MBP M1 and LG 27UK850-W washed out colors

[JCHH]

Hi y'all, I'm having a strange issue with my external monitor and my Macbook Pro M1. For some reason, the colors on the monitor seems, washed out? Like blacks are more gray than black, and everything is super bland. This occurs when I use USB-C to USB-C from the Mac to the monitor. This also occurs if I use a USB-C to DP1.2 cable as well. This issue, however, will not occur if I use a USB-C hub -> HDMI to HDMI, OR a USB-C to HDMI cable.

I didn't have an issue like this with my previous 2019 Intel MBP. I'm not totally sure on the issue but from what I'm seeing so far is that there's the monitor is being displayed/treated like a "television" from my mac?

Anybody else have this issue, or have a solution to this? Thanks!

EDIT: HDR is disabled! Unfortunately that's not the issue.

 

[Jochheim]

As I read what you described I had the same thought as you. I don’t own any m1 device but I had a monitor that was only recognised as a TV an could not display the correct Color profile. Sadly as it is Apple there was no way to easily change it - but someone wrote a script that force changed the settings (it was a bit complicated because you had to disable some safety options). Sorry that I have no other tips but to further strengthen your Theorie. I am not sure if my mentioned method is still possible with m1 devices.

 

[alan7467]

Hi y'all, I'm having a strange issue with my external monitor and my Macbook Pro M1. For some reason, the colors on the monitor seems, washed out? Like blacks are more gray than black, and everything is super bland. This occurs when I use USB-C to USB-C from the Mac to the monitor. This also occurs if I use a USB-C to DP1.2 cable as well. This issue, however, will not occur if I use a USB-C hub -> HDMI to HDMI, OR a USB-C to HDMI cable.

I didn't have an issue like this with my previous 2019 Intel MBP. I'm not totally sure on the issue but from what I'm seeing so far is that there's the monitor is being displayed/treated like a "television" from my mac?

Anybody else have this issue, or have a solution to this? Thanks!

I’ve been having the same issue with the exact same monitor and my MacBook Pro M1. Somehow I was able to get it to no longer be washed out by turning of the monitor, turning it back on, and rebooting the MacBook. The problem still happens often when waking from sleep, but powering the monitor off and off again usually fixes it.

I’ve also been getting system crashes and reboots when attached to the monitor via usb c. Switched to a thunderbolt dock and the crashes persisted. Then switched the connection from the dock to monitor to DisplayPort and the crashes have stopped. Still get washed out colors when waking, and often the wrong resolution as well.

Very frustrating.

 

[JCHH]

I’ve been having the same issue with the exact same monitor and my MacBook Pro M1. Somehow I was able to get it to no longer be washed out by turning of the monitor, turning it back on, and rebooting the MacBook. The problem still happens often when waking from sleep, but powering the monitor off and off again usually fixes it.

I’ve also been getting system crashes and reboots when attached to the monitor via usb c. Switched to a thunderbolt dock and the crashes persisted. Then switched the connection from the dock to monitor to DisplayPort and the crashes have stopped. Still get washed out colors when waking, and often the wrong resolution as well.

Very frustrating.

Interesting that your system is crashing when connecting via usb-c, luckily I've not had that issue yet. I tried the method you listed with powering off and on the monitor & rebooting the mac but unfortunately, it doesn't look like it works for me.

Hopefully a solution will come soon!

 

[alan7467]

Interesting that your system is crashing when connecting via usb-c, luckily I've not had that issue yet. I tried the method you listed with powering off and on the monitor & rebooting the mac but unfortunately, it doesn't look like it works for me.

Hopefully a solution will come soon!

Have you tried changing between scaling options for the display? I've noticed that doing that will usually snap my display out of the washed out colors as well.

 

[EPO75]

Hi, I had this problem with all my Macs (HDR off), just got my M1 Mini and washed out. What I did is transfer my icc profile from my old Mini (think I downloaded that somewhere back when I first saw the issue). I can mail you that profile if you pm your email as it doesn't let me attach the file here...

 

[ProfessionalFan]

I have that monitor. I experience the described issue when HDR is on but turning HDR off in System Preferences fixes it for me at least.

