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Backlight bleeding
- Thread starter i eversaw
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Brown boxes are the exact same device as a retail one... Just in a different packaging to save replacement costs. Why should they give you a retail box with an additional charger, cable etc for free all the time? You're going in there to replace your iPad, not the accessories that came with it. I've checked with 3 different Apple stores and talked to the manager of all stores individually. Their comment were: "All our aftermarket boxed products are factory sealed from manufacture and are the same quality product that of a retail version."
Well said.
My brown box replacement from 5/13 is flawless, unlike my retail-boxed version that I purchased earlier in the day.
Well said.
My brown box replacement from 5/13 is flawless, unlike my retail-boxed version that I purchased earlier in the day.
If I were put in charge of putting iPads in brown boxes, I'll sort them first. Some of the boxes will be marked "For customers who complain about backlight bleeding problem" and other will be "All other issues"
I can't help but wonder.... is the backlight bleeding problem caused by the frame or some other internal part being assembled to tight with the LCD screen?
Ok...since it seemed like maybe I didn't give enough info for people to advise me from my earlier posts, I decided to just go look at a bunch more ipads on my own. I looked at maybe 15-20 of them but I'm not sure the total really. What I found was interesting so I thought I'd share.
I saw DQ, DLX, and DN6 ipads (no DL6?). I encountered 6 with either no or very minor bleed, all of which were DLX. All the DN6 had substantial to severe bleed. The couple DQs I saw had moderate.
I also encountered a few other problems, though, all of which I might actually consider *more* distracting than backlight bleed. They were as follows:
Color Temperature: Based on this thread, I had gotten the impression that there were basically blue-shifted and yellow-shifted screens. This was not what I encountered. Instead, I found blue-shifted screens, that I felt were a little washed out too. I encountered yellow-shifted screens as well, that were maybe a bit dimmer than the blue-shifted. I also encountered red-shifted screens that were similarly washed out. Lastly, I encountered more or less neutral screens.
Interestingly, 5 out of 6 of the 'good' screens were _not_ of the neutral type. Both of the no-bleed screens were kind of red shifted. DN6 models usually were the blue type it seemed. DLX I encountered neutral, red, and yellow. I did encounter red shifted screens that had noticeable bleed, as well as yellow shifted. Several bleeding screens were pretty neutral as well as nicely bright.
Falloff: Every screen I saw had some amount of falloff, including models I've seen during other excursions. The amount and shape varied. Typically, it was towards the left side if held in portrait orientation, home button on the bottom. One no-bleed screen had substantial falloff as a gradient towards the left side along the vertical. The other one had severe falloff outward from the lower left corner. The neutral 'good' screen had minor-to-moderate falloff on the _right_ side, oddly enough. The others were similar to the vertical-oriented no-bleed screen, some more or less severe. Some bleeding screens had small amounts of falloff.
Color shift: Possibly related to falloff but seemed to vary independently, I saw shift towards yellow, blue, and red. The neutral 'good' screen had some shift towards yellow in the corners, and it seemed like a bit of neutral-to-blue across horizontally but I wasn't sure (I didn't spend hours examining these things!). The no-bleed screens both had some shift. Some bleeding screens had no detectable shift.
Overall: The combination of the above factors could affect contrast, which could affect perception of sharpness and I at least found added to eye fatigue due to differential brightness across the frame.
As a result, I went out looking for the probability of getting a no-bleed screen, and discovered that "optimal" is really a neutral, no-to-minimal bleed, low-to-no shift, minimal falloff screen. In other words, a rare bird indeed. Only one of the samples even vaguely exhibited this and it still had problems. Of the various attributes, I felt neutrality was probably the most important, followed by falloff, but that's just me.
Now you guys have tons of other things to look for!
I saw DQ, DLX, and DN6 ipads (no DL6?). I encountered 6 with either no or very minor bleed, all of which were DLX. All the DN6 had substantial to severe bleed. The couple DQs I saw had moderate.
