Quality Issues with the V30's OLED Display?

[SchinkenSpicker]

I hope as soon as the first V30s are out in the US we get more impressions on this. It's worrying. :/

 

[chriskwarren]

I hope as soon as the first V30s are out in the US we get more impressions on this. It's worrying. :/

Yeah I was probably going to be a 'super early' adopter (was hoping to pick on up in the next few weeks) but I may have to wait a short bit longer as I'll be stuck with the phone for a year at least.

I do recall on an earlier Samsung device I had (I can't remember...I'll say the Note 2 or S4) where people made a fuss about the 'crush' on amoled on deep blacks watching movies, and I never had an issue with it and I would not have noticed if people didn't point it out. I'm hoping this is one of these cases, but the banding that is being reported is not a good sign.

 

[MA2GA28]

I'd be more willing to write off this issue if it was just an issue with the pre-pro models, or if the issue didn't manifest via consumer complaints. But neither of those two points are true. Plus, LG acknowledged the situation and deemed it to be not an issue. So we can't expect it to NOT exist. It'll just be a matter of figuring out if, personally, it's an issue we can live with on an otherwise excellent phone.

 

[middbrew]

Just picked up the V30 this morning. Neither mine nor my wifes had any uneven color, weird horizontal banding, or uneven light levels (with hot spots) when the screen is set on low brightness in a dark room. I tried it with several different backgrounds including all black, all white, all red, all blue, and one with multiple colors.

 

[maxburn]

Just picked up the V30 this morning. Neither mine nor my wifes had any uneven color, weird horizontal banding, or uneven light levels (with hot spots) when the screen is set on low brightness in a dark room. I tried it with several different backgrounds including all black, all white, all red, all blue, and one with multiple colors.

Thank you for saying that!

Please try some of the gray colors in the screen test app;
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.gombosdev.displaytester

I have a plasma TV that has some slight banding issues and I can see it occasionally when scenes pan and it bothers me when I see it. Scrolling text on an even background would likely be a deal breaker for me on a thousand dollar phone (2XL).

 

[middbrew]

Here's my reply in another thread using the app you suggested.

This was my initial test. Just trying different colors in very low to an almost completely dark room.

I then downloaded the Display Tester app recommended by maxburn. Here are the results from that. This was in an almost completely dark room with the brightness setting on 1%.

View attachment 270605

 

[jlp0209]

Bought a Verizon branded V30 yesterday and also see screen issues. I don't have any backlight bleeding or uniformity issues which is great. But I do see banding. Tried to take the best photo I could while running the Display Tester app. Hard to see in the photo, but there is some vertical banding. Also there is one horizontal band that is visible on white and light backgrounds even at full brightness (can't see it in my photo). My issues are minor overall but they are issues. The display model at the Verizon store also had horizontal "blockiness" on gray screens, for what it's worth.

Later today I will compare my phone to the V30 on display and also Samsung OLED to see if they have the same issues. I know banding is somewhat common in OLED displays. Pretty sure if I exchange the new one will have the same issues. Verizon / LG have a sweet deal going on, I paid $840 retail but get a $200 Visa gift card and Daydream, so overall $640 is a hell of a price for this phone vs. $950 + $130 warranty I will pay for the Pixel 2 XL I pre-ordered.

This is too bad, I love the V30. I don't know if I can accept banding when I've never had this issue on any other phone before (and also return TVs that have bad banding without a thought).

 

[chriskwarren]

Here's my reply in another thread using the app you suggested.

Is this a screenshot? If it is, it proves nothing as the issue is in the display...it would be like heading over to a photography forum and posting a pic from another camera and saying 'my camera works great', etc.

 

[Mike Dee]

Is this a screenshot? If it is, it proves nothing as the issue is in the display...it would be like heading over to a photography forum and posting a pic from another camera and saying 'my camera works great', etc.

It can't be a screen shot....the phone is in the picture.

 

[middbrew]

Is this a screenshot? If it is, it proves nothing as the issue is in the display...it would be like heading over to a photography forum and posting a pic from another camera and saying 'my camera works great', etc.

Yes, I've been told that several times already. But there's no way to show the screen without taking the picture with another device or camera. That in itself is a very flawed way as well.

 

[jlp0209]

Just to update my post and photo from a couple hours ago, I took mine to a different Verizon store by my office. The in-store display model has the same vertical banding issue. Not sure if it is banding or a vertical type of "mura effect" but there is just graininess more in a vertical pattern on the LG (both mine and display model). The store display model was much better than mine but it was still noticeable.

Compared to a Samsung 8+ the Samsung is leaps and bounds better. There was no cloudiness / banding / mura effect whatsoever on a gray screen at all brightness levels. Side by side my LG looked like crap strictly in terms of vertical banding and mura effect. I am going to return the V30 after work rather than exchange. This issue is present on 3 out of 3 phones I've seen - 2 in store display units at Verizon and my own that I purchased. What a shame, otherwise this V30 is the perfect phone.

