Hue color & Contrast way off on Video apps.

[Levis Bakalinsky]

Hey Guys,
I've been having a problem with the Hue and contrast being way of on Ubuntu. After performing a basic Study and repeating the process several times, I have found out what has been causing the problem on several of my computers.

Video Players: VLC, Totem, etc.

So...
If I install a fresh copy of Ubuntu on a Sony VAIO VGN-FS640/W, nearly everything other then the the Fn keys and brightness works on it.

If you play a the experience Ubuntu video, the colors of the video are normal. So then we the users start installing different codecs to play our Video's and DVD's. People tend to install the "W32-DVD codecs", and the "Ubuntu Restricted Extras and Multimedia codecs" Some users install these codecs via synaptic while others use Automatix. After installation of these codecs, the video Hue and Contrast is way off and nearly impossible to set back to its original settings. What I mean by the hue and contrast being way off, is that the colors are either too orange, or green, or blue.

So here is what I did to fix my video problem. I removed all my Video players, then removed the codecs, then deleted the directories associated with my home folder. Then i restored my original x11.conf file. Then i reinstalled my Media players and tested if all works well. And it did.

What I noticed is that this problem only occurs with user accounts already made. For example, if you create a new user account, you won't have any problems playing a DVD. While if you go back to the original account which installed the application, you see the bug. Also, I started comparing the original X11 configuration file and the backup one, and haven't yet found any differences between the too.

I know this is poorly written, but I don't have time to go more into detail. I'll add more over the weekend. If anyone has any questions, please send me an e-mail or just post back here.

[Levis Bakalinsky (lbakalinsky-deactivatedaccount)]

I forget to add one interesting detail.

I was struggling for a fix with this bug in Totem, so i decided to install VLC. At first I didn't have any problems with the application, but when I removed Totem and all the codecs that were installed earlier, VLC started to emulate the same bug. So thats why I don't really think the X11 config is effected in any way. The reason why I keep up bringing up the X11 is due to the fact that several people have posted online trying to fix the darn thing.

Regards,
Levis Bakalinsky

[Pedro Villavicencio (pedro)]

Thanks for the report, your bug is not really clear... are you using totem-gstreamer or totem-xine? Which video card do you have? Are you using totem? Do you have visual effects enabled? Does it happen without them? Which version of Ubutnu are you using?

[Ari (ari-reads)]

Same problem here. VLC, Totem-gstreamer, Mplayer all have messed up colors (like super-saturated); no problems with this before the upgrade.
Graphic chipset plain Intel, xorg driver is intel. Desktop effects are enabled; disabling them from the GUI and playing the video shows the same problem.

[Levis Bakalinsky (lbakalinsky-deactivatedaccount)]

Hi,
Sorry it took me so long to respond. Pedro, I am using a Sony VAIO VGN-FS630/ W laptop with a Sony VAIO VGN-FS640/W motherboard. I have provided the links of my computer below. As mentioned before, this bug is noted on any video player that runs under Ubuntu 7.10, such as VLC, Gnome, Mplayer, etc... Also I have enabled desktop effects and don't have any noticeable graphics problem on my system.

The only solution I can find is to uninstall all media plugins, restore the original X11 conf file, and delete all folders that have anything to do with totem in the home directory. Then if you install VLC fresh, everything works.

Regards,
Levis
is no

Links to system info:
http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/model-documents.pl?mdl=VGNFS630
http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/model-documents.pl?mdl=VGNFS640

[tuharsky (tuharsky)]

Possibly the same problem: All videos played using Totem, are nearly grey. Intel 945 graphics on Compaq 6310.

[tuharsky (tuharsky)]

I must tell, I haven't tried removing the drivers etc.. Only if necessarry I'll do.

[Levis Bakalinsky (lbakalinsky-deactivatedaccount)]

Hi,
Is there anything that I can do, to get this bug looked at again. Anything I should post at all?

[Jarno Suni (jarnos)]

Does it help if you change the video driver/plugin/output_module from default/auto?
http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=2896078&postcount=2
Don't know how to do it for totem-xine, though.

[J. Pablo Fernández (pupeno)]

It seems I'm having a similar problem, except that Totem is the only player in my case, that has it. Other players don't have this color problems. I've tried adjusting the hue and other values of the totem configuration, but when I fixed one color, another one went worst and so on. I'm attaching a screenshot. I can attach a screenshot of Kaffeine showing that it is ok if you want.

[Sagar Pandya (sagargp)]

i get the same problem in all video players (totem, vlc, mplayer, even tvtime!). i've managed to fix the problem in vlc by changing the output from "xvideo" to "X11" and mplayer works fine if i use "gmplayer" instead. with normal mplayer, i get this message when i play a video:

VO: [xv] 480x360 => 480x360 Planar YV12

however, with gmplayer (which has normal color) i get this message:

VO: [x11] 480x360 => 480x360 Planar YV12
[swscaler @ 0x8934890]SwScaler: using unscaled yuv420p -> rgb32 special converter

i guess gmplayer uses X11. perhaps that 2nd line is X11 output? this started happening suddenly. i was watching TV in tvtime, and then suddenly the colors changed. i think it was possibly just after i installed some codecs in totem.

[Mantas Kriaučiūnas (mantas)]

Why status of this bug is Incomplete? AFAIK all needed information is submitted, so, please change status of this bug to Confirmed.

Btw, this bug could be related (but not duplicate, as all video players have problems in this bug) to bug #32963 (Totem overrides XV_CONTRAST/XV_SATURATION to wrong values - Xv movies on i810/i945 have horrible colour/gamma).

[Pedro Villavicencio (pedro)]

not totem issue if you get the same with other players aswell, reassigning.

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

[This is an automatic notice.]

