jtehlert

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

I have one of the new macbook airs (2012) hooked up to an external monitor (Dell SR2320L) using a mini display port to hdmi adapter.

 

The dsiplay shows up fine on the external monitor, except for the colors and contrast being terrible. Any color grey on a white background doesnt even seem to render. However if I look at that same image on the airs screen, I can see all of the grey colors perfectly. I have tested the hdmi cable and monitor on different computers and they work perfectly. I have tried three different adapters all with the same problems, leaving me to believe that there is something wrong with the macbook air itself and its ability to output a mini display port signal.

 

Does anyone know why I would be having a problem like this?

MacBook Air (13-inch, Mid 2012), Mac OS X (10.7.4)

Posted on Jul 4, 2012 1:55 PM

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

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  • by andresh99,

    andresh99 andresh99 Jul 26, 2012 10:55 PM in response to cracky_aces
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 26, 2012 10:55 PM in response to cracky_aces

    cracky_aces, so mini display port to dvi fixed your issues? i might try this.

  • by ze_adl,

    ze_adl ze_adl Jul 26, 2012 11:02 PM in response to andresh99
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 26, 2012 11:02 PM in response to andresh99

    andresh99, i can confirm that the problem only exists when using hdmi (then also the resolution is "1080p" instead of "1920x1080"), the mini-dp to dvi option worked well for me, as well as using mini-dp to mini-dp on my imac.

     

    seeing i loaded the so far only graphics related update for the 2012 mba right when i got it (http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1551) i dont know if there are additional issues for those who dont have this update.

  • by andresh99,

    andresh99 andresh99 Jul 27, 2012 12:28 AM in response to ze_adl
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 27, 2012 12:28 AM in response to ze_adl

    ze_adl, thanks for the heads up. i just performed the same update and still get the color problems. i'm going to try mini display port to dvi adapter tomorrow and will report back with results.

  • by LT Mac User,

    LT Mac User LT Mac User Jul 27, 2012 8:39 AM in response to jtehlert
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Jul 27, 2012 8:39 AM in response to jtehlert

    Hey all... got back from the Apple Store. The Apple monitor worked. So I connected to a Sony Bravia in the store used for their Apple TV using MD to HDMI adapter. Also worked. They did not have a VGA adapter on hand, so I couldn't test that.I am now wondering if this issue is monitor-specific; not what I originally thought. Except that many of you contradict that hypothesis.

     

    Next steps? Get a VGA adapter and try with various monitors and projectors at work. If I can't duplicate the problem I will conclude that in my case it was the monitor or the specific adapter, in which case I will shop for a monitor with adapter and MBA in hand.

     

    If I can duplicate the problem, I will bring the whole mess back to the Apple store.

  • by gubble,

    gubble gubble Jul 27, 2012 8:42 AM in response to jtehlert
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Notebooks
    Jul 27, 2012 8:42 AM in response to jtehlert

    Just to add myself to the list of frustrated users - already tried 2 Mini Displayport to HDMI cables with no luck. The colours (especially the light shades of grey) are washed out. No intention to buy another cable, I thought that's the cause but it's just wires.. and I guess the problem is in the driver?!

     

    Anyone else with any new information?

     

    Cheers,

    Nikolay

    ---

    MacBook Pro 13" Mid 2012

  • by cracky_aces,

    cracky_aces cracky_aces Jul 27, 2012 9:03 AM in response to jtehlert
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 27, 2012 9:03 AM in response to jtehlert

    @LT Mac User: Thanks for the infos. BUT: The fact that this issue only concerns HDMI and not DVI shows that this is not a monitor specific problem but an HDMI specific Apple problem. Also, I tested several monitors with my Macbook Air (using HDMI). None of them worked properly on the MBA but all of them worked on my Asus laptop.

     

    God, I hate Apple in so many ways, but love it in so many ways too. What I hate most is their arrogance. They innovate themselves but don't let innovation from outside into Apple. Best example is HDMI. They only just introduced it in the new MB Pro retina laptops because HDMI just dominates (*** is display port anyways?!?) after ignoring it for like 5 years.

     

    If Apple was a family in The Game Of Thrones, it would be the Lannisters. Thumbs down for Apple.

  • by LT Mac User,

    LT Mac User LT Mac User Jul 27, 2012 10:41 AM in response to cracky_aces
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Jul 27, 2012 10:41 AM in response to cracky_aces

    cracky_aces,

     

    This is clearly NOT isolated to HDMI; I had the exact issue using VGA. I don't know about DVI because I have no use for it. The fact that I could get it working (HDMI) on a Sony Bravia at the Apple Store suggests that it can't be ONLY the HDMI since it works on some monitors. I find all of this highly frustrating.

  • by andresh99,

    andresh99 andresh99 Jul 27, 2012 5:20 PM in response to LT Mac User
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 27, 2012 5:20 PM in response to LT Mac User

    So I went to Best Buy and picked up the MDP to DVI adapter and hooked up my 27inch ASUS LED via DVI. The bright colors/grey shading problems are now gone. I am using my ASUS' sRGB color preset and it looks way better. Looks like DVI is the way to go until they fix the HDMI drivers.

