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

dosers

Level 2

391 points

Mar 22, 2005 2:03 PM in response to Michael Scaramozzino

Well, I finally had time to test my new 23inch over the weekend (build in March, so brand-new),and the results are mixed: I can happily say that there is no pink cast - at all. The colour is perfect. This was the biggest downside of these for me and as I said earlier the 6 total monitors I checked at 2 Los Angeles Apple stores ALL had the pronounced pink cast, making calibration impossible.
So, it's either fixed in mine or it's one of the rare good ones.
There is NO dead or stuck pixel I can make out - a first for ANY LCD I have bought (apple or else). Also great.

There also is no 'banding' in the middle of the screen anymore.

Now for the bad part: there still IS yellow/dirtying at the right and left edges. It's fairly light and can't be seen with most backgrounds, but running our 'grey' test, it's apparent it's still there 😟
What's worse, the ghosting is horrendous - but ONLY seems to happen with greys: On a total-grey background, open any window or shape, remove it and a ghost of it will linger for a good 40 seconds. It can be 'erased' quicker if something else gets drawn. ALso, there seems to be no ghosting on other colour or even white. But the ghost-on-grey is consistent.
So, bottomline, I don't know. For my purposes this will probably work. The pink cast WOULD have made me return it, and it's gone. I am still not happy with these things on a $1800 monitor, don't get me wrong. But I have little faith anything else will get fixed before these models are being replaced; which isn't due until Q4.
I am getting my digital camera back tomorrow, will take some pictures.
Cheers,
Dan

Mar 22, 2005 3:15 PM in response to dosers

My first unit didn't have the pink cast, but it did have the yellow sides and bluer/darker band just left of center... I got it replaced and over the first month of use the second unit developed the pink cast. I had to re-calibrate it a few times over that period as it got progressively pinker. Unfortunately I was not able to calibrate all the pink out since it wasn't even. The left side is pinker than the rest so even when calibrated, I can see that the left is warmer than the right... it also has the yellow sides (left is worse) and the bluer/darker band just left of center...

Hopefully your new unit doesn't grow pink over time the way this unit did...

-MikeS

dosers

Level 2

391 points

Mar 22, 2005 6:59 PM in response to Michael Scaramozzino

Mike,
interesting - and frightening 😉
How quickly did you see 'changes' ? If the pink doom comes, I will certainly return mine. Bottomline is, even if it doesn't even late units (as my March 05) aren't 'totally' fixed in the best case, and are still 'as broken' in the worst. I will report if the pink cast appears. If not, I'll live with the edge-discolouration and the ghost (as it's strangely only on a grey background). But am I ecstatic about it ? Certainly not. Definetely not at the price they are selling. Apple really needs to make a quality product in order to continue asking for premium prices. One can only ride on their reputation for so long....

Thanks,
Dan

Mar 22, 2005 11:22 PM in response to Michael Scaramozzino

My new 23" does nat have the pink cast (s/n starts with 2A509), but there is a 2-3" band on the left side where the contrast washes out and turns yellow.

The blue stripes in iTunes completly vanish in this zone and everything has a smoky yellow cast.

Not what I expect for close to $2K. Guess I should have bought a 20" or 30"

Mar 23, 2005 5:43 AM in response to Michael Scaramozzino

I have a 2A504 series 23" display. Although I have been successful in calibrating out the pink cast, I do suffer from the issue many others have complained about. Namely, the murkiness on the left side. Perhaps the iTunes test is the best way to see this: the blue horizontal bars just plain dissappear.

Not good...

Mar 23, 2005 8:34 AM in response to dosers

When I first set up my second unit, there was no pink cast. About a week or two later, I noticed it looked pink and I re-calibrated it... then in another week or two it happened again and I had to re-calibrate again. Then switching back to the previous profiles clearly showed that it had progressively pinked out on me...

-MikeS

TomNYC

Level 3

592 points

Mar 23, 2005 9:48 AM in response to Michael Scaramozzino

My 23" ACD did not have the pink cast either, but had the yellowing and colors washed out on the right and left side. At first I thought I could live with it, but, it got worse over a period of 2-3 weeks. Although otherwise a beautiful display, the color problems were not subtle enough to overlook, so, I sent it back (thankfully I did not buy it directly from Apple).

Mar 23, 2005 12:27 PM in response to Michael Scaramozzino

Just got my new 23". After reading the forums here I went to the Apple store in Regent street London to see for myself. Lots of 23" on display - some pink/some yellow edge/some ok looking - did the grey test but hard to tell in that bright lighting.

