Colors are washed out since TV14

pablomax · November 2019

Since installing TV 14, I have noticed that the colors on the remote computer are really washed out.

It is though the brightness is turned all the way up and the contrast is way down. I was not able to find any way to adjust this though. On the previous version, things looked fine.

I am on Windows 10 fast ring and it has prosisted through several versions of the OS.

As you can see from the screen shot, it is hard to see the screen. I did try the **third party content** and that looked fine.

WASHED OUT.PNG

jespertheend · May 2020

I'm having the same issue. My pc is connected to a hdr tv via hdmi. When I disable 'Play HDR games and apps' from the windows display settings, this issue is resolved.

Not sure if you guys are using the Desktop Duplication API, but if so, this might be useful: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/56797583/how-to-capture-hdr-framebuffer-in-windows

JeanK · November 2019

Hello @pablomax

Thank you for your message.

I recommend you to try to update the graphic drivers of your devices. This might correct this colour change.

You will find all the information you need in Microsoft's article here: Update drivers in Windows 10.

I hope this could help.

Cheers,

Jean

natesimon204 · January 2020

I have an RTX2060 with the latest drivers and the issue still persists. Anything else we can try?

JeanK · January 2020

Hello @natesimon204

Thank you for your message.

Are you talking about the remote side or about your local side of the connection?

The drivers have to be updated on the remote side, as TeamViewer captures the screen of the remote side. The hardware you are using on the local side is, in this case irrelevant.

Cheers,

Jean

natesimon204 · January 2020

@JeanK

Remote side is washed out, no matter what i connect from. I am using HDR10, which displays great on TV.

Drivers are up to date.

I tried to install the monitor driver under advanced and it fails, maybe that has something to do with it?

RDP works fine.

JeanK · February 2020

Hello @natesimon204

Thank you for your message.

When you are using TeamViewer, is the monitor turned on?

Cheers,

Jean

jespertheend · May 2020

I'm having the same issue. My pc is connected to a hdr tv via hdmi. When I disable 'Play HDR games and apps' from the windows display settings, this issue is resolved.

Not sure if you guys are using the Desktop Duplication API, but if so, this might be useful: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/56797583/how-to-capture-hdr-framebuffer-in-windows

JeanK · May 2020

Hello @jespertheend,

Welcome to the TeamViewer Community! ?
Thanks a lot for sharing your solution and this piece of information. ?

@pablomax @natesimon204 does this also resolve the issue for you?

Best,

Jean

pablomax · May 2020

was also how I fixed it

SD777 · May 2021

I've been using Teamviewer with no major issues, the remote PC I'm using has Windows 10 with HDR enabled, again no issues prior to this. I'm not sure if it's due to Nvidia, or if it's just a coincidence, but since installing the newest 466.67 Nvidia drivers on my GTX3070 when remoting into that PC with HDR enabled all the colors are very washed out and incorrect, I can barely read any text, etc. The remote PC has the screen off, but this hasn't changed from a week ago when everything was working perfectly. Would be great if you guys could look into it, as it is it's not usable and I am not going to turn HDR off every time I have to remote into my PC.

Ronzino · April 2022

Dear Teamviewer, when do you think to fix this ?

The problem is well know and general and not related to teamviewer, BUT teamviewer shall implement its own solution.

If the remote computer has HDR color enabled, then, the local computer MUST implement HDR TONE MAPPING, as the color tones of the remote computer IS NOT THE SAME of the local one so the colors result washed out.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tone_mapping

you can experience the same exact thing if you take a screen while gaming an HDR videogame or playing an HDR video on: screenshooting pipeline of windows ( i guess, the same that teamviewer use) is not capable to take screenshot of HDR content, so screenshots always result washed out.

To fix this a color remap shell be manually invoked by the code developer of the application.

vnicolici · November 2022

I have the same problem. I'm on the latest Nvidia drivers.

Colin_posts_here · January 2023

Similar issue for me still in Jan 2023 (maybe the same issue): for monitors that use HDR, colors are washed out, text hard to read, especially certain foreground-background color combinations. It seems like because TeamViewer, unlike Remote Desktop, which doesn't have this problem, uses the existing monitor drivers and poorly converts the remote HDR palette to the local SDR palette.

Colin_posts_here · January 2023

@JeanK, this is still a problem in January, 2023. TV fails to display HDR host displays correctly on non-HDR clients. The solution to "turn off HDR" as some have suggested will work, but it assumes that it's OK to just disable HDR on the host, which seems a foolish assumption. Aside from it not applying to any support scenarios where many high-end home users will have HDR turned on, it also requires turning off a wonderful feature for those of us who paid for HDR monitor (or television) and graphics card specifically to use HDR when working directly at the host system.

Another work-around that is only partially effective and requires change on the host, is to have the host running in Dark Mode. In dark mode, the text remains readable, because as the original poster described, the effect is like cranking the brightness and turning down the contrast, which destroys anything on a light background, not so bad for light text on a dark background.

HDR support is built into Windows 11. More and more home users are purchasing HDR displays and will have Windows 11 running with HDR turned on. TeamViewer needs to either map the colors better as Ronzino posted about the tone mapping, or provide an option to select the color bit-depth on the host, just like it currently allows users to change the host's screen resolution, or both. Personally, if TV only does one of these, I would prefer the bit-depth selection, because this also gives a way to reduce bandwidth usage -- there is rarely a need to use 30-bit color for a remote session, even if I have an HDR monitor at the local end, I'd be perfectly happy with 24-bit or even 16-bit color to make the session faster and reduce data usage where a metered connection is involved.

The_ShadowWw · April 2023

I have the same issue, when the remote machine monitor HDR, and local machine I am trying to to do remote session from those not have a HDR monitor, I get a overbridged image, that I cannot see grids in excel

Remote host: windows 11, TV 15 with HDR monitor

Local Host: Android 13, TV 15 HDR compatible phone, non HDR monitor

LugsTV · June 2023

I've got the exact same problem and it has been ongoing for a long time. I use HDR at both ends, with Windows 11 and Nvidia RTX GPU's also in common each side.

This is TeamViewer's issue and it needs addressing as the adoption of HDR displays becomes more prominent. I'm not prepared to disable it for the sake of this.