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prism

macrumors 65816
Dec 6, 2006
1,066
393
Tried your instructions above several times (even made sure I eventually paused on roughly the frame you showed above).

Nothing. The paused video stays absolutely static, waited several seconds, back to home, nothing. No brightness shifts, no distorted icons[?]

Same here, and I got ride of the progress bar as per instructions. Nothing!
 

D.T.

macrumors G4
Sep 15, 2011
11,050
12,467
Vilano Beach, FL
Yeah, I think I followed everything exactly like you documented. Tried a few times, I'll try a few more times later too.

Not doubting you, just trying to help and see if I can recreate it! FWIW, I'm on 6.0.1
 

WilliamG

macrumors G4
Original poster
Mar 29, 2008
10,008
3,894
Seattle
Yeah, I think I followed everything exactly like you documented. Tried a few times, I'll try a few more times later too.

Not doubting you, just trying to help and see if I can recreate it! FWIW, I'm on 6.0.1

No no this is good information. :)

I was on 6.0.1 on the first two iPads, and I've no idea what the store models were.

It's possibly a bad batch, but I got my first iPads from one store, and the third one and store demos were done in a different store. (University Village, Seattle Apple Store, and Bellevue Apple Store - where I did the demos).

I wish I could see one that works! I can tell you that! Anyone in Seattle want to show me? :)

And you've no need to doubt me. I posted videos on the previous page. :)
 

Deasnutz

macrumors 6502
Jun 9, 2011
268
62
If you're watching the trailer normally, you won't see the issue. You want to follow my directions exactly. Again, I picked this trailer at random because it has dark scenes you can PAUSE on. The issue is the backlight fluctuation in long, dark scenes. If you watch the trailer as a whole, you won't see the issue.

----------



I made sure that was off. In any case, this is not an auto-brightness behavior.

Dimming/brightness/backlight adjustment are all software processing. My led tv has varying levels of it too. It's called "micro dimming"
 

Sodner

macrumors 68020
Jan 12, 2011
2,113
79
Pittsburgh, PA
Man Apple has more OCD customers than anyone.


I swear when I watch a movie on my iPad and close my eyes everything goes black. I've replicated it at the Apple store as well. I have an appointment tomorrow to show a genius. Wish me luck. :rolleyes::eek:
 

sensorian

macrumors member
Sep 18, 2012
78
11
Manchester, UK
Oh good, another 'If I stand on my head, wearing a dark blue t-shirt whilst eating a banana, the sky looks a bit weird' thread.

I predict 378 threads with much wailing and gnashing of teeth and several thousand Apple store employees sorting through stock cupboards to find the exact batch of screens that do not have this earth shattering flaw that can be produced by stopping a certain clip at a certain point.

I was hoping something like this might come along.
 

EthanNixon

macrumors 6502a
Sep 30, 2007
645
97
New Jersey
Ok, so if I buy an iPad 4 I should not watch the Batman trailer and pause it at exactly 13 seconds for whatever reason, then immediately go to my home screen to see a slight distortion in the colors of my icons. All of this happens in two seconds, and it's fixed.

I am sure millions of people have encountered this same issue!!!!!!

not
 

WilliamG

macrumors G4
Original poster
Mar 29, 2008
10,008
3,894
Seattle
Ok, so if I buy an iPad 4 I should not watch the Batman trailer and pause it at exactly 13 seconds for whatever reason, then immediately go to my home screen to see a slight distortion in the colors of my icons. All of this happens in two seconds, and it's fixed.

I am sure millions of people have encountered this same issue!!!!!!

not

I suggest you read the first post before replying in future.
 

CandyNJ66

macrumors regular
Feb 11, 2009
249
10
USA
I actually did see what you mean by the maps icon. It is undefined for a second and then the maps icon is sharper and you see all the lines. I could only duplicate it twice.

Odd. No uneven backlighting at all for me and I tried video apps as well.

As long as the backlight is normal for me, I'm not going to worry about the icon thing too much. Too bad it is affecting yours very badly.

I'm on 6.0.0
 

WilliamG

macrumors G4
Original poster
Mar 29, 2008
10,008
3,894
Seattle
I actually did see what you mean by the maps icon. It is undefined for a second and then the maps icon is sharper and you see all the lines. I could only duplicate it twice.

Odd. No uneven backlighting at all for me and I tried video apps as well.

As long as the backlight is normal for me, I'm not going to worry about the icon thing too much. Too bad it is affecting yours very badly.

