CCFL) or LED backlights.
ColorMunki Display creates profiles through an iterative measurement process.
At three different time intervals, the ColorMunki Display software automatically corrects for or notifies the user of luminance levels when ambient light changes—but this comes at the expense of accuracy. This can be enabled during calibration, as well as compensation for screen glare.

Calibration results were identical to those created with the more professional i1Profiler Basic mode. Iterative measurement somewhat improved on these, but not by much. The software is easy to use, and makes most difficult decisions by itself.l by offering great digital images.

Rating: 7 out of 10

(This review is brought to you courtesy of "Layers Magazine": http://layersmagazine.com/ .)