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

Apr 3, 2005 5:08 AM in response to hatomie

Thanks for the infos re: only the ACD having the pink problem. That means that a) the problem can be solved, if/when Apple sees it fit to, and b) that there are other viable HD screens out there -- I was fearing that only Samsung and Dell (which uses a Samsung panel) could be contenders.

OTOH, the 30" ACD does grow on you (so to speak), the more often one looks at it. Maybe this whole fiasco is just a clever move by Apple? 😉

viper0066

Level 5

5,257 points

Apr 3, 2005 3:30 PM in response to Michael Scaramozzino

Oh, yes the 30" unit does 'grow on you', but the $1500+ price premium for the 30" ($1000+ more than the 23" unit + $500 to $570 for the requisite ATI or NVidia card) doesn't.

Apr 4, 2005 7:38 AM in response to viper0066

I went through 3 of these monitors (first one was pink then 2 with color loss at at the left and right edges. And just decided to keep it for now because
I got tired of dealing with it. So now I have days where I'm really upset about
being sold a truly defective monitor and then there's days when I say I'll
keep it for now and wait for an Apple recall or sell it on ebay in 6 months at a loss.
Luckily I do not do color work, mostly video editing, so the defect is not as
ciritical. But it does amaze me how apple still does not acknowledge the problem. It was funny when I went into Comp USA ans showed them the
defect on their floor model with the Itunes backaground. The next day
when I went into the store the background was changed in the itunes preferences so the blue bands did not show with their nasting fade out effect.

Maybe this is what we can expect from apple now on. Crappy stuff made
in Communist China. Oh by the way, I also returned a brand new G5 dual
1.8 because it had serious audio problems. Every sound was preceded with
a crackle, snap and pop. So I ended up with a single G5 that I also don't plan
on keeping very long.

I guess the old days of buying an apple system that would take you five years down the road are gone. Now they sell great looking High tech junk right
out of the box.

Apr 5, 2005 6:02 AM in response to viper0066

Well, the $1000 premium for the display are almost identical to what you'd pay for the same amout on resolution increase by adding a 20" ACD (1.7 megapixels). Plus the colour of the 30" is impeccable.

It would mean a new PowerBook, though...

Apr 9, 2005 9:27 AM in response to Robert Scherb Jr

but aren't they (the government) phasing out CRTs?

MB

Apr 9, 2005 9:29 AM in response to DMiller

That "restock" fee gets charged as soon as an employee touches it... grrr

MB

hatomie

Level 1

0 points

Apr 9, 2005 1:10 PM in response to jedichick79

I'd love to hear what kinds of 19-inch, 21-inch, and 23-inch displays your professor recommends. Would you care to post?

Thanks,
Le Mauze

hatomie

Level 1

0 points

Apr 15, 2005 1:53 PM in response to Michael Scaramozzino

At my local Apple store yesterday, a very helpful employee showed me a 23-inch display that had the pink color cast issue, and a second display that did not have the issue. He freely admitted that they are aware of the problem with some of these displays.

Unfortunately, I didn't have my digital camera or I would have taken a picture of the display. But I will say it definitely looked okay to me.

Le Mauze

Dan-o

Level 2

403 points

Apr 27, 2005 5:38 PM in response to Michael Scaramozzino

Anything new to report here guys? New 23" with different serial codes that exhibit fewer problems? Probably not but I figure the thread needs to stay bumped. 🙂

Burak

Level 2

150 points

Apr 27, 2005 8:36 PM in response to Dan-o

This is dissapointing, I got excited about getting the 23" display with the recent price drop along with an educational discount, but the chances of getting a good 23 seems very slim, the one I checked out at the store was flaky too.

Ah shucks!
What do you guys think of the dell 24incher?

Apr 28, 2005 8:17 AM in response to Phil Waters

Update on my repair: We're way beyond the "7-10" days as quoted by the Genuis Baristas (see my earlier message), but phone support was helpful in that I could "...wait until May 5th, when new parts arrive, or explore other options now." Fingers remain crossed.

-Phil

Apr 28, 2005 9:06 AM in response to Phil Waters

Thanks Phil,

Keep us posted... we ALL have our fingers crossed, since we really do want Apple to fix these problems so that we can all have good ACD 23's...

I'm one of the biggest Apple evangelists that I know (since 1984), so this entire issue is even more annoying to me... I love to bring our clients and friends into my interactive multimedia studio to show them how cool the G5 is both inside and out... I've personally convinced a number of people to "make the switch" to Mac... but I'm simply embarrassed to show the ACD 23" screen I have hooked up to my G5 which has poor color consistency...

-MikeS

Apr 28, 2005 11:29 AM in response to Burak

I finally just the D 24-inch display and have been experiencing great results.

It is a bit brighter, however, than the ACD -- about 250 nits brighter at 500 nits. I have to turn the brightness down to zero in order to use it.

I held out for a long time until I decided to go for this display -- I visited two separate Apple stores a number of times and kept searching this forum to find out if the 23" ACD has been fixed.

Apr 29, 2005 9:32 PM in response to Michael Scaramozzino

Had been seriously considering the 23", but it looks like I'll be sitting this out for a bit longer.

Hope all your problems work out, everyone. What a hassle.

Mace

Level 3

500 points

May 7, 2005 12:21 PM in response to Michael Scaramozzino

Hi,

I'm getting my 23" ACD checked out an Apple Store. I'm checking out the other 20" and 30" monitors and every one I've looked at washes out on the left (about 10-20 mm wide) and right sides (seems worse on left). The 23" displays seem to have a wider band of wash out (maybe 50 mm). But, from what I see, all ACD's suffer from the washout on the edge!

Mace

This thread has been closed by the system or the community team. You may vote for any posts you find helpful, or search the Community for additional answers.

23" Cinema display poor color consistency