yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note I717] a3plew:
It's a flaw of the note obviously as can be seen in the ics leak. they fixed the banding issue but not the black clipping. They changed something so that now around #7 from the OP picture it just a unsmooth transition to black. They are masking it. Peoplelike supercurio have brought up the issue. He has even stated he would be talking to someone at Samsung at one point.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note I717] 00mred00:
You are spitting in the wind i am afraid. i don't know how many times I have brought up the same points as you.

I honestly do believe some devices are defective at this point and worse than others but I like you see the same equivalent "crush" on every display in the house using the sources provided. This leads me to believe my note does not have the issue others are experiencing

what I don't get is that if it bugs select people so much why keep it....

Thur u arrrrrrgh
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note I717] dvd7000:
I have the AT&T Samsung Captivate and just bought the AT&T Note yesterday. I am very disappointed that the Note has a terrible black crush problem no matter what brightness setting I use. Fade ins/out and any scenes with a mostly dark background are a banded, pixelated mess! This applies to You Tube, Netflix, and even higher quality videos that I made using Handbrake.

My Note is the Korean make. If I cannot find a fix for this, it's getting returned.

Has it been positively confirmed that the Chinese mfg. Notes do not have this problem?
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note I717] PeartFan40:
Can you post a few screenies? I'm curious to see this.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note I717] jpeg42:
No
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note I717] jhc9604:
From my experiences

After 2 returns and 1 exchange, finally I have a satisfied device.

I can say Chinese made white note(current) is better than Korean made black one(previous 3 ) only from my experiences.

There is still minimal black clipping/crush but far better than previous one.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note I717] dvd7000:
This is the unretouched (except for size) photo of the test pattern:

Taken in a darkened room with a digital camera on 'twilight' setting.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note I717] esincho:
I watched my friend HD music video on my tmo galaxy s2, MacBook, TV plenty times. Wasn't till this phone that the black background looked hideous. Even my wallpaper has it now. Crazy to say it's the source and not the phone.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note I717] PeartFan40:
This occurs on tv's with blu ray as a source.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note I717] Reclaim:
Yes, tvs with the same problem. Not all tvs
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note I717] paleh0rse:
It's ok to admit when you're totally and completely wrong... it won't hurt, I promise!:rolleyes:
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note I717] Reclaim:
+1 :p
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note I717] jjc5891:
sometimes I wonder if samsung is sending in their internet goons to try and downplay the issue.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note I717] dvd7000:
If misinformation is spread often enough, and long enough it becomes fact. At least that appears to be what Samsung is hoping for.

Why large corporations are not honest and up front about what they've done, either by accident or on purpose constantly astounds me.

Please Samsung, if you boosted the gamma, reds, and yellows to make the Notes' display look more eye popping to potential customers, you've succeeded. Now it would be nice if you offered a fix for us videophiles who prefer to watch movies on our phone without having to cringe every time there's a fade in/out, or a dark scene with blotches, banding, and no shades of gray.

Even my partner, who knows next to nothing about what a properly calibrated video display should look like, asked me what was wrong when I showed him a HQ Netflix streaming B&W movie with dark scenes that looked like a child took a black magic marker and scribbled all over the screen.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note I717] jjc5891:
The worst part about the ics leak is that Samsung's "fix" is quite noticible in apps that used to use a black background in gingerbread. In ics, the backgrounds are now dark grey and fade to black towards the top. Since they only adjusted contrast, the "fade" is banded, so I see a lighter grey band, a dark blue-ish band, then pure black.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note I717] Scythe024:
So did they ever fix this in the international version? remember hearding one of there devs said he could fix it, but it required ICS
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note I717] paleh0rse:
I think supercurio is still waiting on n7000 ICS source.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note I717] azalex86:
I installed the ICS leak and also experience the 7 drop off.

I can see all boxes from 21 down to 7, and then everything below it is completely black. Any HD vids on youtube that are dark (ie. Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter trailer -- This was a pretty good test actually) end up looking incredibly blocky whilst other devices look fine.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note I717] 00mred00:
So is this similar crush?
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note I717] Reclaim:
Checked out my roommate's focus as well. Came up with the same findings you did. If that helps at all.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note I717] tungsifu:
Ok try this and see if it works for y'all as it has for me...check your build prop mine had a line with the # in front of it display 400x800 right above density line...being that it has a # should mean that it is inactive but i swear changing it to 800x1280 has eliminated the black crush!!! And mines was so bad that it even went beyond the black and even to some colored portions as well...hope this works for you as it did me :)
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note I717] Scythe024:
Kind of confused by this. Where do u find the build prop and how do u change the resolution? Are u on gab or ics? And do u have to be rooted
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note I717] azalex86:
Great instructions for the use with Astro, and yes you must be rooted.

http://www.freeyourandroid.com/guide/how-to-edit-build-prop

I made the change to mine along with a restart, but can't see any difference. Gradual decrease to 7, and then 6 and below are pitch black. Starting to think the 6 and below are a OLED limitation on my phone's display. Thankfully it's not as bad as some others.

