Pocket Duo colours: oversaturation, screen differences and Nova fixes

If colours look too strong on your Duo, first check whether the effect shows up across Android, in one emulator or on only one screen. That tells you where to look. A Nova video shows one way to lower saturation, and a Duo Lite stream reports its two screens looking different; neither was filmed on a regular Duo.

Check how far the problem extends

Use the same familiar image or game scene for each comparison, keep the room lighting and viewing angle steady, and note your starting brightness and any colour settings you’ve changed.

1. Open an ordinary image in Android, then compare it with the game. If only the game looks wrong, check its emulator’s colour filters, shaders or game profile before changing the whole display.
2. If you’ve turned on a night-light mode, colour filter or other adjustment, switch it off for the comparison, then restore it if it wasn’t the cause. Change one setting at a time.
3. On a dual-screen setup, compare the same content on each panel where your apps allow it. Note a brightness or white-tint difference separately from colours looking too intense.
4. If your firmware offers a display colour profile, note the current choice before trying another one. Menu names and options vary.

These comparisons won’t calibrate the screen. A photo can show an obvious change, but camera processing and the screen you view it on affect the result too.

What the initial Lite stream reports

In the initial Duo Lite stream, forthenext compares colours with both panels at full brightness and reports different reds and greens on each. They also swap screens partway through, so it’s unclear which panel has the stronger colour. The firmware build isn’t known, and since this is a Lite, it doesn’t tell you whether a regular Duo shows the same difference.

What the Nova video shows

In the Nova video, forthenext finds reds and greens too intense. They prefer OdinTools saturation around 0.7–0.8 and compare 1.0 with 0.7 using Super Mario All-Stars. The app on screen is OdinTools 1.3.1, and the reviewer says the setting stays after a reboot.

Those numbers are a Nova preference and haven’t been measured on a Duo. OdinTools’ own documentation targets the AYN Odin 2 and warns that firmware changes can break its methods. The Nova reviewer also gets an unsupported-device warning, and nobody has shown it working properly on a Duo.

There is a newer Nova calibration project

The video’s current description links Nova Display Calibration. Its v1.0.2 release came out after the video, so it isn’t the tool shown in the footage.

The project supplies measured SDR profiles for one specified Nova firmware and panel configuration, and other handhelds are unsupported. It needs system saturation at 100%, so don’t stack the video’s reduced-saturation setting on top. Before a firmware update or uninstalling, restore the original profile and restart; removing the APK alone leaves the profile in place.

It’s a community project for the Nova rather than a Retroid firmware fix, and neither source suggests putting its profile on a Duo.

Keep Duo, Lite and Nova results separate

Retroid lists AMOLED panels for the regular Duo and TFT panels for Duo Lite and Lite Plus, so colour results don’t carry across models. When you report colours, include the exact model, firmware and affected panel.

To check a change on your own Duo, compare the same image before and after one reversible change, and note whether both screens are affected and whether the effect also appears outside the emulator. You need a colourimeter to claim accuracy; without one, you’re choosing a look you prefer.

For missing textures or effects within a game, follow the graphics-driver comparison guide. For a blank, misplaced or tearing panel, use two-screen troubleshooting.

For optional CRT textures, LCD grids and colour effects inside an emulator, see shaders and screen effects. It includes Russ’s Nova favourites, preset save scopes and the difference between a preferred look and display calibration.