Okay, so recently I built a high end rig. For those who are curious, my original post was here:
http://techreport.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=33&t=84708&p=1143785#p1143785. Anyways, I am doing HDMI out using an HDMI port on my EVGA Geforce GTX 670 FTW to my LED 1080p Viore TV monitor. Now the issue, and I find it hard to describe so bear with me., Previously I did mini DisplayPort out from my Macbook Pro to my TV using a Mini DisplayPort to DVI adapter connected to a DVI to HDMI cable connected to the TV (complicated, I know but it worked for me). My Macbook Pro had Intel HD 4000 built in so the picture quality was absolutely stunning. I ran Windows off of it to play games and the picture quality was good. Everything look vibrant. Recently, I built a gaming rig to play high end games that I own on Steam. I finished the rig and plug it into my TV.
Installed the drivers and the first I noticed was that my GPU had a native resolution of 1280 x 720 720p. I thought it was an odd quirk but I ignored it. After using it for a while, I noticed something. The display bugged my eyes, it has never done that before when I did HDMI out using my Macbook Pro. The video quality was amazing on the Macbook Pro. With the new rig, the 1920 x 1080 60 HZ 32 bit setting I had (which was the same when I did HDMI on the Macbook Pro) looked different. The contrast was off (very subtle), the texts appeared bluer (or off black) at certain angles, and everything appeared fuzzier. I notice this especially when I am using my browser, The tabs look lower resolution and the entire screen just doesn't look as good. I don't really know how to describe this. It's just an intuitive sense that something is really off. To make sure that my vision wasn't going bad, I hooked my Macbook Pro up to my HDMI 2 port and did a comparison (videos and pictures below). The contrast is absolutely stunning. I tried doing a video but I don't think anyone can really see what I see unless they are actually here. The best example I could give you are the shots with the Task Manager and the parts involving Firefox. The Firefox on my Macbook Pro looked more vibrant where the Firefox browser on my rig looked grey and washed out. Check it out.
This one is from my gaming rig:
http://i.imgur.com/cWZ1w.jpgThis one is from my Macbook Pro
http://i.imgur.com/ESuFT.jpgThis is the taskbar on my rig
http://i.imgur.com/D0FNk.jpgThis is the taskbar on my Macbook Pro
http://i.imgur.com/4od6F.jpgThis is the Task Manager on my rig (best picture I can get)
http://i.imgur.com/d1OZh.jpgThis is the Task Manager on my Macbook Pro
http://i.imgur.com/urdOl.jpgAll in all, I tried to get the best picture for the rig where as for the Macbook Pro, I didn't try that hard. Even so, the picture quality on the Macbook Pro was far superior. This is on the same display, just switched between HDMI 1 and HDMI 2 (which is my Macbook Pro). I've searched around the internet and found that my TV should be set to PC so that it can detect that it's PC connected.MY TV monitor has no such settings and I've assumed I never needed as it worked fine with my Macbook Pro. However, since connecting my TV monitor to the Macbook Pro and the rig, I discovered one thing; the Macbook Pro power state doesn't have any effect on the monitor, that is if it is off, the monitor is unaffected. If my Macbook Pro is turned on while connected, again it does nothing. In fact, it acts just as its name entails, as a TV monitor. However, when plugged into my rig, if I turned on the rig and the monitor is off, it will turn on (the reverse is not true). I conclude then, that the rig has some control over how the monitor functions, differentiating it from the Macbook Pro. This is odd.
I should also mentioned that my Macbook Pro could not do HDMI audio out (possibly because I purchased a cheap mini DisplayPort to DVI connector). The display looks the same whether I connected it using an HDMI to HDMI or HDMI to DVI connector. Haven't tried VGA yet but I will probably soon though I'm not sure my monitor supports it (will update later, either here or in the comment). My TV monitor settings did not change between switches. My NVIDIA settings, especially display and colors, are set at default. My native video resolution is 1280 by 720, which I upped to 1920 x 1080 for 1080p resolution. I've never encountered this before. Previously, to up my Macbook Pro's resolution to 1080p, I merely had to close its built in display so it will switch to the native resolution of the TV monitor. Here, Windows explicitly tells me that 1280 x 720 is my GPU's native resolution. I'm not sure if that has to do with anything. Another thing that I should note; whenever I move from program to program (say from Steam not maximized to the desktop by minimizing Steam) the contrast changes, albeit very subtly. Using the Steam example, the contrast changes whenever I move between it and the background.
I am also including a video for people who do better with motion visual information. The video follows this format: 1) me comparing my taskbars, the rig first and then the Macbook Pro, 2) me comparing the task manager, again rig first, at different angle to highlight weird coloaration, 3) me showing the contrasting issue on the rig, 4) me changing the background on the rig to match to the on the Macbook Pro and highlighting the contrasting issue on the rig vs the Macbook Pro (don't be fooled, the contrasting issue is not present on the Macbook Pro despite what the video may show. That's just my shaky camera work and an overhead lamp).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8t6uItuQI4M&feature=youtu.be