iPod touch Empire Strikes Back - Great test for screens, iphone too

[Sean Dempsey]

I just used Handbrake to put my DVD of Empire on the Touch. This movie, I would say, is unwatchable with the negative blacks, partly because of how rich the blacks are from the remastering. The scene where Han is flying the Falcon through the astroid field was completely jacked.

the more deep, true black in a scene, the worse it is. If you need to show a BestBuy or Apple employee that the screen is defective, bring that movie on your Touch and show them anywhere around/after 39:00 minutes.

Of course, tipping the top-left corner down and away makes it look gorgeous. If the screen looked like that when viewing it normall, this would be truly an amazing device.

Such a shame.

 

[aidanpendragon]

Yeah, I think Empire is a good test. The asteroid chase isn't perfect on mine, but maybe 85-90%, and quite acceptable.

The following scenes, with Vader in his chamber & talking to the Emperor, are also good blacks/contrasts tests. Can you see the range of blacks on Vader's outfit? Looks pretty good on mine, and not green.

 

[Roessnakhan]

Blade Runner is a pretty good tester too.

 

[gloss]

Sounds good. I'll get my copy of Empire on my computer today and test it out on my replacement Touch, whenever that arrives.

 

[Sean Dempsey]

Yeah, I think Empire is a good test. The asteroid chase isn't perfect on mine, but maybe 85-90%, and quite acceptable.

The following scenes, with Vader in his chamber & talking to the Emperor, are also good blacks/contrasts tests. Can you see the range of blacks on Vader's outfit? Looks pretty good on mine, and not green.

Check out these pics. The asteroid scene doesn't exhibit these problems?

 

[jockmock]

Can you take a picture when you tilt the ipod? I mean when it "looks gorgeous"

 

[Sean Dempsey]

this one is with the tilt, you can see how black is now the darkest color, and the asteroid is lighter.

The movie isn't watchable at all though, as far as the negative blacks go. Even with the tilt, the space between my eyes causes the left eye to look good, but the right eye gets a hint of the negative blacks, so it has this weird shimmery 3d look.

I'm going to take it back and wait until reports are in that it's fixed. If it doesn't get fixed by christmas or something, I'll just pack it in and forget about it, put the money towards a MBP.

 

[Sean Dempsey]

also, here's an animation. The crappy pic is straight, the good one is tilted. You can see how that pit in the lower right of the big asteroid goes darker and lighter than the surrounding rock. Not to mention the sky

problem with tilting is that you lose so much light, it hard to see, even if the blacks look good.

 

[lord patton]

just don't use the tie fighter scenes from episode 4. Those color variations are supposed to be there!

 

[jockmock]

if the touch would look like it does when it is tilted I would die of joy. It looks awesome. That's probably how it should look like though, but some chinese **** screwed things up

 

[gkarris]

Can you take a picture when you tilt the ipod? I mean when it "looks gorgeous"

Interesting. I you have to "tilt" the LCD to make it look good it's obviously a problem with the screen's coating...

 

[aidanpendragon]

Check out these pics. The asteroid scene doesn't exhibit these problems?

...this one is with the tilt, you can see how black is now the darkest color, and the asteroid is lighter.

Wow. THIS is why I said we needed common references! On mine, in the same scene, it looks about as good straight-on as your tilt pic does. Going back about 10-15 degrees (the "sweet spot"), it looks even better - much better than even your best screenshot.

also, here's an animation. The crappy pic is straight, the good one is tilted. You can see how that pit in the lower right of the big asteroid goes darker and lighter than the surrounding rock. Not to mention the sky

On mine, I can see much more detail on the asteroid than even your "good one" - there's a lighter gray band running horizontally across the asteroid's whole width, with a small, round black crater about 1/3rd of the way in from the right. On your shots, this area just looks all black.

To rule out another factor - how did you encode the video? Mine is Mpeg-4 at 2000 kbps.

TAKE it back, take it back, and wait a few weeks.

Interesting. I you have to "tilt" the LCD to make it look good it's obviously a problem with the screen's coating...

A few other have suggested this, and I'm thinking they're right. On mine in landscape (also as the MacInTouch staff report), if you tilt the top towards you past level, the screen gets a green/yellow/sepia hue. If you tilt it away from you, the screen takes on a blue cast. I'm sure this is due to the anti-reflective coating.

Now, from what people with problems are reporting, it looks like they may getting the green tones head-on? That would mean the coating is applied wrong/working at incorrect angle? To Sean & others, can you tilt it away from you & see the blue hue at all?

This is why I say take it back - if it's a manuf. issue, wait for the batches to get up to snuff.