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Macbook Air and hdmi problem

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SR-71

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 29, 2012
14
0
Hi guys!

I'm a happy new owner of a Macbook Air except for one thing. When I connect my Air to my TV via HDMI the colors on the TV screen are so washed out. I don't know if I should return this and get a new or wait for update that could fix this problem. Ideas?

This is the quality when I watch on my Air screen. Everything just fine
A


I had to take this picture with iPhone 4 because in a screenshot it seems normal. So this is the picture in TV.
Telkkari


I'm not satisfied with this because I paid more than 1500€ from my machine and I'm planning to buy external monitor in the future so it would be nice if this worked. There is also discussion in Apple forum and it's now 17 pages long. https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4080525?start=0&tstart=0. Anybody else having issue?
 
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S

SR-71

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 29, 2012
14
0
Bump. Anybody? Do you have ideas that could help or have same kinds of problems? I tried my Air again with my friends computer monitor and the result was same. Washed out colors and black looks like grey. I also tried to change color settings in the monitor and it didn't look good.
 
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SR-71

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 29, 2012
14
0
Well I doubt that and there are19 pages of this problem in apple forum. I think either hardware or software problem.
 
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Luigi3

macrumors regular
Aug 11, 2012
107
13
Airs don't have hdmi output. How do you connect air to TV? Via TB to HDMI or something?
 
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tiwizard

macrumors regular
Jul 12, 2010
233
0
SR-71 said:
Well I doubt that and there are19 pages of this problem in apple forum. I think either hardware or software problem.
Click to expand...

It's a problem with the calibration of the TV screen-- not with the Mac. You can recalibrate the screen or try changing the mode (if your TV has "Game" mode, "Movie" mode, etc).
 
S

SR-71

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 29, 2012
14
0
Luigi3 said:
Yup, forum told about problems with colors, but you have problem with resolution, because fonts are not sharp. For me, because photo is kinda small.

BTW, IDK if this is main problem, but your adapter is not from Apple. It SHOULD work fine, but this can be issue.
Click to expand...

The photo is just an example where I compare iTunes on my mac screen and on the tv. You see that there are white and blue background in the song list on the mac screen but there aren't any on tv just white. This was the same result when I tried my friends computer screen to check that problem is related to AIR. The photo is lousy and resolution is bad but the main thing are the colors which aren't right.

Photo on tv
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/62571100/IMG_0660.JPG

Photo on AIR's screen.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/62571100/IMG_0661.JPG

See? The grey is missing. Only white under the header where is the list of the sizes of external hard drives.
 
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Luigi3

macrumors regular
Aug 11, 2012
107
13
So there is a thing with color calibration. When you have calibrated screen in air, that doesnt' mean that quality like in air will be exactly the same on TV.
 
S

SR-71

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 29, 2012
14
0
Luigi3 said:
So there is a thing with color calibration. When you have calibrated screen in air, that doesnt' mean that quality like in air will be exactly the same on TV.
Click to expand...

Well if I play movie through my apple tv3 which is connected with hdmi to TV. Everything is fine dark is dark on TV but when I play movie from AIR to TV through the adapter->hdmi>TV. Black is grey so there isn't problem on TV. It's must bee something with AIR and how it is processing the data.
 
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Luigi3

macrumors regular
Aug 11, 2012
107
13
SR-71 said:
Well if I play movie through my apple tv3 which is connected with hdmi to TV. Everything is fine dark is dark on TV but when I play movie from AIR to TV through the adapter->hdmi>TV. Black is grey so there isn't problem on TV. It's must bee something with AIR and how it is processing the data.
Click to expand...

beg to differ :D

Apple TV is not Air. Even when you're streaming, the screen is not from Air, but from ATV. Air just gives the data to the ATV, ATV is configurated for TVs, Air not.

Thunderbolt is very unusual connector, so alternative adapters might be not perfect. Just go system preferences->Monitors->Colors(something like this, sorry now I don't have english on my mac) and change profile.

There can be other thing. Thunderbolt and HDMI are digital data connectors. This adapter might be some queer mix and translate digital data from Air to analog(like in old VGA ports)and later streams corrupted video to the HDMI.
 
S

SR-71

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 29, 2012
14
0
Luigi3 said:
beg to differ :D

Apple TV is not Air. Even when you're streaming, the screen is not from Air, but from ATV. Air just gives the data to the ATV, ATV is configurated for TVs, Air not.

Thunderbolt is very unusual connector, so alternative adapters might be not perfect. Just go system preferences->Monitors->Colors(something like this, sorry now I don't have english on my mac) and change profile.

There can be other thing. Thunderbolt and HDMI are digital data connectors. This adapter might be some queer mix and translate digital data from Air to analog(like in old VGA ports)and later streams corrupted video to the HDMI.
Click to expand...

"Apple TV is not Air. Even when you're streaming, the screen is not from Air, but from ATV. Air just gives the data to the ATV, ATV is configurated for TVs, Air not." That's what I tried to say when Apple tv handles data everything is fine but when AIR is connected it won't work. Wierd if Air isn't compatible with TVs because PCs that I've tried go just fine.

I have to try that. Thanks, but I think that it won't solve the problem because same thing happened when I connected Air to this screen via adapter.
Yes. That's true.
I won't blame this adapter because people on the apple forum tried Moshi HDMI adapter and had same problems. AIR just can't handle the HDMI connection yet.
 
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B

bwhinnen

macrumors 6502
Apr 15, 2010
302
53
McKinney
I use a different adapter than you, the Moshi one (http://store.apple.com/us/product/H1824ZM/A/moshi-mini-dp-to-hdmi-adapter-with-audio-support) and I've had no troubles at all, I've used my 11" mid 2011 air with my own TV (Samsung series 6 40" LCD) as well as a Phillips TV in a hotel room. The images are always crisp and work without an issue.

At home I go via a Onkyo receiver and in the hotel room it was direct to the TV. I've used it to display photos from iPhoto, movies from iTunes and general desktop usage and the colours have always been as expected on the TV (no different from my HTPC, Apple TV2, or cable).

I am wondering if there is a) something amiss with your thunderbolt port, b) the adapter or c) you have a different model Air to me, i.e a 2012 :)
 
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