iPad I believe the iPad 4 has a serious display flaw.

I got my iPad4 last week and stumbled on this thread.I must be one of the fortunate ones as I don't have this problem on mine.The display is perfect and I am borderline ocd.

I had similar display issues on my Samsung Galaxy Note,only it had black pixelation/crush during dark scenes and not varying contrast.There was a huge thread about that on XDA forums and a lot of people suffered the same issue but a lot of people also claimed theirs was perfect.The cause of the problem was never resolved but the general consensus was that it was hardware.Not 100% of the displays are manufactured identical and from the same plant.

Correct me if I'm wrong, OP, but this doesn't seem to be a general issue that happens with all video playback. Rather, it happens only when the native iPad video playback app is being used. I can't seem to recreate the issue with a netflix video. Is that also your experience?

WilliamG said:

It's not only the native app. I've read several reports that it doesn't happen with Netflix (I don't use Netflix), but it happens with all native apps, Plex, Air Video, and some others people have mentioned.

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I just checked HBO Go. Also no problem (and I apologize, I notice the netflix thing was already mentioned earlier in the thread).

That points then to a software issue, yes? Or could it still be hardware?

You know, I replied a couple of times earlier in the thread, and I've yet to come across this, and I've used the heck out of my 4th Gen over the last month. Either I'm oblivious, or not using apps that present this issue, or got a good one

I had this same problem while watching Dark Knight Rises on my TV while it was playing from my macbook from a mini display port adapter and hdmi cable. It's not a problem with the iPad, it has something to do with the video being HD and it not playing correctly or something.

Shadyriley said:

I had this same problem while watching Dark Knight Rises on my TV while it was playing from my macbook from a mini display port adapter and hdmi cable. It's not a problem with the iPad, it has something to do with the video being HD and it not playing correctly or something.

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It's doing it with non HD on my 4th gen.

novono said:

It's doing it with non HD on my 4th gen.

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Yeah idk, did you try rebooting the iPad? Or redownloading the movie? Because I only had the movie somewhat downloaded while playing so maybe all the encoders went done downloading,m

Could only replicate with full brightness on the HD version of the trailer about 50% of the time. Doesn't bother me as much as y'all because frankly, it's not that big of a deal. I realize the amount of money were paying for these devices and want them to be perfect, but in some cases, this is unattainable. If you don't want it to happen, don't randomly pause on dark scenes, hide the controls, wait 5 seconds and go to your home screen.

Shadyriley said:

Yeah idk, did you try rebooting the iPad? Or redownloading the movie? Because I only had the movie somewhat downloaded while playing so maybe all the encoders went done downloading,m

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Rebooting does not fix the problem. I doubt re-download the movie would change anything as the behavior is triggered by other non-HD videos as well.

Tylercr16 said:

Could only replicate with full brightness on the HD version of the trailer about 50% of the time. Doesn't bother me as much as y'all because frankly, it's not that big of a deal. I realize the amount of money were paying for these devices and want them to be perfect, but in some cases, this is unattainable. If you don't want it to happen, don't randomly pause on dark scenes, hide the controls, wait 5 seconds and go to your home screen.

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I'm pretty sure it happens during playback of certain videos, not simply when you "pause on dark scenes, hide the controls, wait 5 seconds and go to your home screen."

Tried quite a few times with three of the trailers and got nothing.

Fed said:

Tried quite a few times with three of the trailers and got nothing.

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Try again, you will definitely notice it. I have already checked 15 different iPads in 5 different Apple Stores. All iPad 4s had this issue, sad but true.

I have it on mine too it's very distracting for me hoping that they will fix this issue in next version of IOS. But mine happens in the movie app from apple while watching the vampire daries oh come all eh faithfully episode and also the icons change which is very annoying as well.

For the new crop of doubters, another clip you can play on your ipad4 and see the problem with your own eyes:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/in6zumci89jjo1s/example3.mp4

Poor David Attenborough looks more like the Silver Surfer here, and the effect doesn't fully recede until the last few seconds. As always, you need to be in fullscreen, and bringing up the interface will restore the correct, unadulterated image.

