Apple TV device washed out colors.

I purchased an apple TV 4k 3rd gen Wifi model and am having a weird issue where the colors seem washed out. I have a 65 s90d Samsung i purchased last year and decided to get an apple tv to speed up processing. Upon plugging it in the Apple tv colors seem super off compared to my basic Smart Tizen OS colors. I have tried 3 different 8k rated cables tried using pass through on my receiver(JBL MA510) and even tried resetting it. I have changed settings from SDR to HDR, HDR 10+, Chroma changes, Match content on and off, Updated to latest version and have had 0 luck. SDR does look slightly better but not by much(plus much darker ofc). I am at a loss after hours of trouble shooting and research. I am around the corner from just returning it and using literally any other streaming device but don't want to due to apple tv processing typically being amazing. Any help would be amazing thank you!!!!!

Apple TV 4K, tvOS 26

Posted on Oct 16, 2025 8:31 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Oct 17, 2025 10:44 AM

  • Have you tried plugging it in to the TV directly, instead of via an AV receiver? Does that make a difference?
  • Verify that your HDMI port connection settings match for Apple TV box and TV. I would recommend to set both to YCbCr (rather than RGB).
  • Have you tried the built-in Color Balance video calibration procedure? It requires a personal iPhone with the matching account though. Calibrate video and audio on Apple TV - Apple Support. Although for me and my Samsung TV, that resulted more in better color tone (hue), rather than contrast/gamma, and the effect needed wasn’t that huge.
2 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Oct 17, 2025 10:44 AM in response to robc_

  • Have you tried plugging it in to the TV directly, instead of via an AV receiver? Does that make a difference?
  • Verify that your HDMI port connection settings match for Apple TV box and TV. I would recommend to set both to YCbCr (rather than RGB).
  • Have you tried the built-in Color Balance video calibration procedure? It requires a personal iPhone with the matching account though. Calibrate video and audio on Apple TV - Apple Support. Although for me and my Samsung TV, that resulted more in better color tone (hue), rather than contrast/gamma, and the effect needed wasn’t that huge.

Apple TV device washed out colors.

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