Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Backlight bleeding

cmvsm said:
You simply don't understand the technology, that's the problem plain and simple. iPad LED/LCD panels use the Edge backlight method so that the iPad can be reduced in thickness. So a series of LED backlights are placed along the edges of the screen, and the thin light is dispersed across the screen from those points. The disadvantages to using this system is black levels are not as deep as they could be, the possibility of uneven lighting across the screen, especially towards the middle, and you could experience light leakage on the side areas where the backlights are placed. If you wanted close to zero or no light leakage, Apple could use a full array backlighting method, where several rows of LED's are placed behind the entire surface of the screen. However these full array panels are more expensive, and limit how thin the device can be. Sony and Samsung LCD panels are no different.

So it has nothing to do with dismissing an issue. It has to do with the limitations of the current LCD technology used combined with how much Apple wants to spend to bring this device to market. Now perhaps Apple should place a disclaimer on their product that all screens may exhibit some imperfections. LCD television manufacturers do it in terms of dead pixel count. Either way, you are looking for perfection where it rarely exists. You can return iPads until the cows come home, and you will most likely still be unsatisfied.
Click to expand...

You're right and I was wrong. After reading your explanation I grabbed one of my Sound&Vision mags and checked out a review of an edge lit LCD TV. The reviewer complained about an annoying flashlight coming from the bezel area. Hmmm . . . I didn't realize this particular LCD tech is so poor. I'm not sure I believe that all edge lit TV's do the same but if they do it's another reason for me to stay away from LCD tech.

Now back the iPad. Apparently finding zero backlight bleed is pretty much a no go or a crap shoot and only the lucky ones will find one . . . maybe. The question is how bad is it and is it beyond what a typical backlight bleed should be or acceptable to the user.

I have decided to just forget about it now and enjoy. Here's hoping iPad 3 has a better display.
 
VidPro said:
I have decided to just forget about it now and enjoy. Here's hoping iPad 3 has a better display.
Click to expand...

Agreed. Hopefully by the time the iPad 3 does come out, maybe component costs for a different type of LCD that's more uniformly lit will come about. Personally, the current technology doesn't both me much. When not looking at a black screen in a dark room, the picture is quite amazing for the form factor. You do see a difference in overall quality and performance in an array backlit LCD setup. I think someone mentioned the Samsung 8500. A bit pricey, but you get deeper blacks, no clouding, and very little, if any, light leakage.

I do think that there are some iPads that enter the unacceptable range in terms of light leakage, and should be exchanged out, but I think most are just people looking for perfection in a device that they just shelled out a few hundred for, but really have no understanding of what they purchased.
 
Why would you simply forget about it? You're letting Apple off easy. They are the ones that should be punished for going the cheap route, yet you're so easy to bend over backwards on a faulty product, and even worst, you're saying you are going to buy the third one!! :mad::mad::mad::mad:
 
Here's mine... looks worse than in the pictures... So excited to finally find one of these things at Target yesterday and it was glaring when I first turned it on... I am pretty bummed... I don't mind it but the big one in the upper right is right where I look a lot... Going to try to call Applecare or set up a Genius Bar appt.

Edit, just called the Apple Store and she put me on hold for 15 seconds and said the 'tech' said it was glue that was still drying and to give it 2 days... UGH

2h7jdx0.jpg
 
Last edited:
dtos01 said:
Here's mine... looks worse than in the pictures... So excited to finally find one of these things at Target yesterday and it was glaring when I first turned it on... I am pretty bummed... I don't mind it but the big one in the upper right is right where I look a lot... Going to try to call Applecare or set up a Genius Bar appt.

Edit, just called the Apple Store and she put me on hold for 15 seconds and said the 'tech' said it was glue that was still drying and to give it 2 days... UGH

2h7jdx0.jpg
Click to expand...

Tell her she's flat out wrong.
 
dtos01 said:
Here's mine... looks worse than in the pictures... So excited to finally find one of these things at Target yesterday and it was glaring when I first turned it on... I am pretty bummed... I don't mind it but the big one in the upper right is right where I look a lot... Going to try to call Applecare or set up a Genius Bar appt.

Edit, just called the Apple Store and she put me on hold for 15 seconds and said the 'tech' said it was glue that was still drying and to give it 2 days... UGH

2h7jdx0.jpg
Click to expand...

She or the tech is wrong, it's not glue trying to try.
 
I just bought mine from Target last night and it has 4 noticable bleeds and some yellow around one corner. I spoke to the cashier and they have a 90 day return policy on all Ipads. They said that if the bleeding didn't fix itself "does it really fix itself?" that they would swap it off with no questions asked.
 
WiiDSmoker said:
Why would you simply forget about it? You're letting Apple off easy. They are the ones that should be punished for going the cheap route, yet you're so easy to bend over backwards on a faulty product, and even worst, you're saying you are going to buy the third one!! :mad::mad::mad::mad:
Click to expand...

