Three monitor setup using a MacBook Pro M3 Max and display ports.Whichever monitor is connected to Display port 1 on the UD-6950PDZ appears darker and sharper compared to the other two monitors. All three monitors are using the same internal settings and color profile.
Thanks.
Hi,
Thank you for contacting us, I am sorry this is not working as expected and I am happy to help!
The docking station uses two graphics technologies to support three external displays. The “Display 1” output is controlled directly by the Apple M3 graphics controller while the “Display 2” and “Display 3” outputs are controlled by the DisplayLink software defined graphics controller. This can cause minor differences in color, or brightness on the external displays.
Would it be possible to take a photo of two of the displays side-by-side showing the same webpage, photo, or desktop background that exemplifies this issue, and attach this photo to this thread, or to a direct email to ‘support@plugable.com’ with the subject line ‘Ticket #426008 - Attn Pat’ and the photo in the body of the email?
Thank you,
Pat
Plugable Technology
support@plugable.com
Thank you for the quick response.
Here is a photo of the 2 monitors showing the discrepencies. Sorry I didn’t get the entire monitors in the photo but this should give you an idea. The right monitor is attached to displayport 1 and the left one is attached to displayport 2. I wouldn’t describe the differences as “minor” however.
Hi,
Thank you for replying back, that is definitely more than a little difference, it looks like the brightness may be incorrectly adjusted on the right display.
Just to confirm, when swapping two of these displays, they are being unplugged at the back of the docking station and then swapped ( rather than swapping the cable at the back of the display ) and both displays are showing the same darker image when connected to the “Display 1” output on the docking station?
I recommend we first ensure Apple Night Shift ( blue light reduction mode ) is disabled on the system, following Apple’s support article here to disable this feature ( https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/change-night-shift-settings-mchl9d976e85/mac ).
Next I recommend checking within the Apple Display Settings for a brightness setting on this display:
Please let me know if this display has a separate brightness adjustment within the macOS display settings ( the two DisplayLink controlled external displays will not have any separate adjustments ).
Thank you,
Pat
Plugable Technology
support@plugable.com
Yes, when changing the displays, I’m unplugging them at the back of the docking station. Any display attached to Displayport 1 is darker.
Night shift is off.
There is no separate brightness adjustment within the mad OS display when attached to the Displaylink external display. The only controls are internal to the monitor and have been adjusted to be the same on all monitors.
Thanks again.
Hi Ron,
Thank you for the additional details, I am not sure what would be causing this behavior and I would like to start the warranty replacement process to see if this also affects displays connected to a pretested replacement docking station.
To start the replacement process please send an email to ‘support@plugable.com’ with the subject line ‘Ticket #426008 - Attention Pat’, and we can start the replacement process from here.
Thank you, and I apologize for this inconvenience.
Pat
Plugable Technology
support@plugable.com
Thanks for the offer. Your last email commenting about the display port 1 being controlled by the Apple M3 graphics controller got me to thinking. I calibrated the laptop display and tried a different color profile and was able to acheive a much better picture. It’s not perfect yet but much better than it was. I don’t know that this would explain the poor performance I experienced before but am will to continue to try to fine tune it. If youi still think a replacement is in order, I’m willing to go down that road too.
Hi,
Thank you for relying back, may I ask what the current color profiles are for the three displays?
The DisplayLink controlled external displays may not respond the same way to color profiles as the “Display 1” Alt-Mode controlled external display. Normally setting the monitor’s default color profile ( which is normally the default and generally does not have any adjustments applied ) should have all three displays looking very similar. However if the profile is set to one of Apple’s built-in profiles then it may cause more of an effect on the Alt-Mode display than on the DisplayLink controlled external displays.
Thank you,
Pat
Plugable Technology
support@plugable.com
I’m currently using a custom color profile created using Datacolor Spyder X2 on all three monitors attached to the plugable device. However, all of the other Color profiles in settings seem to mimic the iniital issues I had with the color differences between the Display 1 Alt-Mode controlled external displays. On the display in the Macbook Pro and is the reason why I choose a custom profile. I have it set to the Apple Display (P3-600 nits). The built in profile “Color LCD” used in other Macbooks is not an option on my M3 Pro.
Hi,
I apologize for my delayed reply.
Thank you for the additional details, the DisplayLink software on the computer does not support custom color profiles or color calibration, it should be possible to tune the “Display 1” connected display to match those connected to “Display 2” and “Display 3” however if your workflow requires having calibrated displays ( for example video editing, 2D or 3D graphics etc ) then this docking station may not be capable of meeting those needs.
For most users setting all three displays to their default color profiles ( normally with the name of the display ) will enable very similar color and brightness for all three displays, however if the default profile in macOS modifies the color profile this would only affect the “Display 1” connected display leaving the others as-if they had no color profiles applied at all.
The color profile “Color LCD” and “Apple Display” are tuned for the computer’s built-in LCD screen and would not display the same on the three external displays. I would expect to see a color profile like “Samsung S24E450” or similar in the list which should be the default for these displays.
Please let me know if you see a color profile specifically for these Samsung displays.
It may be possible to create an unaltered color profile ( with no alterations to the default RGB output ) using the macOS ColorSync Utility following Apple’s instructions here ( https://support.apple.com/guide/colorsync-utility/change-a-devices-color-profile-csync005/mac ) a clean custom profile may provide the best color match without manually tuning the “Display 1” connected display to match the other two.
Please let me know if this helps.
Than you,
Pat
Plugable Technology
Support@plugable.com
Thanks for the reply. I’ll give your suggestions a try.
FYI, I only opted to try calibrating the monitors after I had issues with the color output of the displays. What I sent in iniitally was immediatly after installing the Plugable device.
The monitors are close enough now for what I do. Thanks for your help.
Hi,
Thank you for replying back, and you are very welcome, I am glad I could help.
Please let me know if you have any additional questions, or if there is anything else I can do to help, and have a great day!
Pat
Plugable Technology
support@plugable.com
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