 

[JCHH]

Have you tried changing between scaling options for the display? I've noticed that doing that will usually snap my display out of the washed out colors as well.

That doesn’t seem to work either :/

I have that monitor. I experience the described issue when HDR is on but turning HDR off in System Preferences fixes it for me at least.

Thanks for the suggestion, I thought that was the issue at first as well but HDR has been off the entire time, ticking it on and back off still has the same washed out color issue.

Hi, I had this problem with all my Macs (HDR off), just got my M1 Mini and washed out. What I did is transfer my icc profile from my old Mini (think I downloaded that somewhere back when I first saw the issue). I can mail you that profile if you pm your email as it doesn't let me attach the file here...

Sure I’d love to give that a try! I’ll PM you my email, thanks!

 

[Lisat78]

I have an Apple Cinema Display—20” and c. 2003, I think. It worked well with my intel MBP (2013), but it’s not right with the M1 MBA. It works, but it’s a similar problem to above—colours are weird, contrast/saturation is all over the place and the screen’s ‘white point’ is closer to yellow. It would be usable if I was just using it for typing/browsing—I prefer a yellowish tint then due to eye issues—but I do work that needs accurate colours.

I did see elsewhere that someone was having issues with peripherals connected via a usb-c dongle. I might investigate that; the display was connected to my intel via an DVI—HDMI dongle, but for the M1 I had to add a second dongle for usbA/hdmi, so perhaps it’s a dongle too far!

 

[JCHH]

I have an Apple Cinema Display—20” and c. 2003, I think. It worked well with my intel MBP (2013), but it’s not right with the M1 MBA. It works, but it’s a similar problem to above—colours are weird, contrast/saturation is all over the place and the screen’s ‘white point’ is closer to yellow. It would be usable if I was just using it for typing/browsing—I prefer a yellowish tint then due to eye issues—but I do work that needs accurate colours.

I did see elsewhere that someone was having issues with peripherals connected via a usb-c dongle. I might investigate that; the display was connected to my intel via an DVI—HDMI dongle, but for the M1 I had to add a second dongle for usbA/hdmi, so perhaps it’s a dongle too far!

Since you came from a 2013 MBP, could it be that you have true tone enabled on your M1 MBA, causing the yellowish tint? As for the washed-out colors, unfortunately, I'm still unsure on a remedy.

 

[JCHH]

Here is a comparison for those who want to get a better understanding,

 

[Steedie86]

Sure I’d love to give that a try! I’ll PM you my email, thanks!

Please post back when you've given that a try as I'm getting this too on my USB-C UK850-W, but not the HDMI connected one

 

[alan7467]

That doesn’t seem to work either :/


Thanks for the suggestion, I thought that was the issue at first as well but HDR has been off the entire time, ticking it on and back off still has the same washed out color issue.


Sure I’d love to give that a try! I’ll PM you my email, thanks!

Hey JCHH,

I posted this in another thread earlier. This fix is still working so far for me. Though I haven't tried USB-C again because I was tired of it crashing my machine like crazy...

This morning I reset the PRAM and deleted this file before rebooting:

~/Library/Preferences/ByHost/com.apple.windowserver.[UUID].plist

...and thus far my display weirdness has gone away. At least with DisplayPort. So hopefully this solution sticks.

Here's the PRAM reset procedure:

Reset NVRAM on your Mac – Apple Support (UK)

If one or more settings stored in NVRAM aren't working as expected on an Intel-based Mac, resetting NVRAM may help.

support.apple.com

I deleted the file mentioned above, then shutdown and reset the PRAM. My display hasn't messed up since with DisplayPort.

 

[JCHH]

Hey JCHH,

I posted this in another thread earlier. This fix is still working so far for me. Though I haven't tried USB-C again because I was tired of it crashing my machine like crazy...

This morning I reset the PRAM and deleted this file before rebooting:

~/Library/Preferences/ByHost/com.apple.windowserver.[UUID].plist

...and thus far my display weirdness has gone away. At least with DisplayPort. So hopefully this solution sticks.

Here's the PRAM reset procedure:

Reset NVRAM on your Mac – Apple Support (UK)

If one or more settings stored in NVRAM aren't working as expected on an Intel-based Mac, resetting NVRAM may help.

support.apple.com

I deleted the file mentioned above, then shutdown and reset the PRAM. My display hasn't messed up since with DisplayPort.