Whoa . . . I've spent more time in an Apple store than I care to over the past few days and it's cost me in gas alone not to mention screen protectors. I'm on iPad #3 and I've had it. I either choose to live with it or not have an iPad. After using an iPad over the past week I've decided that having it is pretty cool with or without light bleed. Yes I will buy a three but for the first time I am going to sit back and let all the craziness happen and keep my eyes open for issues like this one. Then I'll make an informed decision to buy. Now let's have a happy face. :)
 
TroyBoy30 said:
This is why I bought a full back lit Samsung 55 8500

No bleed and darker blacks than any plasma

Course it was a bit more that $600
Click to expand...

HAHA..doubt it is as good as My Pioneer Kuro Elite 50 or 60in(9G) tech.

VidPro, nice to see another Kuro guy. There is nothing like a Pioneer Kuro for black levels period.
 
cmvsm said:
Agreed. Hopefully by the time the iPad 3 does come out, maybe component costs for a different type of LCD that's more uniformly lit will come about. Personally, the current technology doesn't both me much. When not looking at a black screen in a dark room, the picture is quite amazing for the form factor. You do see a difference in overall quality and performance in an array backlit LCD setup. I think someone mentioned the Samsung 8500. A bit pricey, but you get deeper blacks, no clouding, and very little, if any, light leakage.

I do think that there are some iPads that enter the unacceptable range in terms of light leakage, and should be exchanged out, but I think most are just people looking for perfection in a device that they just shelled out a few hundred for, but really have no understanding of what they purchased.
Click to expand...

OK sounds reasonable but what is an unacceptable level. In my case the corner leak(not as bright but is broader giving a dirty look) and 2 point leaks seem most annoying. Some are not bad.

But watching a video in dim light it can be distracting.

What would be considered in spec for light leakage? any thoughts, I know you wont know a true answer of course.

Man, I hate the idea Pioneer is gone, I sure hope they come back with new Plasmas, the LED/LCD tech sucks.
 
I got my 64 GB WIFI yesterday. I went into a dark closet, play Star Trek to see if I can see any backlight bleeding. I had to look really, really, really hard to find it and I found one spot that I could barely see the backlight bleeding, so, I'm not worried about it since you have to go look for it.

Quite happy with my iPad 2 so far.
 
nealh said:
OK sounds reasonable but what is an unacceptable level. In my case the corner leak(not as bright but is broader giving a dirty look) and 2 point leaks seem most annoying. Some are not bad.
Click to expand...

Unacceptable level means it bothers you personally in your usage of the device.

It's an individual thing based on both a person's usage and how bad the bleeding is on there unit.

Mines very minor bleeding and I don't use my iPad in the dark, nor watch many videos or other dark content, so mine is perfectly acceptable to me.

But maybe someone who used mine in the dark a ton watching letter boxed videos etc. would notice it more and find it unacceptable.

Just depends on your usage conditions and how bad the bleeding is on your particular unit.
 
nealh said:
HAHA..doubt it is as good as My Pioneer Kuro Elite 50 or 60in(9G) tech.

VidPro, nice to see another Kuro guy. There is nothing like a Pioneer Kuro for black levels period.
Click to expand...

This is true. I waited a long time to join the Kuro family. I had a 111 which I had to sell. That was depressing but I still have my 500M. I'll wait until my Kuro dies before I even consider an LCD and that is if they make some serious strides in a lot of different areas. It was a sad day when Pioneer left the plasma game for others to play. We might very well be looking at Pioneer zero black levels by now or pretty damn close to it.
 
nealh said:
HAHA..doubt it is as good as My Pioneer Kuro Elite 50 or 60in(9G) tech.

VidPro, nice to see another Kuro guy. There is nothing like a Pioneer Kuro for black levels period.
Click to expand...

Eh, how's that Kuro mid-day watching sports with a window in the room? The 8500 can more than hold it's own against your Kuro, trust me. I've seen both side by side in a darkened room. The 8500 was a pretty damn good tv.
 
I just called AppleCare to update them on the status of my iPad 2 replacement. I let them know that my replacement still suffered from the backlight bleed, but that it was a little better than the original one I purchased. The specialist told me that it was the glue and that it need 3-5 days to cure and to keep an eye on it. I know he was probably going on what he was told to say, but it has been two days now and I haven't seen the "glue" curing change anything.

Just a thought, but after the issues with the iPhone 4, you'd think Apple wouldn't want any further devices to ship that still had glue that needed to cure. :confused:
 
zoman504 said:
Eh, how's that Kuro mid-day watching sports with a window in the room? The 8500 can more than hold it's own against your Kuro, trust me. I've seen both side by side in a darkened room. The 8500 was a pretty damn good tv.
Click to expand...

I'm sure it's very nice. As far as daytime watching I never seem to have that big of a deal in my living room and it's bright with a big window. Yeah if the sun is shining on the TV I may have to close the blinds. I prefer critical viewing in the dark anyway.
 
