Does your screen have issues? Test...

[Turbodc2]

I had bought a galaxy s4 about a week and a half ago and I loved it, but I recently noticed that when watching videos in the dark (I watch Netflix in bed while the girlfriend sleeps) the screen would look very pixilated and "dancing around" in the dark scenes like the blacks couldn't decide what they wanted to do. It was only noticeable if I was watching in a dark room though. If I viewed it in a well lit room I couldn't see it. I went back to best buy and tried a demo unit and it did it too, and decided to get an HTC one, but I don't really like this phone as much as the galaxy and am wanting to come back, that said the HTC does not have this issue at all and the screen is brilliant. I looked for similar issues on line but I haven't found my issue being discussed. I'm thinking that maybe it only effected some handsets. Could some of you guys watch a movie or some YouTube vids in the dark to see what you guys think? Hopefully my issue is isolated.

 

[trparky]

Remember, most videos (even NetFlix) are highly compressed videos. Because they are highly compressed they do show compression artifacts and those compression artifacts are seen as "crushed blacks," "dancing colors," macroblocking, and other forms as well.

Because a lot of videos are what is referred to as "bit-starved" the video codec that is decompressing and rendering the video has to fill in parts of the video that were taken out during the compression phase. This process isn't at all perfect and unless you are looking for it, most of the time we won't notice them.

Myself, I'm a bit of an HDTV snob. I can see where video has been compressed too heavily by the broadcasters and cable companies. Annoys the hell out of me that I can't get the perfect picture that I would get if I was watching a perfectly encoded Blu-Ray.

 

[Turbodc2]

Well I'm definitely no expert on this type of stuff, but my galaxy s3 and this htc one don't have the issue while viewing the exact same content. Is there a certain setting that needs enabled or something that needs downloaded so that it goes away? This htc one handles it like a champ.

 

[Sierra255]

I wonder if it isn't the fault of the video player and it would improve with a different/better player.

 

[Turbodc2]

I wonder if it isn't the fault of the video player and it would improve with a different/better player.

Well using the Netflix app they don't give you the option to use any other player that I know of.

 

[dlphnfn]

Myself, I'm a bit of an HDTV snob. I can see where video has been compressed too heavily by the broadcasters and cable companies. Annoys the hell out of me that I can't get the perfect picture that I would get if I was watching a perfectly encoded Blu-Ray.

EXACTLY!! I agree 100%!

Well I'm definitely no expert on this type of stuff, but my galaxy s3 and this htc one don't have the issue while viewing the exact same content. Is there a certain setting that needs enabled or something that needs downloaded so that it goes away? This htc one handles it like a champ.

I'm only guessing, but I think the reason you see it now and hadn't before was because your screen is higher resolution now. I can't believe there is that much difference in the S4 and HTC's One, but certainly higher resolution than the S3.

 

[Turbodc2]

EXACTLY!! I agree 100%!



I'm only guessing, but I think the reason you see it now and hadn't before was because your screen is higher resolution now. I can't believe there is that much difference in the S4 and HTC's One, but certainly higher resolution ion than the S3.

I agree which is why I was wondering if it was some kind of issue . Same content on 2 different phones, but the HTC handles it way better. If the higher resolution made it more evident, then I would assume that it would be more evident on the "one" because it has an even higher resolution than the s3. Difference between screen tech maybe? Super amoled vs. Lcd3

 

[Sierra255]

Well using the Netflix app they don't give you the option to use any other player that I know of.

Oh yeah, didn't think of that.

 

[Sierra255]

Were you watching the streams on both phones using the same connection method and speed? I know Netflix monitors your connection speed and alters the quality based on what it detects. This could be the difference in video quality. A low bandwidth connection (and poor quality video) on the GS4 and a really fast connection (and high quality video) with the One.

 

[Turbodc2]

Were you watching the streams on both phones using the same connection method and speed? I know Netflix monitors your connection speed and alters the quality based on what it detects. This could be the difference in video quality. A low bandwidth connection (and poor quality video) on the GS4 and a really fast connection (and high quality video) with the One.

Home wifi with both. Also tried the s4 on lte vs. DROID dna on lte with same results. Have you tried watching a movie in the dark with yours? Try it. Watch something with dark scenes over wifi. See if you get the same results. I'd like to hear that this isn't normal.

 

[Turbodc2]

Anyone wanna try?