Confirmed: iPod Touch Software Update 'Alleviates' Negative Black

[gloss]

Wewt.

edit: Corrected for the anal-retentive.

[madmaxmedia]

I guess its possible the Week 38 (or whatever) units actually had the same screen as the early ones, but had revised firmware to correct the display problem.

If so, the new update would obviously not change anything on good units.

[gloss]

We'll have to see. I updated and ran the Jay-Z test and it definitely looks good now. My Macbook screen has more of a blue cast, but I think that's due to the calibration.

[plasticmoz]

Originally Posted by madmaxmedia

I guess its possible the Week 38 (or whatever) units actually had the same screen as the early ones, but had revised firmware to correct the display problem.

If so, the new update would obviously not change anything on good units.

Except that all models have had the same firmware available till now. So no.

[madmaxmedia]

Originally Posted by plasticmoz

Except that all models have had the same firmware available till now. So no.

I was thinking they could have included a tweaked version but not changed the version number, since a complete update was coming.

Or they are different screens, and the OS can determine what screen is there, and how to properly drive it. Or they changed something that fixes the old screen, but does not affect the new screens in any way.

[gloss]

Originally Posted by madmaxmedia

I was thinking they could have included a tweaked version but not changed the version number, since a complete update was coming.

Or they are different screens, and the OS can determine what screen is there, and how to properly drive it. Or they changed something that fixes the old screen, but does not affect the new screens in any way.

I had heard that the screen issue stemmed from faulty settings for the video processor. If so, this firmware update could easily fix the issue. Week 38 units likely shipped with correctly-calibrated processors.

[iShak]

Originally Posted by gloss

We'll have to see. I updated and ran the Jay-Z test and it definitely looks good now. My Macbook screen has more of a blue cast, but I think that's due to the calibration.

oh man! .. that drove me nuts when I bought my Macbook (I am a graphic designer so need my greys to be as close to proper greys as possible)

here is a fix ..

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=304534

everyone .. get it fixed .. macbook's screen deserves this ICC profile.

[gloss]

Originally Posted by iShak

oh man! .. that drove me nuts when I bought my Macbook (I am a graphic designer so need my greys to be as close to proper greys as possible)

here is a fix ..

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=304534

everyone .. get it fixed .. macbook's screen deserves this ICC profile.

Whoa. That profile seems extremely yellow to me. Yikes.

[CaptainCaveMann]

And who exactly is confirming this?

[bogman12]

gloss: what the h*ll kind of thread is this? Who confirmed? huh?

[steve101]

It's not fixed. It just looks a hell of alot better. The slight negative effect is still visible though.

[gkarris]

Originally Posted by steve101

It's not fixed. It just looks a hell of alot better. The slight negative effect is still visible though.

Duh, PHYSICAL DEFECT. The "software fix" is to up your brightness and contrast which will eat away at your batteries...

Go get the screen really fixed (weeks 38+)...

[bogman12]

Originally Posted by gkarris

Duh, PHYSICAL DEFECT. The "software fix" is to up your brightness and contrast which will eat away at your batteries...

Go get the screen really fixed (weeks 38+)...

It's probably an increase in gamma..

So now the darkest blacks are not longer black but a dark grey..

That is not a good fix! This is probably what's happening:

OLD FIRMWARE:


NEW FIRMWARE:

[gkarris]

Originally Posted by bogman12

It's probably an increase in gamma..

So now the darkest blacks are not longer black but a dark grey..

That is not a good fix!

I apologize, everyone. Coming from a "company such as" Apple, this erks me...

The company I used to work for does this. Hardware Engineers design, Software Engineers fix...

BTW: All you people with defective screens your chances of taking it back just went way down...

[cmcclure16]

Originally Posted by bogman12

It's probably an increase in gamma..

So now the darkest blacks are not longer black but a dark grey..

That is not a good fix!

OLD FIRMWARE:


NEW FIRMWARE:

So then week 38s shouldn't download and install it?

[gloss]

gloss: what the h*ll kind of thread is this? Who confirmed? huh?

What the hell kind of reply is this? Who are you? Huh?

Perhaps 'alleviate' would be a better word than 'fix'. I have no more shimmering blacks, but the black level is not quite as strong as my Macbook's screen. I'll compare it to my friend's iPhone this weekend.

Regardless, it's much more watchable.

[jmpage2]

Originally Posted by cmcclure16

So then week 38s shouldn't download and install it?

Mine's a week 38 and doesn't look washed out as shown after updating. It does appear to do something to the gamma/contrast curve on the device.

