Microsoft acknowledges colour issues with Xbox 360 update

By Fred Dutton Published 20 January, 2012

Says it's working on a fix.

Microsoft has acknowledged a problem with colour output in video playback following the recent Xbox 360 dashboard update.

A post on Major Nelson's Twitter feed stated that a fix is currently in the works.

"We're aware of the colorspace issue w/ some Xbox video apps & are working on a fix. No ETA yet but we hope to have an update soon," he wrote.

As addressed in a recent Digital Foundry investigation, the new update appears to force video content to run at limited range RGB levels, resulting in colours appearing washed out, with blacks becoming grey.

A more in-depth analysis of the final update also revealed that 1080p video files were being downscaled to 720p - something that never happened on the old NXE dash, and which curiously didn't seem to affect Microsoft's own Zune marketplace movie rentals.

Thus far there has been no comment from Microsoft on whether the resolution issue will be corrected.

Engadget also references reports that HDMI output through the updated console sees HDCP authentication problems with certain TVs, affecting video output.

Picture of Fred.

About Fred Dutton

Fred Dutton is Eurogamer's US news editor, based in Washington DC.

Read more articles from Fred by visiting the Fred Dutton archive page.

You may also like...

Comments (43) Latest comment 4 months ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • SheffAl #1 4 months ago

    Should have been sooner, but hey, it's good they are working on a fix.

  • Quixz #2 4 months ago

    @SheffAl

    I think they waited till they were close to finding a fix.

  • Triggerhappytel #3 4 months ago

    Wow, only took, what, a month to acknowledge the problem... (!)

  • RoOhDaMite #4 4 months ago

    Now they better give us some free zuneplayer movie streaming.
    Can't believe they made me pay 500 MS points for streaming their highly advertised yet broken movies.

    "Only took 4 comments for someone to start bleating on about how we should all get free stuff in compensation.

    I weep for the future."

    Well, I've been waiting for this the whole month.

    I spent good money on this, and it ruined christmas Eve for me, because instead of enjoying the film I was busy rubbing my eyes.

    So yes, I do expect compensation.

    "@RoOhDaMite "I spent good money on this, and it ruined christmas Eve for me"

    Ruined Christmas? RUINED! They must be some happy festivities in your household...."

    Yes, that's the way I feel about it. I tried to readjust colours and brightness untill my eyes started aching.
    Certainly not the experience I was expecting to get out of my christmaspresent.
    Edited by RoOhDaMite at 20/01/12 @ 16:12

  • StooMonster #5 4 months ago

    Fixing the colourspace, good.

    Chances of fixing downscaled 1080p media to 720p for non-Zune, zilch.

  • nickthegun #6 4 months ago

    Not quite the "microsoft acknowledge 'its utter shit' issues with the 360 update" everyone was hoping for.

  • CaptainQuint #7 4 months ago

    Shame they haven't found it in their hearts to acknowledge how shite the new dash is in general.

  • SeanBeansGravyBoat #8 4 months ago

    Only took 4 comments for someone to start bleating on about how we should all get free stuff in compensation.

    I weep for the future.

  • tomjoadsghost #9 4 months ago

    I've actually been happier with the 360 since i turned autostart on, i used to enjoy a browse through the dashboard before i played a game but its kind of nice having the thing just working as an old fashioned dedicated games machine.

    my name is tomjoadsghost and my life has been enhanced by the latest dashboard update.

  • GAmbrose #10 4 months ago

    @tomjoadsghost

    Long name.

  • cyacomini #11 4 months ago

    Not sure if anyone else has this problem (?)

    Since the dashboard update my 360 takes an age to shutdown properly. My 5.1 system can only switch audio output once the optical channel has been released - but the 360 'holds' the channel whilst shutting down. I can hear the fans and the green light on the front of the console flashes - total shutdown time is about 10 seconds.

    Am I the only one?

  • weejok #12 4 months ago

    They don't acknowledge and people bitch...they do acknowledge and work on a fix and people bitch.... *yawn* :(

  • mrmonkey101 #13 4 months ago

    @cyacomini nope my xbox slim is the same, some times takes more than 10 seconds to shut down

  • Jimjamyaha #14 4 months ago

    @cyacomini Nope, that happens to me too. I have a Xbox 360 slim too.

  • cyacomini #15 4 months ago

    I don't have a slim but using 'ye olde' Elite console - glad I'm not the only one though, been driving me up the wall for weeks now.

  • mastablasta #16 4 months ago

    I thought the delay was due to uploading to the cloud servers when you switch it off. My internet lights flash like crazy until it shuts down.

  • telboy007 #17 4 months ago

    @mastablasta Yes, this. The 360 will do a sync of cloud saves and your profile after you shut down.

    Of course, this is different from when you get it to do background downloads as you can enable/disable - this is automatic and I don't think you can stop the profile sync. Not that you'd want to.

    Edit2: Sorry need to clarify that a bit - Cloud saves and profile sync are 2 separate things, cloud saves are turn on/off'able as well. :)
    Edited by telboy007 at 20/01/12 @ 16:16

  • asharkman #18 4 months ago

    @telboy007 Not sure if it is, I haven't enabled cloud saving yet.
    I figured it was just cooling itself down before it switched off like the way your car fan will keep running after you switch it off.

  • cyacomini #19 4 months ago

    @telboy007 I don't have cloud saving enabled on my console though as I only ever use one machine.