I also encountered a few other problems, though, all of which I might actually consider *more* distracting than backlight bleed. They were as follows:
Color Temperature: Based on this thread, I had gotten the impression that there were basically blue-shifted and yellow-shifted screens. This was not what I encountered. Instead, I found blue-shifted screens, that I felt were a little washed out too. I encountered yellow-shifted screens as well, that were maybe a bit dimmer than the blue-shifted. I also encountered red-shifted screens that were similarly washed out. Lastly, I encountered more or less neutral screens.
Interestingly, 5 out of 6 of the 'good' screens were _not_ of the neutral type. Both of the no-bleed screens were kind of red shifted. DN6 models usually were the blue type it seemed. DLX I encountered neutral, red, and yellow. I did encounter red shifted screens that had noticeable bleed, as well as yellow shifted. Several bleeding screens were pretty neutral as well as nicely bright.
Falloff: Every screen I saw had some amount of falloff, including models I've seen during other excursions. The amount and shape varied. Typically, it was towards the left side if held in portrait orientation, home button on the bottom. One no-bleed screen had substantial falloff as a gradient towards the left side along the vertical. The other one had severe falloff outward from the lower left corner. The neutral 'good' screen had minor-to-moderate falloff on the _right_ side, oddly enough. The others were similar to the vertical-oriented no-bleed screen, some more or less severe. Some bleeding screens had small amounts of falloff.
Color shift: Possibly related to falloff but seemed to vary independently, I saw shift towards yellow, blue, and red. The neutral 'good' screen had some shift towards yellow in the corners, and it seemed like a bit of neutral-to-blue across horizontally but I wasn't sure (I didn't spend hours examining these things!). The no-bleed screens both had some shift. Some bleeding screens had no detectable shift.
Overall: The combination of the above factors could affect contrast, which could affect perception of sharpness and I at least found added to eye fatigue due to differential brightness across the frame.
As a result, I went out looking for the probability of getting a no-bleed screen, and discovered that "optimal" is really a neutral, no-to-minimal bleed, low-to-no shift, minimal falloff screen. In other words, a rare bird indeed. Only one of the samples even vaguely exhibited this and it still had problems. Of the various attributes, I felt neutrality was probably the most important, followed by falloff, but that's just me.
Now you guys have tons of other things to look for!
I really think the apple reps are instructed to act like "this is the first time they've seen this." I've had several say the same thing to me and I know they're full of it.
dude, you have way too much time on your hands.
if i had that much free time, i'd be doing something else. seriously.
.
.
.
to those that have bleeding or other display issues, i hope you can get a replacement that you're OK with. once you do though, it's time to get on with life.
dude, you have way too much time on your hands.
if i had that much free time, i'd be doing something else. seriously.
.
.
.
to those that have bleeding or other display issues, i hope you can get a replacement that you're OK with. once you do though, it's time to get on with life.
Oddly enough, it didn't take as long as it sounds like. I was kind bored today though, but also I wanted to really see if it was worth rolling the dice again on another unit. I am not thrilled by the level of falloff I have on one side, but I saw a _lot_ worse and most were roughly the same.
I didn't do it to generate a report, though, but then considering what I found I thought people might find it helpful since the focus seems to be on just finding a unit with no backlight bleed, but it seems there are plenty of other factors to take into account. Considering what most people seem to use these for (e.g. not looking at black screens or dark backgrounds), the other factors may turn out more important for them and worth considering when deciding whether to return their ipad.
I know huh... They always make you feel like you're the only one with the problem.
I really hate that. People shouldn't be made to feel unreasonable for wanting a defect-free product, especially considering the price on these things.
I used my co-worker's iPad 2 with backlight bleeding during an overnight flight. I only noticed the problem while watching watching videos that have 16:9 aspect ratio. Once the movies started, I stopped looking at the black bars on top/bottom and basically ignored the backlight bleeding on the lower left corner and upper center.
Off the top of my head, I can't really anything that I do on my current 1st gen ipad that has a black back ground.
