Project: Spectrum | OSD and Firmware Improvements

Development Project: Spectrum | Development
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Beloved community,

“That’s a lot of improvements,” I remarked when I saw the latest OSD tree this morning: “update tonight!”

OSD options update

It’s been quite some time since we wrote about OSD options at length. You guys left 100+ comments about the OSD in replies to that topic alone and even more elsewhere around the forums; by letting us know what you want, you’ve been a great help as we went back and forth with our firmware team about what options could be implemented in Spectrum.

We’ve added a crosshair and frame rate counter based on popular community requests. In addition to that, our firmware team suggested some advanced settings relating to compatibility. For example, a DisplayPort 1.2 compatibility mode toggle enables maximum compatibility with some DisplayPort 1.2 devices that may struggle to connect to a DisplayPort 1.4 monitor. A USB-C bandwidth priority toggle allows the user to choose between up to 4K at 144Hz via USB-C while running the built-in hub at USB 2.0 speeds, or up to 4K at 60Hz while running the built-in hub at USB 3.0 speeds. The ability to store a color calibration profile in Spectrum’s firmware had to be canceled; it turns out that our hardware only supports storage of a factory calibration profile, but this function is not relevant for the end-user, other than ensuring accurate colors off the line.

Our firmware team has been working closely with Mark over at Blur Busters. As the foremost experts on high refresh rate monitors and motion blur reduction, they are the ideal consultants to ensure Spectrum’s high-speed performance is amazing. Motion blur reduction, 60Hz single strobe mode, end-user strobe tuning, and much more comes up as they thoroughly discuss every single item and exchange chunks of firmware code to unleash Spectrum’s full potential.

The status

The last time we mentioned the firmware, the firmware team had just laid the groundwork for enabling Spectrum’s features. Let’s see how far they’ve come since then!

Feature Status
USB Type-C video input already works; with bugs
DisplayPort video input already works; with bugs
HDMI video input 1 already works; with bugs
HDMI video input 2 already works; with bugs
Auto-select video input source now works; with bugs
USB Type-B USB hub input now works; with bugs
USB Type-C USB hub input already works; with bugs
Auto-select USB hub input source now works; with bugs
Adjust audio jack volume already works; to be tuned
Picture-besides-picture now works; to be tuned
Low-latency mode to be followed-up
Crosshair now works; to be tuned
Frame rate counter now works; to be tuned
Load/save pre-set setting to be implemented
HDR now works
Backlight dimming now works; to be tuned
DCI-P3 color space now works; to be tested
Emulated sRGB color space now works; to be tested
Adjust brightness now works
Adjust contrast now works
Adjust sharpness already works
Adjust pre-set color temperature now works
Adjust user-defined color temperature now works
Adjust gamma now works
Set 1:1 aspect ratio now works
Set pixel perfect aspect ratio now works; to be tested
Set filled aspect ratio now works; to be tested
Set stretched aspect ratio now works; to be tested
Variable refresh rate to be implemented
Adjust pre-set overdrive now works; to be tuned
Adjust user-defined overdrive to be implemented
Adjust pre-set backlight strobing to be implemented
Adjust user-defined backlight strobing to be implemented
DisplayPort 1.2 compatibility mode to be implemented
Select USB-C bandwidth priority (video/hub) already works
Select OSD language to be implemented
Adjust OSD position to be implemented
Adjust OSD rotation to be implemented
Adjust OSD transparency to be implemented
Adjust OSD time-out already works
Adjust indicator LED behavior to be implemented
Adjust indicator LED color to be implemented

Next steps

Our firmware team will continue their work as planned – currently, they are hard at work to enable HDMI 2.1 functionality. @Helios over in the Netherlands has been receiving early units back from reviewers and will get a firmware update kit as well as new joystick control boards soon, allowing him to take some side-by-side comparison pictures and videos for you guys. Would you like to see that? Tell us in the comments!

nlbanner

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Awesome update! Thanks for sharing and I can’t wait to have my two Eve Spectrums on my desk :smile:

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Looks like a good progress list… Keep it up, looking forward to delivery

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Great update! Definitely the update we’ve all been waiting for! Keep up the good work! I must state I can’t wait for this beast of a monitor. It’s going to make my gaming experience perfect!
I would definitely like to see side by side comparison. Would be great visually to see the progress made!

I do appreciate this update on the firmware. In the “to do list” fashion.

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Great news, what’s the update on Open Source firmware and whether the firmware update feature will be available? I believe you mentioned it in the last update, but I don’t see it here.

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This update was written in a very tricky way. You first tell the horrible news that color calibration profile will not be supported to be stored on the display and then the wonderful news that bra-busters are onboard tuning the display.

not fair…

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Good news update. I’m hoping that the predicted shipping date won’t change again. Really looking forward to the monitor!

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Awesome Update! I think this was much needed.
I definitely want to see a side-by-side comparison.

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Hi, @surreal! Welcome to our community!

The firmware should be upgradable by the end-user; the exact method is being explored. We are looking into the possibility of open-source firmware support.

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Great to hear that the firmware will be upgradeable, fingers crossed for open sourcing :crossed_fingers:

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I am confused as to what you said “this function is not relevant for the end-user”.

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Linus mentioned colour accuracy of his unit wasn’t great. Does the removal of the calibration profile mean we can’t manually tune the colour accuracy ourselves now?

Sorry for the noob question. This is my first time in the DIY pc market so not got much experience with monitors.

Hopefully colour accuracy will be good when shipped.

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The ability to store a color calibration profile in Spectrum’s firmware had to be canceled; it turns out that our hardware only supports storage of a factory calibration profile

It’s sad. It’s hard to imagine how it was possible to choose a hardware without knowing its abilities in advance.
I’ve suspected that something like that will happen and it will be mainly a gamer-oriented monitor without important features for content creators. So, it was a right decision to cancel my preorder.

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Absolutely yes, we want to see those pics and videos from @Helios!

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Let me explain. It means that factory calibration is conducted in the factory and not performed by the end-user. The end-user cannot store a hardware calibration profile on Spectrum; therefore, the ability to story a factory calibration profile is not relevant to the end-user.

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most people use software calibration tools anyway (spyder/x-rite) so this doesn’t really affect many people

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You have the option to do software calibration; I use a SpyderX Elite to calibrate my screens.

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I personally think the software calibration is a better approach anyway as those tools tend to come with devices to help the optimization process than eyeballing it. So a good decision imo.

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It just means that you’ll need to use software calibration. The OS will apply any color corrections in software before sending the signal to the screen, rather than the screen doing it internally.

Not having it is a bit of a shame, but far from a deal-breaker.

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Woohoo!!! Thanks for the in depth updates. Keep em’ coming!
Transparency = Trust.

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