Help Color banding effect on the Nexus and other HD AMOLED Screens

[jkc120]

As promised, I'm starting a thread where I can post examples of the "black crush" / washed out blacks I'm seeing on the nexus. Note that the same issue exists on the galaxy note with a similar screen. For more info, see:

http://androidforums.com/verizon-galaxy-nexus/465326-horrible-blue-aliasing-artifacts-black-areas-during-video-playback-new-post.html

and:

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1344714

For more info.

As requested, I watched the new Dark Knight Rising HD trailer, and I spotted the effect immediately at time 0:30-0:31 or so in the sky in the upper left. You can see the bad/blocky/multi-color artifacts in that area briefly. I'll watch it in full again later to look for any more examples, but that's just a quick one.

Note to anyone trying to reproduce:

1. You MUST be in a COMPLETELY dark room.
2. I have my brightness set to the power control widget medium setting.

These effects are NOT there on my dinc or other LCD based displays, even the rezound.

More examples to follow later.

 

[syntrix]

I have my room dark, watched it. I also have a super fast connection.

Nothing like you state. Watched that trailer again. Why is their a fruit in the lower right hand corner of this video?

edit: I'm also on the super dark auto setting!

 

[jkc120]

And here's the original clip I posted of a particularly bad example. This was spliced (NOT re-encoded) from a 720p mkv rip of some show called vampire diaries. At about 6-7 seconds in you can see just how bad it is in his hair.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/28717002/test.m4v

what it really looks like to me is some sort of color space mismapping. Like 0-255 vs. 16-235 or like some sort of bad dithering is happening. Again, the issue exists on the galaxy note as well. I don't think it's too much to ask of a phone released nearly in 2012 to be able to properly display a video in a dark room reliably.

People in the xda thread have used the cable to play to an HD TV and the artifacts aren't visible there. It is 100% something particular to the nexus and note hardware (or something in software that is common between gingerbread on the note and ics on the nexus).

 

[jkc120]

I have my room dark, watched it. I also have a super fast connection.

Nothing like you state. Watched that trailer again. Why is their a fruit in the lower right hand corner of this video?

edit: I'm also on the super dark auto setting!

I think people just aren't as observant (or anal if you will), but I honestly have tried 4 different nexuses and they all have it. Wish I could come see what you guys saying you don't see it are looking at because I see no way or could be misses, especially in the teat.m4v I posted. It's really profound in that one. You're telling me you don't see the blue blocky mess in the guys hair?

 

[syntrix]

I SEE THEM!!!!!

In the video clip you posted, thank you for that.

I also fired it up on my super modern computer with an excellent IPS monitor, and I'm getting the opposite effect, the lighter colors have this problem in the windows media player.

I should just download and open in another player so I can get the bit rate and other useful info, ugh.

 

[syntrix]

I don't have any other video players installed, does this happen with them, too?

 

[jkc120]

Thanks for checking! Admittedly, the issue worsens with poorer encoding, but is visible in even some high quality sources, albeit not quite as bad.

 

[jkc120]

I don't have any other video players installed, does this happen with them, too?

Yeah I've tried a bunch of players and s/w decoding, h/w decoding, etc. I have also seen the same effect on YouTube and in the camera preview in certain lighting when about to take a pic.

 

[syntrix]

Yeah I've tried a bunch of players and s/w decoding, h/w decoding, etc. I have also seen the same effect on YouTube and in the camera preview in certain lighting when about to take a pic.

Hope more people chime in. I'm not seeing this on YT or on HD movies on Netflix. I'm wondering if it's maybe a specific bit rate or other item.

So the other apps have the same effect, even with say the trailers linked, etc? Dunno if that can be done.

Again, I AM seeing it with your linked video clip! Like in the dood's hair for sure. I need to bump up the brightness and try again, I've been on auto for the holidays and traveling.

 

[ez12a]

I have my room dark, watched it. I also have a super fast connection.

Nothing like you state. Watched that trailer again. Why is their a fruit in the lower right hand corner of this video?

edit: I'm also on the super dark auto setting!

can't see it on medium either..

fruit logo is present because the trailer was ripped from Apple Trailers.

If there is artifacting I disagree and think this can be resolved via software. it's not happening anywhere else but in videos, so it's not a problem with the GPU not being able to produce the color.

 

[syntrix]

I have doubletwist installed... watched the clip with that.

Saw it the first scene, but none after that on his hair.

1. Could be an issue with creating the file (whites are jacked on my desktop computer), ie bitrate, etc...
2. Could be a real problem.

It's there in the stock player all day.

I'm not seeing it on the batman trailer though, and I'm looking hard. I'm on wifi and have about a 25Mb connection if that means anything.

