External display looks bad on M1 MacBook Pro and M2 Mac Mini

[MrBananaPants]

So I just bought my first Mac Mini (the new M2) but noticed that the colors of the screen are bad. They are really inaccurate.
Before I used the Mac Mini, I used a Hackintosh for about 3 years and never had any issues with the colors (using the same monitor).

To make sure I wasn't going crazy, I used a colorimeter to calibrate the monitor and measure its accuracy. The monitor connected to my Hackintosh had an average Delta E of less than 2 (which is really good) while the same monitor connected to my Mac Mini M2 or MacBook Pro M1 has an average Delta E of more than 5 after calibration (which is bad). Greens and reds are really bad. The iMessage and FaceTime icon look neon green instead of the normal green.

The monitor is connected using an HDMI cable. I tried the methods to force RGB output but that didn't change anything so I guess it's already outputting RGB.

I also noticed that when the display is showing something dark (like a Chrome tab in dark mode), the dark area flickers and has weird lines all over it. Is this an Apple Silicon issue or is there a way to fix this? I'm thinking of buying an Asus ProArt monitor but I'm worried that monitor will suffer from the same issues I'm having now.

 

[i486dx2-66]

Hold the Option key when you click on "Calibrate", and it will give you additional gamma options.

 

[MrBananaPants]

Hold the Option key when you click on "Calibrate", and it will give you additional gamma options.

Changing the gamma doesn't fix the bad colors.

 

[bobcomer]

Do you have UHD turned on?

 

[MrBananaPants]

Do you have UHD turned on?

It's a 1080p monitor so no UHD (also no HDR in case you're wondering)

 

[bobcomer]

It's a 1080p monitor so no UHD (also no HDR in case you're wondering)

Yes, HDR is what I meant. . If that isn't it, the only thing I could suggest is to connect it another way, like instead of using the HDMI out, use a USBC to HDMI cable. Or use an 8K HDMI cable.

The M series don't support monitors as well as the intel Macs did, so it's possible it just wont work.

 

[xraydoc]

So I just bought my first Mac Mini (the new M2) but noticed that the colors of the screen are bad. They are really inaccurate.
Before I used the Mac Mini, I used a Hackintosh for about 3 years and never had any issues with the colors (using the same monitor).

To make sure I wasn't going crazy, I used a colorimeter to calibrate the monitor and measure its accuracy. The monitor connected to my Hackintosh had an average Delta E of less than 2 (which is really good) while the same monitor connected to my Mac Mini M2 or MacBook Pro M1 has an average Delta E of more than 5 after calibration (which is bad). Greens and reds are really bad. The iMessage and FaceTime icon look neon green instead of the normal green.

The monitor is connected using an HDMI cable. I tried the methods to force RGB output but that didn't change anything so I guess it's already outputting RGB.

I also noticed that when the display is showing something dark (like a Chrome tab in dark mode), the dark area flickers and has weird lines all over it. Is this an Apple Silicon issue or is there a way to fix this? I'm thinking of buying an Asus ProArt monitor but I'm worried that monitor will suffer from the same issues I'm having now.

Calibrate when it's connected to the Mac, not when it's connected to the PC. That'll just calibrate it for what it's connected to.

Also, what kind of monitor are we talking about? You didn't say.

Can you connect it via DisplayPort or USB-C and see if the issues are still there?

Some monitors don't seem to play nicely and either the Mac or the monitor want to stay in YCbCr for some reason. I had a heck of a time with my M1 MacBook Air and my older Dell 32" 4K. A later update to Monterey seemed to fix the issue, but it was a roll of the dice before then as to what mode each restart would bring - RGB or YCbCr.

Do a search here. There's a very long thread (perhaps you've already found it) about RGB vs YCbCr on the early M1 (not Pro/Max) machines.

I will say that by the time I replaced my M1 MacBook Air with a 14" M1.Pro MBP, the issue seemed to resolve on it's own, presumably though OS updates, and never came back up.

The monitor has since been replaced with something else entirely, so I haven't used it in quite some time. But it's sitting on the floor if there's something specific I can test for you.

 

[MrBananaPants]

Calibrate when it's connected to the Mac, not when it's connected to the PC. That'll just calibrate it for what it's connected to.

Also, what kind of monitor are we talking about? You didn't say.

Can you connect it via DisplayPort or USB-C and see if the issues are still there?

Some monitors don't seem to play nicely and either the Mac or the monitor want to stay in YCbCr for some reason. I had a heck of a time with my M1 MacBook Air and my older Dell 32" 4K. A later update to Monterey seemed to fix the issue, but it was a roll of the dice before then as to what mode each restart would bring - RGB or YCbCr.

Do a search here. There's a very long thread (perhaps you've already found it) about RGB vs YCbCr on the early M1 (not Pro/Max) machines.

I will say that by the time I replaced my M1 MacBook Air with a 14" M1.Pro MBP, the issue seemed to resolve on it's own, presumably though OS updates, and never came back up.

The monitor has since been replaced with something else entirely, so I haven't used it in quite some time. But it's sitting on the floor if there's something specific I can test for you.

Of course I only calibrate it when the monitor is connected to the intended device. Calibrating it with my Hackintosh won't make a change when I connect the monitor to the Mac Mini because the calibration creates a display profile. It's not hardware-based calibration.

The monitor I'm using (LG 22MP57VQ-P) only has HDMI and VGA input but VGA doesn't work on Apple Silicon devices. I already tried VGA using an HDMI to VGA adapter but no luck.

