Can a monitor calibration device, such as colormunki, be used if the monitor is attached through the pluggable dock?

These devices say that the monitor must be connected directly to the PC for calibration, but if the monitor is calibrated through a direct connection, will that profile get loaded if (after calibrating through the direct connection) the monitor is connected through the Plugable Dock?

I have a Dell XPS 15 with an NVidia GeForce GTX 960M video card and I want to connect it to one 4K monitor through a display port and a second monitor through HDMI

Hi LeRoy,

Thanks for posting!

You don’t mention which specific Plugable docking station you are using, but making the assumption that you are using one of our DisplayLink-based products like our UD-3900 dock -> http://plugable.com/products/ud-3900/ the short answer to your question is no, this will not work.

The longer answer is even though you will have recorded the calibration profile when the monitor was directly connected, the profile will not be passed through our dock.

As an alternative, if you Dell XPS 15 has a Thunderbolt 3 port you could use one of our Thunderbolt 3 Dual DisplayPort adapters -> http://plugable.com/products/tbt3-dp2x/ along with one of our Active DisplayPort to HDMI adapters -> http://plugable.com/products/dp-hdmi/ to connect both of your displays (one DisplayPort, one HDMI) to your system.

Since Thunderbolt 3 connected displays have a direct line to your internal graphics card, the calibration profiles should work properly.

Please let us know if you have any additional questions.

Thank you,

Bob
Plugable Technologies
www.plugable.com/support

Hi,

Thanks for your reply, and sorry for not elaborating. I’ve actually just received your model: UD-ULTCDL Docking Station. My Dell XPS15 does have a USB-C (Thunderbolt 3 - 40 Gbps Bi-directional) port, and that’s how I plan to connect your plugable unit. I have not yet opened the package, so if this is not the best solution, please let me know so that I can exchange it for something more-appropriate.

After just reviewing the product information page again (and re-watching the video) for the UD-ULTCDL dock, I realize that 4K Alt-Mode is supported through an HDMI connector (rather than a display port connection). Will that provide the same functionality as the TBT3-DP2X Adapter?

Thanks for your help!

LeRoy

Hi LeRoy,

Thanks for getting back with the update. Given your requirements, I don’t think our UD-ULTCDL Triple display dock is the right fit for two reasons.

The first is that two of the outputs (the HDMI 2K and the DVI) are driven by a DisplayLink chip, in fact the same one as is used in our UD-3900 dock so they will be subject to the same limitation I mentioned previously in regard to color calibration.

The second is that the HDMI 4K output of the dock will not connect to the DisplayPort input of your monitor. A passive cable with a DIsplayPort connector on one end and an HDMI connector on the other will not work, as the cable is only meant to work in one direction, DisplayPort to HDMI and not the other way around.

I would stand by my original recommendation of our Thunderbolt 3 Dual DisplayPort adapter in combination with our Active DisplayPort to HDMI adapter for your needs. We do have a 30-day no-hassle return policy, so it is not a problem to return the UD-ULTCDL dock to us directly for a full refund and we will even pay for the shipping. Please email your Amazon Order ID number to support@plugable.com and mention ‘Ticket # 158267’ in the subject line so we can match things up and we can get the process started.

Thank you,

Bob

Hi Bob,

THANKS AGAIN!
I appreciate your detailed replies and great technical support!!

LeRoy

You are very welcome, and thank you for the kind words they are much appreciated.

If you do elect to move forward with the Thunderbolt 3 Dual adapter purchase, please make sure that your system has the latest updates from Dell in terms of the System BIOS, Thunderbolt Driver, Thunderbolt NVM firmware and internal graphics driver to help ensure things work as expected.

In rare instances, you may have to also lower the transmit power of the internal Wi-Fi adapter as well. I speak to these issues here if you are curious -> http://plugable.com/2016/06/30/invest…

Thank you,

Bob