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

Sep 24, 2004 11:11 AM in response to Michael Scaramozzino

do you have a link to the specific model?

Sep 24, 2004 11:15 AM in response to Michael Scaramozzino

http://www.sonystyle.com/is-bin/INTERSHOP.enfinity/eCS/Store/en/-/USD/SY_Display ProductInformation-Start;sid=XltXQqnqHYpXS-i-C-FdSeblY-97rBQXQgQ=?ProductSKU=SDM P234%2fB

Has a tilting stand and comparable specs to the Apple- a little heavier and a tad less bright (still brighter than the old Apple 23" though), and maybe no color shift at the edges?

Sep 24, 2004 11:20 AM in response to Michael Scaramozzino

Hi Todd,

you have done side by side comparison between the sony's brightness and the old 23" CD, or did you compare that by the spec sheet?

cheers.

Sep 24, 2004 11:28 AM in response to Michael Scaramozzino

I am wondering, is the old clear plastic 23" CD the same viewing size as the new 23" CD? (excluding the bezel/plastic border)

Sep 24, 2004 11:28 AM in response to Michael Scaramozzino

Only looking at specs on paper- I have not seen the Sony up close YET, but plan to in the next few days if possible.

Old Apple 23" brightness spec is 230 cd/m^2

New Apple 23" is 270 cd/m^2 and people have commented on how the new displays are brighter than the old, so I suspect that the specs are fairly accurate to indicate this.

Sony P234/B brightness spec is 250 cd/m^2 (max), now I'm not sure what the "max" designation means, but I'd like to find out...

Just wondering if anyone has looked at this instead of the new Apple.

Sep 24, 2004 11:32 AM in response to Todd Hoffman

I like SONY's 3 year warranty....but I would miss the look of the new APPLE dispaly....

Sep 24, 2004 11:43 AM in response to Michael Scaramozzino

I will keep an careful eye on my screen (naturally as I am working 14 hours per day in front of it 😉.

If you say that (especially the new pictures) of your screen show your color shift not worse than it is in reality - than I can assure you that currently my screen does not show even a slight trace of the yellow shift and blue band, and also no partial pink area (but as stated before, it is overall "pinkish" without calibration). If the shift is really as strong as in your pictures - I would not be able to seriously work with the screen. As soon as my screen changes I will get back to here - that I can promise.

Many greetings
Dominique

Sep 28, 2004 8:28 AM in response to Dominique Mueller

Thanks Dominique,

My photos look just like the screen does in person. I noticed the problems in person, before I ever took pictures of it. I only took the pictures to help explain and show the problems to others so they could check their monitors. Since all the units I had seen had the same problems, I was trying to see if this was an isolated issue or not...

Thanks,
-MikeS

Sep 28, 2004 9:25 AM in response to Michael Scaramozzino

Apple is a stand up company. They have great products and they do stand behind them. Unfortunately, sometimes it takes a while for some hardware problems to be brought to their attention by their customers.

I believe the current color problems (yellow sides, darker/bluer band just left of center and uneven pink cast) with the new Aluminum 23" Apple Cinema Display HD is just such a problem.

I believe this is similar to what happened with the 15" PowerBook displays. It took a while for Apple to realize and remedy the problem. But, once they did, they stood behind their product and offered a free repair... which is extended for two years from the purchase, and may even offer further repair extensions if necessary.

http://www.apple.com/support/powerbook/displayprogram/

Let's help Apple come to realize that there is indeed a hardware based, reproducible problem with these new Aluminum 23" Apple Cinema Display HD's. If everyone that owns one of these new displays would take & post photos of their display showing solid white and solid gray, I'd be willing to bet that most, if not all, would show the same problems (yellow sides, darker/bluer band just left of center and uneven pink cast), to varying degrees...

This may help Apple isolate and remedy the problem.

Thanks,
-MikeS

Sep 28, 2004 11:11 AM in response to Michael Scaramozzino

I have the same exact problem. The left hand side has a greenish tint and overall it's a little pinkish

FF

Pedja

Level 2

170 points

Sep 28, 2004 12:07 PM in response to Michael Scaramozzino

My monitor is the same when I use gray background I have pink on the left and blue middle rest of the screen looks even. I called Apple and they said to me to take it back to Apple reseller. I am in London I bet I will have a problem to get my money back. Is 20 ADC OK or it's the same as 23 ADC.

Sep 29, 2004 2:16 AM in response to Michael Scaramozzino

APPLE may be a 'stand up company' but the fact that they let us spend $2 grand and then let us slowly twist in the wind for weeks before they admit to a problem is absolutely outrageous.These units should not even have left the warehouse.A sign of "who cares-we have their money" Quality Control...

Sep 29, 2004 7:11 AM in response to Michael Scaramozzino

It is realy a shame how Apple cares about this problem. UPS
just dispatched my 10 days old display to be send to the
Netherlands for repair.
The last days I went to several stores in Germany and Switzerland
and checked the 23" displays there. Suprising... they all had the
problem and the guys in the stores looked at me like an alien.

I wonder how my display will look like after repair.

Come on Apple, this is not your style, I expect a solution for this or do you
want to loose one of your best customers?

Sep 29, 2004 11:37 AM in response to Michael Scaramozzino

hey all,

I am in the same situation. The left side of my new 23" aluminum display is all light colored, washed out, for about 4.5". My old 22" is washed out for half the screen, so I bought this $3000+ (Cdn) new 23" HD CD to see the same thing. I also have a vertical bluish band left of center.

This is terrible!

Patrick_C

Level 4

1,605 points

Sep 29, 2004 10:51 PM in response to Mathias Buergin

I wonder how my display will look like after repair.

I'm debating sending my second 23 back and have wondered the same thing.
My pink band on the left hand side is very subtle but I still expected more from this monitor. Because the band is so subtle, I'm concerned about how it would look if I did send it in for repair. I'll be looking to see how your repair turns out.

Good luck.

Patrick

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23" Cinema display poor color consistency