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iPad mini Automatic contrast ruins my iPad Mini 4

W

Whoakapi

Cancelled
Original poster
May 26, 2010
382
215
Hello

I was very happy with my iPad Mini 4 until I discovered the terrible effects of iOS automatic contrast adjustment. This is not the same as brightness.

The problem is that the contrast is adjusted on the fly, making the screen's black levels adjust all the time. It is extremely irritating in full screen mode with dark scenes where you have subtitles that pop up from time to time. My only solution right is to NOT use full screen. Because when you have something that is white (such as in Youtube comment section or Twitch chat), the contrast will not fluctuate to same extent.

Can automatic contrast be disabled if I jailbreak the device?

It's monumental shame that this software feature completely ruins a great display for video playback...
 
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Gav2k

Gav2k

macrumors G3
Jul 24, 2009
9,216
1,608
You must be referring to one of two things.

Auto brightness. Or nightshift.

The mini 4 did not get a true tone display so it can't be that.

Auto brightness can be turned off in settings > display & brightness.

Nightshift is I the same settings.
 
W

Whoakapi

Cancelled
Original poster
May 26, 2010
382
215
Gav2k said:
You must be referring to one of two things.

Auto brightness. Or nightshift.

The mini 4 did not get a true tone display so it can't be that.

Auto brightness can be turned off in settings > display & brightness.

Nightshift is I the same settings.
Click to expand...

The automatic contrast has nothing to do with brightness, True Tone or Nightshift. I don't even use automatic brightness.

The effect is that the software automatically adjust contrast when depending on what you view. When you have a lot of black on the screen, the screen will dim slightly. When you have a lot of white, the screen will light up slightly.

So when you have a dark scene in a video and suddenly a white subtitle pop up, the black level will suddenly light up in a distracting way.
 
K

kameradhund

macrumors newbie
Sep 16, 2014
12
2
WashupDawg said:
Hello

I was very happy with my iPad Mini 4 until I discovered the terrible effects of iOS automatic contrast adjustment. This is not the same as brightness.

The problem is that the contrast is adjusted on the fly, making the screen's black levels adjust all the time. It is extremely irritating in full screen mode with dark scenes where you have subtitles that pop up from time to time. My only solution right is to NOT use full screen. Because when you have something that is white (such as in Youtube comment section or Twitch chat), the contrast will not fluctuate to same extent.

Can automatic contrast be disabled if I jailbreak the device?

It's monumental shame that this software feature completely ruins a great display for video playback...
Click to expand...


i have the same problem and there is nothing one can do about. the only thing that helps a little bit is to turn on (!) assistive touch. i read about this somewhere and tried it. the automatic contrast adjustment is gone BUT you will have the virtual home button always distracting you instead. so: one problem gone, another problem there haha. but try it for your self please.
 
F

Ffosse

macrumors 68000
Nov 5, 2012
1,827
652
I always set my brightness manually on the iPad Mini 4.

And nightshift is pointless in the Summer with 6 hours of permanent twilight (during which I'm asleep).
 
I

iOSUser7

macrumors 6502a
Jun 23, 2014
662
615
It's not Night Shift, auto-brightness, accessibility or anything like that, we all have this feature it's built in every iOS versions (since iOS 7 I believe). Some people just don't notice it, some others does. Personally, even if I notice it every time it happen, it never bothered me at all.

But anyway, OP I don't think you can disable it and I'm not sure someone even bothered to make a jailbreak tweak to disable that feature. Though, you could probably disable it by jailbreaking and tweaking yourself the OS, if you have some knowledge.
 
ZEEN0j

ZEEN0j

macrumors 68000
Sep 29, 2014
1,560
715
I find this on my 6 and air 2. I don't notice it all the time and it's worse in some videos than others. Best way to test is a dark video in any app in full screen. Then go to app switcher and the contrast will be very bright and take maybe a second to readjust.
 
U

untitledartists

macrumors newbie
Jun 28, 2011
21
52
I also think there is definitely something going on with a sort of dynamic auto contrast for video playback.
I never saw this in iPad 3 with ios6, but with an IPad Air 2 (iOS 8/9) it was very visible. Changing from dark scenes to bright scenes and vice versa changed the overal brightness quit noticeable and sometimes even choppy.
With an iPad Pro 9.7 it is much better. The transitions from automatic contrast adjustments are smooth, but I still visible for my eyes. I do not see it from scene to scene, but overall when playback video.
I have to say, that I mostly see this behavior with the Netflix app. So it could be possible that only this app is adjusting contrast for video playback. (IMO I saw this also system wide using iOS10)
For exampe when I watch an Star Trek TNG episode on Netflix, capitan Picards bold head always is too contrasty. The highlights are blown out and are completely white. When I touch the screen that the playback controls become visible the contrast changes immediately and capitan Picards bold head get a smooth gradient of the previously only white highlights. This is the way I think the picture should look like! When the playback controls become invisible again the contrast increases slightly after few seconds and highlights can clip again.
It is more visible when night shift is on and true tone is enabled. Disabling auto brightness, true tone and night shift and enabling them again helps a bit, but there is still a difference in contrast between fulll screen video playback with or without playback controls.
So in my opinion the video playback on iOS is slightly with too much contrast.
I spot blown highlights which should not be blown out quickly, and absolutely hate every dynamic contrast enhancement and image enhancements in all modern TV screens.
I now nobody cares, 9 from 10 people do not notice what I described on iOS (10), but still I see it all the time....white blobs on Cpt. Picards bold head.....
 
