Attn 17" MacBook Pro users: do you have screen tear with DVD playback?

[ozziegn]

I just noticed that my 17" MBP has this very annoying thing where the laptop's screen looks to be like some sort of screen tearing or what not when I'm watching a DVD.

it doesn't do this throughout the entire movie, but just randomly here and there. none the less this is a very annoying thing. do you guys think something's wrong with my display or is this normal for my type of MBP?

I've noticed it doesn't do this when I have my 24" external display hooked up.

 

[ozziegn]

I take it that no one has had this problem with their MBP?

 

[ozziegn]

okay, so I spent three hours today at my local Apple store where I showed them the screen tearing and they were able to see it first hand. they said they've never seen that before but they'd be more than glad to swap it out for another one. now mind you this will be my third MBP in less than six weeks.

okay, so we opened the new laptop and started it up. I set everything up and what do you know? it does the same thing as the other one. certain DVDs (that I brought with me) start doing the screen tearing thing really, really bad. the Apple genius was stumped and he didn't know what to do. so we then decide try a few of my DVDs on one of their 17" MBP laptops on display to see if it happened to them. obviously they acted just fine with no screen tearing.

so now he offers to give me ANOTHER laptop about twenty minutes later. by this time my blood sugar was getting low so I couldn't hang out too much longer in their store. I needed to get something to eat ASAP. so I told the Apple genius that I would hope for the best with laptop #4 and that I would set it up when I got home.

so here I am at home setting up laptop #4 and it's doing the same damn thing. I freakin' really don't understand why this is happening to me. how the heck can someone like myself receive FOUR defective MBP laptops in a row????

Apple, don't you guys test these darn things before you box them up and ship them out? this is beyond ridiculous.

 

[hsotnicaM]

I'm curious. If it was such an issue, why not open it there at the store and test it?

Seems like an odd situation that needed a better explanation.

 

[Neutral Gamer]

Wow mate, you seem to be really unlucky. I've never heard of this problem before. Maybe the store you got them from just has an unlucky batch of MBP's?

You should contact Apple(care) directly and try and get them to send you one and obviously try and get yourself at least a free iPod or something for all the hassle you seem to be going through!

It sucks to see a fellow 17" MBP owner having a bad experience and I hope Apple can sort it out for you.

 

[pcdoctor]

I'm mostly a windows user but I've heard of this happening when people upscale DVDs but not when playing them at their default resolution.
Just a thought, do you know if all four that you have used have similar serial numbers? Meaning MBPs that fall in a certain range of serial numbers have this problem.
I guess you don't have a co-worker or friend with the same model laptop.
I assume you'd try a friends or co-workers.

 

[triddent222]

What program are you using the play the DVDs? (I'll assume is DVD Player...). You said it gets worse with a particular set of DVDs, does this mean there are some DVDs that do not present this issue? Also does this happen on windowed mode as well as Full Screen Mode ? When you have your 24" ext. Monitor, is the issue absent on BOTH monitors, or just the MBP's ?

 

[ozziegn]

What program are you using the play the DVDs? (I'll assume is DVD Player...). You said it gets worse with a particular set of DVDs, does this mean there are some DVDs that do not present this issue? Also does this happen on windowed mode as well as Full Screen Mode ? When you have your 24" ext. Monitor, is the issue absent on BOTH monitors, or just the MBP's ?

this never ending problem happens with any DVD at any resolution whether it be windowed or full screened.

the weird part is that the problem isn't apparent on my 24" external display nor was it apparent today at the Apple store when we hooked up my laptop to one of their external displays.

I simply don't know anymore. half of me says I should suck it up and deal with it and the other half of me says hell no, this is a $3K laptop that should work and perform 100% flaw-free.

I really hate this. it has my stomach turned inside out.

 

[ozziegn]

okay, so I'm almost convinced that this has to be some sort of defective LCD panel issue because none of this screen tearing seems to show on any external display.

this is leading me to believe that Apple might have sent out some bad batches of 17" MBP laptops.

I think I will go to a different Apple store and try my luck with one of their laptops. maybe it will be from a different batch and that will do the trick.

 

[mikeheenan]

I just got a 17" 1920 rez MBP and when I watch DVD's I dont notice anything out of the ordinary. Can you describe the "tearing" better? When I had a HP laptop earlier this year (high end model from costco) it played dvd's fine for a while but then it started to have this weird clear line glitch towards the top half of the screen every so often no matter what dvd. I dont know if that was something similar to what happened to you?

 

[OdduWon]

okay, so I'm almost convinced that this has to be some sort of defective LCD panel issue because none of this screen tearing seems to show on any external display.

this is leading me to believe that Apple might have sent out some bad batches of 17" MBP laptops.

I think I will go to a different Apple store and try my luck with one of their laptops. maybe it will be from a different batch and that will do the trick.

Do you think it happens when the LCD is at high Temperature? Maybe a "cold/hot" LCD will flow, bleed, or "tare" when stressed.

 

[ozziegn]

I just got a 17" 1920 rez MBP and when I watch DVD's I dont notice anything out of the ordinary. Can you describe the "tearing" better?

screen tearing is when the LCD doesn't draw the horizontal lines fast enough. that's when you notice it the most.

it looks like a section of the screen is "torn" or isn't in sync with the rest of the screen and it's trying to play "catch up" with everything else trying to be drawn.

 

[odinsride]

I haven't noticed any tearing on my 17" high res and I watch a lot of DVDs on my MBP. Ordered from apple.com the day they were released...maybe the laptops you've been getting are from a bad batch.

 

[boobooyah]

can you post a picture of the tearing? would really help.

 

[ozziegn]

can you post a picture of the tearing? would really help.

I tried to do a screen shot, but it doesn't work.

*on a side note*

after yet ANOTHER trip to the local Apple store, me and one of their genius people made a discovery today. we learned that this issue only happens when you hook up an external display and then you mirror the two displays. that's when the DVD playback goes to crap on the laptop side.

some might wonder why would I want to mirror two DVD playback screens? well, you normally wouldn't but that's not the point. the 8600 GT should more than have enough power to be able to mirror two DVD playback screens, but as of now it can't. the Apple genius admitted that she's never seen this issue before, neither did the store manager.

she then took down my contact info and told me her and her manager were going to forward my findings with Apple's engineering team to see if they can come up with some sort of software fix in the future. so I guess for now it's something that I have to deal with.