Weird Video Issue with External Display - 2020 Macbook Pro 13 i5 10th Gen

[fendushi]

I have a really weird issue with my 13 inch 2020 Macbook Pro 10th Gen when hooked up to an external monitor with HDMI to USB C adaptor. The external monitor is an HP 25F which is 1080P

When playing some YouTube videos, the colour displays incorrectly when on full screen. It displays a greenish tint, almost like a different colour temperature.

This happens only when cursor and on screen controls disappear. When I move the mouse to show the on-screen controls, the colour goes back to normal.

This happens on some youtube videos and I can replicate the issue everytime only on those affected videos on specific YouTube channels. All other videos play normally with correct colours. There is no problem when NOT connected to an external monitor. Those videos play normally on the macbook screen.

This happens on Netfilx videos too and sometimes no video is displayed on the external monitor when watching Foxtel on the browser. But only on the external monitor, video plays correctly on the MacBook screen.

I have tried another HDMI to USB-C adaptor, tried different HDMI cables, tried different browser. I even tried hooking it up to my Samsung 4K TV. The issue can be replicated 100% of the time. The colour displays correctly otherwise, while internet browsing or using other apps etc.

Disabling hardware acceleration in Chrome seems to have "fixed" this issue, I have not disabled it in Safari and the problem persist.

I am wondering if this problem is specific to HDMI connectivity due to the usage of an adapter? Will a thunderbolt monitor solve this annoying issue?

Has anyone else experienced this issue?

 

[k2so]

you are not alone,
i have seen that issue,like you said "greenish tint"
even disabling hardware acceleration in Chrome.

the best hardware,oscar goes to mbp ( ssshhh )

 

[fendushi]

I have bought a more expensive 4K monitor (HP Z27) and connected it via thunderbolt with no issues. Everything displays like it should without turning hardware acceleration off. No more green tint.

I guess Macbooks don't play nice with cheap monitors or adaptors. If you don't want to buy a new monitor, you have to turn hardware acceleration off on your browser. Hopefully this will help people with the same issue.

 

[hungryghosty]

I have a really weird issue with my 13 inch 2020 Macbook Pro 10th Gen when hooked up to an external monitor with HDMI to USB C adaptor.

What type/model/brand is the USB-C to HDMI adapter? Have you tried an official Apple one? Does sound like a Macbook driver issue (Intel Display Drivers maybe?) though given it happens with various HDMI adapters?

What refresh rate is the monitor running at? Does lowering/increasing the rate make any difference?

Have you tried disabling true tone to see if that colour setting makes a difference?

I believe some online youtube/etc videos are in a format that uses hardware decoding built into the processor so I'd guess this might be whats causing the colour issue given it works OK with hardware acceleration disabled. That points to it being something that could be fixed with a MacOS driver update?

 

[Patcell]

I am having the same issue... I initially discovered it when I connected my new 10th Gen i5 Pro my TV via HDMI. Just a simple, old 1080P display; nothing taxing by any stretch. When trying to play movies purchased through iTunes on the TV, the colors would shift once the mouse disappeared. I initially thought it was related to the cheap USB-C to HDMI adapter I was using, so I ordered the Apple-made digital AV multi-port adapter and the problem persisted. I also tried other HDMI cables with no success. This does not happen with my 2017 15" Pro; colors display as they should on the TV.

Also, this is not an issue when I am at my desk connected to my Dell 4K monitor via a thunderbolt dock. No color shift when using the 10th Gen i5 Pro to 4K monitor via thunderbolt dock.

Interestingly, YouTube seems to work fine for me when connected to the TV via HDMI; I only have the problem with iTunes movies. Some have mentioned an issue with hardware acceleration... perhaps this is all a driver issue to be sorted out in a future update?

Come to think of it, I have not tested since updating to macOS 10.15.5. Maybe it was already corrected? This will affect whether or not I keep this machine...

 

[hungryghosty]

Does anyone experiencing the issue have Windows/bootcamp installed on their MacBook?

Would be interesting to know if the issue also occurs in Microsoft Windows 10 or even Linux/etc when using Google Chrome or another browser?