The rep I spoke to implied that he was aware that some people had complained about the colour on the 23". He told me that if i bought a 23" I could take it back within 14 days for a full refund, no questions asked if I was not happy. I asked him to check if they had any recent builds in stock - after explaining how to tell the date of manufacture from the serial number - and got the newest they had - serial 2A510 (built 2 weeks ago).

So the result? The display does not have the pink tint but it does have yellow edges right and left (very bad on the left where the contrast also washes out about 3" from the left edge (iTunes blue bars dissappear). It also seems to have the darker/blue stripe left of centre. No ghosting...yet!

Apart from the colour issues the display is gorgeous and I am gutted that I will have to take it back.

Come on Apple - sort it out!

Mar 23, 2005 4:42 PM in response to Steve Baker3

Another easy way to test for the yellow edges and fading colors/contrast on the edges is to simply place the Apple Cinema Displays discussion list on the far left edge of your screen... you'll see the blue/white rows fade out as they approach the left edge of the screen...

http://discussions.info.apple.com/webx?14@@.6895fae4

phB

Level 1

15 points

Mar 23, 2005 9:10 PM in response to Michael Scaramozzino

On my 3rd set (I have two of them) 23 inches. They huge pink stripe is identical on both. Took one to the Apple SoHo NYC store because I need to have one to work. Of course they pretend like they have never seen it but the guy that helpled me said that he had "heard" about it. It's funny seeing peoples faces that I know are told to avoid the issue. Anyway, they are replacing the LCD altogether. And when I get that one back, I will take my other 23" in for the same. On top of the monitor still being under warranty, it was purchases with a 2.5ghz and I have ProCare. I will say that as an Apple stockholder and loyal fan, that this is just not cool. If enough people put up a fight just like w/ the 15 inc Alumabooks, there will be official recall. Otherwise, I love Apple, but this type of move is more along Microsoft, as much as I hate to say it.

Mar 30, 2005 5:21 AM in response to Michael Scaramozzino

You people really got done over on these displays huh

Apr 1, 2005 9:09 AM in response to Michael Scaramozzino

Well, after very careful deliberation, otherwise known as hemming and hawing, I decided to submit my display (2A42...) for repair after reviewing the sample screens at the Dreamlight site -- which are identical to what I see when setting up the desktop in the same manner. I had been able to get rid of most of the pink with a Spyder calibrator but the dinge on the edges and the dark band left of center stayed.

I took the display to the Genius Bar at a local store where the initial response was neutral... I couldn't tell whether the lads had seen this symptom before or were doing their best to stay objective. At any rate, it was clear that they were referring to some online documentation and diagnostics which did not help with getting things fixed. To their credit, they did acknowledge the problems in the typical areas on the display without me having to point them out.

Despite taking everything downtown in the original container -- packing material, power brick, even the do-rag screen cleaner -- they kept only the display for shipping... to Tennessee. "7-10" days is the ballpark timeframe, to be shipped back to me, expenses covered under warranty.

Fingers crossed...

-Phil

Apr 1, 2005 9:18 AM in response to Phil Waters

Phil, be sure to let us know how it turns out. If the one you get back is better, then I'll go ahead and return mine again too...

Thanks,
-MikeS

Apr 2, 2005 8:43 AM in response to Michael Scaramozzino

I wouldn't expect too much. I was at a large Apple reseller today, still looking for an acceptable 23" ACD (score so far: 6 shops, 2 of which judiciously only display the 20" and 30", 4 pink 23" ACDs).

The salesperson immediately knew what I wanted when I asked him to make the 23" the main display of a PowerBook: "The pink colour? They all have it, every single one of them."

He went on to say that it is a problem with the LG-Philips panel in the ACD, and that all monitors using the same panel (HP, Sony, Benq, LG ...) had this pink colouring. Not so sure about this, though...

Anyway, the ACD 23" is now definitively off my list.

hatomie

Level 1

0 points

Apr 2, 2005 6:58 PM in response to Michael Scaramozzino

Several weeks ago, while researching the ACD 23-inch display for a possible purchase, an employee from my local Apple store actually admitted to me over the phone that there were problems with it.

In fact, he advised me NOT to buy it, then told me that the 20-inch and 30-inch displays were fine.

This was after consulting with his resident Apple Genius. He sounded embarrassed -- and why wouldn't he be? Apple has continued to sell an item that clearly has problems for most of its buyers.

Good for him!

P.S. And by the way, I just returned the HP L2335 23-inch display, but not because of pink color casting -- which it did not have. I returned it because there was a confounding flicker. As far as I know, the 23-inch ACD is the only display in its class that has this problem.

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23" Cinema display poor color consistency