[bogman12]

Originally Posted by gloss

What the hell kind of reply is this? Who are you? Huh?

Perhaps 'alleviate' would be a better word than 'fix'. I have no more shimmering blacks, but the black level is not quite as strong as my Macbook's screen. I'll compare it to my friend's iPhone this weekend.

Regardless, it's much more watchable.

Is the black level now as dark as prior to the new firmware?

Originally Posted by cmcclure16

So then week 38s shouldn't download and install it?

No it's fine, because the installation logic is able to identify the serial number of your Touch and apply the screen fix only to affected units..

HOWEVER, those who has GOOD W37 screens will probably not want to install this because it'll try to adjust your screen under the assumption that it is a bad one.

[gloss]

Originally Posted by bogman12

Is the black level now as dark as prior to the new firmware?



No it's fine, because the installation logic is able to identify the serial number of your Touch and apply the screen fix only to affected units..

HOWEVER, those who has GOOD W37 screens will probably not want to install this because it'll try to adjust your screen under the assumption that it is a bad one.

The black level is acceptable, probably on par with the unit pre-firmware (hadn't thought to bother with a before-after session, as I didn't realize it would be playing with the screen until after it was installed). I really would like to compare it to an iPhone rather than my laptop, though, as the latter would be apples-and-oranges.

It's much, much better than it was. I'll test it in a dark room tonight and post here if I encounter any other issues.

[hatcher146]

this is not confirmed.

this did not do anything for my device as far as i can tell (week 37) im still going to exchange for a week 38

[pantalaimon]

honestly, you guys will complain about ANYTHING! They fix the negative black issue and people still complain...

Apple could come out with a 10000000 GB ipod touch with all the applications you could ever dream of and you'd still find something to complain about.

my week 37 ipod touch looks a hell of a lot better now... funnily enough, i'm happy about that

[pushateg7]

Originally Posted by pantalaimon

honestly, you guys will complain about ANYTHING! They fix the negative black issue and people still complain...

Apple could come out with a 10000000 GB ipod touch with all the applications you could ever dream of and you'd still find something to complain about.

my week 37 ipod touch looks a hell of a lot better now... funnily enough, i'm happy about that

I couldn't have agreed more....

.......as for the ipod touch, I hope to snatch one up tomorrow morning!!!

[oily]

Originally Posted by bogman12

HOWEVER, those who has GOOD W37 screens will probably not want to install this because it'll try to adjust your screen under the assumption that it is a bad one.

You're making some pretty major assumptions there:

- assuming that the hardware has somehow changed between W37 and W38
- assuming that the new software looks for W37 serial numbers
- assuming that the new software merely changes the brightness/contrast settings to botch the video to look right

Maybe, as suggested above, the software actually calibrates a piece of hardware that wasn't always correctly calibrated from the factory?

That assertion is just as valid, given the evidence available to us.

[bogman12]

Originally Posted by oily

You're making some pretty major assumptions there:

- assuming that the hardware has somehow changed between W37 and W38
- assuming that the new software looks for W37 serial numbers
- assuming that the new software merely changes the brightness/contrast settings to botch the video to look right

Maybe, as suggested above, the software actually calibrates a piece of hardware that wasn't always correctly calibrated from the factory?

That assertion is just as valid, given the evidence available to us.

So you're saying the early ipods had firmware with incorrect screen settings which resulted in the negative black? Well that is hard to believe since we saw varying degrees of the negative black on different units. If it was a universal software issue, then everyone should have had the same degree of negative black. Or are you asserting that Apple software developers are so incompetent that the same version of a firmware would exist as multiple instances - each with different screen settings, and that somehow these different instances were randomly loaded onto the early ipods at the factory?

Yeah I think my explanation makes more sense. The randomness of the screen issue was more indicative of poor QC rather than univeral software issue

[oily]

Originally Posted by bogman12

So you're saying the early ipods had firmware with incorrect screen settings which resulted in the negative black? Well that is hard to believe since we saw varying degrees of the negative black on different units. If it was a universal software issue, then everyone should have had the same degree of negative black. Or are you asserting that Apple software developers are so incompetent that the same version of a firmware would exist as multiple instances - each with different screen settings, and that somehow these different instances were randomly loaded onto the early ipods at the factory?

Yeah I think my explanation makes more sense. The randomness of the screen issue was more indicative of poor QC rather than univeral software issue

It could be something as simple as not initialising a calibration value in the video hardware. Hence the value just ends up being set by whatever latent charge was in the silicon from when it was manufactured.

Just as plausible, especially given neither of us have any insider knowledge.