Blooming/Elevated Black Levels on new 16" MacBook Pro.

[WilliamG]

Not to excuse what you are experiencing with these MiniLED displays, but I would not be holding up OLED as the standard MiniLED should be matching. OLED lights individual pixels so that significantly eliminates the chance of light bleed or blooming of the surrounding area (I have an LG B8) whereas MiniLED is lighting an area of pixels so the LCD shutters can only do so much to block light that must pass through. And as noted by others, our OLED TVs hit around half the peak nit brightness as the MacBook Pro and iPad Pro displays so that likely helps suppress any blooming / bleeding between very bright areas next to dark areas.

Oh I’m aware. It actually turns out that Blade Runner 2049 actually has elevated blacks. You can Google this. Of all the movies to try to watch first on the new MacBook Pro… 🤦🏻‍♂️

 

[WilliamG]

OLEDs do not bloom, period. because of how the work, as you described.

New OLEDs can reach 1300 nits but because of my first point its irrelevant with regards to blooming.

Correct. OLED doesn’t bloom, but the plastic coating etc on the screen itself will cause your eyes to see blooming.

 

[UltimateSyn]

Oh I’m aware. It actually turns out that Blade Runner 2049 actually has elevated blacks. You can Google this. Of all the movies to try to watch first on the new MacBook Pro… 🤦🏻‍♂️

Oh, that's funny. So since all of the dark areas around the white text are actually just a deep gray it gives the mini-LED more trouble since it's kind of trying to light up that area, too?

 

[WilliamG]

Oh, that's funny. So since all of the dark areas around the white text are actually just a deep gray it gives the mini-LED more trouble since it's kind of trying to light up that area, too?

Exactly! That’s why the end credits are so janky, too, with the morphing bits - as per my original video. I get the same on the iPad Pro 12.9 miniLED screen and the new MBP. Yes there’s blooming on other end credits of other movies (I’m used to it on the iPad Pro) but nowhere near this bad (and because I recognize the limitations of miniLED I’d never have brought that up). I just happened to pick one of the worst movies to demo on miniLED. 🤦🏻‍♂️

 

[zakarhino]

LOL it's nowhere near this bad in person, even in a near pitch black room. Seriously overblown issue, it's not super obnoxious. I was freaking out reading this thread before my machine arrived. Couple hours later my new machine arrives and it's completely fine.

The benefits of deep blacks/high constrast/great colors vastly outweigh the very subtle blooming.

 

[upandown]

Correct. OLED doesn’t bloom, but the plastic coating etc on the screen itself will cause your eyes to see blooming.

I’ve never ever heard that and I’ve spent a lot of time in tv forums. Not saying it’s not true but I’d be surprised.

But I am aware that physiologically how our eyes work, we perceive a false blooming with OLED. It’s the way our eyes take in light and I believe reflects within our eye it looks like blooming.

 

[tpfang56]

This won't be an issue for most people as they don't buy $3k laptops to watch movie credits in the dark.

But what about people who use everything in dark mode? It’d be obnoxious to have that much bloom while reading web pages or coding. I don’t need my astigmatism to get even worse 😂.

Anyway, from what I’ve heard from youtubers who are all aware of the blooming issue, it’s pretty subtle and not a big deal. There are probably a small percentage of panels with a lower quality panel and it’s all within the allowance of screen defects.

People with excessive blooming should return their macs and get a new one.

 

[quinncom]

Most of my work will be scrolling through code displayed as light text on a black background. I'm worried blooming might be an issue, because I'm basically watching end-credits all day long.

Would someone be so kind as to test white text on black background at full brightness and let us know if there is any blooming or smearing of text as you scroll?

 

[grmlin]

Most of my work will be scrolling through code displayed as light text on a black background. I'm worried blooming might be an issue, because I'm basically watching end-credits all day long.

Would someone be so kind as to test white text on black background at full brightness and let us know if there is any blooming or smearing of text as you scroll?

you use pitch black background for you code? With white text?

 

[quinncom]

you use pitch black background for you code? With white text?

My favorite editor theme has a background of 5% white, with text of 98% white. It looks like white on black.

Since my editor window contains large areas of black area, I presume I would save battery by using pure black background (0% white) so some of the backlight zones are completely off.

Does the blooming only occur on pure-black backgrounds?

 

[grmlin]

If it’s not pure black the LEDs won’t turn off, so blooming will be much harder to notice I guess?

 

[pdoherty]

Hehe, LG produces ALL oled tv panels for every brand. And their latest panel can hit 1300 nits. Sony A90J.

Where are you seeing that? Looks like barely over 700 nits in this review.

