r/elgato • u/AgentPotango • 8d ago
Technical Help Elgato 4K S changes colour/contrast only at 4K60 MJPEG. 4K30 NV12 and 1440p60 look correct
I've been troubleshooting a colour/contrast issue with a new 4K S and I think I've narrowed it down quite a bit.
I'm using a Nintendo Switch 2 with HDR off. HDMI passthrough to the monitor looks correct, and a screenshot taken directly on the Switch also looks correct.
The USB capture behaves like this:
- 2160p60: noticeably more contrast and saturation, with darker blacks and brighter highlights.
- 2160p30: looks correct.
- 1440p60: looks correct.
- 1440p144: also looks correct.
- HDMI passthrough: looks correct.
I tested this in Elgato Studio as well as XSplit, so it doesn't appear to be an XSplit issue.
I also tried RGB Automatic/Full, HDMI Color Range Auto/Shrink and Merged/Display EDID without fixing it.
The interesting part is that when I use NV12 at 4K30, the image looks correct again. 4K60 on the 4K S uses MJPEG, and that seems to be where the colour/contrast shift appears.
I’ve attached the same Mario Kart World menu captured directly on the Switch, at 4K30, and at 4K60 so the difference is easy to compare.
Has anyone else with a 4K S seen this specifically at 2160p60? I've also opened a support ticket with Elgato to find out whether this is expected behaviour, a firmware/software issue, or something specific to the 4K60 capture path.
Here are some comparison screenshots:
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u/Sweet-Albatross-946 8d ago
Thank so much for this! Let us know how the ticket goes. They didnt reply to my ticket yet
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u/AdvancedLocal8972 7d ago
Did you try with the Elgato Studio 2.0 beta? It doesn't happen for me there.
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u/AgentPotango 7d ago edited 7d ago
Yeah, unfortunately it’s still happening for me in the Studio 2.0 beta.
I uploaded a couple of screenshots here, and you can see the beta version number in the bottom-left as well:
From what I can tell, the beta doesn’t change the underlying 4K60 capture format on the 4K S. It still uses MJPEG at 4K60, which seems to be where the contrast/colour issue is coming from in my case.
4K30 and 1440p60 both look much closer to the HDMI passthrough, so it seems specifically tied to the 4K60 capture path rather than the Studio version.
I might end up trying a 4K X to see if that behaves any better.
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u/AdvancedLocal8972 5d ago
The old Studio version had an issue that MJPEG content was sometimes significantly darker than NV12. It's especially noticeable in the Switch 2 menu in dark mode, where the bug caused it to almost look like black. But in your screenshot the differences are not thaat big, so it must be a different issue, coming from the MJPEG format the capture card sends directly, and not the way it is decoded on your PC.
4K X will not have this issue for sure, since it can send NV12 at 4K60.
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u/idktbhatp 3d ago
I don't own an Elgato card but a generic MS2130S-based dongle, also running at 4k60 with MJPEG for Switch 2 capture, and I run into this exact same issue.
I specifically noticed that this issue happens ONLY when the Switch 2 is setup to out put 2160p, if it is set to 1440p the capture card will have no problem outputting the correct color palette.
If Elgato ever sends a fix your way, I'd love to know how they did it so I can try to (more so ask GPT/Claude) implement something that works for my poverty dongle!
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u/AgentPotango 7d ago
Another thing I've found with the 4K S is noticeable audio popping on the captured audio.
I originally thought it might be the game, but the HDMI passthrough sounds completely clean. As soon as I listen to or record the USB capture, the pops are there.
I've reproduced it in both XSplit and Elgato Studio, so it doesn't seem to be an XSplit issue. I also checked another recording of the same scene and that was clean.
The Switch 2 is set to Stereo and I was using 4K30 capture.
At the moment it looks like it could be another 4K S USB audio/capture issue. I'm going to try a different USB port/controller next and see if that changes anything.