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

Hello everyone,

just to inform you: There is no fix for this problem yet! The firmware update only fixed the problem of "flickering" displays!

There is no reliable way to solve this issue in the moment. The only way to work around it is to use an DVI or VGA cable.

We can expect this issue to be solved by the next update of the OS which is the upcoming 10.8.3. Referring to the release notes there are fixes regarding graphics drivers. So let's wait and hope.

Regards,

Johannes

There is no changelog, just the regular release/seed note:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/11/30/intel_insists_mac_mini_hdmi_fix_inbound/

http://osxdaily.com/2012/11/26/os-x-10-8-3-beta-1-released-for-developers/

Is there anyone here that has access to the beta release of OSX Mountain Lion? I read that with this last release there are a lot of changes about graphic driver, so it would possible that now the problem is solved.

Good news!

I've tried the latest beta of 10.8.3(12D54), the color is great and the horrible gray shadow is vanished!

I am using MacBook Air mid-2012 via Mini displayport to HDMI adapter.

Sorry for my poor English.😉

That is good news indeed. I hope it does the same for us. Thanks for sharing, this is a first piece of good news I've heard since following this thread.

I was just about deciding to jump ship to MS Surface Pro too.

Yesterday I discovered something ridiculous: the same adapter/DVI cable couple that on Mac works perfectly, on Windows 7 bootcamp does not work at all. So now, i need to switch between the two solution (hdmi and dvi) when I change OS.

That is very strange. I am not sure what could be happening there.

From the discussion on this thread most peoples' displays work without fault under bootcamp (Win 7 and 8).

Why your adapter has a problem I am not sure.....maybe try reinstalling the bootcamp drivers. Unless windows is simply not "seeing" your display port (your can probaby check your system to see) it should just plug and play.

For the bootcamp drivers, if you start up the Bootcamp Assistant in Mac OSX and run it, you shold get a window with a few options. One willl be something like

> Download the latest Windows support software from Apple

Select this (and make sure you deselt the other options) and it will download the bootcamp files. Bung in on USB or in a shared folder with windows - log into windows - and then run the .exe file. This will then install / repair the bootcamp drivers.

As for the display port visibility, the place to go is probably device manager in Windows. This lists all the devices associated with the compluter. I'm not sure what the dispolay port will come up as - an internet search shold give you the detail - but when you plug your monitor in it should appear here if recognised.

I have a 2012 MacBook Pro (13) with a Mini Display to HDMI adpater and an HDMI cable to a Dell ST2420L screen. I had huge problems with it looking nice and then I did the update and it is much much better. But I still have a problem with the screen and grey tones. For example when viewing Gmail in the browser it's impossible to tell the read and unread emails apart due to them all looking the same colour. With my 6 year old MacBook Pro using DVI - DVI everything displays great and the ICC colour profile is set automatically on the computer.

Any advice to help get the screen looking as good as possible? I have tried the advanced callibration and it looks good but it's not as good as my really old MacBook... which is a bit frustrating.

I had exactly the same problem, and in my case it was an easy fix. OS X thinks my monitor is a TV, and is using the YCbCr colour space rather than RGB. I had to override an EDID setting to force the RGB colour space, and it is now working correctly.

Here's how to do it:

http://ireckon.net/2013/03/force-rgb-mode-in-mac-os-x-to-fix-the-picture-quality -of-an-external-monitor

I blast Apple a bit in my post, but as some others have said, perhaps 10.8.3 fixes it. Even if it does, it still took far too long.

So tweacking the OS X did not solve the problem like written in previous threads? So what should I do? , try to tweak the OS X of my new machine. I don't think this is a good idea.

I have waited for a very long time now and apple did not come with a solution for this problem. Want to know why?

They have told me that I should buy an external apple cinema display instead of the thirth party screen and it should work flawlessly according to the Apple "genius".

But I don't have another 1000 euro to spend on a cinema display.

This is the exclusivity and policy of Apple. Just like the appstore. App's will only work on mac devices.

Waiting for the update could take a long time and would it be fixed after all?

So I will wait for another to test the tweak and when it works fine, I will have to do it myself on 2 macbook air we have when working with an external display of Samsung (150 euro)

Cheers.

Thank you very much! I've tried to solve this problem since September, when I just received my MacBookPro. Finally, I can reuse my Samsung monitor without washed colors and with a true and deep black! For your information I use an adapter Thunderbolt (Mini DisplayPort) – HDMI, and I'va backed up the folder replaced with the one created by the script, in order to test if OSX 10.8.3 fixes the problem.

Yay this has fixed the color problem for me!! but now, my highest resolution option is only 1360 x 768 anyway to enable higher resolution options for me? But for sure, this fixes the color problem, I can finally see grey again!

Apple should have fixed this long ago, its a shame

I just bought a MBA 11 a couple of weeks ago and struggled mightily with this problem. After a week of trial and error, for me the answer was to go the DVI / VGA route (instead of HDMI) connection into my LED TV monitor (1360 x 768). It is pretty much crystal clear now. I was on the verge of taking a full refund had i not resolved this issue. I was getting horrible headaces due to eye strain via HDMI. Not sure if 10.8.3 will solve the issue (can see it is available just today) for HDMI; will try that later.