We'd like to forward your bug upstream, however upstream requires
that you first test it against their newer driver code.

To save you the effort of building the driver from source, we've built
packages for the driver and its new dependencies.

So you have a couple options:

 1. Download and test .debs for intrepid, from:
     https://edge.launchpad.net/~intel-gfx-testing/+archive

 -or-

 2. Download and test the Jaunty alpha-2 (or newer) Live CD,
     (which includes a beta of the new xserver 1.6 as well).
     See http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/releases/9.04/ for ISOs

Thanks ahead of time! You can simply reply to this email to report your
findings.

P.S., if you wish to forward your bug upstream yourself, please follow
these directions to do so:
  http://intellinuxgraphics.org/how_to_report_bug.html

[rich_wicks (rich-wicks)]

I know what the bug is - at least for me.

I have an NVIDIA card. In the NVIDIA X Settings panel, under X Server XVideo Settings, the HUE needs to be adjusted from 0 to something around 177.

Adjust that value, and you're done.

[eunitron (rmilloy)]

Just to add some info. I am running 8.10 64-bit on a t61p thinkpad. I started experiencing these problems when installing real player and the extra codecs. It happened in vlc, totem, mplayer, real player, etc... For me real player was what messed up the settings. I was able to duplicate the problem twice. As a user above stated in vlc if I changed the video output from default it would play normal. What it was for me was in the nvidia x settings panel under x server xvideo the hue needs to be changed as the user above stated but not to 180 - the system default is 0 so you need to reset is to 0 or 360. It was 180 when I entered the panel.

[Brian (lavagolemking)]

I am having a nearly identical bug, short of one detail, so I'm assuming it's the same thing. Above attached screenshot is accurate. The difference for me is that this only happens immediately after anything using mplayer (such as totem) is launched. After that, and until the next time the operating system is restarted, anything that is not Flash experiences these symptoms. For example, if I launch VLC and open a video, it appears normal. If I launch Totem on the video, its colors are severely offset. If I then (without restarting) launch VLC on this same file a second time, VLC has the same offset as Totem. Identical results from running mplayer from the command line, and it affects all files until the following restart. A bit annoying because my media controls don't work on VLC...

Relevant system specs:
Ubuntu 8.04
MPlayer version: 1.0rc2-4.2.3
Dell XPS M1530
Intel Core 2 Duo T5800
NVIDIA GeForce 8400M G
Additional specs available on request.

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

[Still waiting for confirmation feedback on Jaunty from Levis...]

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

We're closing this bug since it is has been some time with no response from the original reporter. However, if the issue still exists please feel free to reopen with the requested information. Also, if you could, please test against the latest development version of Ubuntu, since this confirms the bug is one we may be able to pass upstream for help.

[Psinetic (psinetic-deactivatedaccount)]

Confirmed problem also exists in the newest release Karmic Koala (9.10) Beta. I don't really know what other information you need, the bug seems to be to be rather universal, so telling my system settings etc. etc. don't seem to make any difference when you have so many people with such various systems with the same problem. Nonetheless, problem persists in the beta.

[enedene (enedene)]

After upgrade of one of my computers to Karmic I have the same problem.

[enedene (enedene)]

This is strange, I reinstalled all the codecs and vlc player and it started working, not right away but after few tries... It seems that upgrade hasn't gone smoothly but is's important that it works now.

[RyuTesla (ryutesla)]

I am experiencing hue shift in all my video players. The hue shift makes skin color look a slightly greenish blue, close to cyan. That which should be dark red becomes dark green.

I primarily use VLC, but the same problem is in Movie Player and MPlayer. In VLC, I adjusted the hue to correct the issue, but the issue in inconsistent. When I start a video, the issue may or may not be active. If I fullscreen the video, if the issue is inactive, it then may activate, or if it is active, it may stop, or there will be no change. I also get the same result when I skip ahead in the video, forcing me to be constantly turning off and on the hue adjustment.

I was thinking of doing a clean install of v9.10, but from the comments on this thread, doing so won't fix the problem.

Don't know if this is a contributing factor, but I am using the NVIDIA graphics driver v185.

[Alexander van Loon (avanloon)]

Might this bug be a duplicate of bug #409640 ? The very easy fix I found there fixed it for me. I also noticed that videos were blue after upgrading to Karmic.

[john (no2498)]

this is odd i get good videos
i can not change any settings in the web cam programs
all but cheese its ok
i can change them in totem and cheese
im on karmic 910 2.6.31.17

my other computer
804 hardy ubuntu server 2.6.24-26 an totem wont wont let me change settings this i think just started

[narcelio (narcelio)]

Same problem here, but only on tvtime.

My workaround is just open "NVIDIA X Server Settings" at System/Administration menu, to fix hue for a while.

[kevin.quiggle (kevin-quiggle)]

I am experiencing the same issue on Ubuntu 10.04. As noted in comment #25, simply opening "NVidia X Server Settings" (without changing any settings) temporarily fixes the problem (that is, colors are corrected, and stay corrected for some time. The problem seems to occur randomly; however, I have noticed that the problem frequently re-occurs when I have been opening VOB files, after which I see a marked blue hue in either Movie Player or VLC until I perform the work-around.

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

This bug is accumulating me-too comments however for X bugs it's required to file Xorg.0.log, dmesg, and other such files that aid in diagnosing problems. I think it would be better for individuals still experiencing this issue in natty to file new bug reports with this data.

You can do this easily by running the command 'ubuntu-bug xorg'. Everything will be automatically collected and filed for you.

From reviewing the description, it sounds like the video settings are being adjusted by certain video player applications, and/or being tweaked through various configuration tools, and settings are not being persisted correctly. Check your configuration files.