 

[sofryj]

I've had my V30 since Thursday at 10am. I have seen nothing irregular in the screen. This screen is beautiful.....I have ZERO complaints about it. There's no bleeding, no low light issues, no shading issues. I don't really game, so I don't know if something might show up in a dark action type game, but so far it's very nice.

 

[chriskwarren]

It can't be a screen shot....the phone is in the picture.

I think you are referring to jlp's post. My response was to middlebrew's post that I quoted.

 

[chriskwarren]

Yes, I've been told that several times already. But there's no way to show the screen without taking the picture with another device or camera. That in itself is a very flawed way as well.

No method is perfect, but your screenshot leaves out the panel, which is what we are referring to. We are looking for artifacts in the panel screen, and folks are attempting to show those artifacts using a picture. I appreciate that you are attempting to be helpful, but taking a picture of a screen while not perfect for sure, is totally more applicable than a screenshot that takes the panel out of the equation entirely. It would be more helpful if you simply stated that your screen tests perfect, rather than posting a screenshot that some folks might mistake for a picture of the actual panel.

 

[middbrew]

No method is perfect, but your screenshot leaves out the panel, which is what we are referring to. We are looking for artifacts in the panel screen, and folks are attempting to show those artifacts using a picture. I appreciate that you are attempting to be helpful, but taking a picture of a screen while not perfect for sure, is totally more applicable than a screenshot that takes the panel out of the equation entirely. It would be more helpful if you simply stated that your screen tests perfect, rather than posting a screenshot that some folks might mistake for a picture of the actual panel.

I did state that my screen tested perfect. I was asked to show it. As I've said, I've been told several times the screen shot isn't going to show what needs to be shown and I understand that.

 

[lateck2]

I don't know about others but I took my V30 in to a pitch black room. Turned britenes all the way down. I'm sorry I do NOT see any problems. Tried different photos and screens. I did not look at an all red, blue, gray or any other solid screen. I would never need to do that.... Dauh...
I do not see the problems everyone is saying in this thread at this time.

My 2 cents. Lateck2,

 

[middbrew]

I don't know about others but I took my V30 in to a pitch black room. Turned britenes all the way down. I'm sorry I do NOT see any problems. Tried different photos and screens. I did not look at an all red, blue, gray or any other solid screen. I would never need to do that.... Dauh...
I do not see the problems everyone is saying in this thread at this time.

My 2 cents. Lateck2,

I'm with you on that. Two V30s and no display issues. Hopefully there were just a short run batch of panels that have the problem.

 

[jlp0209]

I don't know about others but I took my V30 in to a pitch black room. Turned britenes all the way down. I'm sorry I do NOT see any problems. Tried different photos and screens. I did not look at an all red, blue, gray or any other solid screen. I would never need to do that.... Dauh...
I do not see the problems everyone is saying in this thread at this time.

My 2 cents. Lateck2,

Glad yours is good. The problem doesn’t just appear on solid colored screens. I first noticed it when viewing white backgrounds with black font on news websites. Horizontal band across screen that was visible when scrolling. Very visible on the banding test using Display Tester app. Also the splotches / mura effect was very obvious when scrolling through news articles. The vertical banding was visible on any light colored solid background, especially gray, which didn’t happen on any Samsung GS 8+ I compared.

The rep I was with at the Verizon store even saw it and waived the restocking fee. He noticed it on the display V30 as well and we also compared side by side to a GS 8+. I didn’t exchange for another one, will wait and see if this gets resolved in later batches of phones.

 

[MA2GA28]

Glad yours is good. The problem doesn’t just appear on solid colored screens. I first noticed it when viewing white backgrounds with black font on news websites. Horizontal band across screen that was visible when scrolling. Very visible on the banding test using Display Tester app. Also the splotches / mura effect was very obvious when scrolling through news articles. The vertical banding was visible on any light colored solid background, especially gray, which didn’t happen on any Samsung GS 8+ I compared.

The rep I was with at the Verizon store even saw it and waived the restocking fee. He noticed it on the display V30 as well and we also compared side by side to a GS 8+. I didn’t exchange for another one, will wait and see if this gets resolved in later batches of phones.

I do have one horizontal band across the screen, brighter than the rest, but only noticeable below about 35% brightness.

You may be seeing some ghosting too, which LG should be able to help with software tweaks.

 

[jlp0209]

I do have one horizontal band across the screen, brighter than the rest, but only noticeable below about 35% brightness.

You may be seeing some ghosting too, which LG should be able to help with software tweaks.

Definitely not ghosting, the blotches were always visible on any light colored backgrounds. Mura effect. I no longer have a horse in this race, did not exchange for another one. Some phones are worse than others, I probably would never have noticed the issue on the in-store display V30 had I not been aware of the issue on my phone. It was better than mine but still night and day different from in-store Samsung displays.