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MBP M1 and LG 27UK850-W washed out colors

Guess we just have to wait for Apple to fix it quietly especially if the problem was not acknowledged by them. Previously, there was an issue with iCloud tabs syncing reported over at the iOS 14 thread with many users submitting bug reports and making calls to Apple. The thread first appeared last November and was only fixed recently last week.
 
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As I said it's not only for LG owners, I have another brand and there's the same issue, as someone said in this thread the problem is how the signal is sent out.
 
I've already posted a temporary solution that worked for me (and still works well!) but as this thread has gotten a lot more posts, some of you may have not seen the solution and I can't put it in the original post either. For those who haven't tried, here are the steps I took to temporarily fix the issue. This may or may not work for you, especially if your monitor is not the same model as mine, however, it's worth a try! Since posting this solution, the monitor has only reverted to the washed-out colors about once or twice more, and doing the little trick below resolves it every time. Hopefully, Apple or LG will come up with a better resolution to this issue.

JCHH said:
Hey y'all! After a series of random combinations, I discovered a temporary fix. (YMMV!)

You will need,
- HDMI -> HDMI + dongle (HDMI -> USB-C may work but untested)
- USB-C to USB C Cable

1. Plug in the USB-C to USB-C from your Mac to your monitor. The display will appear washed out.
2. Plug in HDMI dongle/cable into your Mac alongside your USB-C cable.
3. Now unplug the USB-C cable. (DO NOT SWITCH TO HDMI INPUT, stay on the "no signal" screen)
4. Plug the USB-C cable back into your mac.
5. Unplug the HDMI cable from your mac.

So far, this technique has worked for me. Putting the mac to sleep, closing the lid, rebooting it, has not changed it back to the washed-out colors. HOWEVER, toggling the "High Dynamic Range" option under Settings on and off will cause the washed-out colors issue and requires the entire process again.

Let me know if this helps!
Click to expand...
 
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I've experienced the same issue on my LG 27UK850-W monitor. Here's a side-by-side comparison with my 2019 MacBook Pro 16" connected via USB-C, and my 2020 M1 MacBook Pro 13" connected via the same cable with the same settings and color profile.

I've tried adjusting contrast/brightness/etc on the LG monitor directly, as well as calibrating a new color profile in MacOS Big Sur 11.1 on the M1 MacBook Pro, but can't achieve the same picture vibrancy and contrast as with the older MacBook Pro. I've submitted a bug report to Apple about this as well and am hoping for a fix soon.
 

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philipsaysok said:
It's a shame that the problem has persisted for 2 months with zero information from either company. I have an entire office full of these LG monitors. We bought a single M1 Macbook Pro as a test to see if we could do all of our development work on these new machines. Performance-wise everything is great. However, overall, these Macs fail because there is no way I am buying 16 new monitors just to switch to M1 Macs.

This is a very long thread, and there are many more like it on MacRumors, Reddit, the Apple Support site, and others. It does not appear that Apple or LG are doing anything about it, as the responses from Apple on the Support site are mostly confusing troubleshooting tips that have already been tried and posted in these forums.
Click to expand...
Quick update: I spent 1.5 hours on the phone with Apple Support earlier this week. My case was escalated to Senior Support, and, after a series of troubleshooting questions, it was escalated to the Engineering team. They asked me to be patient as it may take several days for the Engineers to evaluate my System Reports and logs. Meanwhile, the Apple Store has a replacement M1 Macbook Pro on-hand, and I intend to pick it up this weekend. I will report back on whether the new one has the same issue.
 
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Same issue here with 27GL850 -> Caldigit TS3 -> M1 Air 2020 with DisplayPort connection. Sent a bug report to Apple.
 
JCHH said:
Hey y'all! After a series of random combinations, I discovered a temporary fix. (YMMV!)

You will need,
- HDMI -> HDMI + dongle (HDMI -> USB-C may work but untested)
- USB-C to USB C Cable

1. Plug in the USB-C to USB-C from your Mac to your monitor. The display will appear washed out.
2. Plug in HDMI dongle/cable into your Mac alongside your USB-C cable.
3. Now unplug the USB-C cable. (DO NOT SWITCH TO HDMI INPUT, stay on the "no signal" screen)
4. Plug the USB-C cable back into your mac.
5. Unplug the HDMI cable from your mac.

So far, this technique has worked for me. Putting the mac to sleep, closing the lid, rebooting it, has not changed it back to the washed-out colors. HOWEVER, toggling the "High Dynamic Range" option under Settings on and off will cause the washed-out colors issue and requires the entire process again.