I'm on 6.0.0

If you see it, you have the issue. Just wait till you watch a movie with any dark scenes. For me the worst thing was watching the last 5 minutes of episode 1 of season 1 of "Justified." Just... awful.
 

l0gikb0mb

macrumors regular
Apr 6, 2012
136
1
This looks awful when it's done, the "omgar its apple fan ocd" is not valid in this situation. I had the same brightness fluctuations while watching TDKR trailer and it looked silly, not something that should be in an almost $600 device which is basically only a screen.

I also paused at 13 seconds, went to home screen, and saw the weird colors as described. It took a few tries to get it, but there definitely is a problem with the screen, this issue isn't as big as the brightness fluctuations.

As long as it's software, I don't see a problem here, but if it's hardware (since people on the same iOS aren't experiencing it apparently), then it's pretty bad.
 

ghsDUDE

macrumors 68030
May 25, 2010
2,948
763
Just checked mine and it didn't have it. I did all the test the way you showed. Sorry you have to deal with that. I'd just return it if I was you and get another one.
 

SnowLeopard2008

macrumors 604
Jul 4, 2008
6,772
18
Silicon Valley
Wait, why is this a serious display flaw? Is it something that affects how you watch movies? Unless you constantly switch between home scree and movie, it's not really an issue. What I don't understand is why this is a "serious" display "flaw". It's not like the screen having some tint to it or uneven backlighting...
 

WilliamG

macrumors G4
Original poster
Mar 29, 2008
10,008
3,894
Seattle
Wait, why is this a serious display flaw? Is it something that affects how you watch movies? Unless you constantly switch between home scree and movie, it's not really an issue. What I don't understand is why this is a "serious" display "flaw". It's not like the screen having some tint to it or uneven backlighting...

Please read the first post.

To everyone, PLEASE read the first post before responding.
 

SnowLeopard2008

macrumors 604
Jul 4, 2008
6,772
18
Silicon Valley
Please read the first post.

To everyone, PLEASE read the first post before responding.

I read your post. I watched both your videos. The videos only show part of your claims. Please post a video of the backlight going crazy and being a distraction. As for your claim about the messed up icons, it's a software issue.
 

Noisemaker

Guest
Mar 13, 2009
498
0
Ok I just replicated the issue on 5 iPads in the Apple Store. I returned my iPad 4 to the store. I'll upload a video shortly of the issue.

As far as I'm concerned this affects every iPad 4. Even the staff couldn't believe it.

I tried it on an iPad 2 here and could not replicate it.

As far as I'm concerned, you're 100% wrong, and you're making an asinine blanket statement.

Mine is fine. I can't recreate the claimed issue.
 

WilliamG

macrumors G4
Original poster
Mar 29, 2008
10,008
3,894
Seattle
I read your post. I watched both your videos. The videos only show part of your claims. Please post a video of the backlight going crazy and being a distraction. As for your claim about the messed up icons, it's a software issue.

I no longer have an iPad 4 in my possession. It was much easier to show you the icons "fixing themselves" than show you a black backlight changing, especially since my iPhone 5 just compensates and changes its aperture so videos wouldn't really work to display this.

So you can take my findings for what they are. I stand 100% by my statement that this affects all iPad 4s.

I mean, look at this:

Mine is perfectly fine too

No icons on mine distort at all. Tried the trailer again, normal on my iPad 4

I actually did see what you mean by the maps icon. It is undefined for a second and then the maps icon is sharper and you see all the lines. I could only duplicate it twice.

Odd. No uneven backlighting at all for me and I tried video apps as well.

As long as the backlight is normal for me, I'm not going to worry about the icon thing too much. Too bad it is affecting yours very badly.

I'm on 6.0.0

^ ^ ^ Talk about going from one extreme to the other, right?

So either it happens or it doesn't. Again, maybe there's a HUGE bad batch out there. I can only tell you my findings using almost double-digit number of iPads!

My beliefs are as follows: All iPad 4 devices are affected by this. You don't have to agree, and hey - maybe you're not sensitive to a bouncing backlight during dark scenes in movies.

I'm interested in hearing other findings.
 
Last edited:

Fry-man22

macrumors 6502
Nov 25, 2007
455
26
I believe the OP moving around is affecting the ambient light sensor. If you turn off auto brightness adjust (or stop leaning over the damn thing and swaying around in a bright room) then I would wager the condition is resolved.
 

WilliamG

macrumors G4
Original poster
Mar 29, 2008
10,008
3,894
Seattle
Odd Auto-brightness behavior? (I don't use it BTW...)

