Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: USL PCA-100 Color Meter

This is topic USL PCA-100 Color Meter in forum Digital Cinema Forum at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Chase Taylor (Member # 778) on 01-28-2009, 02:41 PM:

Does anybody have any experience with this meter? I've played around with one once and did not have any problem with it. I know everyone says you need to get a PR-655 but man that price tag is steep. A few people I know that own a PCA-100 has tried it against a PR-650 or PR-655 and got the same results almost all of the time and when it defer it was only by .001 well with in spec.

Chase

Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 01-28-2009, 05:34 PM:

I've been using one for years...so long as you keep it in calibration (once-per-year)...it will do just fine for setting up DCinema projectors or comparing different projectors.

Steve

Posted by Mike Babb (Member # 1379) on 01-28-2009, 08:35 PM:

I've used one for a couple years and love it, I have also used several PR650s, I find the USL easier. You can get a manfrotto tripod for under $100 that's very compact and light, goes nicely with this unit.

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 01-30-2009, 08:30 AM:

I much prefer the USL over the PR-650. Havinng to look at the PR-=650's readout in a dark room and then type the settings into your laptop is a pain! Its a ton easier to read the color data off your laptop screen since you can have the USL program AND the projector set up program open at the same time next to each other. Each USL is tightly calibrated and compared directly to a PR meter before it leaves the USL factory.

Mark

Posted by Chase Taylor (Member # 778) on 01-30-2009, 09:36 AM:

Thanks guys. Do you have a suggestion of where I could get a good price on one at?

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 01-30-2009, 09:59 AM:

Call Eric at Claco. 801-355-1250, he'll treat you fairly. We also stock convergence kits for Christie/NEC if you should also need one.

Posted by Pete Naples (Member # 761) on 01-30-2009, 10:55 AM:

This LINK is worth a look, very small and compact. Uses software on your laptop and plugs in via USB.

We put wireless access on the digitla system network so we can sit in the auditoreum and do the resize, masking, colour measurement etc all from a comfy seat, more importantly with a good audience eye view of the screen.

Posted by John Hawkinson (Member # 1135) on 01-30-2009, 11:59 AM:

What's the list price on that?

--jhawk

Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 01-30-2009, 01:32 PM:

Note, the USL meter also has the spectral information too...it is quite interesting.

It is nifty that this German meter also support u'v' CIE space though, for now, DCinema is sticking to the x, y space. I would suspect that if u' v' were needed in the future, USL could easily update.

I think a key question here is calibration...who calibrates the German one, what is their reference and how does one go about keeping it in calibration.

Steve

Posted by Robert Minichino (Member # 3495) on 01-30-2009, 02:06 PM:

You can convert between any of the standard color spaces without loss, so I'm sure USL could update their software to include CIELUV if there was a call for it.

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 01-30-2009, 05:59 PM:

Note that the USL meter is going up a thousand dollars in March... so get em whle they're cheap!! Also, Stay away from the Sencore Meter... a customer of ours that runs a post facility bought one and it wasn't anywheres nearly as accurate as the USL was.

IMHO, If a meter isn't approved by any of the projector manufacturers or Dolby then its best to stay away from it.

Mark

Posted by Chase Taylor (Member # 778) on 01-30-2009, 06:13 PM:

What meters are approved?

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 01-31-2009, 08:59 AM:

There is no list but generally if you ask any of them... Photo Research, USL and Minolta. The Minolta and PR are the two most expensive... they both have readouts right on the meter that about doubles the price over the USL. The Minolta is the most versatile of the lot and can do other a number of types of readings/functions.

Posted by Pete Naples (Member # 761) on 01-31-2009, 12:21 PM:

Steve,

Each specbos unit holds it's own calibration data, when you plug it in to your laptop, that info is applied to the software.

I'm not certain who calibrates it, probably in house at manufacture, and re calibration is a return to base job afaik.

It was recomended by both Dolby UK and Kinoton, point of fact we got one via Kinoton and had it shipped with a DCP30SX we were about to install.

Posted by Mike Best (Member # 5463) on 10-19-2009, 04:10 PM:

Might want to look at the Klein K10 with the calman professional software.....Accurate and Fast at a Fraction of the cost...

Here is the a link
http://www.sencore.com/products/color-light/186

Posted by Demetris Thoupis (Member # 833) on 10-19-2009, 04:38 PM:

I've used the PCA100 to calibrate the newly installed 5 systems these past two weeks in Cyprus and the results were tremendous. The nighty thing is that it also gives you an FL reading straight so no need for an additional FL meter (P.S I crossed referenced and the PCA was very accurate). Using a standard FL meter will require to enter the gain of the screen while the PCA calculates immediately.
Demetris

Posted by Carsten Kurz (Member # 5396) on 10-20-2009, 07:03 AM:

The specbos is manufactured by JETI. This company is one of the many smaller precision optoelectronics companies surrounding ZEISS/JENOPTIK over at Jena.
If that kind of information is of interest...

- Carsten

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 10-20-2009, 10:00 AM:

One of the local Post Houses here in SLC had one of the Sencores and I had the opportunity to test it against the USL and the Sencore was not even in the ballpark! Needless to say the folks at the Post Facility were very disappointed! I highly don't recommend it. Also, having delt with alot of test gear over the years I can say that Sencore is an absolutely awful company at discontinuing support, parts and so on for their gear. A company to definitely stay away from.

Mark

Posted by Mike Best (Member # 5463) on 10-21-2009, 10:14 AM:

The Sencore meter is a fraction of the cost of the some of the other meter's(PR560) which might explain the comparison.As well as they use a Tri-Stimulus meter versus a Spectra and depending on the meter I believe it to be faster at the low end and just as accurate.. ...As far as support they are a small company and have always had great support for all there products been around over 50 years ..

Posted by Gordon McLeod (Member # 33) on 10-21-2009, 02:12 PM:

I have used ad owned several Sencore products and have had no issues with them for both service and accuracy
Out of interest was the one you saw appropriate to the application as there are several different versions

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 10-21-2009, 02:52 PM:

Gord,

Yes it was sold to the post house to calibrate their Christie M projector but fortunately was not sold to them by my then employer. I looked at the Sencore site and didn't see anything that looked like the model they had. Next time I go by there I'll ask what model it was. It cost them about 5 grand. The software end of things was pretty nice and more comprehensive then the USL but if it can't get the job done to some degree of accuracy then there's no point at all in the nifty software. I don't see how for 5 grand you're going to get anything that's long term accurate. The USL for 8 grand gets the job done and really accurately!!

My experiences with Sencore have been just the opposite of yours. Shotty quality parts, lack of parts availability and so on. More along the quality of B&K test gear! I have a handy bench power meter built by them that needs a new push button switch assy. Oh, it works if you jiggle the switch bank just right! Of course they no longer have the part and I was told they discarded all the other in stock parts for same. It's only about 8 years old. Ditto on my VR-940 light standard for calibrating TV cameras, no more charts available because I was told by the parts lady "they discarded all of them to make room for other things". Luckily, when the ballast failed it was available at Lowe's...

Mark