Let me know if this helps!
Click to expand...
Thank you JCHH for this great tip!

It worked perfectly for me on my LG 27UK850-W with one small tweak: on step 3 above, I had to manually switch the monitor over to the HDMI input before plugging the USB-C cable back in.

I'm amazed that this fix is still working, even after restarting the MacBook Pro and unplugging/plugging in the monitor several times over the past two days.

Thanks again! :)
 
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The above fix does not work for me :(

Ive tried USB-c dongle from satechi to connect both monitors via hdmi and the colors are exactly the same to me, but then I notice huge mouse lag on the monitor with USBc-hdmi.

as you can se below:
1. With Dark room, night. The horizontal monitor is via USBc, the vertical via hdmi. Horizontal is washed out.

2. Light, day. The vertical is via USBc, horizontal via hdmi. It looks like the vertical is 256bit color 😂

Edit: Its actually hard to see on the photo the issue the vertical screen has.
 

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SHORT FIX: TRY TO CLOSE YOUR MACBOOK (literally)
LONG STORY:
Hey everyone! Just bought 27ul850 and had same issue. My research leads me to this site and nothing from above helped me with that issue, BUT the only fix I accidentally found is, and you guys won't believe me.......I just closed my MacBook, and after screen blinked - the colours on monitor become natural. If I open my Mac - washed out, closing again = boom normal colours.
P.S Sorry for my English, I wish that fix can help some of u! gl
p.p.s mbp 13 m1, type c - type c cable.
 
Last edited:
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Same issue with my M1 Mac mini and LG 27UK850. Washed out appearance over usb c. I have 2 of these moitors hooked up to the mini. One over hdmi. One over usb c. Works fine with hdmi. You can slightly up the contrast in the accessibility System Preferences under display. This will take away the washed out look on the usb c monitor. However it over-saturates the monitor connected to hdmi that doesn't need any adjustment. If you only have one monitor this may help. If no solution comes soon I will be sending my mini back. Sad.
 
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Mr.Groms said:
SHORT FIX: TRY TO CLOSE YOUR MACBOOK (literally)
LONG STORY:
Hey everyone! Just bought 27ul850 and had same issue. My research leads me to this site and nothing from above helped me with that issue, BUT the only fix I accidentally found is, and you guys won't believe me.......I just closed my MacBook, and after screen blinked - the colours on monitor become natural. If I open my Mac - washed out, closing again = boom normal colours.
P.S Sorry for my English, I wish that fix can help some of u! gl
p.p.s mbp 13 m1, type c - type c cable.
Click to expand...

So it works fine in clamshell mode?
 
Still does not work even on the latest Big Sur 11.3 Beta. Clamsell mode does NOT fix the issue.

MacBook Air M1 + LG 27UD88 via USB-C.

Super annoying. Come on Apple, this is a computer, not a cellphone - please provide us with proper video drivers!
 
I finally solved this problem by using a USB-C dongle (Review: Xiaomi USB-C to miniDP adapter) supports Displayport Alt mode 1.2, colour seems normal again using the default profile.

I did try a Dell DA300 USB dongle which only supports DP 1.3 or newer version, no luck, washed out colour appeared as it did with a direct USB-C to DP cable connection.
 
This issue is still present in the latest beta. :( Amazing that Apple can't fix these issues for months.

Using dongles is not a proper solution for USB-C displays with charging capabilities.

My method of fixing the issue is this:

1. Turn on AirDisplay to my iPad
2. Change something in Arrangement (I usually turn Mirroring on or off)
3. Turn off AirDisplay

This makes the problem go away for a while (until I change the resolution or MacOS decides that having proper colors is over for whatever arcane reason). Then I just have to go through with the procedure again. This is a reliable but not very convenient fix.
 
This issue is the gamma. It's kind of sad that there is still no fix available. I tried using the LG Studio calibration nothing. The only way to fix this is if someone has a Spyder or other calibration tool. It would be nice if someone could just do it and share the icc profile.

I just purchased this monitor today. Debating returning it. I didn't fork out nearly $500 for HDR not to work.
 
LarrySW said:
forums.macrumors.com

Potential "fix" for washed out colors on external monitor

I know a ton of people have experienced washed out colors on their external monitor when connecting via USB-C. I stumbled into a potential "fix" for this until Apple figures it out, assuming they ever do. Enable Sidecar and the colors are fixed. Why does this work? I have no idea, but it...
forums.macrumors.com forums.macrumors.com
Click to expand...
Has 11.3 fixed the resetting of external monitor resolution and the color issues?
 
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