Video in VLC or SMplayer is often in black and white with washed-out colors in the wrong place (translated considerably). Moreover, the last video image is often visible when a new video is started and persist as long as the new video is running. Colors have a recognizable shape (e.g. a persons clothes or face), but can be obviously incorrect (e.g. green or purples faces). This is independent of the format of the videos (mp4, mkv, wmv). Sometimes all problems disappear when a new video is started, but often only a reboot restores normal video.

Ubuntu was upgraded to 14.04 and is fully updated. Processor intel core i5-2500K cpu. gpu: amd/ati Radeon HD 7950. graphics: gallium 0.4 on AMD Tahiti. xorg xserver amd/ati display driver wrapper from xserver-xorg-video-ati.

:~$ Xorg -version

X.Org X Server 1.15.1
Release Date: 2014-04-13
X Protocol Version 11, Revision 0
Build Operating System: Linux 3.2.0-37-generic x86_64 Ubuntu
Current Operating System: Linux Mare 3.13.0-29-generic #53-Ubuntu SMP Wed Jun 4 21:00:20 UTC 2014 x86_64
Kernel command line: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-3.13.0-29-generic.efi.signed root=UUID=number ro
Build Date: 16 April 2014  01:36:29PM
xorg-server 2:1.15.1-0ubuntu2 
Current version of pixman: 0.30.2

~$ lspci | grep VGA
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Tahiti PRO [Radeon HD 7950/8950 OEM / R9 280]

Question: how to restore regular video playback?