How do I fix the color and quality on my monitor connected with HDMI?

[MobbSparta]

I have 2 monitors. My main one is connected with an HDMI cable to my computer. My second one is connected with a VGA cable. I first had problems with the resolution of the second monitor but now it is fine. And then the main one I had problems with the resolution, but all I had to do was choose 1920x1080 and then resize it since it looked the display showed up bigger than my monitor and parts were being cut-off. But now it is sized correctly. All I am having a problem with now is that the color on the monitor is faded or sort of washed out and the display looks a bit low quality (the text is a bit harder to read and pictures don't look as crisp). But the weird thing is that if I go to a lower resolution all the color and quality goes back to normal (but obviously the picture is a bit squished because the resolution is smaller than it should be). So is there a way to fix how the color and quality is on the monitor?

Monitors:
Main - Samsung SyncMaster B2330HD
Secondary - Samsung SyncMaster 920NW

 

[hdmark]

go into the settings in the graphics control panel and look at the HDMI monitor. I was having the same problem. the hdmi is probably thinking its a tv and not outputting the full color. change color from limited to full and it should be good!

 

[MarkW]

Right click on the desktop. Select Screen Resolution.
On that page, you should see both monitors represented. Click on the one representing your 1080p monitor and make sure that both the resolution and the refresh rates are correct. Then do the same thing for the other monitor.

For each monitor you can also click Advanced Settings, and then list all modes, and select the one that is best for that monitor.

 

[MobbSparta]

go into the settings in the graphics control panel and look at the HDMI monitor. I was having the same problem. the hdmi is probably thinking its a tv and not outputting the full color. change color from limited to full and it should be good!

That didn't really do anything it still looks the same.

 

[hdmark]

go into the settings in the graphics control panel and look at the HDMI monitor. I was having the same problem. the hdmi is probably thinking its a tv and not outputting the full color. change color from limited to full and it should be good!

That didn't really do anything it still looks the same.

got nothing then :/ that was my issue. if you switch the cables does the other one look washed out?

update - oh wait, the vga monitor is bad? try switching the cables and if the other monitor looks bad with the vga too, chances are its a bad cable. or can you switch the color from limited to full on the vga monitor?

 

[MobbSparta]

Right click on the desktop. Select Screen Resolution.
On that page, you should see both monitors represented. Click on the one representing your 1080p monitor and make sure that both the resolution and the refresh rates are correct. Then do the same thing for the other monitor.

For each monitor you can also click Advanced Settings, and then list all modes, and select the one that is best for that monitor.

The resolution and refresh rate is perfectly fine just that the colors look faded out and kind of unfocused or bad quality making it a little bit hard to read. And it kind of hurts your eyes.

 

[MarkW]

VGA is analog.
HDMI is digital.

I am wondering if that is causing the problem.

 

[MobbSparta]

VGA is analog.
HDMI is digital.

I am wondering if that is causing the problem.

Well I don't really think so because when I change the resolution to something lower than 1920x1080 the picture goes back to normal and there are no problems. It only looks bad when it is on 1920x1080.

 

[ffg7]

check your monitor frequency as might have to adjust it at the higher resolution. do that under display in control panel.

 

[MobbSparta]

check your monitor frequency as might have to adjust it at the higher resolution. do that under display in control panel.

No the frequency is not the problem. It is at 60 Hz and changing it is not doing anything.

 

[MarkW]

Is there an improvement on the monitor using the HDMI cable if you disconnect the other monitor?

Also, can you replace the HDMI cable and see if that changes anything?

 

[MobbSparta]

Is there an improvement on the monitor using the HDMI cable if you disconnect the other monitor?

Also, can you replace the HDMI cable and see if that changes anything?

I disconnected the second monitor and the main one still looked the same and I tried using a different HDMI cable and that made no difference.

 

[MarkW]

What video card are you using?

 

[MobbSparta]

What video card are you using?

My graphics card is the ASUS GeForce GTX 750Ti (2GB).

 

[MarkW]

Do you have another video card that you could use for a few minutes instead of the 750ti? Or another computer that you could plug the monitor into?

Right now, my best guess is that it's either the video card or the monitor, but we need to test them apart from each other. There is a chance its not one of the two items, and then we will have to look elsewhere. but right now, we need to do one or the other of the above items, if not both.

 

[MobbSparta]

Do you have another video card that you could use for a few minutes instead of the 750ti? Or another computer that you could plug the monitor into?

Right now, my best guess is that it's either the video card or the monitor, but we need to test them apart from each other. There is a chance its not one of the two items, and then we will have to look elsewhere. but right now, we need to do one or the other of the above items, if not both.

Well My old graphics card (GTX 550Ti) has a smaller HDMI Port (not sure what it is just seems like a smaller HDMI) and I don't have any other computers to test the monitor with. But I'm not sure its a problem with the graphics card or monitor. Maybe just some settings in the NVIDIA control panel or just some other setting. Because when I use the HDMI cable to connect my monitor to my computer I make the resolution its native one (1920x1080 which obviously is what my monitor uses) the quality looks bad and color looks washed out, but then when Iower the resolution the color goes back to normal and the quality is fine.

 

[MarkW]

That is possible. But I am trying to find the cheapest way to test things out. There are things called Afunta Mini HDMI Male to HDMI Female Converter Adapter Cable Cord 1080P... Just like there are Mini-DP to DP cables and adapters. That one shows as being $6.50 on Amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/Afunta-Female-Converter-Adapter-Cable/dp/B00IZYIZKA/ref=sr_1_2?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1437176567&sr=1-2&keywords=mini+hdmi

Generic Gold Plated HDMI to HDMI Mini Adapter $4.33 on Amazon. Now I see on that same page that there are other vendors selling them for $1.45 with free shipping. Not sure how they make any money doing that, but whatever... LOL...
http://www.amazon.com/Generic-Gold-Plated-HDMI-Adapter/dp/B0041TF4QQ/ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1437176567&sr=1-1&keywords=mini+hdmi

Anyways there are lots of Mini-HDMI plug things there... here is the page I managed to pull up showing those:

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_0_9?url=search-alias%3Dcomputers&field-keywords=mini+hdmi&sprefix=mini+hdmi%2Caps%2C251

We need to eliminate items as being the cause of the problem. As we do that, it will lead us to what is the problem. Since the monitor and video card are the primary sources of your display image, we need to do our best to test them first.

Earlier today, I helped someone else solve a problem with their system. It was rebooting without warning, normally in the first 30 seconds after it reached the desktop. Sometimes before it got there as well. But in the course of trying things, he discovered that this was only happening every other boot. One boot was normal and stable, and the next boot would power down within 30 seconds of the boot. Before he came here, he had already swapped out the power supply. And the problem continued. We spent most of a week trying to isolate what it was. I had reached the point where I thought his computer had to be possessed by the devil himself.

And then this morning, after I gave up and asked him to RMA the motherboard, CPU and memory, and to start all over with new hardware, he remembered that he had installed an app on his system that he knew was incompatible with his CPU, but which he figured would be ok just for checking the temperature of that same CPU. He spotted an entry in the Task Manager Startup list, and that reminded him it was there. He disabled it, and rebooted 10 times in a row to check stability, and it never once restarted on him... Problem solved.

So yes, it can be software. But again, your video card and monitor are the primary sources of what is shown to you on the display. So that is where I would like to start if we can.