 

[Patcell]

Does anyone experiencing the issue have Windows/bootcamp installed on their MacBook?

Would be interesting to know if the issue also occurs in Microsoft Windows 10 or even Linux/etc when using Google Chrome or another browser?

Good question... I’ll be installing Windows boot camp today and I’ll test it out.

 

[fendushi]

What type/model/brand is the USB-C to HDMI adapter? Have you tried an official Apple one? Does sound like a Macbook driver issue (Intel Display Drivers maybe?) though given it happens with various HDMI adapters?

The adapter brands I have tried are Comsol and Hootoo. I have not tried an official Apple adapter.

What refresh rate is the monitor running at? Does lowering/increasing the rate make any difference?

75 Hzt, yes tried lowering, same problem

Have you tried disabling true tone to see if that colour setting makes a difference?

Yes, no difference

I believe some online youtube/etc videos are in a format that uses hardware decoding built into the processor so I'd guess this might be whats causing the colour issue given it works OK with hardware acceleration disabled. That points to it being something that could be fixed with a MacOS driver update?

I have updated to 10.15.5, same problem.


I am happy that my new HP Z27 monitor does not have that problem plugged directly with the supplied USB C cable.
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I am having the same issue... I initially discovered it when I connected my new 10th Gen i5 Pro my TV via HDMI. Just a simple, old 1080P display; nothing taxing by any stretch. When trying to play movies purchased through iTunes on the TV, the colors would shift once the mouse disappeared. I initially thought it was related to the cheap USB-C to HDMI adapter I was using, so I ordered the Apple-made digital AV multi-port adapter and the problem persisted. I also tried other HDMI cables with no success. This does not happen with my 2017 15" Pro; colors display as they should on the TV.

I have the same model Macbook, this answered the question that an Apple adapter will not solve the issue.

Also, this is not an issue when I am at my desk connected to my Dell 4K monitor via a thunderbolt dock. No color shift when using the 10th Gen i5 Pro to 4K monitor via thunderbolt dock.

So the connection is through a dock and not directly from the monitor? That's really interesting. No issue for me when connected directly to the monitor with a thunderbolt USB-C cable

Interestingly, YouTube seems to work fine for me when connected to the TV via HDMI; I only have the problem with iTunes movies. Some have mentioned an issue with hardware acceleration... perhaps this is all a driver issue to be sorted out in a future update?

Come to think of it, I have not tested since updating to macOS 10.15.5. Maybe it was already corrected? This will affect whether or not I keep this machine...

I have updated to 10.15.5, same problem.

I wonder what's actually causing this really wierd issue. Maybe you just need a thunderbolt dock with HDMI to solve your issue with your TV. I have tried plugging in to my 2 TVs at home too with same issue.

If you can watch videos through Chrome, you can just disable hardware acceleration through Chrome browser. I have confirmed that this solves the issue.

 

[Patcell]

The adapter brands I have tried are Comsol and Hootoo. I have not tried an official Apple adapter.




75 Hzt, yes tried lowering, same problem




Yes, no difference




I have updated to 10.15.5, same problem.


I am happy that my new HP Z27 monitor does not have that problem plugged directly with the supplied USB C cable.
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I have the same model Macbook, this answered the question that an Apple adapter will not solve the issue.




So the connection is through a dock and not directly from the monitor? That's really interesting. No issue for me when connected directly to the monitor with a thunderbolt USB-C cable




I have updated to 10.15.5, same problem.

I wonder what's actually causing this really wierd issue. Maybe you just need a thunderbolt dock with HDMI to solve your issue with your TV. I have tried plugging in to my 2 TVs at home too with same issue.

If you can watch videos through Chrome, you can just disable hardware acceleration through Chrome browser. I have confirmed that this solves the issue.

Yeah, for some reason it works fine through the dock. I'll try connecting directly to my monitor when I have a chance. This a very frustrating.

 

[miatadan]

Discovered same thing. I disabled hardware acceleration on Microsoft Edge for now. The evri usb c to 4K/60Hz hdmi adaptor gets very hot and apparently , the Apple AV digital adaptor gets hot as well. Did not occur to me that there be issues for external monitor as hdmi connected to 2018 Mac Mini ran perfectly well.

