Adaptive Brightness in Videos

[ChristianStella]

Does anyone know if there's a way to keep the m8 from adaptively changing brightness in video content? The phone seems to go into a movie mode no matter where and how I play a video. Then, during that video the brightness changes according to the shot. Very annoying for movie trailers with quick cuts, etc. I just watched an interview where one person was on a bright background and the other was not and the backlight was constantly going up and down on every cut.

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[Mooncatt]

I don't really use the stock player to watch videos, so not familiar with this issue/function. I use the MX Player which does allow you to manually change brightness with an easy gesture control, but it's a static change. It doesn't adapt or anything like that on its own.

 

[ChristianStella]

My issue is that it also does it for all web videos that aren't opened in the YouTube app. It also does it in many video player apps. Seems to be something at the system level. I'll check MX Player for my personal use though. VLC let's you do the same manual brightness adjustment, but it's mostly just good at crashing as it is very much in beta.

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[ChristianStella]

MX player does do it as well, at least with default settings. It only stops when you turn on software decoding, but that brings the frame rate to its knees for the short 1080p video I tested with.

Now I'm pretty sure it is something in the hardware decoder. Most TVs do this now too, it's pretty frustrating. I imagine it is all because of people obsessing over black levels. HTC knows they'll be compared to AMOLED on Samsung so they put adaptive brightness to lower the backlight on dark scenes. What ends up happening is whites look a little grey and fast cuts show the backlight dimming and raising all over the place. It's most noticeable in movie trailers.

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[Mooncatt]

Lol, anything is better than AMOLED in my opinion. I don't see how they can get away with the green tint that plagues those screens due to the pixel layout.

 

[Mooncatt]

Say, do you have the general brightness settings set to automatic? Normally that is meant to adjust the screen brightness based on ambient light. I'm wondering if you're in a dim room, maybe it somehow picks up some bright light from the movie, thus mistaking it for ambient light and increasing the screen brightness to m match, creating something like a feedback loop. Vice versa for dark scenes.

 

[ChristianStella]

No, I turned that off real quick. That setting changes based on ambient light (and sucks on all phones) but this changes based on the content of the video and only happens during videos. And I agree about AMOLED, though I've heard the Note4 is pretty accurate and not as saturated. I'm a filmmaker and photographer, so I'm really in tune with color, etc. The m8 has decent color, but skin tones are far too pushed toward red.

The backlight thing is most notable in videos that cut to white text on black backgrounds, then back to footage.

Here is a good example you can see as well... Two guys talking at a table and one is front of a white fridge that is pretty bright. The backlight changes on every cut from one guy to the other. http://redlettermedia.com/pre-rec-alien-isolation/

My new Samsung TV also does this, but mostly only on a pure black screen and never in a situation like the video above. It sucks that everyone is doing this now, even with eco/power saving settings turned off etc. I returned a Sony TV before getting the Samsung because it was 10 times worse than I've ever seen, changing on every shot no matter what. Say you were playing a dark video game, with raised brightness just to help you see, the Sony would just darken it back against your will. It's kind of the same with watching a dark video on the m8 in harsh sunlight. There's no way to do it without the m8 lowering the backlight and reducing the visibility.

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[Mooncatt]

I just checked the video and mine isn't adjusting brightness. Other than a possible bug, my only guess is maybe a carrier specific addition or something on yours. Not sure what could be causing that.

 

[riccowboy]

I looked at it and no problem for me either. I'm on Sprint.

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[ChristianStella]

Wow... Seriously? My wife and I have two m8's on AT&T 4.4.2. Both do it unless I switch to the laggy software decoding in MX Player. Both have adaptive brightness and all power saving turned off. It happens in all videos across all types of programs/video playing websites. Doesn't happen on any other content. Did it out of the box before I got the hang and installed many apps.

It's very subtle though... Maybe I'm more susceptible to seeing it? If it's something limited to the AT&T version that would be crazy. Hopefully, it is better optimized whenever 4.4.4 gets to me.

My guess would be that the phone does it to get better battery benchmarks when playing video, by dimming the backlight when it deems it can get away with it.

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[Mooncatt]

I've heard that some manufacturers are designing the phone's software to cheat on benchmark tests for better marks, but not sure what they do or if it'd be something noticeable to the end user like the screen dimming.

Just for reference, I'm on Verizon.

 

[gtg465x]

I just watched the video in Chrome and didn't see it. Which browser are you using? If you're using the HTC browser, maybe try Chrome. Or maybe I'm just not sensitive to the brightness change.

 

[ChristianStella]

I'm using chrome, but also countless video apps. They all do it. I've made a better example that is easier to see....

Here is a video that alternates between pure black and pure white. You should be able to see the white slightly fade up as it comes on screen. If not, it's likely my carrier and version.

Test: http://youtu.be/87yXE5hyW1k

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[riccowboy]

I do not see any problem.

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[Mooncatt]

I tried it in both the YouTube app and Dolphin browser, but no brightness changes.

 

[ChristianStella]

Well that sucks. Anyone with AT&T 4.4.2 not seeing it? Like I said happens on both in my house and also happened on one I exchanged for an unrelated issue.

This gives me hope that 4.4.4 will ditch it... Or that I could root GPE onto it or something to get around it, cause it is pretty annoying.

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