Washed out external monitor on M1 Mac mini on usb c

Same issue here. Brand new M1 Mac mini. Two brand new LG32QK500 QHD Monitors straight out of the box. HDMI connection bright and sharp. USB-c (Via HDMI adaptor) muted, slightly blurrier, different screen temp.

Swap cables - the one connected to usb c is always poorer looking. Tried every solution suggested, same result. Settings on each monitor are identical.

Shocked that this is still an issue this many months on. Come on Apple. I know you aren't the same as you used to be, but this is pretty weak.

Thanks to all of you out there who have contributed to possible solutions!

It's been mentioned before but a functioning work-around is to use a USB-C to HDMI cable. I use one, and now I'm getting the full color range on both of my LG 27UK570s. (One monitor goes into the Mac Mini's HDMI port, the other goes into one of the USB-C ports) Of course this means you need to also have an HDMI port on your USB-C monitor, but most do.

You can use something like this https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B083Z8QBJ5/ref=ewc_pr_img_1?smid=A306CRYOBV3KI3&psc=1

Since USB-C monitors make up a small subsection of the market, I've given up on Apple fixing this. This is probably the best we're gonna get for some time.

This is not an ideal soution. Most USB-C monitors carry data (for a bulit in USB hub) as well as video. You'll loose that functionality. In case of a Macbook you'll also loose the charging capabilities of your USB-C display as well. So no more single cable docking for you. Thanks Apple!

Giving up on Apple regarding this issue is understandable but it's till a shame that a tech company cannot make something as fundamental as this to work properly.

Just wanted to share with other. This toggling HDMI UHD Deep Color setting (or equivalent on the newer LG 4Ks) off and then on seem to have worked and has survived power downs, reboots, and MacOS updates over that past 20+ days. So, do try that. I can do fully 60HZ DisplayPort 1.2 protocol. No HDR as it will require USB-C or HDMI 2.1 or DP 1.4, I think.

I think on most LG 4K displays "HDMI UHD Deep Color" (increased bit depth for xvYCC video) is grayed out in case of DisplayPort and USB-C connections as well as "Black Level" since both are HDMI specific settings. These settings are certainly disabled on my LG 4K display when I use USB-C. The issue is that M1 Macs sometimes send limited range RGB (this is the equivalent of "Black Level"="Low" setting for HDMI connections) over DisplayPort (or DisplayPort Alt Mode over USB-C). This is clearly a problem of the M1 GPU driver.

if you have HDMI UHD Deep Color available when using DisplayPort or USB-C on your LG display, then it must be a specific firmware issue with your display. Toggling it on and off might force the m1 Mac to redetect the display and freakishly set the correct RGB range by sheer luck (just like it sometimes sets it correctly when changing display configurations via mirroring etc). If you use the display with HDMI UHD Deep Color set to "On", then the limited range RGB issue should not come up at all since you are using xyVCC (extended range YCbCr), which has other problems and not really recommended for computer displays as default.

My m1 mac now consistently works well for weeks after doing the screen mirroring trick only to fall back to limited range RGB for no apparent reason sometimes. Then I do the trick again and it works again for weeks. Strange ehh.

You are right. I should have been more clear. The option is not available for DP. I connected via HDMI cable, toggled the setting off and then back on, and went back DP. That’s how I got the good colors on DP.

I have submitted feedback on this - reference number FB9097254.

Several times since I got my new m1 MacBook Pro and dell U3219Q in mid January I have connected the MacBook to the display (usb-c) and found that the colours are very red (I usually notice this first because of the contrasting colours across Finder windows between the dell and MacBook display). Opening up system preferences > displays and toggling the U3219Q colour profile away from and back to the default will correct this anomaly and the colours are great again.

I do have a third monitor attached via displaylink (the colours are always fine on this) but the dell U3219Q is being driven by the Mac with USB-C / thunderbolt.

More recently I have also noticed these incorrect colours being shown on my iPad when I connect it via Sidecar to extend my display. If I toggle the colour profile for the ipad display in display settings then I can get it to show a "correct" colour.

I have this issue too.

I'm using a mac mini m1 paired with a LG 27UK850-W and if I connect the monitor via USB-C I have washed out colors. It is strange because I have two users in the computer and sometimes the second user gets the colors right, so I imagine this is a software issue rather than hardware issue. It is not related to monitor settings.

It is very annoying because I could have the monitor wired with one cable but instead I must use two cables. Please Apple, fix this issue.

FWIW, it seems that some of the older generations of LG monitors and other displays have issues with M1 Macs and perhaps the use of generic "uncertified" cables, i.e. cables that have not been certified by the VESA/DisplayPort or HDMI consortiums.

I just purchased a current generation LG display, 27UP600 (previous generations UK, UL, UN) and its performance is spectacular regardless of the settings on the display and whether I connect via a certified USB-C to HDMI or certified USB-C to DisplayPort cable directly connected to my M1 MacBook Air.

I had this issue with an M1 Mini and an LG 32UL500-W.

I have the M1 Mac Mini and the newest Intel Mac Mini connected to the same displays via a KVM switch. Both go from USB-C to Displayport to the KVM via identical Amazon Basics cables, then from the KVM to the display via a current standard good brand DisplayPort cable.

On the Intel Mini, everything's great, but when I switch the KVM to the M1 Mini, everything is horribly washed out on the new LG display. I have a second display, an Acer ProArt, and everything's beautiful on it through either Mac Mini. But the LG run from the M1 mini was borderline unuseable, especially at night.

I messed with settings on the computer and the display endlessly to no avail, but in the end, the 11.5.1 update made the problem go away, at least for now.

I haved tried the methods mentioned in this thread and my MBA still put out washed out image on the monitor. It was connected with original LG monitor's(34WK95C) USB-C cable.

Today I try to use my rest around 2.6 feet thunderbolt 3 cable and and wha-la, it works! Image color is deep and no more washed out image.

The solution I found was to mirror my display via AirPlay Display (in System Preferences -> Display) to my Samsung TV, then turn off the AirPlay Display, and my monitor reset back to the nice dark/vivid colors and no longer washed out.

^ that worked for me also, thank you! I have different monitor and other things, but simply using AirPlay then getting out of it, fixes the colors -- weird. I had to do it again later when computer rebooted so may not be permanent fix.

Not sure if this is the same thing but I have this issue the other way round - that is my MacBook Pro monitor is washed out when hooked up to an external monitor via USB C. I can however remedy this by unlocking True Tone in Sys Prefs for the MacBook display - so I'm not sure this helps as there is no True Tone option for my external monitor...

Yes.

High Dynamic Range will make blacks look grey and bring brights down. It takes all brightness levels and brings them closer to the mid-range so that we can see them "better", but not necessarily with color accuracy.

I had the same problem as the OP and unchecking HDR solved my problem. When using my monitor with an HDMI cable (instead of Display Port cable or HDMI to USB-C cable) the HDR option wasn't present and the monitor went to the default non-HDR mode, which looked great with dark blacks. When using a display port cable or HDMI to USB-C cable, the HDR option was available and on by default. The blacks looked grey, the colors washed out (almost pastel), and I was very unhappy.

Same issue mirroring to ROKU (TCL) TV. Low contrast and washed-out colors. Sound is OK and latency is minimal. Have tried all Roku settings to no avail.

Therefore MUST BE something in the Apple transmission via WiFi. No settings on laptop apply.