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

[WilliamG]

Originally Posted by StevenB14

Just watched both videos and the problem in the first video I cannot replicate on my iPad.

I guess Apple may amend this in the future but until then I guess the only real solution, if you have the above issue, is to use a 3rd party app for video playback.

If you followed my instructions exactly, you'd be able to replicate it, as I absolutely believe this affects 100% of iPad 4 devices.

Unfortunately, not all third-party apps fix the issue. Only one that I know of does, and that is AV Player HD, which is no longer available on the App Store.

[Sh4wN]

Originally Posted by StevenB14

Just watched both videos and the problem in the first video I cannot replicate on my iPad.

I guess Apple may amend this in the future but until then I guess the only real solution, if you have the above issue, is to use a 3rd party app for video playback.

Pick a scene that is black or nearly black from the trailer, pause, wait a few seconds and then exit. You should definitely see this.
And don't do this on minimum brightness, as it will be harder to see.

I'm pretty sure it's not restricted to the iPad 4. If I recall correctly I have seen this on the iPad 3 as well.

But as I said, it's not really a problem for me and won't be for most users. While its unfortunate that the dynamic contrast needs a few seconds to adjust when exiting a dark movie, the effect actually improves image quality. Some people are just really sensitive for that and an option to turn that off would be nice.

[StevenB14]

Originally Posted by Sh4wN

Pick a scene that is black or nearly black from the trailer, pause, wait a few seconds and then exit. You should definitely see this.
And don't do this on minimum brightness, as it will be harder to see.

I'm pretty sure it's not restricted to the iPad 4. If I recall correctly I have seen this on the iPad 3 as well.

But as I said, it's not really a problem for me and won't be for most users. While its unfortunate that the dynamic contrast needs a few seconds to adjust when exiting a dark movie, the effect actually improves image quality. Some people are just really sensitive for that and an option to turn that off would be nice.

I can replicate the contrast issue/non issue. It was the pulsing back light I cannot replicate yet.

[skillwill]

Got it to work on mine - but never in a bazillion years would I have noticed it if not for this thread and never in a bagillion years would it be enough for me to take an iPad back to the Apple store.

But I do understand our usages would be different so if it affects you that much there we go

[Sh4wN]

I guess that's just a flaw in the implementation. How noticeable it is probably depends on how bright the backlight is set, in really dark scenes it really dims a lot when set to a higher brightness lvl. In a dark room the automatic adjustment may then be visible in certain scenes.

[WilliamG]

The dimming itself isn't the problem. It's the constant adjustment that is. It's far too aggressive.

[edwrap]

Created an account because of this issue, so hello all.

In regards to how noticeable it is, ie. how big of a problem it is, yes, this will obviously vary a great deal from person to person. As someone said before, whether you enjoy this sort of adaptive contrast / brightness is largely a matter of personal taste, though I can say with some certainty that most videophiles would rather their players add as little molestation as possible to the final image (short of good upscaling, obviously). The blownout homescreen icons are the most jarring example, because we know exactly what these should look like. That much adjustment was just being made to the video, but it's much subtler because we usually don't know how it's supposed to look. When I do notice this in video, it's through faces and skintones, and it's honestly pretty distracting.

The fact that this effect still triggers while plugged in suggests to me that it isn't purely a power saving "feature," akin to what Intel mobile iGPUs have done for years on battery power. I also don't think it's an intentional effect, as Apple has prided itself on audiovisual quality and like I said earlier, these sorts of enhancements (at least, without user control) are generally frowned upon. So, best case is that it's just a side effect of moving to a new hardware decoder, and simply went unnoticed - as many in this thread have proven is very easy to do - and hopefully, can be fixed through a patch.

I've already sent out emails to Anand at anandtech and Displaymate prior to seeing this thread over the weekend, and received replies that they'll keep an eye out, so we might see actual coverage of the issue soon.

[Sh4wN]

Originally Posted by edwrap

...