W

Whoakapi

Cancelled
Original poster
May 26, 2010
382
215
untitledartists said:
I also think there is definitely something going on with a sort of dynamic auto contrast for video playback.
I never saw this in iPad 3 with ios6, but with an IPad Air 2 (iOS 8/9) it was very visible. Changing from dark scenes to bright scenes and vice versa changed the overal brightness quit noticeable and sometimes even choppy.
With an iPad Pro 9.7 it is much better. The transitions from automatic contrast adjustments are smooth, but I still visible for my eyes. I do not see it from scene to scene, but overall when playback video.
I have to say, that I mostly see this behavior with the Netflix app. So it could be possible that only this app is adjusting contrast for video playback. (IMO I saw this also system wide using iOS10)
For exampe when I watch an Star Trek TNG episode on Netflix, capitan Picards bold head always is too contrasty. The highlights are blown out and are completely white. When I touch the screen that the playback controls become visible the contrast changes immediately and capitan Picards bold head get a smooth gradient of the previously only white highlights. This is the way I think the picture should look like! When the playback controls become invisible again the contrast increases slightly after few seconds and highlights can clip again.
It is more visible when night shift is on and true tone is enabled. Disabling auto brightness, true tone and night shift and enabling them again helps a bit, but there is still a difference in contrast between fulll screen video playback with or without playback controls.
So in my opinion the video playback on iOS is slightly with too much contrast.
I spot blown highlights which should not be blown out quickly, and absolutely hate every dynamic contrast enhancement and image enhancements in all modern TV screens.
I now nobody cares, 9 from 10 people do not notice what I described on iOS (10), but still I see it all the time....white blobs on Cpt. Picards bold head.....
Click to expand...
I will give you points for resurrecting a thread that was last updated on May 28 2016 :D

I think Apple improved the auto-contrast. It seem a lot less aggressive than it was back in 2016.
 
J

Jensend

macrumors 65816
Dec 19, 2008
1,422
1,629
WashupDawg said:
I will give you points for resurrecting a thread that was last updated on May 28 2016 :D

I think Apple improved the auto-contrast. It seem a lot less aggressive than it was back in 2016.
Click to expand...
The auto-contrast is as bad as ever. It may just be a little smoother at switching between different amounts of contrast.

I can’t believe how infrequently this issue is discussed here. I have to put the stupid assistive touch button on the screen so I don’t have to deal with the blown out highlights.

I have an iPad Pro 10.5”. They talk about how well calibrated the screen is and how it supports higher color gamut and such, then they ruin it with software tricks.
 
S

steveOooo

macrumors 6502a
Jun 30, 2008
743
89
UK
iPad mini2
I've noticed the highlights (white levels) are blown out during the day watching video.

At night with the lights off the blacks adjust sometimes slightly, sometimes there Is a sudden jolt from light grey to lots of grey (as you don't get Black with a ips screen)

Just bidding on a 2014 Samsung tablet which uses amoled and I guess this will 'fix' this issue.

Have been using a s7 and lg c7 oled Tv recently and kinda can't stand viewing a ips screen at night.

Sadly this auto adjustment 'feature' that u can't turn off will end my usage of iOS devices. Will try to stick with oled now.
 
W

Whoakapi

Cancelled
Original poster
May 26, 2010
382
215
steveOooo said:
iPad mini2
I've noticed the highlights (white levels) are blown out during the day watching video.

At night with the lights off the blacks adjust sometimes slightly, sometimes there Is a sudden jolt from light grey to lots of grey (as you don't get Black with a ips screen)

Just bidding on a 2014 Samsung tablet which uses amoled and I guess this will 'fix' this issue.

Have been using a s7 and lg c7 oled Tv recently and kinda can't stand viewing a ips screen at night.

Sadly this auto adjustment 'feature' that u can't turn off will end my usage of iOS devices. Will try to stick with oled now.
Click to expand...
Well, buying a 2014 OLED device you better hope that the previous owner(s) didn’t torture the display.
 
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S

steveOooo

macrumors 6502a
Jun 30, 2008
743
89
UK
It's sadly the only one prior to their 2018 £600 s4 tab with a 16:10 aspect ratio, tab 2-3 have 4:3 ish dimensions - might as well get near 16x9 as possible

Yep hopefully no screen burn in, hope for the best!
 
E

egious

macrumors newbie
Mar 9, 2020
1
1
I've been struggling with this annoying problem for a long time and I think I won ;)

Accessibility > Display & Text Size > Smart Invert ON

This is works perfectly on my iPad Air 2 with iOS 13.3.1

Please check it out on your different models/oses and let me know.
 
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AutomaticApple

AutomaticApple

Suspended
Nov 28, 2018
7,401
3,378
Massachusetts
egious said:
I've been struggling with this annoying problem for a long time and I think I won ;)

Accessibility > Display & Text Size > Smart Invert ON

This is works perfectly on my iPad Air 2 with iOS 13.3.1

Please check it out on your different models/oses and let me know.
Click to expand...
This thread has been inactive for a few years...
 
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