REVIEW: NEC PA242W Color Critical Wide Gamut Backlit Desktop Monitor (vs PA241W)

NEC PA242W-BK Color Critical Wide Gamut Desktop Monitor

If you’ve been following my blog for any length of time, you’ve probably read my NEC PA Series reviews. I love my NEC displays because they are a fraction of the cost of an equivalent Eizo with quality differences that can only be measured with instruments, and not the naked eye. The price / value ratio of these displays have made them some of the hottest selling displays on the market for photographers, so I was pretty excited when my NEC contact informed me about the new backlit models they are introducing.

The NEC PA242W (and upcoming PA302W in November) take everything you love about the current models, and add HDMI input and a backlight to them which translates into a 41% power consumption savings. While I’m told the green and blue primaries in the new backlit displays are supposed to be better, I can’t easily notice a difference.What I do notice is that these are effectively as great as the monitors that I’ve enjoyed over the last few years, but my electricity meter spins a little slower now. ;-) Given how many electronic devices I have in my house, this is a very good thing!

The Upgrade Question

Just as flexible as its predecessor

I think the burning question on the minds of any PA Series owner is going to be – should I upgrade?

My short answer is probably not. While it’s great to use less energy for both environmental and cost savings reasons, this model isn’t going to look measurably different against your current display. I do think if you are buying a new PA Series, this is the model to get because of the energy savings which theoretically should also translate into a longer service life. The energy cost savings will probably pay for itself after a few years, and if this gives you a longer life for your display then it just makes sense. In addition, HDMI is becoming even more popular so that might be a great reason to own it for some as well.

I wouldn’t dump my old PA series for this model just to have the latest model as I haven’t fully realized my investment cost of my display. I suspect this will be the case for many of my readers as well. However, if I were to add another display, then this would certainly be the one I’d get.

What about the Calibration Hardware & Software?

NEC PA242W-BK-SV (includes SpectraView II and SpectraSensor Pro)

As I’ve mentioned in my previous review, you definitely need the SpectraView II software and a compatible calibration device. If you buy the bundle you get the best deal, but if you already have a compatible calibration device and/or the software then it makes sense to buy the monitor by itself. The SpectraSensor Pro does not appear to have improved since I reviewed it last, so if you own that device and/or the SpectraView II software then all you need is version 1.1.15.00 or later and you are in business.

It should be noted that SpectraView II supports multiple NEC displays, so you can mix and match with wide gamut PA series models without any problem. No new hardware or software purchase is required for this scenario.

Click here to learn more about SpectraView II and its compatible devices.

Conclusion

I had already moved to a backlit TV in my family room, so I already had some expectations about what to expect with this new PA series display. While I was a little disappointed that the picture quality didn’t really improve as it had done for my TV, I was very pleased that I was still able to get excellent calibration and soft proofing performance using SpectraView II and a SpectraSensor Pro. This is a great display to add to your system when you are in the market for a new display, but I wouldn’t retire a healthy current generation PA series display for this one.

Please consider my previous review when shopping for NEC displays.

Where to order

Click here to order the PA242W or click here to order the PA302W from B&H. My friends at Adorama have it available here. You can also click here to order from Amazon (but look carefully at the model numbers).

Other articles you may enjoy

If you enjoyed this article, you may also enjoy these:

• NEC PA Series Monitors (NEW- 30" Display Review)
• NEC SoundBar Pro Display Speakers
• NEC SpectraSensor Pro (powered by X-Rite)
• NEC MultiProfiler - A Must for NEC Displays!
• Understanding 10-bit Color by NEC’s Art Marshall
• Choosing The Right Display Calibration Device
• Printing Series
• Eizo CG243w – PA Series competitor that performs slightly better

Disclosure

If you make a purchase using links found in this article, I may make a commission. It doesn’t cost you a penny more, but it does help to support future articles like this.

My love for NEC displays landed me on their testimonials page, but I do not get financially compensated from NEC.

Photoshop CS6 Plug-in Compatibility & Printing Update

In the better late than never category, I’ve reached out to my partners to find out how their products will work with Adobe Photoshop CS6 and the general consensus has been that the products are mostly working well. This is a huge improvement over CS5 which seemed to wreak havoc for months.

It is recommended that you completely uninstall the beta before installing the retail bits of Photoshop CS6. This may require you to re-install your plug-ins in some cases.

Nik Software

No issues with the current versions. Here’s a full statement from Nik.

The current versions are:

• Dfine 2: Mac – 2.110; Windows – 2.110
• Viveza 2: Mac – 2.007; Windows – 2.007
• HDR Efex Pro: Mac – 1.204; Windows – 1.203
• Color Efex Pro 4: Mac – 4.002; Windows – 4.002
• Silver Efex Pro 2: Mac – 2.004; Windows – 2.004
• Sharpener Pro 3: Mac – 3.008; Windows – 3.008

onOne Software

No major issues, but updates are available. Visit http://www.ononesoftware.com/support/2689/ for more info.

The updates are posted near the top of each page on the following links.

• Perfect Photo Suite 6 – Update to Perfect Photo Suite 6.1 here
• Perfect Resize 7 Professional Edition – Update to Perfect Resize 7.0.7 Professional Edition here
• Perfect Resize 7 Standard Edition – Update to Perfect Resize 7.0.7 Standard Edition here
• Perfect Effects 3 – Update to Perfect Effects 3.0.2 here
• Perfect Portrait 1 – Update to Perfect Portrait 1.1 here
• Perfect Mask 5 – Update to Perfect Mask 5.1 here
• Perfect Layers 2 – Update to Perfect Layers 2.02 here
• FocalPoint 2 – Update to FocalPoint 2.0.9b here
• PhotoFrame 4.6 Pro – Update to PhotoFrame 4.6.7 Professional edition here
• PhotoTools 2.6 Pro – No time line currently available for this update

Topaz Labs

There should not be any issues with compatibility with CS6.