I'm on the ICS leak for reference.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note I717] tungsifu:
Im on Ics and yes you must be rooted to alter things in build prop...system/build prop...i don't believe it should make a difference if your running gb or Ics
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note I717] dvd7000:
Have had the AT&T Galaxy Note for 3 days now, and have noticed that when I view problem videos (ones that have horrible black crush when viewed in a darkened room) during the daytime, I do not notice the black crush at all! I do not mean in bright, sunlit outdoor conditions, just in a moderately bright room during the day.

So I did a test. I started watching an HQ Netflix B&W movie in a dark room. It had the black crush problem. Then I turned on a torch lamp full bright, and to my amazement, the black crush problem gradually disappeared! I then slowly dimmed the torch light down to just about the brightness of a night light, and continued to watch the video free of black crush, but only for a little while. Gradually, I could see the corners of the display beginning to exhibit the black crush again.

What could explain this?
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note I717] 00mred00:
I think i see a difference after doing this. will check it out more later
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note I717] pyee0124:
Here's mine.

Bell Note (build.prop 480x800)

edit: pic isnt loading, but it ends at 7.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note I717] jjc5891:
# means it's commented out and ignored. its it your mind.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note I717] jpeg42:
Yes, but I do think the problem is MUCH less noticeable in ICS, and that is what people are seeing. Avengers Trailer, some picture that paleh0rse sent me of his back yard, Jay Z, Starfield, all of them you have to look pretty hard to see the crush. It is far from perfect, but I simply am not distracted by it anymore.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note I717] jjc5891:
Are you looking for crush is the blacks or the greys? ICS has grey crush now since they altered the contrast so you won't be seeing it in the blacks anymore.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note I717] jpeg42:
Crush period. Yes it is there, I am not denying that. But I feel like I have to look for it now whereas it was downright distracting before. Maybe grey crush is not as apparent.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note I717] paleh0rse:
Yes, in the leaked build of ICS, it looks like Samsung has done "something" -- either simply adjusted contrast or the gamma curve itself -- to shift the problem to greys instead of blacks (7,7,7 instead of 1,1,1).

While this does slightly obfuscate (hide) the problem with some videos and images, it really doesn't do much to fix it... :(

PS: any change done to a line with a # in build.prop is completely pointless.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note I717] sprecker:
Yes. OP's test is, in my opinion, "crap".

When did I ever say I was an expert? I was meerly offering some other tests to compare. I don't see why this causes you so much discomfort. Seriously go outside and take in some fresh air before you hurt yourself. Seriously. WTF people?
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note I717] tenderchkn:
A prerequisite to passing judgment on something is having actual knowledge of the topic. And since you did, you implied that you possessed this knowledge. And since you don't, your opinion on this matter is utterly useless. No one with any understanding of how digital images work will dispute the validity of my test.

I do not suffer from any discomfort from other people's ideas. What I do have a problem with are people like you who attempt to discredit when they don't know what they are talking about, and then offer up "alternatives" that are absolutely invalid. Misinformation is the enemy here, and if you try to spread it (even unintentionally), you become one too.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note I717] tungsifu:
Op or moderater please delete my last few post for misinformation...in dark rooms i do still see it...dammit this is starting to bother me :mad:

Weird that ambient light would have such an effect on it hmm
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note I717] mrandyp69:
Really weird. I never had black crush when watching starfield. I know I know. Subjective blah blah. But I've had the same note since launch and that video has never looked so bad as it has tonight. Virtually unwatchable. here's my question though...

How come in the darkest room can the same starfield video look perfect on youtube in stock browser but super pixelated and virtually unwatchable in youtube app.

Oh well. I'm not worried about it.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note I717] clockcycle:
Made In China

I've mentioned it, but it gets lost as the thread gets longer.

I had a Made In Korea (MIK) which had this issue.

I got a new one, it's Made In China (MIC) which still has the same issue.

So getting a MIC is not the answer as it seems that it's hit or miss. Not all MIK owners have reported having this issue and not all MIC have reported not having this issue.

On another note, this site was linked previously and I'd like to mention it again, as it has lots of rather interested tests that the NOTE fails on :)

http://www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/all_tests.php
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note I717] talonted:
my own test

I got my AT&T warranty replacement note in yesterday. Exhibits almost no crush and is much better than my previous phone. Did a few test with my two and a friends. You can draw your own conclusion. All phones are on the newest version of gingerbread, stock, non rooted. All images were displayed using the stock gallery app with brightness set to 100% and the "auto adjust screen power" turned on. Photos taken in pitch black room with 16mp digital camera on auto setting

Phone #1 (My old one) White in color

Purchased March 5th @ Best Buy Mobile

Exhibited severe black crush issues

Made in Korea, Rev 0.3

Phone #2 (My new one) White in color

AT&T warranty exchange, received April 9th. By my best inspection, phone appears brand new and not a refurb.

