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iPad I believe the iPad 4 has a serious display flaw.
- Thread starter WilliamG
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Found this thread after noticing this issue. It happens any time I watch a video on my ipad 4 using the native player in full screen with no controls visible, when the video ends or I exit it it takes 3 or 4 seconds to go back to normal and during this time the display is very washed out, almost to the point where details are completely lost. It also is quite bad during videos with the display becoming noticeably over saturated, I noticed it most during the England game the other day where it made the grass look almost lime green and the Sweden players were starting to blend in to it. I think I'm going to have to go back to apple with this one because it really is that noticeable. The fact that other people can't see it leads me to believe its not all iPads but maybe some thing to do with certain batches because if its as bad as mine there is no way somebody won't notice it, I don't even have to view specific videos, it's basically any video I play.
It happens on ALL iPad 4 devices. A friend in the UK confirmed that the few he tested at the Apple Store at Brent Cross all have the same issue. I haven't tested the iPad mini yet but he said it didn't exhibit the problem.
Apple called me today to confirm the iPad 4 issue since they've reproduced it. They don't seem to be acknowledging that it's a PROBLEM, though. I was pretty stern with the rep today on the phone. He's going to go back to the engineers and see what he can find out.
Not pleased at the moment...
Stan: Please report this on Apple's site at their bug report form.
https://bugreport.apple.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/RadarWeb.woa/wa/signIn
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It happens somewhat on mine though not to the level that appears to be in his case.
As with most of these "the sky is falling,OMG" threads though, can anyone give me a REAL use case where this is REAL problem?
Um yes? My first post shows an actual real-world use. The problem is that people are getting hung up on the side-effect (namely the washed out main screen). Personally, I don't care one bit about that side issue.
Again, read the first post and look at the dark-scene video I was watching. THAT'S a real-world issue. About ten times a minute that example takes place.
Still not convinced. I looked at your videos and a couple of things stand out.
One you seem to have a small bright light source in an otherwise darker room. The reflection of which shows in your video. That's also probably why people are asking about auto-brightness.
Second the"pulsing" could be a software issue since the ipad tweaks the display significantly (gamma, brightness, contrast) when playing video.
Additionally, your own video camera is adjusting exposure (brightness) when it sees a mostly black screen to a much brighter one and the "adjustment" could be the camera. Photo/video 101 says exposure should hit 18% grey
Finally, (and again why I am asking if this REALLY is an issue) is that you can do something similar with any display and your own eyes. If you watch a screen in a dark room and then look toward a lamp, for a few seconds the light will seem too bright until your eyes adjust. In both cases it resolves itself in a few seconds.
PS: The one way I could see this as an issue would be in video playback if the scene abruptly switches fro dark to light. Could not quickly locate a video where that occurs so no confirmation there either.
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The real problem here, as stanjefferson mentioned just a few posts up, is that occasionally, the effect will just look bad and/or wrong in the video itself. No display enhancement algorithm is perfect.
How susceptible or bothered you'll be by this is obviously going to vary greatly. Most of the time while watching video, the effect doesn't even trigger at all (or at least not enough to alter the interface noticeably afterwards). And when it does, most of the time, the effect is fairly subtle. But watch enough video on your ipad (with the native player) and you will come across this issue, and some of it will look kind of terrible.
How susceptible or bothered you'll be by this is obviously going to vary greatly. Most of the time while watching video, the effect doesn't even trigger at all (or at least not enough to alter the interface noticeably afterwards). And when it does, most of the time, the effect is fairly subtle. But watch enough video on your ipad (with the native player) and you will come across this issue, and some of it will look kind of terrible.
Try the Disney intro video I posted on the last page. When I went to an Apple store over the weekend, I loaded the link up on a few 4's and it happened on each, so I have a hard time believing it's not happening on all of them as well.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/75js012p6ekwsfc/test.mp4
Make sure it's fullscreen, and back out to the homescreen after a few seconds.
Well that's interesting, if I full screen that trailer on my macbook pro and then minimize it, it does the same thing albeit a bit faster.
Time to create the "macbook pro 2011 has a serious display flaw thread"...
I'm not sure what else there is to convince you, but I'll address your queries with a direct quote from my first post:
"Here is an EXPOSURE-LOCKED video from my iPhone 5 showing the contrast/backlight pumping. This happens ALL the time when watching a video with dark scenes.
"PLEASE CLICK THE ABOVE IMAGE TO SEE THE VIDEO!
Note the exposure is LOCKED. Note there is NO light source in the room at all. There is CLEARLY an issue when watching videos. The above video unquestionably proves this, to my eyes at least.
Your PS has no bearing on this problem. The fact that the icons look washed out when you quit videos DOES NOT INTEREST ME! Why does everyone focus on that part of my post? The ONLY thing I care about is that DURING the video that the issue in the video above does NOT happen. Once again, the icons being washed out is just a byproduct of the BIGGER ISSUE which is the constantly adjusting contrast/backlight during dark scenes.
Please watch that above video if you haven't!
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It's good that some of you don't see this as a problem and all but just because its not really affecting you doesn't mean it's not a problem for other people. If you would of actually read the post I made before, yes it is a REAL problem for me and I'm not just being OCD about it, when you try to watch the football and it ends up making the video so over saturated you can't see any details in it, it's a bug not a "feature" no matter what apples intention was when they put it in because it quite clearly doesn't work properly for some people. If you don't have something constructive offer, why are you even posting in this thread? Telling people they have OCD because you don't see the same issue to the same degree is not helping anyone.
I tried some videos in the "It's Playing" video app and the back light pulsing does not happen. The down side of this is that the black levels are no-where near as good as with the native video app.
The idea of back light adjustment is good but it clearly needs to be amended to avoid pulsing.
The idea of back light adjustment is good but it clearly needs to be amended to avoid pulsing.
I have it too. I noticed this topic about a week ago and thought, 'what is he complaining about'. But tonight i am watching the new batman movie on my 4, and noticed the black upper and lower bars continiuously dimming and 'pumping' up. The black in the bars isnt one colour black, to say so.
But the most shocking was when i closed the aceplayer pro app and saw the homescreen was over saturated. I tried to printscreen the homescreen, but, afcourse, you cant printscreen it.
The 'flickering' of the black in the movie is annoying, very annoying. But the over saturated homescreen wories me.
What is wrong with this display?
I tried to screenshot it to, just looked normal. Tried it side by sided with my ipad 3, same app, settings, video etc and the ipad 3 was fine, no problems, the 4 on the other hand just over saturated everything.
I am dutch and usually watch movies with dutch subtitles on it. But this new batman film unfortunatelly comes without subs so i watch it without subs.
I can understand that when you have bright subs going on and off in your screen, it could affect the screen brightness or gamma or whatever. But, forinstance, in this batman movie there is a scene in which batman is dancing and talking with a girl. During the dancing the brightness of gamma (or whatever) is flickering on and off. One second black is really nice black, the other second all the blacks in the screen is lighted. It flickers on and off and there is not anything in the scene that is making it flickering. It looks like the brightness or gamma is triggering by something else then what is happening in what you see in the movie. It almost looks like it is random.
The over saturated home screen what you get to see is something you see for 2-3 seconds directly after the app is closed. It has nothing to do about the filmingdevice he is using to film the homescreen. I see it too, with my own eyes.