Just got my iPod Touch this afternoon. Was very excited and immediately started testing everything on it. However, I was very disappointed with the way it displays blacks and dark images in video and photos. A friend's iPhone didn't seem to have this problem. Saw a thread in the iPhone forums where someone complained and another person said theirs looked great. Did I get a bad unit? Anyone else experiencing this? Thanks for replies.
Ok, this post had me upset enough that I nearly decided to cancel my planned trip to the Apple Store today. I didn't, and through a quirk of good fortune, was able to purchase a 16g Touch. Loaded Independence Day, and some Firefly shows, and immediately saw what everyone is talking about.
This may not be a bug, but rather a feature. The LCD in the Touch (I can not speak for the iPhone) has a very narrow viewing angle, and it is not quite straight on! If you hold it landscape style in your hands, you tend to have the unit slightly tilted, away from you. Rock the unit back and forth even in a brighter scene and notice there is one spot where the video looks the best. This is normal for many LCD screens.
If you are looking directly at the Touch, so that you see your face reflecting off the glass of the screen, in dark scenes you notice the strange image. Tilt the unit backwards, until the reflection of the top of your head just clears the bottom of the screen and notice that the problem mentioned clears up. This is hard for me to explain, but I hope everyone can understand what I am saying.
I am not defending the way the unit has been made, other than to say I suspect it was deliberate so that you are not watching the reflection of you own face in the glass all the time. I for one am satisfied that this is a reasonable compromise, thought certainly others will disagree.
I have found that to make it look normal, I can tilt it forward and to the right, but then the other colors start to wash out, so this is definitely not a feature.
Well, I just got off the phone with Apple in SoHo to talk about my Genius Bar Appointment. They said that I only need to go up to the checkout counter for a replacement. They just need to take a look and confirm that it needs a replacement. But since I don't have all my packaging and receipt with me today, I guess that won't be happening. Maybe that's for the best. I will let the stock build up so I can find a suitable replacement. I may pay them a visit this weekend. However, I do really want to see how things go for all of you visiting the Genius Bar in the next couple of days.
Okay, so I went to my genius bar appointment and compared the screen to a floor unit at the store. The genius agreed with me that their unit looked better - a little brighter even (and mine was on full brightness with auto dimming off). As the product is so knew, he had not heard about this complaint and didn't really know much about the unit or how it should perform. Unfortunately they didn't have any replacements. They took down my info and should be holding one for me on Monday when their next shipment comes in. There's a chance I may be going to a different apple store this afternoon. Will let you all know how the drama unfolds.
Sergey, I have the same issue in regards to the tilting and turning. I have to look at it from a really odd angle for the blacks to look normal and the other colors get washed out like yours. Definitely something not right.
Sammy, thanks for reporting back on this. I am glad that at least they are open to replacing your unit. As I'm not prepared with all of the packaging today, I'll be visiting one of the NYC apple stores later this weekend to try to swing for a better replacement. I really hope this is just a case of a bad initial batch. I'll certainly be enjoying my iPod as a music player until I can finally get a replacement. Thanks again!
I just got my touch a few hours ago and quickly noticed the good quality of the blacks/darks. I chalked it up to the video I was watching at first, but now suspect it to be something with the touch itself. I'm going to monitor the boards to see if I want to go through the hassle to going back to my local AppleStore. Only problem I see is they may not have any in stock to replace since it is so new.
This worried me, mainly as I am un the UK and at least 40 miles from any form of apple store, so going to a store to show them for a replacement is not an option. I'd have to post it back for them to then (probably) tell me its fine and charge me for the convience of not having my new iPod Touch for 4 weeks.
I really hope I don't experience this problem when mine arrives.
Well I am glad the geniuses are not giving too many issues in returning them. I will wait until my appointment tomorrow before doing it though, no point in going right now, even if I don't need an appointment.
I just hope the new units on Monday have this issue fixed.
Just in case I paused about 3 movies in spots where the black glitch can easily be seen and saved some pictures and webpages where you can see it too, so I can easily show the genius tomorrow where the issue is occurring.
Here is to hoping as more and more people return them for other units, Apple realizes something is going on. Thats really the best thing we can do for now.
Sergey. You're going to the 5th ave store, right? Could you please let me know how it turns out, and how well-stocked they are with the 16GB model. I'm probably going to drop by on Sunday morning to get mine replaced as well. Appreciate it much.
Yes, I have watched a few episodes of the History Channels "The Revolution" which has some nighttime scene that are just unwatchable despite being fairly bright on my MBP screen. They are either pitch black or like I was looking at an LCD at an extreme angle. Then I noticed a few photos I've taken that are moderately dark are pretty much unviewable.
Yeah sure no problem, I am just glad that others have this issue, because at first I thought I was just going insane. It does upset me. I was at home yesterday with an amazon preorder for october 2nd. I heard that 16gb were in stock, so I called Apple 5th avenue, and rushed over there on the Q and then R, 2.5 hours later and I am at home with this awesome device, yet I can't play half of my movies because all the detail in black scenes is washed out, instead I get greenish blacks that glow at me.
