VLC color problem in Ubuntu 14.04 LTS
Once you launch VLC press Ctrl+P. This should open the Preferences window for you. Now select the Video tab and under Display section disable/de-select "Accelerated video output (Overlay)", this should fix the problem for you. JFYI, this happens because you may not have the exact required driver for your graphics card which in some cases gets fixed with an update or else requires you to install one of the propriety drivers available by the vendor of your video card.
This fixed my color playback related problems:
Ctrl+P for Preferences → Video → Output
Change the output value to X11 video output (XCB)
I ad the same problem and solved by disabling "overlay" in basic video setting. I'm using Ubuntu 14.04LTS, VLC 2.4.1 on ATI HD8600.