light colors are gone for Mac Mini (late 2012)

The display issue you're having is exactly as same as mine.

Samsung bx2431 led display and it fails to properly show the light density color,

or the color with low opacity setting on the white background.

Colorsync utility is not helping me at all.

I also have this issue.. via HDMI connection to a Samsung TV.

If I change my connection to a MiniDisplayPort to VGA adaptor, I can see the light colors, although faint.

It seems that if I connect through HDMI, the display color profile is set to "HD 709-A".

When connected through the VGA connection, I get the "SMT24A350" profile (which I presume is retrieved based on my monitor type) and the colors look better too. I'm not sure what the best solution is.

I have the clip of illustrator file that I made before.

Compare these two and see if your issue is similar to the one I have.

actual image : https://www.dropbox.com/s/ozyzi797toxu0jj/Actual_img.PNG

Samsung SyncMaster BX2431 with Mac mini on HDMI port:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/xdp634e81uoqm83/Mac_Mini_display.JPG

I'm not sure if I'm looking for the right thing, but I can barely see the yellow triangle in the background. But when I put in my VGA connection, I realized that there were even words inside that triangle!!!!

You got it.

That''s exactly the screen problem I have here with my LED monitor.

This HDMI output on Mac mini seems to have a serious problem.

Its fine here for me using an Eizo CG223W monitor connected by HDMI to DVI adapter. I also have another monitor connected via Mini Display Port to DVI and that is OK.

I have had the HDMI output go into the static / shash once which went on until I cycled the Eizo through its inputs and when I got back to the mac mini all was OK again?

The other problem I have is although I can calibrate the Eizo monitor and get a good result. My other monitor, a Formac Raven, is coming out too red. So something for me to look into there.

Yeah, it's definitely HDMI thing.

Thunderbolt with thunderbolt display is supposed to be approved by Apple, so that can't be a problem.

I'm going to return Mac mini this week, since you guys agree on this low quality display issue,

and thinking of buying Macbook Air, the cheapest one, after I get the refund...

Hope it's the one without any trouble...

I don't think it is an issue of the display, rather it is the color profile that gets processed for HDMI output. A software fix would likely resolve this problem.

Though, I wonder if this issue is related to this:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4080525?start=0&tstart=0

Hi all,

Have you tried windows on your Macs? That is a proof that it is not a hardware issue but driver problem.

Cheers

I've only had the mini for a week and don't want to return it incase it turns out to be a software issue and Apple release a fix.

As a temporary measure I'm using Gamma Control http://michelf.ca/projects/gamma-control/ and followed instructions from another forum http://forums.macrumors.com/showpost.php?p=16226080&postcount=11.

This has bought the colours back to acceptable level and I'm not getting that shadow effect as detailed in the original post.