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

Aug 23, 2005 9:52 PM in response to Michael Scaramozzino

I realised today I had this problem. On all four sides of the screen, there is a pink mask... It seems like it comes over time, I'm sure I would have noticed it earlier, as I do photography and a lot of 2D editing.

This is unacceptable. I won't be purchasing apple LCDs for a long time.

Dan-o

Level 2

403 points

Oct 21, 2005 4:04 PM in response to Alexis Sellier

...from a couple other threads is that most of the units that have a manufacture date of July 05 or later, do not generally exhibit the pink cast or other color anomolies that have been so well documented in this thread. Can anyone here verify that?

glyphis

Level 1

100 points

Oct 21, 2005 5:37 PM in response to Dan-o

Hi Dan-o

I've had a July '05-manufactured 23" Cinema Display that had the yellowing sides and blue vertical band problem. It was replaced by a June '05 unit, which had the same problem, plus an uneven backlight issue too... that's going back this weekend to the store. It was my 3rd 23" Cinema Display, each one flawed. I'm reluctant to have it replaced with another.

I learned that even inspecting the screen in-store doesn't always show up these colour issues as the lighting is often so bright as to mask them. The blue vertical band is most clearly seen against a full-screen grey background. Furthermore, the side-yellowing usually takes a week or two to develop. Ask to see the unit working before you leave the store.

If you do buy one, please post your findings so this thread can be kept updated!

Best of luck,
Scott

Dan-o

Level 2

403 points

Oct 28, 2005 5:01 PM in response to glyphis

Bummer. And here I was hoping Apple had finally found a solution to this obvious manufacturing glitch....

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23" Cinema display poor color consistency