23" Cinema display poor color consistency

Well my associate just got back from the Apple store...

After quite some coaxing, he got the Genius to admit that this monitor had a problem (every customer he asked could see the problem) and agree to do a swap. Unfortunately the exact same problem appeared, though to a lesser degree, on ALL of the new aluminum 23" HD displays they had at the store. All five of them. They all had slight yellow bands on the sides when viewing white and a subtle dark wide vertical band just to the left of the center when viewing gray. Though it was the worst on our monitor.

He also tested one of the older 23" HD displays and that one didn't have the problem, at all. It was consistent across the screen in white and gray.

I guess I'll have to wait a week or so until the new one comes in and see what it looks like. If it's still noticeable, I may have to find a way to swap it for one of the older plastic versions.

The test is simple for anyone out there with one of the new aluminum 23" HD displays. Just hide all windows, set your desktop to solid color white and look at the right and left edges for a dingy yellow vertical band. Then set the desktop to solid medium gray and look for a dark bluish vertical band just left of the center.

I hope this isn't going to turn into a problem like the 15" Aluminum powerbooks had when they were first released, with the white spots on the screens...

-MikeS

Here are snapshots of what the color problems looked like that I experienced with this unit.

http://dreamlight.com/insights/bugs/hd23.html

I hope the new unit doesn't have these problems, because I really love this display. It's sharp, bright and well designed. But if the color isn't consistent, it won't help me out much...

-MikeS

The problem does show up in the photos, though it is a bit more pronounced in person (every customer that was asked in the store could clearly see the problem). Although it may be subtle in the photos, it should be quite noticeable to any trained graphic artist. Neither of the photos (white or gray background) have consistent color across the screen from left to right, not even close... The variations you see are not reflections and are not optical illusions, it's just poor color consistency... The color shift might not bother the typical business user, but can be quite problematic for high end graphic arts... and high end monitors like these are most likely being used by high end graphic artists rather than business users...

What really bothers me is that I had a low cost 17" Sony DVI LCD running right next to it and the Sony had nice consistent color across the screen with the exact same tests. The difference was quite noticeable.

I hope the replacement holds the color better across the screen, because other than this color problem, the monitor is excellent.

-MikeS

The right and left of the first photo may just appear dimmer on some monitors, rather than yellow... The yellow cast is subtle and we are viewing a photo of one monitor, on another monitor... and depending on the color balance (and gamma) of the monitor that you are viewing the photo on, the yellow could simply appear as slightly dimmer...

If it doesn't even look dimmer to you, you can open the photo in Photoshop and use the eyedropper on the center of the desktop in the white photo and compare the readings you get to what you get on the sides of the desktop in the same photo, you should see a difference in the numbers if you can't see them on your monitor...

I'm viewing the photos at home on two different CRT's (and different than the LCD and CRT that I checked them on at work when I posted them) and I can see it, though I do know what I'm looking for since I had the real monitor that had the problem. There's about a 2" band on the right and left of the monitor where the white turns to a dingy yellow. It may just look dimmer on your monitor, rather than yellow...

Unfortunately I used the monitor for three full days and the color shift didn't get any better, even at the end of the day when the monitor case was quite warm to the touch... The units at the store had been on all day and they too exhibited the exact same problems, though not as prominently as mine. The plastic ADC version of the HD 23 at the store though did not exhibit either problem...

I wish it did go away once warmed up, then I wouldn't have bothered anyone with any of this... I only went online seeking an answer when I couldn't solve the problem myself, and I have over 15 years of computer graphics experience... and own about 20 different monitors, none of which have ever had such problems, though most are CRT's. I also have a 17" Sony DVI LCD attached to the same G5 and it didn't have any problems either... 😉

-MikeS

Don't know about ghosting, brought it back and am waiting for a replacement... The Sony SDM-X73 DVI LCD that I use as a secondary monitor doesn't have any ghosting issues though... so hopefully the HD23 won't either...