Is this type of issue limited to MacBook Pro's only? This is disappointing considering how expensive these laptops are.

You can purchase cheap windows laptops with hdmi out built in without issues.

My question is if a thunderbolt 3 dock is used, will the dock run cool? What is considered to be best brands for quality for these docks?

Is there any issues with eGPU , if you go that route instead of thunderbolt dock?

Dan

 

[WickedPorter]

I've experienced this before with previous MacBooks when running a custom color calibration. The fix for me was to disable "automatically adjust brightness" in display settings, no idea on the correlation but it worked for me.

 

[Patcell]

I've experienced this before with previous MacBooks when running a custom color calibration. The fix for me was to disable "automatically adjust brightness" in display settings, no idea on the correlation but it worked for me.

Interesting... thanks for the tip! Will try when I have a chance.

 

[miatadan]

I've experienced this before with previous MacBooks when running a custom color calibration. The fix for me was to disable "automatically adjust brightness" in display settings, no idea on the correlation but it worked for me.

I tried this and turned on turned on hardware acceleration and green tint returned.

Will order the Caldigit Thunderbolt 3 Mini Dock from Apple store and see if this works better.

Dan

 

[Liddan]

I have this same issue on my MacMini 2012 connected to a 1080p Samsung TV.
Worked as a charm running Mojave but since updating to catalina a few months ago (BAD CHOICE) this problem have been present.

After reading this thread I now tried to change Color profile from "SAMSUNG" to "Generic RGB" and it seems to have fixed the issue, at least so far. *fingers crossed*

Computer is also "boot-camped" and while running Windows everything works fine, no color-related issues what so ever.

 

[hungryghosty]

Computer is also "boot-camped" and while running Windows everything works fine, no color-related issues what so ever.

That's reassuring to know as it makes me more certain it's a driver issue rather than anything fundamentally hardware related if it's working normally under Windows.

 

[DesmoPilot]

FWIW, I'm unable to recreate this with my Caldigit TS3+.

 

[fendushi]

I have this same issue on my MacMini 2012 connected to a 1080p Samsung TV.
Worked as a charm running Mojave but since updating to catalina a few months ago (BAD CHOICE) this problem have been present.

After reading this thread I now tried to change Color profile from "SAMSUNG" to "Generic RGB" and it seems to have fixed the issue, at least so far. *fingers crossed*

Computer is also "boot-camped" and while running Windows everything works fine, no color-related issues what so ever.

Are you using an adaptor or straight to HDMI?

It's interesting that we have different solutions so we can try them and see what's best.

But yeah, dissapointing afte spending top dollar on a Mac and finding out simple things that works on 99% of Windows machine causes issues on macs.

 

[hungryghosty]

I have this same issue on my MacMini 2012 connected to a 1080p Samsung TV.
Worked as a charm running Mojave but since updating to catalina a few months ago (BAD CHOICE) this problem have been present.

Incidentally I have my 2016 Macbook 12-inch connected to an external 1440p monitor via HDMI using an official Apple multi-out HDMI/USB adapter and haven't experienced this issue with videos on the external display when using Chrome?

Slightly odd that it doesn't appear to be consistent across all devices when running the same version of MacOS ? Does anyone have an 8th gen Macbook Pro 2020 to see if that has the same problem?

 

[Liddan]

Are you using an adaptor or straight to HDMI?

It's interesting that we have different solutions so we can try them and see what's best.

But yeah, dissapointing afte spending top dollar on a Mac and finding out simple things that works on 99% of Windows machine causes issues on macs.

I've tried several different HDMI cables and now I'm currently using a Mini-Displayport -> HDMI cable. Issue have been present on all variants.

I have not seen this issue when connecting the MacMini to a Dell Ultrasharp display using Displayport (No HDMI involved).


I'm updating catalina right now to 10.15.5 to see if that helps.

 

[Liddan]

Incidentally I have my 2016 Macbook 12-inch connected to an external 1440p monitor via HDMI using an official Apple multi-out HDMI/USB adapter and haven't experienced this issue with videos on the external display when using Chrome?

