Using the Display Color Calibration Tool (DCCW.exe) in Windows 7 to Get the Most From your Display. You Would Tweek the Settings on Your 50 Inch LCD Why Not Tweek Your Laptop LCD Monitor Too?

I like to watch DVD’s on my laptop!  I can’t possibly work all of the time, and so when I need a break a good DVD is often the way to go.  I was watching a DVD on a recent flight when the man sitting next to me asked where I got a laptop with such an amazing picture quality.   I smiled because it is really just a standard Lenovo W510.  I did however do some additional work to the display with a free tool that comes with Windows 7 which relatively few seem to know or care about.

The tool is called the Display Color Calibration Wizard, or DCCW for short.  You can run this tool by going to the pearl (new lingo for the start button) and typing DCCW in the search box.  Start the DCCW tool and we are under way.  I will walk you through the process lest you think it is difficult or somehow otherwise prohibitive and then you too can watch your own DVD’s on a display that you have taken the opportunity to customize to your liking. 

First you will see the splash screen for the tool indicating that you should move the window onto the display that you are going to calibrate.  Not rocket science so far. 

Go ahead and click NEXT

The screen indicates that if you display has a menu option that will allow the setting to be returned to factory defaults please do so now.  If you don’t have a menu option for this (Like say on most laptops) just go ahead and click NEXT

Now we are going to work on the Gamma Adjustment for the display.  If you are wondering what you are going for there is an example of the desired outcome on the center of the screen along with 2 examples of what not to do. Click Next

 

Here is what the initial gamma settings looked like on my laptop.  Looks Like they might be a little too low. 

Use the slider to set the gamma to match the desired standard.  Here is what mine looks like now.

Its not perfect but if I go too high it swings the other direction quite rapidly. 

Click Next

Brightness and contrast settings are you personal preferences and can be set accordingly.  Click Next

Again they give you a sample of appropriate brightness. 

Click Next.

Use the image provided to accurately set the brightness.

Click Next.

On to the Contrast Adjustment.  Here again we get the 3 samples. 

Click Next.

Use the image to adjust the contrast to your desired setting.  Click Next.

The next item of adjustment is the color balance.  Again we get some good samples for the right settings. 

Click next. 

Now we have the opportunity to use sliders for Red, Green, and Blue.  Remember we are shooting for bland shades of gray.  No color.

When you are finished click Next. 

You can see that you have created a new calibration.  You can click the buttons on the screen to compare the current settings to the previous ones.  If you like the new settings save them by clicking Finish.  

You will also notice that there is another tool that is checked to run by default when we are finished with the calibration called the Clear Type Text Tuner.  More on that tool later. 

Enjoy your amazing quality video!  Remember you can come back and adjust the settings any time you would like by simply running the DCCW again.