The fact that this effect still triggers while plugged in suggests to me that it isn't purely a power saving "feature," akin to what Intel mobile iGPUs have done for years on battery power. I also don't think it's an intentional effect, as Apple has prided itself on audiovisual quality and like I said earlier, these sorts of enhancements (at least, without user control) are generally frowned upon. So, best case is that it's just a side effect of moving to a new hardware decoder, and simply went unnoticed - as many in this thread have proven is very easy to do - and hopefully, can be fixed through a patch.

...

I'm almost sure that this happened on the iPad 3 as well. Additionally, I just watched the downloaded trailer on my iPad 4 through AVPlayer HD, which supports hardware decoding of supported MOV/MP4 files, and there is no dynamic backlight observable.

This most certainly is a software feature of the Apple video player and probably not restricted to the iPad 4 alone. The implementation may not be perfect, but its not a hardware defect. It's less noticeable when using brightness settings that "fits" the ambience brightness and, for videos not acquired through the iTunes Store, can be avoided by using a player without this feature/flaw.

[aka777]

Folks, this is not a flaw, it's the aggressive nature of the auto-dimming. Having used various devices, I greatly appreciate the rapid screen adjustment of apple devices.

Most users do not spend the majority of our time watching dark flicks on these devices. Therefore, the benefits of having a screen adjust in the various conditions, outweighs the hassle of it when watching dark films.

[Sh4wN]

Originally Posted by aka777

Folks, this is not a flaw, it's the aggressive nature of the auto-dimming. Having used various devices, I greatly appreciate the rapid screen adjustment of apple devices.

Most users do not spend the majority of our time watching dark flicks on these devices. Therefore, the benefits of having a screen adjust in the various conditions, outweighs the hassle of it when watching dark films.

Read the thread, that's not what this is about. It's content-related dynamic-contrast + dimming. That's completely different to auto-brightness depending on ambience light...

[WilliamG]

Originally Posted by Sh4wN

I'm almost sure that this happened on the iPad 3 as well. Additionally, I just watched the downloaded trailer on my iPad 4 through AVPlayer HD, which supports hardware decoding of supported MOV/MP4 files, and there is no dynamic backlight observable.

This most certainly is a software feature of the Apple video player and probably not restricted to the iPad 4 alone. The implementation may not be perfect, but its not a hardware defect. It's less noticeable when using brightness settings that "fits" the ambience brightness and, for videos not acquired through the iTunes Store, can be avoided by using a player without this feature/flaw.

No, this does not happen on iPad 3 or iPad 2. Yes, the issue isn't present in AVPlayer HD. The issue is there in Plex, Air Video and Safari. I haven't tested other apps as of yet.

[Mabus51]

Originally Posted by WilliamG

No, this does not happen on iPad 3 or iPad 2. Yes, the issue isn't present in AVPlayer HD. The issue is there in Plex, Air Video and Safari. I haven't tested other apps as of yet.

Simple solution, e-mail the developers of Plex and Air Video to optimize their apps for iPad 4 if it bothers you. As for Safari doing this, you will have to wait for 6.0.2 maybe. I can't replicate this issue at all. I use the native Apple Video app. The only thing I can think of is Auto-Brightness is off on mine and I set it to half brightness. Tested with the movie Se7en since it's one of the most underlit movies I own.

[canesalato]

Originally Posted by WilliamG

If you followed my instructions exactly, you'd be able to replicate it, as I absolutely believe this affects 100% of iPad 4 devices.

Hello William, I think you might be wrong on this. As you probably remember I've noticed the problem while watching my first movie on my iPad 4. And it was really easy to trigger it with your test. Well, today I have returned it, and changed it with another 4. Well, on this one I was not able to replicate the issue, not while watching movies, nor with your test at second 13. I've tried several times but until now everything seems to be great. The screen in general is better, no weird gradients, a very nice neutral white, good contrast, nice black, very moderate light bleeding. I think that the display manufacturer is different. So the truth might be that 100% of iPad 4s from a given manufacturer are affected, but not 100% in general. I'll let you know if the problem comes back in the next days

[KdParker]

I let yall figure this out. I don't see the issue, but if there is an issue I want to make sure I apply the fix.

[Gritzo]

Saw this happen on the first day of ownership and thought that it was just my unit that did this. I'm glad I found this thread!

I don't know if it bothers me enough to return it.

