Galaxy S9+ Black Crush and Gradient Banding Issues

[Tibial]

Are you suggesting that the issue is related to the panel hardware which is unable to display the dynamic range of video HDR?

As far as the HDR playback issue with colour banding, it could be both hardware and software. The different HDR standards and if its a 8bit or 10bit panel. That would explain why some HDR videos have the issue while others don't.

Black crush/blend is a different problem though. For HDR related problems, I think a separate thread would be more appropriate.

 

[Chris_c81]

Can those with the issue on S9+ reply stating Exynos or Snapdragon please?

+1 Exynos for me

 

[Tibial]

Exynos here.

 

[Jesus Delgadillo]

On mine the eggs issue is visible in all brightness levels. It does get progressively worse though as I go lower but still can't match the S8 picture even at maximum level. Leave your screen on Auto brightness in a dark room if you're unsure. If there is an issue, it should be clearly visible there.

You did a screenshot from your phone for the eggs test but that doesn't help us see if you have the problem. Only a photo of your phone would show it to us.

But you should be the ultimate judge of whether your display has the issue. Does your screen look more like the S9+ photo I uploaded in the previous post or more like the S8?

Im in a dark room with absolutely no windows or outdoor lighting at all. I re-set the screen to auto and the brightness is just below the second button, which in my case, its bluetooth. Again I put it to comparison with my Note 8, on top, and s9+ bottom.

 

[akira ambient]

Exynos for me

 

[manomic]

Okay I have an S9+ with SD845, here are my observations

1) The black crush / whatever we are seeing on these images, I can reproduce in Prime Video app, The Grand Auto season 1 Ep1 about 1:15 (like a poster mentioned) but its only limited to HDR version of the series, the normal one plays fine (there are two separate streams). Its as if the phone is not turning on the HDR mode (when I play HDR videos on YouTube, immediately, the screen brightens and contrast increases, it doesn't happen on Prime Video/ Netflix), I get similar effect when I play HDR videos on my laptop, which doesn't have a screen that supports HDR.

2) HDR videos in YouTube don't have this issue but the video brightens and dims when the video is being played (unless I set the brightness to 100%), googled about it, seems to be a YT / Android issue, LG V30 seems to have it as well. https://forum.xda-developers.com/lg-v30/help/flicker-brightness-lower-youtube-hdr-t3757452

3) Tried playing sample HDR videos that I downloaded, using the native video player, it recognized the videos as HDR and I don't see banding in those videos as well. The video doesn't auto brighten to max like the YouTube ones but doesn't produce banding either. The non HDR version of the video appears different so I can say HDR does get turned on here.

Now since the HDR videos are playing properly on YouTube and the Samsung Video player without banding, I believe this is a software issue and not a hardware one.

 

[Rashawn29]

I also tried the The Grand Auto season 1 Ep1 about 1:15 comparison with my s8 active n s9 plus, and realized that it was the video enhancer enabled on the S8, and not the S9 plus. They looked the same when enabled or disabled on both.

 

[Reuben Chew]

I cannot reproduce this on the Black Panther trailer. Tests conducted in a dark area (i.e. under my table), taken with a Sony A6500 camera at ISO 6400 (hence it looks 'bright')

S9+ (top) vs S7 edge (bottom):

Min brightness

Max brightness

Others (can't remember the brightness settings)

Compared with my Xiaomi Redmi Note 4X, it's a world of difference, with the S9+ superior in all respects:

HOWEVER, I do experience the wallpaper gradient banding issue on the S9+. On the S7 edge it is there if you look for it but far less severe. It does not appear at all on the Note 4X. I'm wondering if this is a byproduct of increased contrast, though this wouldn't explain why the S9 doesn't experience this issue.

 

[Reuben Chew]

Okay I have an S9+ with SD845, here are my observations

1) The black crush / whatever we are seeing on these images, I can reproduce in Prime Video app, The Grand Auto season 1 Ep1 about 1:15 (like a poster mentioned) but its only limited to HDR version of the series, the normal one plays fine (there are two separate streams). Its as if the phone is not turning on the HDR mode (when I play HDR videos on YouTube, immediately, the screen brightens and contrast increases, it doesn't happen on Prime Video/ Netflix), I get similar effect when I play HDR videos on my laptop, which doesn't have a screen that supports HDR.

