Horrible colors on external monitor using macbook air(2012) with mini dp to hdmi

didn't improve situation re HDMI/External HD screen

Same old story after lodging support calls last week. "Engineering will investigate and get back to you". No phonecalls as yet.

mdervin1972, if you have gmail account, there's a simple test - just open your gmail inbox in a browser. If you see that every second line is shaded then that's great, but I doubt that. Unless your hardware configuration doesn't include Intel HD4000 videocard..?

mdervin1972, sorry, one correction - there's a subtle grey line between new emails and also the read items have grey back ground.

on my external monitor with HDMI, everything just looks white!

Hi!

I've been looking at this too, same issue! Some one pointed out that the only test I had left was DVI.

So I've found this HDMI (female) to DVI (male) addapter, and connected the HDMI cable that comes out from the MDP>HDMI adapter, and voilá! it worked! 🙂

Look here for some pics of the addapter:

http://forums.appleinsider.com/t/151157/retina-macbook-pro-hdmi-output-issue-dis coloration#post_2178610

So looks like that it's something about the way the OS is communicating with HDMI directly on monitor? Not sure, but here it worked... Hope this help.

Roberto.

Hi Roberto,

Perhaps it is a silly question, but I wonder if that could possibly work if one connected the Macbook to and mini display port to DVI adapter, then the DVI cable and then female DVI adapter to hdmi adapter that would be plugged into the external screen. The reason why I ask is that my monitor does not have DVI input, unfortunately.

Mini-Display to DVI and then DVI to HDMI works fine, but no Audio!

This is for sure an Apple display driver bug and should be fixed.

BTW, with bootcamp and Windows driver the HDMI direct adpater also works. Duh...

Hmm, good question. Haven't tested, but I guess, based on the actual evidence, that the problem is the MB is somehow looking for some information that only comes out from DVI and not from HDMI. So if you connect to HDMI your monitor will output the "wrong information"??? But this is just a supposition. You will get, of course, it working, but can't be sure, and I don't have the necessary adapters to tests; so if you have it, go for it and let us know? Hope Apple fix this soon!!!

Hi,

I tested all three adapters, results:

MDP->VGA: working OK, but slight blurry (maybe because analog)

MDP->HDMI: washed out color (same problem as other people here)

MDP->DVI: working best, sharp and stable, all color is ok.

Seems apple has to fix the driver for HDMI.

Great! Another confirmation.

So yes, agreed, I think it's all about the HD4000 Driver...

Hope Apple fix it soon and doesn't wait until a major release....

Hi,

Thought I'd add my laptop to the mix. Have a 2010 MBA 13". Connecting via MDP->HDMI. Using Windows 8 RP on Boot Camp, it's perfect without having to change settings, but using Lion or Mountain Lion, the colours are over-saturated and the frame rate is a little bit choppy. Managed to get the colours to something acceptable using the colour profile settings, but it's still not ideal (or as good as when using Windows). Not as bad as other people's problems on here, but still disappointing. I feel it's a drive issue. Hope a fix is incoming! 😟

Thanks iBobx and xdude_pt.

I ordered an adapter (DVI to HDMI). If it works, as you suggest, I will report back. Perhaps this could be a temporary fix.

No audio is not a problem for me as my monitor has got poor speakers anyway. I connect the Macbook to external speakers.

A new system update last night - no fixes for our problem!

Cheers!!

Just wanted to add my machine to the mix. I have a 2012 13" Macbook PRO and I am having the same issues. And the latest update didn't help at all either. I luckily purchased the Griffin mini display to hdmi, that came with a hdmi to dvi connector which helps me at least get through this until apple releases a proper fix. I really want hdmi to work so I can route my audio through it. Hoping for something soon.

Hi everybody! Joining in from Belgium to add my problems to the list. I have two 2012 MacBook Airs (11" with i5 and 13" with i7 processor) and two brand new identical Philips 227E3LHSU 21,5" monitors (featuring VGA, DVI and HDMI). Both macs and monitors having the same 'horrible colors' using the Moshi MiniDisplay to HDMI connector. Even with the latest OS update (10.8.1). No quality problems so far on both machines when I use the MiniDisplay to VGA or MiniDisplay to DVI connectors I purchased from Apple. So I think in fact it might be a (Apple) driver related problem as suggested in this thread before...