IDE different color on other monitor...

Matt · Post by **Matt** » Fri Aug 07, 2009 3:20 am

This probably isn't a PureBasic IDE issue, but here' s my problem...

I just hooked up a 24" TV to use as a monitor (before I go back to school and take it with me, I thought it would make a good monitor). Hooks up with HDMI looks very niceee....

Anyway I'm using it as a dual monitor with my laptop as my secondary monitor to the screen. My TV is just plugged in via HDMI to the laptop and the display settings let me dual monitor it. But the issue now is that the text in the PureBasic IDE is a different color on the TV, its all blue. If I drag it over to the laptop screen it turns back to its normal syntax highlighting color. I checked color settings and they look the same for both the laptop and TV...

Anyone can give me a helpful hint here?

blueznl · Post by **blueznl** » Fri Aug 07, 2009 10:11 am

I've been using multi monitor setups for ages, so this is a regular event

If both screens are different models / brands, there will be some colour differences. If one is a flatscreen and the other one an old crt, it's the same thing.

I have two identical screens on my desk (two Dell 22") same type, model, production date, and they are connected to a single dual port video card, with both outputs in DVI, and still there is some difference.

If you have an expensive (read: good, not necessarily costly

) video card you may adjust the output per DVI port. But, unfortunately, it's always going to be 'approximately'.

(Euh, by the way, you have the same COLOURDEPTH on both screens, don't you?)

Matt · Post by **Matt** » Fri Aug 07, 2009 2:24 pm

Yep, both color depth on each screen. Both are HD LCDs, one obviously came with my laptop, 15.4" widescreen, and the other is a vizio HD TV, 1080p. My laptop outputs to 1080p and all that. I have a NVIDA 8400M GS in my laptop with 256MB dedicated memory. I'll play with the settings in the nvida control panel to see if I can do anything more. It's just weird because in the PB IDE settings I can see all the different colors where it lets you choose what color to pick, but then in the actual text editor its just blue....

edit: any other style except "PureBasic" works good in the editor for the most part.

edit again: another issue is that if I use ultramon to get a task bar on both screens, if I minimize PureBasic IDE is just quits.... If I close ultramon then PureBasic IDE really minimizes.

Kale · Post by **Kale** » Fri Aug 07, 2009 2:43 pm

Adjust the secondary monitor's controls so they are both the same colour.

Matt · Post by **Matt** » Fri Aug 07, 2009 3:43 pm

I have each monitor already set with the exact same color settings.

blueznl · Post by **blueznl** » Fri Aug 07, 2009 4:24 pm

I use (an official version of) UltraMon all the time, no such 'close vs minimize' issue here.

As for colour adjustment, I assume you mean you tried to adjust colors on both screens on sight, ie. put an image left and right and start messing per screen? Not everything in the mid-position to make them 'the same'?

Had to ask

Kale · Post by **Kale** » Fri Aug 07, 2009 5:44 pm

Matt wrote:I have each monitor already set with the exact same color settings.

That's your problem, no two monitors are the same so you need to adjust one to match the other.

Matt · Post by **Matt** » Fri Aug 07, 2009 5:58 pm

I'll mess with it again in a minute... all colors look the same to me except what shows up in the ide... I'll update/post back in a bit after messing more with it.

I am using 3.0.7 beta of ultramon, which is the newest version for Vista. PureBasic 4.31 IDE does this. PureBasic 4.20 IDE correctly minimizes. Note that this only happens when ultramon is running and it does not matter which desktop I minimize it on.

Trond · Post by **Trond** » Sat Aug 08, 2009 9:58 am

Ok, let me just guess wildly: You have ClearType on?
Also, take a screenshot and post the rgb value of the font colour here.

blueznl · Post by **blueznl** » Sat Aug 08, 2009 10:42 am

Ah, cleartype is another one of those trouble makers.

Screenshots, by the way, are interesting. Make a screenshot of the window on screen A, same thing on screen B, and check both images on the same screen, it will show you if the monitor is the culprit, or some setting / config in windows.

As for UltraMon, I'm running 2.7.1.0 on Windows XP with the latest PB, no issues.

Matt · Post by **Matt** » Sat Aug 08, 2009 4:17 pm

I turned cleartype off but it didn't make a difference.

It doesn't matter where I take the screenshot, but if I bring it to the laptop monitor, the colors are displayed right. If I take it over to the 24" TV monitor, the colors are blue.

If I zoom in really far on the image the color looks more green than it does when I zoom all the way out (on the TV monitor)...

cas · Post by **cas** » Sat Aug 08, 2009 5:29 pm

Have you ever been in some shop which have many different TV's side by side on one shelf and every TV is turned on on same program? That is best example of how every display is different. Same thing is for PC monitors. You can fine tune brightness, gamma, sharpness, etc... but you can't have 100% same color on both displays.

blueznl · Post by **blueznl** » Sat Aug 08, 2009 6:23 pm

Matt wrote: It doesn't matter where I take the screenshot, but if I bring it to the laptop monitor, the colors are displayed right. If I take it over to the 24" TV monitor, the colors are blue.

Okay, that's good information. Next step...

A. Settings differ... download a test image from the internet, bring it left and right on the screen, and start fooling around with monitor settings and video card settings (if availalbe).

B. Your video card has an issue, are you using VGA on one and DVI on the other? If you were on a regular machine I'd swap the video outputs. Also swap the video cable, if you have another one laying around...

C. Live with it. Some dual outputs (notably laptop video cards) simply can't get it right... too bad

Matt · Post by **Matt** » Sat Aug 08, 2009 8:56 pm

For B- I'm using a laptop, connecting the TV with an HDMI cable I bought. I doubt it's the cable then...