  • Britesparc Verified Creative, ITV #20 4 months ago

    If we're talking about weird issues post-dash-update, I've noticed some games crashing on startup now - or, at least, Arkham City does. I think it's if I try to start the game too quickly, eg before Kinect has finished setting itself up, or too soon after shutting down another app. I don't get red lights or anything, it's just like it hangs on a black screen.

    Anyway, it's intermittent and not often enough to irritate me... yet.

  • SlightlyOld&Grumpy #21 4 months ago

    @cyacomini The delay is the profile sync that was introduced in this dash (not the cloud save sync although that has the same effect). it allows you to use the new profile sync on another console.

  • evild_edd #22 4 months ago

    @RoOhDaMite "I spent good money on this, and it ruined christmas Eve for me"

    Ruined Christmas? RUINED! They must be some happy festivities in your household....

  • Der_tolle_Emil #23 4 months ago

    If their xbox division is anything like their server division they usually announce that they are working on a fix when they already have one but need to test it. It's a questionable strategy but the good news is that once a fix is announced it doesn't take long until it gets released (might be different in regards to the xbox dash though).

  • telboy007 #24 4 months ago

    @cyacomini @asharkman

    Cloud saves =/= Profile sync
    Edited by telboy007 at 20/01/12 @ 15:14

  • Machiavellian #25 4 months ago

    Wow, only took, what, a month to acknowledge the problem... (!)

    To be honest, most companies do not acknowledge a problem unless forced. They either fix it or do not but most problems you find out about are usually when you perform an update and they list the fixes.

  • tomjoadsghost #26 4 months ago

    @Britesparc mine was doing that on arkham city too, it was regularly not working until the third attempt.

    it seems to have (touch wood) remedied itself the last few times i've played it though i am still getting a lot more disc noise for the first few minutes than what i would expect for a game i have installed.

  • norsende #27 4 months ago

    Microsoft. Xbox.

    Hahahahahahahah.

  • Zerobob #28 4 months ago

    It's quite simple. As the 1080p to 720p downscaling still hasn't be addressed, or even acknowledged, I'll be buying a PS4 when the next generation of consoles come around as I know I'll at least be able to rely on it to playback my media content and get value for money, unlike my current 360.

    The 360's video playback is already noticeably quite poor compared to my dedicated blu-ray player, PC and PS3. It also can't play .mkv files which is annoying, and now there are even more issues after the Metro update. Microsoft simply cannot be trusted when it comes to video media.

  • lucky_jim #29 4 months ago

    Props to DF for helping to force Microsoft's hand on this.

  • Amistat #30 4 months ago

    So uh... Can I have my real dashboard back yet? The joke one is getting kinda old now...


    ...please?

  • cloudskipa #31 4 months ago

    ...as certain people suggested. Will this be enough to silence the haters? Of course not.

  • cloudskipa #32 4 months ago

    Makes me laugh how in that ridiculous article MS were accused of borking 1080p output for competitive reasons and everyone took that comment and blew it out of proportion when it was a total lie. Now what do you have to say?

    Let's face it, EG didn't force anyone's hand, they were working on it anyway. All you idiots who were throwing your toys out of your pram and accusing MS of all sorts of ill-doing look really silly right about now.

  • asho #33 4 months ago

    said it before Microsoft are wankers.

  • ubergine #34 4 months ago

    I find it very hard to respect taking 1-2 months to even acknowledge an issue they've known about for even longer than that. How can it possibly be this difficult to fix?

  • Okamiwolf #35 4 months ago

    Until the announce and RELEASE a fix for the resolution downgrade as well, this issue will continue to plague them. Very disappointed that their last dashboard update actually made their console worse. Makes PS3 look more attractive as a player of game trailers all of a sudden.

  • Atolm #36 4 months ago

    For fuck's sake, did it have to be this difficult to make a formal acknowledgement? Anyway, somewhat glad that this has at last made it to the higher echelons 'to do' list.

  • Atolm #37 4 months ago

    @cloudskipa You ignorant fuck!

  • RoOhDaMite #38 4 months ago

    Wow, so I get negged beyond viewing threshold level because I speak up for my rights as a consumer.

    They just admitted publicly their movieservice is broken. Xbox Live is a closed system, they easily could trace back those gamertags that are concerned and give them a refund or at least allow them to stream that very same content for free one more time.

    I'm not asking for much.
    Edited by RoOhDaMite at 21/01/12 @ 08:28

  • MeBrains #39 4 months ago

    @Eurocensor it could have been better. some others took less than a week to admit major problems and it was an outrage... :rolleyes:

  • Biker_Bob_1971 #40 4 months ago

    Post deleted at 16:59:10 06-02-2012

  • amcd28 #41 4 months ago

    @Britesparc
    My 4 year 'box did the same thing on several games (old and new).

    It also did the same when my son went to play Spiderman 3, but I was happy about the black screen, as the game's utter shite :-)

  • henhowc #42 4 months ago

    @tomjoadsghost I believe this issue occurs when you install the game on your HD. Something to do with the new disc copy protection?

  • henhowc #43 4 months ago

    @cloudskipa Without the DF investigation bringing more attention to the matter, MS could have easily not commented and if a fix was coming, just quietly roll it out along with whatever planned future updates they had in the pipeline. The only thing we can say is that enough people probably complained where they decided that making a public comment was going to get them better PR than trying to keep mum about it (regardless of whether or not a fix was being worked on)

    And the colorspace issues is entirely separate from the 1080p -> 720p issue. Which MS has NOT commented on yet.