Black blotchy mess/black crushing. Pixel 2?
- Thread starter mwboost
- Start date
Yeah the 2xl doesn't seem to be as bad as the smaller pixel 2. Though I still noticed it on our 2xl a little.
So a quick (dirty?) workaround from Reddit is to use the Screen Balance app.
Using the Display Tester app to fine tune my settings, I ended up with the following on my Pixel 2 (Natural color setting):
https://i.imgur.com/5qPFNBk.png
You can go higher with "Strength", but I find that black becomes way less "inky black" past that. At 35% Strength, square 1 is barely visible and 0 is invisible at 100% brightness in the Display Tester app's Black Saturation test. If you can see block 0, then I think you have yours set too high.
After that is all set, I used the following videos (played in HDR) to test my settings:
https://youtu.be/2RIDhA9c8qw
https://youtu.be/fLHPIYNtig4
I invite you all to A/B these videos with the Screen Balance app turned on and off. It's a massive difference and a huge improvement with the app on IMO.
One the chess video you can actually see some of the backgrounds and details of the character's clothes. On the sheep video, the grass appears to be properly shadowed, rather than just displayed as black.
Feedback thus far from what I read is that the app consumes a negligible amount of battery, so I am keeping this on.
I've tried playing with it. Does help a little but I can still see it. I'm not too much of a fan running these apps on top.
I really wish there was a proper fix on the way.
It's bugging me as I've never had this problem with any phone. A phone in 2017 you'd think you shouldn't have to worry.
Laying in bed watching is the worst.
matty032
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- Feb 7, 2010
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I've seen that effect on some poor quality horror movies. Wolf Creek on Netflix was one.
e30ernest
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- Nov 23, 2010
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When you A/B the videos you'll see what we mean about blacks crushing. A lot of detail is being lost in dark shadows.
It's mainly/more noticeable in dark rooms or like at night in bed. Brighter rooms or outside it seems fine.
Ca_lvn
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- Sep 3, 2016
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I spoke to Google about it on chat. They reckon its normal. Lol. May be normal but not this noticeable. They started talking about black smearing even though I told them it's not that. I give up lol.
Decided to try again and ordered an unlocked Pixel 2 non-XL from Google store, arrived yesterday. Sadly shipped it back for return before work this morning. Even with the 8.1 update and saturated color setting, I get this issue. Horrible blockiness like the images above in dark-transition scenes and surprisingly, in some normal non-dark scenes. So strange. Happens in Netflix with Stranger Things and Dr. Strange, regardless of stream quality and also downloaded to phone in high quality. This is painfully obvious and -horrible- while watching Bowie's music video of Blackstar on YouTube. I'd go so far to say it is unwatchable. Side by side with my S8 the Pixel 2 is atrocious and not acceptable. Never seen this issue on any phone before. It's a shame because there was no high pitched coil whine or ticking noise on the Pixel, it was otherwise perfect. I so want to love the Pixel but there are just too many flaws. Maybe Pixel 3.
I'm tempted to go back to a pixel 2xl. We didn't have the problem as bad as my smaller pixel 2. Also have done a comparison with our S8. S8 was fine.
I just ordered a P2 XL, decided to take advantage of the $75 off. Fingers crossed everything is OK. I went into a Verizon store to play around with it before ordering and the blue shift was minimal on both display models, so I'm optimistic.
I also played with two regular Pixel 2 models and did not experience the black blotching at all on the Blackstar video on YouTube. Not talking about black crush, but the blockiness. There was none, I tried turning on adaptive brightness and also reduced brightness. How can this be that some phones have the issue and some do not? My home wifi is gigabit, that's not the issue. This is part of the reason I took a chance now on the P2 XL and didn't re-order a non-XL.
In my case you need to be in a dark room or at night in bed to notice any loss of detail or crushing. In bright places or daylight it's not really noticeable.
Mine was horrible in all lighting. The blockiness / blotching. Strange. Pixel 2 XL came today and just my luck there is a dead pixel smack in center of screen. Support is great, sending a replacement priority shipping to me. I don't experience the blockiness at all on this XL and black crush under normal lighting is not visible.
So one of our contracts was up for an upgrade. Really only upgraded as it had twice the data. Already bought my pixel 2 outright and will keep using it.
So this contract was with a new iPhone X. Got home and played around with it for fun. Still feels like any other iphone to me as nice as it is lol...anyways.
That screen is pretty awesome......
And guess what... I could hardly see any type of crushing or anything even if I tried.
I hope Google step up and fix the pixel.
So this contract was with a new iPhone X. Got home and played around with it for fun. Still feels like any other iphone to me as nice as it is lol...anyways.
That screen is pretty awesome......
And guess what... I could hardly see any type of crushing or anything even if I tried.
I hope Google step up and fix the pixel.
GrumpyMomofMacR
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- Nov 7, 2016
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I just got my second Pixel 2 on Thursday. I definitely have this issue on mine. I had recorded a video in a dark living room and I could see it fine on my iPhone 8 Plus. But I had the black blotchy mess on dark textures in the dark room when I viewed the video at night even on a bright screen. But in daylight I don't see the same mess.
It's weird. I have a Samsung S8+ and S7 and have never seen anything like this before. So far the Pixel 2 seems otherwise great so I don't want to send this one back.
The other one I had would make huge pixelated blotches on videos whenever there needed to be an adjustment in exposure due to panning the camera from a dark subject to a well lit one.
It's weird. I have a Samsung S8+ and S7 and have never seen anything like this before. So far the Pixel 2 seems otherwise great so I don't want to send this one back.
The other one I had would make huge pixelated blotches on videos whenever there needed to be an adjustment in exposure due to panning the camera from a dark subject to a well lit one.
I know what you mean. I have all those same issues. If it wasn't for the camera I probably would have gone back to an S8 or something.
I like how Samsung addressed the crushing and banding issue on their S9 almost straight away. Almost fixing it to how it should look.
Where as Google has done nothing about it on the 2 and 2 XL from what I can see.
Thanks Google.......lol.
Where as Google has done nothing about it on the 2 and 2 XL from what I can see.
Thanks Google.......lol.
No one has been able to answer the question of whether or not this has been addressed in the P beta. Regular Pixel 2. The odd thing is, I went to a Verizon store yesterday and checked the display model, it was running 8.1 and January security patch. There was no blotchy video or terrible black crush. Tried enabling and disabling adaptive brightness, set to max brightness and lower, and it looked all good. Every Pixel 2 I've tried suffered from this issue yet the display model doesn't. Makes no sense and leads me to believe it is a hardware issue??
I ordered another Pixel 2 which will arrive today. I'll install the P beta and see if it has been addressed. Not optimistic.
I ordered another Pixel 2 which will arrive today. I'll install the P beta and see if it has been addressed. Not optimistic.
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