You always see the high-end, color accurate displays with a hood around them. Now, maybe you're not to keen on the look of the hood, but it serves a very important function, by blocking stray light from the screen.

How does this affect what you see? Any ambient light tends to "wash out" the mid-tones and shadows that you see... the display is trying to "shoot" black, but the baseline values are getting a little boost from your room light. All the calibration in the world won't fix this... the only fix is to keep the stray light off the monitor.

If you're using a Lacie or Eizo "Color Accurate" display, it came with a hood. To get the most from that unit, we suggest using the hood. If you're using the Apple Cinema displays, or any other good, reasonably accurate display, you can help yourself out by keeping the room light down, and keeping any light from shining directly on the face of the display.

Want to see what I'm talking about? Take a look at this... this is our Lacie 321 demo unit with a harsh, halogen down-spot shining on it. Notice the area right in the middle, you can see the shadow line. The values being displayed above the line are accurate. Those below the line are appearing too light, and too warm, for what they actually are.