Irunnoft said:
I just called AppleCare to update them on the status of my iPad 2 replacement. I let them know that my replacement still suffered from the backlight bleed, but that it was a little better than the original one I purchased. The specialist told me that it was the glue and that it need 3-5 days to cure and to keep an eye on it. I know he was probably going on what he was told to say, but it has been two days now and I haven't seen the "glue" curing change anything.

Just a thought, but after the issues with the iPhone 4, you'd think Apple wouldn't want any further devices to ship that still had glue that needed to cure. :confused:
Click to expand...

I got the "screen is uniform" from one of the Apple workers. I flat out told he was wrong but whatever. I think they may be getting a little upset with people who actually want a screen that doesn't look like crap what dark images are being shown.
 
VidPro said:
I got the "screen is uniform" from one of the Apple workers. I flat out told he was wrong but whatever. I think they may be getting a little upset with people who actually want a screen that doesn't look like crap what dark images are being shown.
Click to expand...

I don't think any of us are looking for unrealistic results from our LCD panels. I still have my original iPad 1 and I compared the new iPad to the original iteration. Neither screen is perfect, but there is a very apparent difference. I wouldn't expect a Kuro like experience on any iPad because the first gen didn't have that level of black performance, but the first iteration was at least very close to uniform.
 
VidPro said:
I got the "screen is uniform" from one of the Apple workers. I flat out told he was wrong but whatever. I think they may be getting a little upset with people who actually want a screen that doesn't look like crap what dark images are being shown.
Click to expand...

----Yeah I would plan on hearing "a little light bleed is IN SPEC for the iPad 2" *very soon*. They are gonna get frustrated with the swaps and then even the 1 year warranty won't help get you another.

If it bothers you I would get a full refund and then simply wait a bit and see if it improves.
 
MasonH said:
----Yeah I would plan on hearing "a little light bleed is IN SPEC for the iPad 2" *very soon*. They are gonna get frustrated with the swaps and then even the 1 year warranty won't help get you another.

If it bothers you I would get a full refund and then simply wait a bit and see if it improves.
Click to expand...

If they do end up going that route; assuming they eventually find a fix for it I wonder if they will offer people the option to get it repaired (of course paid by the customer).

I know, if that happens we shouldn't have to pay to fix backlight bleed in our iPads. But if Apple says most backlight bleed is IN SPEC, then those of us who are IN SPEC but want it fixed....Apple would say sure no problem, but you have to pay the repair fee.
 
What are the chances of this issue being fixed or sorted soon? Apple is clearly aware of it, so they will be doing something. Is that why stock levels are so low in America?

And do we think that when the iPad 2 launches in all of the new countries on Friday, will the problem be sorted then?
 
hoofbite said:
If they do end up going that route; assuming they eventually find a fix for it I wonder if they will offer people the option to get it repaired (of course paid by the customer).

I know, if that happens we shouldn't have to pay to fix backlight bleed in our iPads. But if Apple says most backlight bleed is IN SPEC, then those of us who are IN SPEC but want it fixed....Apple would say sure no problem, but you have to pay the repair fee.
Click to expand...

---Well if they state it's "in spec" then I don't think they will repair it... even if you offer to pay. They may not even be able to do this as most of them seem to have the problem. I can't see them having a special diss assembly area where then then try to attach the screens more carefully.

Besides "in spec" indicates it's normal behavior so they may state there is nothing to repair.

I guess we'll see what happens.
 
MasonH said:
---Well if they state it's "in spec" then I don't think they will repair it... even if you offer to pay. They may not even be able to do this as most of them seem to have the problem. I can't see them having a special diss assembly area where then then try to attach the screens more carefully.

Besides "in spec" indicates it's normal behavior so they may state there is nothing to repair.

I guess we'll see what happens.
Click to expand...

But you can't just make up rules.

What if they said, during the manufacturing process, someone has to handle it, and we allow there to be up to 4 scratches on the back, and it's unrealistic to expect a totally scratch free back. So a scratched back is in spec.
 
cmvsm said:
You simply don't understand the technology, that's the problem plain and simple. iPad LED/LCD panels use the Edge backlight method so that the iPad can be reduced in thickness. So a series of LED backlights are placed along the edges of the screen, and the thin light is dispersed across the screen from those points. The disadvantages to using this system is black levels are not as deep as they could be, the possibility of uneven lighting across the screen, especially towards the middle, and you could experience light leakage on the side areas where the backlights are placed. If you wanted close to zero or no light leakage, Apple could use a full array backlighting method, where several rows of LED's are placed behind the entire surface of the screen. However these full array panels are more expensive, and limit how thin the device can be. Sony and Samsung LCD panels are no different.

So it has nothing to do with dismissing an issue. It has to do with the limitations of the current LCD technology used combined with how much Apple wants to spend to bring this device to market. Now perhaps Apple should place a disclaimer on their product that all screens may exhibit some imperfections. LCD television manufacturers do it in terms of dead pixel count. Either way, you are looking for perfection where it rarely exists. You can return iPads until the cows come home, and you will most likely still be unsatisfied.
Click to expand...

Again.. stop. You are wrong. Edge-lit and back-lit are two different things.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back