For setup, try this....

For Windows:
Please go to your preferences menu in Photoshop and select Plug-ins. Check / enable the Additional Plug-ins Folder option then click Choose. After that, please navigate to: C: \ Program Files and select the Topaz Labs folder. Then click Choose  (or it may say Save / OK) to save this back to Photoshop. Back in Photoshop click OK to save your changes, then restart Photoshop. Once Photoshop opens, go to your Filter menu and you should be able to access Topaz.

For Mac:
Please go to your preferences menu in Photoshop and select Plug-ins. Check / enable the Additional Plug-ins Folder option then click Choose. After that, please navigate to: Macintosh HD -> Library -> Application Support and select the Topaz Labs folder. Then click save / OK to save this back to Photoshop. Back in Photoshop click OK to save your changes, then restart Photoshop. Once Photoshop opens, go to your Filter menu and you should be able to access Topaz.

Alienskin Software

Here’s their reply:

All of our products work great with CS6. The one caveat is that the Bokeh installer doesn't recognize CS6, so you have to show it which folder to install into. We will update that before the end of May.

HDRSoft (Photomatix)

Learn more here:

• http://www.hdrsoft.com/support/faq_photomatix.html#cs6
• http://www.hdrsoft.com/support/faq_plugin.html#cs6

Photoshop CS6 Printing

Windows had some issues that frustrated me in CS5, but there’s a workaround to help get the best results that Adobe offers for that product. While I still prefer the results I get from CS4 the best, things won’t be changing in Photoshop so it’s probably time to just accept the difference and adjust my workflow for the new print engine.

According to my Adobe contact for CS5, the "right way" to do things for printing in Photoshop is:

1. Set the correct printer.
2. Set the color management settings in the PS print dialog
3. Select "Print Settings" to get the to the driver's print dialog
4. Verify that the driver color management settings are correct, and correct them if needed
5. OK.
6. Double-check the settings in the Photoshop print dialog. The Color Management settings MAY have changed, depending on what changes you made in the driver settings.
7. If the driver settings were correct in step 6, print and you should be good. If something had changed in 6, it's probably safest to select "Done" in the Photoshop print dialog, and then File > Print a second time. No changes should be needed at this point, but we'll re-send the color settings to the driver and things will definitely work correctly if you "Done" and come into the dialog a second time.

In CS6, steps 6 and 7 should be un-needed, and overall the printing experience should be better.

Imagenomic

No statement or comments made at this time.

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Disclosure

If you make a purchase using select links in this article, I may make a commission.

Apple OS X–Lion Compatibility Info

As of the time I’m writing this, it is rumored that Apple’s next major operating system upgrade of OS X (10.7 – code name Lion) is due to be released very soon. As a result, the burning question will be – should I upgrade? Here’s some things to consider if you use these products…

Nik Software

Here’s what Nik Software has to say about Lion:

Apple is expected to release the latest version of Mac OS X, version 10.7 Lion, sometime this month. We've been working with developer release versions and want to notify you that we've found an issue installing some of our plug-ins into Photoshop CS5 after you've updated to Lion.

If you have already installed your Nik Software plug-ins into Photoshop CS5 prior to updating to Lion, the plug-ins will continue to work without issue. There are also no issues installing our plug-ins into Lightroom or Aperture on a Mac running OS 10.7 Lion and no issues installing HDR Efex Pro into any host application.

However, the current installers for Dfine 2.0, Viveza 2, Color Efex Pro 3.0, Silver Efex Pro 2, and Sharpener Pro 3.0 are not able to install into Photoshop CS5 on a Mac running OS 10.7 Lion. This issue will affect both new and re-installations of these plug-ins.

Our engineers have already begun working on a fix for the installers and we intend to start releasing these free updates this month. Each update will be released in succession, starting with Silver Efex Pro 2 and we will notify registered owners via email.

If you do find yourself needing assistance, please don't hesitate to contact our support team. Thank you for your continued support!

The Nik Team

onOne Software 

All onOne Software products must be deactivated before installing Lion and PhotoTools will not work until an update becomes available. PhotoFrame will only work in stand-alone mode. I would encourage ALL onOne Software users who want to use Lion to read this statement.

Alien Skin Software

Only minor issues exist and updates are available. Read here to learn more.

X-Rite

Of all the products I know of so far, the worst impacted seems to be X-Rite (especially those running Monaco, ProfileMaker, and i1Match software. ALL X-Rite users should read this page and DO NOT upgrade until you understand the ramifications.

What About Others Like Photoshop, Lightroom, etc…?

I’ll report back as I hear more from other companies, but in the meantime here’s a good Wiki that has a lot of other apps with reports of their status on Lion.

UPDATE: Here’s another great wiki specific to Photographers with compat info from my friends at Chromix.

Ron’s Advice

I’m going to hold off for a bit to see how things shake out before I upgrade. While I’m sure Lion will be a nice upgrade, Apple has gotten a large enough installed base and application support now to feel the pain that Microsoft goes through when upgrading Windows. This means you don’t know what you don’t know, but when it hits the streets some nasty bugs are sure to be discovered. Once things settle down I’ll upgrade my Mac’s, but until then I’m going to let it bake for a while longer.

I suggest that you consider a similar strategy and wait until your apps are confirmed to work or be updated before taking the plunge.