2) HDR videos in YouTube don't have this issue but the video brightens and dims when the video is being played (unless I set the brightness to 100%), googled about it, seems to be a YT / Android issue, LG V30 seems to have it as well. https://forum.xda-developers.com/lg-v30/help/flicker-brightness-lower-youtube-hdr-t3757452

3) Tried playing sample HDR videos that I downloaded, using the native video player, it recognized the videos as HDR and I don't see banding in those videos as well. The video doesn't auto brighten to max like the YouTube ones but doesn't produce banding either. The non HDR version of the video appears different so I can say HDR does get turned on here.

Now since the HDR videos are playing properly on YouTube and the Samsung Video player without banding, I believe this is a software issue and not a hardware one.

The brighten/darken issue I experience as well, even after March OTA. It seems like when the lighting is dark it tries to switch to a lower brightness but immediately changes its mind and goes bright again. You can experiment by covering the light sensor.

 

[Michaelegypt]

Is there any workaround to improve it i tried screen balance app it fixes the crushing somehow but the black doesnt appear true black

 

[Kristian Nikolov]

Mine is Exynos as well. The issue with the banding is a bit reduced when playing standard videos rather than HDR and with Video Enhancement disabled, however still present in all apps.
I was just checking the specifications between the Snapdragon 845 and the Exynos 9810 and everywhere its mentioned that the Snapdragon supports 10 bit HDR playback however this is not listed under the Exynos specs. Could the problem be caused by a limitation of the Exynos chipset?

 

[Toss3]

Mine is Exynos as well. The issue with the banding is a bit reduced when playing standard videos rather than HDR and with Video Enhancement disabled, however still present in all apps.
I was just checking the specifications between the Snapdragon 845 and the Exynos 9810 and everywhere its mentioned that the Snapdragon supports 10 bit HDR playback however this is not listed under the Exynos specs. Could the problem be caused by a limitation of the Exynos chipset?

No because the regular S9 doesn't have the same issue.

 

[Reuben Chew]

I went to several shops today to check if the colour banding issue exists on other S9+ units. Strangely, all of them appeared fine. I guess if the black crush is related to the colour banding, we could perhaps have a fix.

 

[Chris_c81]

I went to several shops today to check if the colour banding issue exists on other S9+ units. Strangely, all of them appeared fine. I guess if the black crush is related to the colour banding, we could perhaps have a fix.

You will not replicate the problem on display models as the ambient lighting conditions in store are far too bright and mask the problem.

 

[Squarrow]

Definitely getting this here on my S9+ as well. Compared some videos against my iPhone X this morning and the S9+ looks like someone threw a glass of water on a watercolor painting that hasn't dried yet.

Also SD 845 here. I can mitigate the crush with brightness at 100%. At that point its equal to the X at about 25%.

 

[Kristian Nikolov]

Wrong topic, sorry

 

[new2tec]

I'm not sure if I have this issue or not. On the Black panther and Blade Runner trailers the night scenes are just really dark. But I'm not getting the watery looks (some of the photos look like water trapped under a plastic film). But I did have this issue with the original samsung screen. Do I keep this phone or swap it out? Ugh!
I'm going to do more test at work. I work in a dark setting.
That is not the intended gradient. This the solid blue background. I didn't notice it until I was in a low light setting.

 

[Chris_c81]

I'm not sure if I have this issue or not. On the Black panther and Blade Runner trailers the night scenes are just really dark. But I'm not getting the watery looks (some of the photos look like water trapped under a plastic film). But I did have this issue with the original samsung screen. Do I keep this phone or swap it out? Ugh!
I'm going to do more test at work. I work in a dark setting.
That is not the intended gradient. This the solid blue background. I didn't notice it until I was in a low light setting.

To reiterate, if you are trying to show the problem, you have to photograph your phone. A screenshot will not show the problem.

 

[Garret1976]

I mostly see an issue at about 10-20% brightness and really dark/black scenes. When cranking up the brightness, the issue is almost gone. When comparing to S8, I notice a difference in detail. S8 has more details in dark areas where S9+ looks more compressed like 8-bit color.

One thing I noticed when watching a YouTube video, when I touched the screen and the play/pause button overlay came in, the screen quality went normal. When the overlay was gone, the problem came back.

In short, I don't have the same issue as some people above, looking at those examples. But yes I see a difference between S8 and S9+, but it's not very annoying.

 

[akira ambient]

It's definitely the same issue. Crush and gradient issues.