[Apology for repost, but mangling by Yahoo makes it a necessity.]@David MillerYes, it’s needed.For “+” users who have the new software upgrade (Pro+, Elite+) which hasthe new Room Light Switching feature: if you use that feature, SpyderUtility is requiredto switch profiles in the background if your ambient room light changes. NOTE: This istrue, regardless of the potential (and thanks - I wasn’t aware of this “tip” until you’dposted it) for having Windows keep the video card LUTs loaded.
Yes, but substantial changes in ambient lighting make critical viewing difficult if not impossible regardless of color profiling, so I follow the proper practice of keeping my own lighting constant. When working in different lighting (e.g., 34th America's Cup Media Center), I profile that lighting once, and then switch profiles manually, so I don't need to keep using Spyder.
@David MillerFor all Windows users (with and without “+”), unless you’re knowledgeable enoughto have followed the instructions in the “tip” above, yes, you do need SpyderUtilityto ensure that your calibration video luts don’t get overwritten.
Yes, but the utility is a work-around to the problem that doesn't really solve it, that can result in color shifts while working as different software loads different LUTs (as I've seen many times). The better solution is to solve the problem by making sure only Windows loads LUTs. Why not check and test for such software (e.g., Intel Persistence module) and offer to disable it?
Hope that helps,
John