23" Cinema display poor color consistency

I just hooked up my brand new aluminum Apple Cinema HD Display 23 after waiting for weeks for it to arrive. I was pretty disappointed when I immediately noticed the far left and right edges had a dingy yellow tint to them when viewing white windows (such as Finder windows). I also noticed a darker bluish vertical band just to the left of the center when working in LightWave which has a gray background.

So to test the color consistency I then switched the desktop to a medium gray and hid everything else. Sure enough, there was a subtle, but noticeable bluish vertical band about 3" wide just to the left of the center. I then switched the desktop to white and could also see that the far right and left edges were slightly dingy yellow about 2" wide on each side.

I recalibrated the display 2 - 3 times and tested various brightnesses and viewing angles. No matter what I did, the color problems persisted...

I had this $2000 23" Apple HD monitor attached to the Mac with a $400 17" Sony DVI LCD right next to it as a second monitor. The Sony wasn't as good at wide angle viewing, but performing the same gray/white desktop tests showed nice consistent color across the screen. For $2K this HD monitor should have at least as good color consistency as a $400 DVI LCD...

I'd be curious to see how other people's HD 23 monitors hold up with these simple tests. Set your desktop to solid color gray and see how consistent the color holds across the screen. Do the same with solid color white...

Since I run a high end multimedia studio, I need consistent color across the screen. I bought the Apple Cinema display because I thought it was the best I could get...

I packed the monitor up and my associate has just gone to the closest Apple store to see what can be done... I hope this is just an isolated problem that can be quickly resolved. Hopefully I just got a bad monitor and hopefully Apple will just replace it with one with better color consistency...

I'll post the results here...

Thanks,
-MikeS

Posted on Aug 17, 2004 12:15 PM

349 replies

Feb 28, 2005 12:24 AM in response to Michael Scaramozzino

Yes, after further research It appears that this problem is not merely due to one vide chipset. The theory emerged from another post about the new 23" working well with a G4, but having the problems on the G5. I thought I'd ask, but the evidence seems to suggest otherwise. Too bad, I was really looking forward to the 23" Apple display.

Hersco

Level 2

324 points

Mar 10, 2005 11:16 PM in response to Michael Scaramozzino

I'm on my second 23" ACD after two failed attempts to repair my original one. This second display started out better. No pink. Only a slight discoloration in the left center, and a slightly lighter left side of the screen than the right side. One new problem, though -- shadows of the windows that were open remained on the screen for a while after the windows were closed. After two weeks, the shadows fade a little faster, but the color is a a bit rosy now, and the discoloration is more pronounced, especially to the left of center, where a vertical bluish area runs from top to bottom and is about 4" wide. There are also two, somwhat faded horizontal lines, each about 4" from the top or the bottom, that are now visble. The top one is dark and the bottom one is whitish.

I brought the display to my local Apple Store, and the problems were barely noticeable when connected to one of their computers. If the display looked that way at home, I would not have been concerned. The tech support rep at the store speculated that my video card may be damaging the display. So now, I am waiting for a backordered 9600XT replacement card to test out that theory.

Mar 11, 2005 5:22 AM in response to Hersco

hersco, your card is not damaging the display. you have just described common attributes for the 23" aluminum. from experience, i can tell you that the quality of these displays can degrade very quickly. my display is in repair for the second time. when it came back from repair it had even worse issues. major glitches and redraw issues. i bought it refurbished from apple. the customer service reps tell me that i am stuck with it. i can't use it for what i bought it for - design. if it had component inputs, i could maybe use it as a tv or something, and buy a real display to work on. i am stuck with something i can't use. so i have to buy another monitor, and ebay this one at a significant loss. i'm bummed.

Dan-o

Level 2

403 points

Mar 11, 2005 9:25 AM in response to nervouschimp

The more I read about it the more I wonder if it's less the panel itself than the way the panel has been designed into and afixed to the chassis. For panels themselves to degrade this quickly just seems very unlikely given the maturity of LCD technology.

I wonder if different environmental factors might cause the aluminum chassis / some of the thin metal internal parts to shift or move slightly over time, thus losing the tolerances that otherwise hold the screen to the chassis with the correct amount of surface pressure, etc.

A little bit like pressing the LED on a calculator with your finger. Pressure applied causes all kinds of patterns and colors to appear, and similar things can happen with LCDs when uneven or incorrect amounts of pressure are applied to them.