 

[finn5975]

I rented Christmas Vacation from the app store to see if it would do it since video I loaded in my phone did. You can see it from the very beginning in the night sky backdrop as the animated Santa Claus is riding in the sleigh. You can see it in the black hat in the animated snow man. Its throughout the movie

 

[jkc120]

I have doubletwist installed... watched the clip with that.

Saw it the first scene, but none after that on his hair.

1. Could be an issue with creating the file (whites are jacked on my desktop computer), ie bitrate, etc...
2. Could be a real problem.

It's there in the stock player all day.

I'm not seeing it on the batman trailer though, and I'm looking hard. I'm on wifi and have about a 25Mb connection if that means anything.

You sure? It's in the upper left and right in the sky. Looks like a diagonal blocky part and on here it's purpleish/blueish.

 

[syntrix]

You sure? It's in the upper left and right in the sky. Looks like a diagonal blocky part and on here it's purpleish/blueish.

On your link on the mp4, the locker scene. Was looking mostly at his hair, as that's where I saw it. First scene yes... scenes after that, no.

Can you see this in DT like I am? And it's not purple/blueish really, it's just a different blocky lightness.

 

[ez12a]

You sure? It's in the upper left and right in the sky. Looks like a diagonal blocky part and on here it's purpleish/blueish.

I played the same video on my macbook. It seems to be artifacts in the actual video itself. You can see another diagonal block of "artifacts" on the left side of the tower. Macbook also has it.

 

[jkc120]

I played the same video on my macbook. It seems to be artifacts in the actual video itself. You can see another diagonal block of "artifacts" on the left side of the tower. Macbook also has it.

Like I said, certain (bad?) encodes make it worse. But the SAME video on my dinc looks great and people have said the same about the rezound.

 

[ez12a]

4.0.3 is supposed to bring some graphical fixes. Perhaps it'll be fixed in the next update.

 

[jkc120]

4.0.3 is supposed to bring some graphical fixes. Perhaps it'll be fixed in the next update.

britishturbo on twitter said he hasn't noticed issues in 4.0.3 but I asked him to check the other examples so hopefully he'll be able to confirm if 4.0.3 has improvements...

 

[Premium1]

Well let me go hide in a hole that is completely dark and let you know how it looks. Oh wait for me that is not normal use or something that I am going to do/look for.

 

[jroc]

Well let me go hide in a hole that is completely dark and let you know how it looks. Oh wait for me that is not normal use or something that I am going to do/look for.

You know what.....there are some ppl that actually use their phone like this in bed at night. Unless you sleep with the light on.....There are some ppl that just use their phones in dark rooms alot. There are some ppl that just use their phones in a dark room also along with using it in bright rooms.

I dont use my phone like this alot, but I learned with the RAZR and blotches, there are some real issues that arent made up about these devices...If anything, this is a pro for LCD screens in the pros vs cons of LCD n Amoled debates. And I dont really like LCD screens anymore.

 

[syntrix]

Well let me go hide in a hole that is completely dark and let you know how it looks. Oh wait for me that is not normal use or something that I am going to do/look for.

Actually it's quite normal... crawl into bed, do devious things to your partner... stay up for a while and catch a netflix. It's all a dark experience, so this might not catch all. Crawling down into a hole is a little extreme, but watching a flix at night is not uncommon at all.

 

[syntrix]

You know what.....there are some ppl that actually use their phone like this in bed at night. Unless you sleep with the light on.....

I dont use my phone like this alot, but I learned with the RAZR and blotches, there are some real issues that arent made up about these devices...

And when you do, and many people do...

 

[syntrix]

britishturbo on twitter said he hasn't noticed issues in 4.0.3 but I asked him to check the other examples so hopefully he'll be able to confirm if 4.0.3 has improvements...

Are you rommed?

That could make all the diff. I'm stock 4.0.2 no root, no rom.

 

[jkc120]

Well let me go hide in a hole that is completely dark and let you know how it looks. Oh wait for me that is not normal use or something that I am going to do/look for.

So watching a video in a dark room is not a normal usage model? Are you frakking kidding me? If you're happy with your video viewing scenarios, more power to you. I watch videos in dark environments and videos that looked fine on my dinc and iPod touch look crappy on the nexus. Once again, just because YOUR usage model isn't a problem doesn't mean others don't have a problem.

 

[Premium1]

So watching a video in a dark room is not a normal usage model? Are you frakking kidding me? If you're happy with your video viewing scenarios, more power to you. I watch videos in dark environments and videos that looked fine on my dinc and iPod touch look crappy on the nexus. Once again, just because YOUR usage model isn't a problem doesn't mean others don't have a problem.

Clearly if you could read my comment did say my usage and for me it is fine. Great reading comprehension. No where did I say it is not a problem for others.