     

    I hope everyone finds some kind of solution.

  • by Jazzeyman,

    Jazzeyman Jazzeyman Jul 30, 2012 6:26 AM in response to jtehlert
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 30, 2012 6:26 AM in response to jtehlert

    I have the same issue.  Just bought a new 13" MBA and the resoulution with a new 24" Viewsonic monitor is terrible.  The new MBA replaced a 6 month old MBA which worked perfectly with the same monitor.  I went to the local Apple Retail store and they confirmed the problem but had no answer.  We tried every monitor in the store and all had similar issues.  The Apple Cinama display looked slightly better but not great.  We also tried the MB Pro and Pro Retina and they also exhibited the same fuzzy resolution and washed out colors.  The Genius Bar rep was as surprised as I was and extended the return policy for the MBA.  I have communicated several times to a rep from Cupertino and he says they are diagnosing the problem.  Hopefully they will have a solution soon. 

  • by 4colortheorem,

    4colortheorem 4colortheorem Jul 30, 2012 7:36 PM in response to jtehlert
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    Jul 30, 2012 7:36 PM in response to jtehlert

    I don't want to get anyone's hopes up, but I think I had the same problem with both my mid-2010 13" MBP and my new mid-2012 11" MBA. Images look somewhat posterized, light grays appear white or off-color, and everything looks washed-out, right? I went through this in 2010 and again recently using the moshi MDP to HDMI adapter connected to my Samsung UN55D6300 55" TV. At first I thought it was the TV, but, after a lot of head scratching, it turned out to be an OS X color matching problem. After ****ing around with the Display Preferences | Color tab trying to use the calibration wizard and getting nowhere, I ended up just choosing a profile simply called "Display", which I swear was not present when I started, and it worked. Choosing it for the TV fixed the problem 100% for me. I didn't think I'd have any problems with my new MBA, but the same scenario popped up. The same solution worked again. Now that it works, I don't mess with color matching or anything related.

     

    I'm no expert in digital video signaling, but the GPU attaches a color matching profile to the frames going to the frame buffer. The moshi adapter converts that color matching profile to the HDMI color matching standard, and I don't think some combinations of GPU, moshi adapter, and external display work very well. Manufacturers interpret these standards, and even though two manufacturers' products may comply with the abstract or reference standard, they may not be compatible with each other. Networking products are notorious for this type of interoperability problem. There's generally little motivation for a manufacturer to address these problems because these inter-manufacturer incompatibilies are an incentive for consumers to select a single manufacturer for all of their products. Businesses no longer compete within markets, they compete for entire market sectors.

  • by mathieu239,

    mathieu239 mathieu239 Jul 30, 2012 7:58 PM in response to Jazzeyman
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Jul 30, 2012 7:58 PM in response to Jazzeyman

    That's a nice update. Thanks !

  • by bashevis,

    bashevis bashevis Jul 30, 2012 9:10 PM in response to 4colortheorem
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 30, 2012 9:10 PM in response to 4colortheorem

    I don't have a profile called "Display", and I can't find it in Display Preferences or the color tab. How do you get it?

  • by 4colortheorem,

    4colortheorem 4colortheorem Jul 30, 2012 10:15 PM in response to bashevis
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 30, 2012 10:15 PM in response to bashevis

    For Mountain Lion (and probably several older versions), the file is located in /Library/ColorSync/Profiles/Displays/ and mine is named Display-FFFFFFFF-FFFF-FFFF-FFFF-FFFF003F003C.icc. The ColorSync Utility "Profiles" tab shows it was created by Apple and probably included as a default profile. Check your OS X installation disc if your Displays folder is lacking it, and copy the file into the Displays folder.

  • by ze_adl,

    ze_adl ze_adl Jul 30, 2012 11:32 PM in response to 4colortheorem
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 30, 2012 11:32 PM in response to 4colortheorem

    i tried the mdp-to-hdmi adapter on my (unfortunately not full-hd, only hd-ready) tv set at home, and the colors there seemed ok (with a little tweaking on the tv).

     

    however, the issue with regular pc displays connected via the mdp-to-hdmi still stands (working around it using mdp-to-dvi), and is definitely not related to color profiles (tried several different profiles, also the one that shipped with the windows driver and the one that is used when the display is connected via dvi, and spent about half a day twaeking with the colorsync util without ever getting close to what it should be).

  • by bashevis,

    bashevis bashevis Jul 31, 2012 2:46 AM in response to 4colortheorem
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 31, 2012 2:46 AM in response to 4colortheorem

    I only found the .icc file for my mac air LCD screen in /Library/ColorSync/Profiles/Displays/. I recently upgraded to mountain lion, so I don't have a OSX installation disc. Is there another way of getting this Display .icc file? Can you upload it somewhere and share the link with us?

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