Interesting! I'll definitely give this a go and report back on it! Thank you!

 

[JCHH]

Hey JCHH,

I posted this in another thread earlier. This fix is still working so far for me. Though I haven't tried USB-C again because I was tired of it crashing my machine like crazy...

This morning I reset the PRAM and deleted this file before rebooting:

~/Library/Preferences/ByHost/com.apple.windowserver.[UUID].plist

...and thus far my display weirdness has gone away. At least with DisplayPort. So hopefully this solution sticks.

Here's the PRAM reset procedure:

Reset NVRAM on your Mac – Apple Support (UK)

If one or more settings stored in NVRAM aren't working as expected on an Intel-based Mac, resetting NVRAM may help.

support.apple.com

I deleted the file mentioned above, then shutdown and reset the PRAM. My display hasn't messed up since with DisplayPort.

Actually I was thinking, I did just try this method and unfortunately did not work for me, but can you even reset PRAM/NVRAM on Apple Silicon?

SMC & PRAM reset not working

SMC and NVRAM do not exist on Apple Silicon. https://support.apple.com/en-ca/HT201295 https://support.apple.com/en-ca/HT204063 See the note from Apple: « This article applies only to Mac computers with an Intel processor. »

forums.macrumors.com

I did delete the file and try nonetheless, but it doesn't appear to do anything after the reboot.

 

[JCHH]

Please post back when you've given that a try as I'm getting this too on my USB-C UK850-W, but not the HDMI connected one

So this method actually ended up not working for me, the colors did darken a bit but it's still not right. In my post above yours, the left is how it's supposed to look like and the right is with the ICC profile on the M1. Still washed out unfortunately :/

 

[Superhai]

Anybody else have this issue, or have a solution to this? Thanks!

This is a common monitor problem, not just on Macs unfortunately. But it is odd that you have it working differently from Intel Macs. The reason I think you have is because of the limited RGB or mismatched color space. Older TVs typically treat the 0 to 16 levels of the RGB scale as black, and the same as white on the opposite end.

Some monitors have settings to switch this, but some do send wrong EDID data, or get corrupted on the way to the devices. And sometimes it seem like the other end (i.e. your Mac something odd happens).

There exists EDID overrides you can do on the Macs, but you need to have the correct one to use in the override. This is complicated, but there exists workarounds and since you have it working in some scenarios, it should be possible to copy the EDID and use it as an override for the other ones.

 

[addonexus]

I have this problem too. M1 MacBook Air and LG 27UK850. Display back to normal when I plug back in my Intel MacBook Air. Both using USB-C to USB-C.

It is okay if I use USB-C to HDMI via a dongle.

As a temp solution, I chose the Rec. ITU-R BT.709-5 display profile. It looks less washed out.

 

[ProfessionalFan]

Hopefully this is something that can be fixed. The beauty of that monitor is you can use one single cable for the laptop for video output and power delivery.

 

[ProfessionalFan]

Oddly enough, I plugged my mother’s M1 Air into this monitor via USB-C to USB-C and it looked perfect and was charging the laptop as it did on the old Intel ones. So is it not a universal issue with the M1 machines and this monitor?

 

[Apple Fritter]

Same here with a Philips 499P9 over USB-C. I tried to calibrate my Mac with Colorsync but for some reasons it won't lead me through the series of adjustments that I'm used to from earlier versions but rather tell me to turn contrast all the way up on my monitor and adjust brightness, that's it. Odd.

 

[addonexus]

yeah. speaking of which, I had the red corners problem with this display previously.

 

[EPO75]

The ICC profile didn't work after a reboot, but I'm using the 11.1 Public beta now, and colours look fine again.

 

[Broken Hope]

Same monitor and same issue with my M1 mini, it’s like the black levels are mismatched.

 

[ProfessionalFan]

The ICC profile didn't work after a reboot, but I'm using the 11.1 Public beta now, and colours look fine again.

Very interesting. If this issue happens with my Pro that is on the way, I'll upgrade to 11.1 beta then. Thanks for the update.