Now that I think about it, if Apple made the iPad 2 with 16:9 LCD screen, most people probably wouldn't even care about any backlight bleeding.... (unless they watch 2.35:1 widescreen movies.... but zooming/cropping could easily fix that)
Off the top of my head, I can't really anything that I do on my current 1st gen ipad that has a black back ground.
Now that I think about it, if Apple made the iPad 2 with 16:9 LCD screen, most people probably wouldn't even care about any backlight bleeding....
(unless they watch 2.35:1 widescreen movies.... but zooming/cropping could easily fix that) 
Thanks for sharing your findings. Before reading your previous post, I wouldn't have known about that. Very much appreciated.
GREAT post. Thanks for the time and effort you put into it.
My first iPad 2 was a DN6FN...lots of bleed.
I went back the same day and exchanged for a DLXFK...no bleed.
While I am not nearly as well-versed in color temperature and fall-off, I will say that the the screen looks just as good and vibrant as that of my iPad 1. I am sure you would be able to see more with my screen, but for me, as long as I had no light bleed, dead pixels and/or dust under the screen, I was good to go.
Thanks again. This post should be made into a sticky, along with User512's table of good/bad screens.
I ordered online and mine has pretty bad bleeding on the left side + top right.
What's my best course of action to get this replaced? Can I just walk into an apple store and get help?
What's my best course of action to get this replaced? Can I just walk into an apple store and get help?
Sure! You'd have to make an appointment and go in store to get a replacement. It literally takes 5 minutes to get it swapped as long as the "genius" confirms there is an issue with the device (which is present on your iPad). Chances are you're going to get another iPad with the same amount of light leak or possibly more worse! It's a game of luck but don't worry too much about it unless your psyched to get an all black screen
Yea, they'll replace, but it's a slim chance in hell you'll get one better or possibly screen with defective pixels, welcome to the new apple utopia.
Genius in 2hrs, turns out replacement wasn't as perfect as first thought I'm slightly drunk this time so we'll see how it goes! Ray bans on
Defective: DLXFMT
I'm slightly drunk this time so we'll see how it goes! Ray bans on Defective: DLXFMT
Haters gonna hate
So here's the story, again at the genius bar in Opera Paris, he looked up serial, said it was 3rd iPad, it's the 4th but anyways (I swapped once at the Louvre, 1. Bezel lift 2.bleed 3.dead pixels, but more like pin prick in led layer 4.bleed) didn't even ask my name? Do they have my photo/credentials/firstborn?!
Genius: Camera app and hand over lens for black test screen, quick glance around the screen cupped hand, asked if it was in all corners, I said yes but more so it's left border visible from seating area for Genius bar even in safari page chooser but the bar itself is spot lit. So he tells me look it's a known issue, you can swap now, you can wait 2-3 months, if we give you one today it's highly likely it has same issue. So geniuses can see it with a cupped hand.
It's a known issue and unfortunately nothing we can do about it at this time, kept saying 2-3 months. This sounds like LGs new fiscal quarter rumored where defect would be corrected. I asked if it was LG screens he said he didn't know it could be Samsung/Sony/LG (Sony?). I was like look I know LCD's have their problems, he's like no no no it's a known issue. Replacement has bleed, we observed it under counter 100% brightness but not as bad as original, maybe ok take home and see. He asked if it was ok I was like dude look at the spotlights in here! He agreed.
What inspired confidence was he said look, it doesn't matter, we will change it until you're happy. Really surprised by Apples attitude here in France considering the problems some of you guys are having re returns. No one time only ******** change it now or never, just bring it back if you're not happy and that's every time I called in. But yea they noticed 3/4 change, I explained why. Rightly so he was delaying me 2-3months, its the only time they'll have this fixed, genius' words. Also I asked about worldwide warranty as I bought in France and reside UK, again no problem it doesn't matter (until I meet those a******s at Sheffield Apple Store UK, worth the cost of the flight to France).