Sony A90J OLED Review (XR-55A90J, XR-65A90J, XR-83A90J)

The Sony A90J OLED is a premium 4k TV from Sony's 2021 flagship OLED lineup and sits above the Sony A80J OLED. Like other OLEDs, it delivers unparalleled picture...

www.rtings.com

 

[pdoherty]

Most of my work will be scrolling through code displayed as light text on a black background. I'm worried blooming might be an issue, because I'm basically watching end-credits all day long.

Would someone be so kind as to test white text on black background at full brightness and let us know if there is any blooming or smearing of text as you scroll?

How does anyone do that (white text on black background)? I get “echoes” in my vision if I look at ‘dark mode’ anything (like web pages) for any period of time. Give me normal black text on white background (or sepia) any day.

 

[upandown]

Where are you seeing that? Looks like barely over 700 nits in this review.

Sony A90J OLED Review (XR-55A90J, XR-65A90J, XR-83A90J)

The Sony A90J OLED is a premium 4k TV from Sony's 2021 flagship OLED lineup and sits above the Sony A80J OLED. Like other OLEDs, it delivers unparalleled picture...

www.rtings.com

All over the internets

Sony Bravia XR A90J 4K HDR OLED TV review: OLED advanced

Sony's latest and greatest OLED boasts a big boost in brightness, but that's not all this TV has to offer. Does the A90J earn its premium price?

www.digitaltrends.com

Minute 3:50

 

[joptimus]

How is it possible that there are so many opinions on this? The display is the same, should it not behave the same way? It's not subtle differences I'm talking about but some people saying it's horrendous while others say it's no issue at all???

 

[grmlin]

How does anyone do that (white text on black background)? I get “echoes” in my vision if I look at ‘dark mode’ anything (like web pages) for any period of time. Give me normal black text on white background (or sepia) any day.

I'm using dark mode for coding all the time, I can't deal with a bright screen. But I'm a total https://monokai.pro/ fanboy, pure blacks with white text would be even worse than a light theme I think.

 

[pdoherty]

I'm using dark mode for coding all the time, I can't deal with a bright screen. But I'm a total https://monokai.pro/ fanboy, pure blacks with white text would be even worse than a light theme I think.

Yeah that's a dark gray and I like that scheme. Pure white text on black background is silly and terrible for your eyes.

 

[pdoherty]

All over the internets

Sony Bravia XR A90J 4K HDR OLED TV review: OLED advanced

Sony's latest and greatest OLED boasts a big boost in brightness, but that's not all this TV has to offer. Does the A90J earn its premium price?

www.digitaltrends.com

Minute 3:50

I wouldn't put a lot of stock into that, as it appears only capable of doing that level of brightness for a few seconds, and ruins the image quality to do so.

Review: Sony A90J OLED

Sony's flagship OLED for 2021 with a brighter panel, HDMI 2.1, and more

www.flatpanelshd.com

We found that 'Custom' mode has a slightly higher peak brightness of around 750 nits, which is 100 more than last year's A8 but still some way from Panasonic HZ2000 that hits 1000 nits. We also found that Sony A90J in some picture modes/settings is capable of delivering short bursts (a few seconds) of 1300 nits, which is related to the new OLED panel. However, reaching 1300 nits comes with big caveats because you either have to use 'Vivid' mode or adjust settings in such a way that it affects grey tones to a degree that degrades the picture in other ways. Either way, A90J will not be able to maintain 1300 nits for more than a few seconds, after which it drops to 800 nits, so we have to question how much of a benefit the "brighter OLED panel" is to the viewer. Personally, I would prefer stable 1000 nits peak brightness over ultra-short bursts of 1300 nits.

 

[upandown]

I wouldn't put a lot of stock into that, as it appears only capable of doing that level of brightness for a few seconds, and ruins the image quality to do so.

Review: Sony A90J OLED

Sony's flagship OLED for 2021 with a brighter panel, HDMI 2.1, and more

www.flatpanelshd.com

I wouldn't put a lot of stock into that, as it appears only capable of doing that level of brightness for a few seconds, and ruins the image quality to do so.

Review: Sony A90J OLED

Sony's flagship OLED for 2021 with a brighter panel, HDMI 2.1, and more

www.flatpanelshd.com

Peak brightness is peak brightness.

The other poster said a statement that wasn’t true and I educated this thread. I’m well aware of the downsides and limitations but regardless the panel still hits 1300nits. I’ve read all the reviews and this has been a well known feature since Jan of this year. I’m not interested in discussing this or hearing other opinions on this macrumors forum.

I suggest heading tv forums if you’d like to learn more.