I've already read countless of threads about the YCbCr vs RGB issue but my monitor is already using RGB. Text looks clear and sharp. No fuzziness around the text. Just the colors that are bad. It's almost like the color output range is limited and it can't display all colors (kinda like RGB 0-255 vs RGB 16-235).

Do you know if this issue also persists when using a USB-C monitor (like the Asus ProArt PA278QV I'm thinking of buying)?

 

[Bob_DM]

Of course I only calibrate it when the monitor is connected to the intended device. Calibrating it with my Hackintosh won't make a change when I connect the monitor to the Mac Mini because the calibration creates a display profile. It's not hardware-based calibration.

The monitor I'm using (LG 22MP57VQ-P) only has HDMI and VGA input but VGA doesn't work on Apple Silicon devices. I already tried VGA using an HDMI to VGA adapter but no luck.

I've already read countless of threads about the YCbCr vs RGB issue but my monitor is already using RGB. Text looks clear and sharp. No fuzziness around the text. Just the colors that are bad. It's almost like the color output range is limited and it can't display all colors (kinda like RGB 0-255 vs RGB 16-235).

Do you know if this issue also persists when using a USB-C monitor (like the Asus ProArt PA278QV I'm thinking of buying)?

Did you reset the monitor to manufacturers native settings (as neutral as possible)?
You can get very strange colorshifts if you use a monitor with non-native colortemp/brightness/contrast settings. Calibration software sometimes get confused by monitorsettings.

 

[l0stl0rd]

As the monitor has a VGA connector my guess is it is quite old?

Perhaps it has issues with the P3 color space or it’s color space is small and it can not even do fill sRGB?

 

[MrBananaPants]

Did you reset the monitor to manufacturers native settings (as neutral as possible)?
You can get very strange colorshifts if you use a monitor with non-native colortemp/brightness/contrast settings. Calibration software sometimes get confused by monitorsettings.

Yes, I've reset the monitor before calibration.

 

[MrBananaPants]

As the monitor has a VGA connector my guess is it is quite old?

Perhaps it has issues with the P3 color space or it’s color space is small and it can not even do fill sRGB?

The color space is quite small (I think 89% sRGB) but that should not cause the colors to be bad on my Mac Mini but great on my Hackintosh. If colorspace is the issue, it should look bad on all devices. Not just Apple Silicon devices.

 

[xraydoc]

VGA doesn't work on Apple Silicon devices. I already tried VGA using an HDMI to VGA adapter but no luck.

Not true. I've used the Apple USB-C to VGA adapter successfully when I had my M1 MacBook Air.

But, either way - and not to be rude - why are you trying so hard to calibrate a 2016-era 1080p VGA/HDMI display?

 

[MrBananaPants]

Not true. I've used the Apple USB-C to VGA adapter successfully when I had my M1 MacBook Air.

But, either way - and not to be rude - why are you trying so hard to calibrate a 2016-era 1080p VGA/HDMI display?

I don't use that monitor for any color-accurate work (like I use my MacBook Pro for my photography) but I just want the colors of the display to be as close as possible to the correct colors within its capabilities. I use that monitor a lot for general web browsing and watching movies etc and colors that are completely off or just off by a little bit makes a huge difference. The monitor looks straight-up bad now that it's not even fun to use it anymore.

I have a colorimeter and calibration software so why not use it on whatever display I have?

 

[CaffeinePizza]

This is a well known issue with no known fix as of now. And of course Apple has not acknowledged it nor do they seem to care.

M1 Air ghosting, flickering with external display

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Flickering vertical lines on M1 Mac Mini

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[MrBananaPants]

This is a well known issue with no known fix as of now. And of course Apple has not acknowledged it nor do they seem to care.

M1 Air ghosting, flickering with external display

My M1 MacBook Air has a serious problem with external displays. Pinging the brains here in case there are any ideas more convenient than sending back to Apple. Connecting directly via a known-good USB-C to DisplayPort cable, my Dell U2713HM (1) flickers, (2) shows vertical lines, and (3) mixes...

forums.macrumors.com

Flickering vertical lines on M1 Mac Mini

I recently purchased an Intel Mac Mini (running 10.15.7), but after seeing all the positive reviews of the M1 quickly decided to go with the M1 instead. I just received my M1 (running 11.1) a couple days ago and I have noticed that there are very noticeable flickering vertical lines all over the...

forums.macrumors.com

I'm aware of those threads but they don't mention the very bad colors issue I'm having.

 

[Ben J.]

Lots of mediocre advice here, people throwing stuff out not really knowing what they're talking about.

Let me throw out something too. Might be relevant, or not.

I just got a M2 mac mini, and preparing my M1 mac mini before transitioning, I installed Ventura, and suddenly one of my two displays, a 50" TV, had lost a lot of contrast. The Benq 32" had not changed. Both are on HDMI.

I tried different things, switching the ports, changing resolutions, color profiles… no change. The TV stayed dark and dull, the Benq (calibrated monitor) stayed perfect. It was obvious that the problem came with Ventura. (One interesting thing is that when I tried 50hz instead of 60hz, the contrast was back, but the image was a bit too big.)

Anyway, I found that I could adjust the settings on the TV, and I could back to a image like before. Interestingly, the contrast setting now is around 50 (of 100), and it used to be down at 15 for many years, across many OS versions and mac models. Makes me wonder if it is now correct, and the mac had been sending a very high contrast signal to the TV before.