The excitement surrounding the Android 6.0 Marshmallow software update is seeing a setback as Nexus users are complaining of experiencing muted display colors after installing the OS.
Users have taken to the Google Nexus help forum to express their ire. The issue plaguing those who have updated to Android 6.0 Marshmallow is colors getting washing out when seeing a video on their Android handset or the set-top box.
Users are complaining on forums such as XDA and Reddit that all the blacks now look like light grey and the issue only manifests when one is playing a video. The apps or the UI is not affected after the update to Android Marshmallow.
"After updating my Nexus Player to Android 6.0, I'm noticing a washout of colors when videos are playing — meaning that as soon as a video begins (either YouTube, Netflix, Archos or any really), the blacks in the video become dark gray. As you pause / return to main screen, the colors shift back to deep black. This issue is present on 6.0 release version and preview versions. It's not present on 5.0 or 5.1.1. What can I do to fix it?" says one user.
"As soon as the player starts playing a video (no matter which - either Netflix, Cast video, Archos, etc.) the black color gets washed out and gray instead of black. The color shift is noticable only while playing a video. The issue is reproducable on all Android 6.0 preview releases including the final relesase - MRA58K build," complains another user.
The issue is also plaguing Nexus Players that run Android TV 6.0.
"Same problem on two Nexus Players with Android TV 6.0. Dark movies are unwatchable — darks are too light...washed out as others say. Only occurs during video playback. Not affecting interface of OS or apps," says another user.
A user even posted screenshots of the issue showing the comparison between a Nexus Player running on Android 5.1.1 Lollipop and the same device on Android 6.0 Marshmallow.
Users of the Nexus 5X and the Nexus 6P are also affected by the issue even though their handsets shipped with Android 6.0 Marshmallow out of the box.
It seems that the issue arises due to a reduced RGB range, which has occurred post update. The Nexus Player could have swapped from a full RGB display (0 to 255 value) to RGB Limited (16 to 325) owing to an internal setting change. This would be making the display of the "true black" distorted.
The problem seems to stem from an artificially reduced RGB range after the update. An internal setting may have switched the Nexus Player from a full RGB display (with values from 0 to 255)
A Google employee replied to the Android tracker thread and acknowledged the issue facing all three devices.
"Hey everyone, We understand the severity of this issue. It's a widespread problem impacting all Nexus Players on 6.0. We're working as fast as possible to resolve it," he assures users. "We also noticed similar problems on Nexus 6P and 5X, as reported in #14; however, those had a different root-cause. Those have been fixed internally, and will be included in a future MR."