You can test if the yellow edges are an optical illusion by holding a white piece of paper in front of the LCD panel, right against the inside edge of the bezel. If the paper looks yellow in the same place, it could be an optical illusion. If the white paper looks white, where the LCD turns yellow, it's most likely not an optical illusion.

In my case it wasn't an optical illusion, the side edges were noticeably yellowish. The top and bottom edges weren't. I had a different Sony LCD right next to the HD23, both had thin gray bezels and the Sony didn't turn yellow on the sides... By the way, I've used about 20 different monitors over more than fifteen years for computer graphics and I have a BFA in illustration/animation and I have NEVER noticed an optical illusion that was as noticeable or bothersome as the discoloration I noticed on this HD23... So unless this particular monitor is more susceptible to some type of "super optical illusions," that's not what's going on... 😉

The yellow discoloration was not the worst part though. I understand that it's probably more difficult to maintain the color/brightness right up to the edges and especially in the corners. The corners of the display were noticeably darker as well, though I didn't even mention that and could live with that. The Sony's corners are a bit darker as well. I could avoid the edges and corners by working in the center.

The darker bluish band just left of the center when viewing gray bothered me more... I can't really avoid using the middle of the screen for critical work... 😉

If you don't see any darker bluish vertical band just left of the center, when viewing solid gray, then that's a great sign! That was my greatest concern and if the replacement monitor at least has good color consistency across the middle, and the yellow is not as noticeable as it was on mine, there may have just been a bad monitor (or bad batch)...

-MikeS

Well I just got our replacement monitor in.

I have good news and bad news...

The good news is that the color consistency isn't quite as bad.

The bad news is that for $2000 I should be able to say something better than it's just "not quite as bad"...

The exact same color consistency problems from left to right appear on this monitor, though to a slightly lesser degree than the first one...

The left and right edges are yellow, particularly when viewing white.
There is a darker bluish vertical band just to the left of the center when viewing gray.

Unfortunately this leads me to believe it is a wider design flaw, rather than just a bad monitor...

I'm not sure what to do now...
I'll let it run over the weekend and see if it gets any better...

By the way, I'm now testing this one on a completely different Mac in a completely different room. Didn't want to bother moving my large CRT off my main system again, until I can get this straightened out...

-MikeS

Here's a good sign, things are looking a little better...

I've let the monitor run for a few hours cycling through desktop pictures through the screensaver and it appears to be somewhat better. I've now moved it to my main system for further testing...

I can still see both the yellow edges and the blue just left of center, but they are less noticeable than they were at first, and much better than they were on the first display (even after that display ran for a few days). I'll let the monitor run over the weekend (using the slideshow screen saver) and see what it looks like on Monday. (won't be in tomorrow...)

I have also noticed the ghosting that others have mentioned, but it hasn't been too pronounced. If I leave a window open for a 1/2 hour or so and then close it, there's a very slight afterimage that slowly fades away... most noticeable when I have the gray desktop on. It probably won't cause any problems during normal use. We'll see...

Fingers crossed! I am rooting for the display... since it is gorgeous...
-MikeS

I let the monitor run all weekend cycling through the desktop images as a screen saver...

Today it looks about the same as it did when I left it. Though it was a bit pinker than it was previously, so I re-calibrated it manually which took care of the slight pink cast.

This unit is significantly better than the first monitor I had, but it does still have the exact same problems, though to a lesser degree. If I had this one first, I may not have noticed the problems as much though...

1) With a white desktop, the left & right sides are slightly yellowish.
2) With a gray desktop, there's a slight blue vertical band just left of center.
3) The corners are slightly dimmer than the rest of the screen.
4) With a gray desktop if you leave a window open for 1/2 hour and then close it, you can see a slight after-image for about 1 minute...

It was worth returning, since now the color variations are not as noticeable as they were on the first screen, though they are still there... I'll work with it a few days and see if any of these issues will be deal breakers or not...

-MikeS