Slightly odd that it doesn't appear to be consistent across all devices when running the same version of MacOS ? Does anyone have an 8th gen Macbook Pro 2020 to see if that has the same problem?

Yeah, it seems kind of random or model specific maybe. I also have a 2015 MBP 13 Retina which works perfectly fine when connected to the same TV using the same HDMI Cable or Displayport -> HDMI cable.

Installing 10.15.5 did not help, display went "greenish" while streaming a TV show in fullscreen mode using Chrome and the default SAMSUNG Color profile. Exiting of fullscreen makes the display fine again.

Again, using "Generic RGB" Color profile seems to fix the issue for me.

 

[Patcell]

Incidentally I have my 2016 Macbook 12-inch connected to an external 1440p monitor via HDMI using an official Apple multi-out HDMI/USB adapter and haven't experienced this issue with videos on the external display when using Chrome?

Slightly odd that it doesn't appear to be consistent across all devices when running the same version of MacOS ? Does anyone have an 8th gen Macbook Pro 2020 to see if that has the same problem?

The inconsistency leads me to believe that it is some sort of driver-related issue in macOS with the new Iris Plus iGPU in the 10th Gen 2020 13" Pro. I'm hoping this can be resolved by Apple. I've sent a bug report to Apple Support, but don't hold your breath...LOL
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Yeah, it seems kind of random or model specific maybe. I also have a 2015 MBP 13 Retina which works perfectly fine when connected to the same TV using the same HDMI Cable or Displayport -> HDMI cable.

Installing 10.15.5 did not help, display went "greenish" while streaming a TV show in fullscreen mode using Chrome and the default SAMSUNG Color profile. Exiting of fullscreen makes the display fine again.

Again, using "Generic RGB" Color profile seems to fix the issue for me.

It's interesting that changing the color profile fixes the problem; I will try this when I have some time later...

Also, the issue is the same or me - there is only a color shift in full screen after the mouse disappears. If I move the mouse the color normalizes, then returns to weird color shift once the mouse and player controls fade again. Strange...

 

[fendushi]

Choosing generic RGB profile doesnt work for me on my HP 25F monitor.

However, choosing aRGB IEC61966-2.1 profile works!! Hardware acceleration ON on Chrome AND Safari!!

Only very slight colour change on previously affected videos but the black bars stays black. I only noticed cause I was observing very carefully. I wouldn't have noticed otherwise.

 

[DeviantTofu]

I'm glad that I'm not alone here. Just got the new laptop yesterday; would be a shame if I had to return it, but sounds like it's a software/driver issue that can be fixed in future updates.

Choosing generic RGB profile doesnt work for me on my HP 25F monitor.

However, choosing aRGB IEC61966-2.1 profile works!! Hardware acceleration ON on Chrome AND Safari!!

Only very slight colour change on previously affected videos but the black bars stays black. I only noticed cause I was observing very carefully. I wouldn't have noticed otherwise.

I've tried aRGB IEC61966-2.1 as you suggested. Yep it does seem to mostly "fix" it, in the sense that the discoloration in fullscreen is less noticeable. I'll probably go with this solution as disabling hardware acceleration may decrease battery life. Hopefully a more longterm solution can be found soon.

 

[hungryghosty]

Just ot update I've tried connecting my Macbook 13" 2020 10th gen to an external display (34" 3440x1440) via the Apple HDMI adaptor and USB-C > Displayport. No issues with either connection when doing anything including Youtube videos.

 

[Patcell]

I only have this problem with iTunes movies playing to external display via HDMI. It doesn't matter which HDMI adapter I use (I have 3 in including the Apple digital AV multi-port) or cable (I have countless). YouTube plays fine, but when I play an iTunes movie on the external display, the colors shift after the mouse and player controls disappear. If I move the mouse to make the pointer and player controls visible, the colors shift back to normal.

This is assuming I can even get the iTunes movie to play without the HDCP handshake failure warning - this has also never been an issue for me on my previous (2013, 2014, & 2017) Pros.