For easy reference, past entries in the good-lord-this-occasionally-looks-really-terrible series:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/fx3t28i3nx5kkj7/sample.mp4
https://www.dropbox.com/s/a7ookpf8b83e78c/example2.mp4

WilliamG said:

edwrap I can't play that new one on my iPad.

"The operation could not be completed."

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Yeah, direct download seems to be borked, so I edited that bit out. It was working a few minutes ago.

The heavily compressed dropbox stream still works on mine though, and you can still (mostly) make out how much his skintone changes.

After weeks of reading this thread I have been unable to recreate this issue. I finally see it a bit now when that dudes head turns almost silver. You have to have it full screen with no controls on the screen. Certainly i think this is some driver issue but I doubt apple is aware of it or will fix it. I don't watch many movies and probably would have not notced it until reading this thread lol. The people that claim they don't see it are just having a hard time like me. I'm sure this is the same for all ipad 4s

edwrap said:

For the new crop of doubters, another clip you can play on your ipad4 and see the problem with your own eyes:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/in6zumci89jjo1s/example3.mp4

Poor David Attenborough looks more like the Silver Surfer here, and the effect doesn't fully recede until the last few seconds. As always, you need to be in fullscreen, and bringing up the interface will restore the correct, unadulterated image.

For easy reference, past entries in the good-lord-this-occasionally-looks-really-terrible series:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/fx3t28i3nx5kkj7/sample.mp4
https://www.dropbox.com/s/a7ookpf8b83e78c/example2.mp4

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Ok I can see the issue but its only when I pause and then hide the controllers and it only happens in the two cars and the Lexus videos.I cannot replicate it in the other videos.

This phenomenon does not happen during playback so in my ipad,it is a non issue.If it does happen during playback like I am sure it does in some units then I would be pretty upset.

Perhaps this automatic contrast adjusting is more aggressive in some units and less in others.This might be an explanation for why some say videos are unwatchable but for others like myself they play back perfectly.

Yup I can replicate that too. When the yellow car turns silverish I hit the home button and the icons look silverish for a couple of seconds until the gamma adjusts.

smileyface said:

Ok I can see the issue but its only when I pause

and then hide the controllers and it only happens in the two cars and the Lexus videos.I cannot replicate it in the other videos.

This phenomenon does not happen during playback so in my ipad,it is a non issue.If it does happen during playback like I am sure it does in some units then I would be pretty upset.

Perhaps this automatic contrast adjusting is more aggressive in some units and less in others.This might be an explanation for why some say videos are unwatchable but for others like myself they play back perfectly.

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richard371 said:

Yup I can replicate that too. When the yellow car turns silverish I hit the home button and the icons look silverish for a couple of seconds until the gamma adjusts.

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Yes it could be the gamma adjusting and not the contrast.Anyway,I simply don't have any playback issues and the only videos I can replicate this phenomenon with is the two cars and the Lexus.They don't have this problem during playback though,only if I freeze and hide the controllers.The Attenborough video looks fine if you direct download where it looks less compressed.

I have watched dozens of 1080p youtube trailers and they all play back perfectly.

Have got the exact back-light pumping symptoms on my iPad 4. Noticable enough to start searching on the internet to find a solution and here I am!

Very, very annoying when watching a film in a dark environment with all auto-brightness off or on, doesn't make a difference.

Awaits to see if a fix is released.

I read somewhere it may be apples way of dealing with the crappy LG screen. If by the next fw update its not fixed I doubt it will be.

Replicated on my iPad 4. Swapped with apple and replicated on the new one as well. Also replicated on every iPad 4 I can get my hands on.

Seriously, if you can't see it, you aren't doing it right. It took me a while to figure out how to replicated it every time. If any of you are from the Bay Area, I challenge you to meet me somewhere and bring your iPad 4. I bet I can replicate it on your device, too.