I made sure that was off. In any case, this is not an auto-brightness behavior.

See above.

I believe the OP moving around is affecting the ambient light sensor. If you turn off auto brightness adjust (or stop leaning over the damn thing and swaying around in a bright room) then I would wager the condition is resolved.
 

s15119

macrumors 68000
Nov 20, 2010
1,856
1,714
I agree. I think this affects every single iPad 4. I've now tested a total of EIGHT iPad 4 devices (five in the store, and my three), and all have the same issue.

Hoe can you think it affects everyone? You've heard from a half dozen people who it doesn't affect.
 

theautopilot

macrumors 6502a
Jul 27, 2010
709
39
I don't have my ipad 4 yet, but the icons thing sounds perfectly normal. You see things like this with PC's - basically the graphics driver switches modes for different tasks (movies, 3d games etc). When you drop back to the home screen the GFX chip is just redrawing the icons in the correct resolution. I might be wrong, but this is what you describe sounds like.

As for the backlight, what you are describing sounds like a phenomenon known as 'floating blacks'. It can be observed in many TV's and is better/worse in some TV's. Can be annoying in cheap TV's but can usually be rectified with a software update, depending on the cause.
 

WilliamG

macrumors G4
Original poster
Mar 29, 2008
10,008
3,894
Seattle
I don't have my ipad 4 yet, but the icons thing sounds perfectly normal. You see things like this with PC's - basically the graphics driver switches modes for different tasks (movies, 3d games etc). When you drop back to the home screen the GFX chip is just redrawing the icons in the correct resolution. I might be wrong, but this is what you describe sounds like.

As for the backlight, what you are describing sounds like a phenomenon known as 'floating blacks'. It can be observed in many TV's and is better/worse I some TV's. Can be annoying is cheap TV's but can usually be rectified with a software update, depending on the cause.

To your first paragraph, I know what you're talking about, but that's not what this is. It's a byproduct of the floating blacks. What is happening isn't just a backlight adjustment in movies, it's a contrast adjustment. Then, if you happen to close the app during those contrast bump, you're left staring at a homepage of icons with contrast out of whack until it fades back to normal.

Again, that the icons look messed up for a few seconds is far from a big issue. It's notable, sure, but not worth crying over. What is far more frustrating (fatally so, in my book) is that the floating blacks are all too aggressive. Once again, for those who didn't read my first post fully - the fact that I used this trailer and the use of the PAUSE button on one particular shot is just a quick and easy way for anyone with Internet to test this phenomenon.

For the rest of us, just watching a movie with a dark scene will result in the floating-blacks issue every few seconds.

So, once again, the home-screen distortion is just a BYPRODUCT of the movie-watching issue. The movie-watching problem is the thing I'm concerned with.

I spoke to a senior advisor at Apple, and he's seen/understands exactly what I'm talking about, so hopefully iOS 6.0.2 addresses it.
 

CandyNJ66

macrumors regular
Feb 11, 2009
249
10
USA
I don't have my ipad 4 yet, but the icons thing sounds perfectly normal. You see things like this with PC's - basically the graphics driver switches modes for different tasks (movies, 3d games etc). When you drop back to the home screen the GFX chip is just redrawing the icons in the correct resolution. I might be wrong, but this is what you describe sounds like.

As for the backlight, what you are describing sounds like a phenomenon known as 'floating blacks'. It can be observed in many TV's and is better/worse in some TV's. Can be annoying in cheap TV's but can usually be rectified with a software update, depending on the cause.

I actually remember a tech site mentioning the redraw when the iPad 3 came out I believe. That does sound logical. It doesn't bother me since as I said, 1080p videos look stellar when watching in the dark
 

WilliamG

macrumors G4
Original poster
Mar 29, 2008
10,008
3,894
Seattle
I actually remember a tech site mentioning the redraw when the iPad 3 came out I believe. That does sound logical. It doesn't bother me since as I said, 1080p videos look stellar when watching in the dark

The iPad 3 and iPad 2 do not have this issue, though, so...
 

TheWheelMan

macrumors 6502a
Mar 15, 2011
982
0
How many would be acceptable to you for me to sample? 100? Well, 100 out of more than a million isn't really a good sample, either.

All I have is what I have. And yes, I still believe this affects all iPad 4 devices. But I'd be happy to be proven wrong. :)

The problem is that we have ONE person claiming to see this on every iPad he tested, while pretty much everyone else says they don't see it at all. Who is one supposed to believe in that case?
 
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