But equally when you've bought the smart cover, hdmi adaptor and a ******** from iTunes well yes they should be accommodating! The shopping doesn't end with the iPad purchase, and I'm not inclined to download from iTunes with yellow spots all over the shop. They're only getting away with this as it's hush hush, it's defective and they admit it (should record genius appointment) just not everyone notices, cutting their losses I guess. It would seem every ipad2 has bleed to a varying degree and recall would be horrendous, basically all of them.
Serial ipad No.5 is DLXFFK they're all as bad!!!*
Incidentally there was another dude getting ipad2 replaced. Brown boxes aplenty, drawers full behind G bar.
Yes I know, cool story bro, but it's good to hear what's happening at store return level.
So here's the story, again at the genius bar in Opera Paris, he looked up serial, said it was 3rd iPad, it's the 4th but anyways (I swapped once at the Louvre, 1. Bezel lift 2.bleed 3.dead pixels, but more like pin prick in led layer 4.bleed) didn't even ask my name? Do they have my photo/credentials/firstborn?!
Genius: Camera app and hand over lens for black test screen, quick glance around the screen cupped hand, asked if it was in all corners, I said yes but more so it's left border visible from seating area for Genius bar even in safari page chooser but the bar itself is spot lit. So he tells me look it's a known issue, you can swap now, you can wait 2-3 months, if we give you one today it's highly likely it has same issue. So geniuses can see it with a cupped hand.
It's a known issue and unfortunately nothing we can do about it at this time, kept saying 2-3 months. This sounds like LGs new fiscal quarter rumored where defect would be corrected. I asked if it was LG screens he said he didn't know it could be Samsung/Sony/LG (Sony?). I was like look I know LCD's have their problems, he's like no no no it's a known issue. Replacement has bleed, we observed it under counter 100% brightness but not as bad as original, maybe ok take home and see. He asked if it was ok I was like dude look at the spotlights in here! He agreed.
What inspired confidence was he said look, it doesn't matter, we will change it until you're happy. Really surprised by Apples attitude here in France considering the problems some of you guys are having re returns. No one time only ******** change it now or never, just bring it back if you're not happy and that's every time I called in. But yea they noticed 3/4 change, I explained why. Rightly so he was delaying me 2-3months, its the only time they'll have this fixed, genius' words. Also I asked about worldwide warranty as I bought in France and reside UK, again no problem it doesn't matter (until I meet those a******s at Sheffield Apple Store UK, worth the cost of the flight to France).
But equally when you've bought the smart cover, hdmi adaptor and a ******** from iTunes well yes they should be accommodating! The shopping doesn't end with the iPad purchase, and I'm not inclined to download from iTunes with yellow spots all over the shop. They're only getting away with this as it's hush hush, it's defective and they admit it (should record genius appointment) just not everyone notices, cutting their losses I guess. It would seem every ipad2 has bleed to a varying degree and recall would be horrendous, basically all of them.
Serial ipad No.5 is DLXFFK they're all as bad!!!*
Incidentally there was another dude getting ipad2 replaced. Brown boxes aplenty, drawers full behind G bar.
Yes I know, cool story bro, but it's good to hear what's happening at store return level.
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Interesting kind of off-topic find today. Verizon sent me an LG Revolution for review purposes and surprise, surprise--there is backlight bleed on the Revolution's screen as well.
The sooner Apple (and everyone else) stops using these rotten LCD screens and stars using AMOLED screens the better.
Let's hope this is the very last year and models that have LCD screens and we can put all this behind us and enjoy a future of bright vivid colours, jet black blacks and no more light bleed, as we won't have any back lights any more.
Roll on the future.
Pray iPad3 does not have an IPS screen.
Let's hope this is the very last year and models that have LCD screens and we can put all this behind us and enjoy a future of bright vivid colours, jet black blacks and no more light bleed, as we won't have any back lights any more.
Roll on the future.
Pray iPad3 does not have an IPS screen.
you need to catch up to the latest 'net news. AMOLED won't be an option for the ipad3.
make of that what you will.
Back light bleeding was really bad on mine. Was present in all four corners and sides. Took it into the apple store and the genius checked it out and gave me a replacement right away. The replacement has no back light bleeding.