[M5RahuL]

I just cannot replicate the issue on my iPad 4 and my iPad 3 !!! I have them both sitting next to each other, at max brightness, and playing/pausing the batman clip... No difference in the blacks and up on hitting the home button, the icons are just perfect too!!!

I also had a couple of friends and family members try it, in case it was my deceptive eyes, but no dice!!

I followed the instructions to the T. Not sure what else to do... On another note, the screen on iPad 4 is warmer than the iPad 3

[Speedy Gonzalez]

Netflix is fine no dimming issues

Air video 1080p playback there is clearly an auto dimming maybe to save battery or just a bug but definitely not a screen issue

All the iPads 4 seem to have the same issue some people is more sensitive than others

[smoking monkey]

Originally Posted by WilliamG

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

Glad I didn't update. Watching movies and TV shows is one of the things I do most on my ipad 2.

Perhaps it has something to do with all the multi touch gestures turned on? Probably not. I'm just thinking if there's anything turned on that might be causing it. For the people who aren't getting this problem, do you have them turned off?

I'm guessing it's software and they'll fix it in the next update. You'd like to hope so anyway because that's just crazy and unacceptable.

[NeonGreenHermit]

Very strange. I tested this with the Batman clip to no result, but then noticed weird flickering in a random video I watched on Joystiq. It only appears on my iPad if the brightness is maximum, and on this particular vid that went from dark to light (ill see about getting the link if anyone's interested). But yeah, the Batman clip had no effect.

I'm not running back to return mine, just wait and see if Apple say anything. After all, we all get a year's warranty, so there's no big deal. Early adopters always get these things.

[edwrap]

Make sure the video is fullscreen. That part should be bolded in the first post. Here's a short clip (Disney intro, 5mb) that should trigger the effect within a few seconds. No need to pause at any spot.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/75js012p6ekwsfc/test.mp4

Click download, then direct download, then fullscreen it. Back out to your homescreen after a few seconds.

[canesalato]

Originally Posted by edwrap

Make sure the video is fullscreen. That part should be bolded in the first post. Here's a short clip (Disney intro, 5mb) that should trigger the effect within a few seconds. No need to pause at any spot.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/75js012p6ekwsfc/test.mp4

Click download, then direct download, then fullscreen it. Back out to your homescreen after a few seconds.

Uhm, this is getting stranger and stranger! While it was very easy to notice the problem on my old iPad 4, I couldn't notice it on this one, during normal use and in the batman trailer. Yet, after pressing the home button during this second test I've noticed that the contrast was indeed being altered. But it was very subtle: during the video, i couldn't really notice it, until I went to the springboard. So in this case it doesn't bother me at all, as it looks like something wanted, used to have a better contrast during videos. I think some display drivers have a good implementation of the effect, while other drivers are kinda buggy: my old iPad 4 was very different, easy to notice and distracting

[edwrap]

I guess a lot of people just aren't seeing this bug. This thread's title doesn't really help any to explain the issue. And iPad 4's aren't exactly flying off the shelves. And with the people that do watch video on their iPads, the bulk is probably through Youtube in the browser (which is unaffected since you can't completely fullscreen), or Netflix (which is apparently unaffected since it uses its own bespoke player).

My expectation that this will actually be fixed is dwindling at the moment.

[Sh4wN]

Originally Posted by edwrap

I guess a lot of people just aren't seeing this bug. This thread's title doesn't really help any to explain the issue. And iPad 4's aren't exactly flying off the shelves. And with the people that do watch video on their iPads, the bulk is probably through Youtube in the browser (which is unaffected since you can't completely fullscreen), or Netflix (which is apparently unaffected since it uses its own bespoke player).

My expectation that this will actually be fixed is dwindling at the moment.

I sure hope Apple will refine the implementation and provide an off-switch. Generally, it's a nice feature that may work for some people.

[goonie4life9]

I was able to replicate this effect using the Trailers app on my iPhone 5 (although the effect is not as strong). This makes me think that this is primarily a software issue. Maybe we all should submit bug reports to Apple?

[WilliamG]

If you can, do submit a bug report to Apple, please!