Mar 11, 2005 12:36 PM in response to Michael Scaramozzino

I don't think the problem is isolated. I'm sending back a 23" I brought home yesterday from Fry's for the exact same flaws you describe.

dosers

Level 2

391 points

Mar 11, 2005 10:19 PM in response to Michael Scaramozzino

Wanting to pikc one of these monitors up badly, I went to the Apple Store in Pasadena, CA today. They have 3 on display (along with 20 and 30 inchers). Sure enough, ALL of them clearly had the pink cast (the menu bar on top was literally pink). It was horrendous. NONE of the 20 or 30 exhibited the problem. I played around with calibration, but it's clear you are just masking the problem. I talked to a sales person who was 'unaware' of the problem and never heard of it (how can ANYONE not see the defect in these LCDs ?) - but sure enough it took me about 10 seconds to make her aware of it and convince her. Of course, there was nothing she could do - she was 'very sorry and understands my concern'. Right This is silly - how can Apple not fess up to this ? I have yet to see a SINGLE 23 that is fine. I am not saying they don't exist, but come on.... 😟

Mar 11, 2005 10:37 PM in response to dosers

I'm a huge mac fan, but at some point you have to cut your losses and make things easy on yourself. You can buy a Dell 24" widescreen 1920x1200 DVI display for around $860. 'Nuff said.

dosers

Level 2

391 points

Mar 11, 2005 10:37 PM in response to Michael Scaramozzino

I just noticed something interesting - that might be old news to everyone else. There is a post on the apple support site that talks about the pink cast SPECIFICALLY mentioning the 23inch display. It's thinly veiled to appear that nothing is wrong - but it's obvious from the post that Apple is aware that there is 'calibration' neccessary for this model - but not the other ones ?! Fishy.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=86809

zupchuck

Level 3

595 points

Mar 15, 2005 6:33 PM in response to Skip Turner

I saw 60 Minutes on 3/13 and the interview with Lucas and folks about the upcoming Star Wars installment. Along with some PowerBooks, I noticed Dell widescreen LCD panels being used rather heavily for animation work.

dosers

Level 2

391 points

Mar 16, 2005 1:28 AM in response to dosers

Sigh,
went to The Grove Apple Store at the Farmer Market on Fairfax (Los Angeles) today, and just like the Pasadena store, 3 23 inch are running, all with the pink casting problem. Again, none of the 20 and 30 are exhibiting the problem. The pink is so bad that you can see it through the window from the outside. I really hate being forced to buy Dell when what I want it Apple...

Mar 16, 2005 11:17 AM in response to Michael Scaramozzino

Seriously. They still have this problem? One would think that for a screen costing 2000$ it would be fine. Why don't they just fix it? It's clearly a hardware problem..can't be more obvious really...I'm sure that Apple can afford fixing their ACD's.....

Dan-o

Level 2

403 points

Mar 17, 2005 6:48 PM in response to Michael Scaramozzino

If it's a manufacturing problem (likely), it's not as easy to fix / isolate as you might think. Take a look at a modern assembly line for computer-related products and it will become clear to you what I mean. Anyway we have at least one positive post recently that seems to indicate Apple may have found a way to resolve the problem with units built in February or later.

We shall see....

viper0066

Level 5

5,257 points

Mar 20, 2005 3:27 PM in response to Michael Scaramozzino

I don't recall reading this information here, but another posting detailed the problem - according to an AppleCare Tech - as being "the protective and/or reflective layer that has been polluted during the production process".

As you can see once you look at it, this other posting has a January, 2005 date. It's been 2 months since just that posting, and still persons are having issues with the 23" DVI ACDs.

Mar 21, 2005 3:19 PM in response to Michael Scaramozzino

I visited an Apple store on Michigan Ave. in Chicago, and they had at least three 23" ACD on display. All of them had the noticeable pink cast to them. The twenty's and 30's looked great though.

I mentioned this to a sales person at the Apple store, who then discussed it with an Apple "Genius" and they said that with all the installed monitor "updates" that this was not a problem.

If I am not mistaken, I don't think there has ever been a monitor "Update" from Apple under OS X, unless, of coarse it is wrapped up in an incremental update to OS X. I informed the sales guy that I am a professional photographer and I am familiar with all Apple updates, and that this was a hardware problem.

He would much rather been talking with someone about an Ipod than having me point out defective displays.

I went as far as to try and calibrate (the best I could, under the bad ambient light conditions) two of the three monitors. No luck.

I am seriously looking into Eizo monitors, as Apple has not addressed this issue, and I need a monitor. I am also thinking of trying to find a Sony Artisan, old technology, but if this is what it takes...

Sorry for the rant.

Jonathan

viper0066

Level 5

5,257 points

Mar 22, 2005 1:14 PM in response to Michael Scaramozzino

You don't need to be sorry for anything. Apple doesn't deserve a penny or your or anyone else's money if they turn-out defective products and turn deaf ears to the problems they present.

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23" Cinema display poor color consistency