Why are my video colors getting messed up?

Question

Since around October last year I've been having an on going issue with my HTPC where the color on video will randomly get messed up when watching full screen videos. The display ends up getting heavy pink or green tint to it or the colors appear to be inverted.

For example:

It seems to happen most frequently when a video transitions between scenes or when entering/exiting full screen playback. It doesn't always happen however. Player software seems to be irrelevant, some seem to be more or less prone to it happening, but none are immune.

Turning the TV off and on again, or switching inputs will get the colors back to normal. Some players seem to detect this though and stop playback with no resume option. I presume for HDPC/DRM reasons. Sometimes after being fixed it will simply glitch again in a few minutes, other times it'll finish the video just fine (and typically glitch after leaving full screen mode).

What I've tried

• Complete format and re-install of windows 10
• New HDMI cables
• New graphics card
• Tried different HDMI ports
• Cables are not loose

Setup details

• Windows 10 Pro
• Player software: VLC, WinDVD, Chrome (Netflix, HBO-GO, Youtube, Plex, etc).
• GPU: ASUS GT 1030 with driver version 390.77
• CPU: AMD FX-6100
• Motherboard: ASUS M5A78L-M/USB3
• TV: Vizio E470-A0

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At this point it seems like it is must be a TV problem, but I'm skeptical of that for two reasons. First, the TV's menu system seems to be unaffected. It still displays properly if opened when the problem occurs. Second, I also have a Roku (and previously a cable box) attached to the TV and neither of those have had any issues with their output.

Any ideas as to what is causing this, or what else to check for or try?

Answer 1

The solution to this problem seems to be to switch to AMD cards rather than Nvidia. I swapped in a AMD R7 250 and have been running it for a few weeks now without a single issue.

Prior to October when the issue started I had also been running an AMD card (HD 6570), which was swapped to a spare Nvidia card after it appeared to have stopped working.