Exhibits almost zero black crush

Made in Korea, Rev 0.3

Phone #3 (Friends) Black in color

Purchased Feb 19th @ Best Buy

Haven't texted black crush in video applications

Made in Korea, Rev 0.3

A few side by side shots. All are in order of 1, 2, 3.

My thoughts/notes:

1. Clearly there is a vast difference in the gamma settings between these 3 phones.

2. The ATT warranty replacement clearly has a different hue of color than the others.

You guys have any feedback?
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note I717] tenderchkn:
Our eyes adjust to ambient light so efficiently that we usually don't perceive how big the difference in light levels are. For example, the difference between direct sunlight and a normally lit room at night is greater than 1000:1. Because your eyes adjust to the most dominant source of ambient light, in bright conditions, the ugly grays appear to be black, but are clearly gray when you're in a dark room.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note I717] tenderchkn:
Yup - you're absolutely right. The replacement looks good. Has zero to minimal clipping and has no green color cast. It's important to note that even though the 1 is visible, this is from overexposure of the image, and should not be as visible in real life. The grays smoothly transition to black.

Did they send you a new phone in a box when you went through warranty? When did you place the order? I'm always leery of doing a warranty exchange because due to bad experiences with refurb phones in the past.

EDIT: Also, is there a manufacturing date for your replacement phone? If not, check the IMEI number and compare it to your original phone. I would think that these go in sequential order.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note I717] jpg71:
Hang on a second here, you're saying his phone looks good, yet when I submitted a picture that exhibits similar characteristics, you said it still had the clipping problem. I thought the rule of thumb was "If you're able to see the 1, and there is a significant drop-off to black, then your phone has the clipping problem."

I can clearly see 1 on his sample image, and a more significant drop-off to black than my sample.

Mine is also a MIK, not sure if there's a manufacturing date anywhere on it though.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note I717] clockcycle:
They still do not have refurb stock to send as replacements, you get a new one. YMMV

Not sure what yours looks like, but the white one in the center on his pictures is his replacement, which looks pretty good.. The right side one in black is his friend's and the left most white was his original.

You're saying your phone in photo below looks like phone #2 in photo above?

SOURCE: http://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=23942173&postcount=47
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note I717] PeartFan40:
Check the link I provided. It's ok to admit when you're wrong, I promise.

http://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=40198
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note I717] PeartFan40:
Did you notice it before reading this thread?
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note I717] tenderchkn:
Sorry if my explanation is confusing, but what you see in his pictures are not what you will see in real life. His images are very overexposed, which illustrates the problem better. Your picture was underexposed, which hides the problem. Because of this, I had to extrapolate based on what I saw and made an educated guess.

To make a apples-to-apples comparison, you need to take a picture and expose the image so that the brightness of the "21" box matches the brightness of what my image in the OP, or talonted pictures look like. Then you compare the brightness of "1" box to talonted's middle picture. My phone looks like the two on the side. The one in the middle is correct, or at least closer to correct.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note I717] talonted:
You can't possibly still be suggesting that the problem with these videos is a source issue after seeing the clear variences in my test photos. I mailed my old phone back an hour ago, so I can't check the IMEI # on it. I can confirm what someone posted about how visible the "1" block is on my phone. In the dark room, it was almost completely invisible. If I was RIGHT on top of it and let my eyes adjust, I could faintly make it out. It shows brighter in the picture than it really is.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note I717] tenderchkn:
Sorry, but the link is totally off-topic. Check my posts from earlier in this thread (including the OP). I have mentioned many times that videos are subjective, and suffer from compression artifacts. I have never disputed this, and have, in fact, challenged several people when they posted screenshots of videos with blocking artifacts. All end user video content is compressed, and therefore suffer from "black clipping", but this is not what we are talking about in this thread.

To eliminate the clipping that exists in a video source, I provided a simple gamma pattern, with a detailed explanation of what it is in the OP. A solid box of RGB 1,1,1 is not a source problem. It's just a color. The display either displays it correctly, or it does not. In our case, our displays does not display this color correctly. Therefore, this is a display problem, not a source one.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note I717] boxerlover02:
The ICS Rom made my note video issue way better it was night and day Netflix was almost unwatchable, but now its pretty crispy.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note I717] K2Biker0:
I just picked up a note on 4/7 and love it except for the black crush issue. looking at pictures i took with my infuse are unviewable. I've tried a couple of the youtube videos everyone has mentioned and those too are un watchable even on dolphin. It has been mentioned it is a software problem, do you guys this i should try returning it for another one?
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note I717] jjc5891:
I completely agree with the above. Color is color, this is a black-and-white issue: it is displaying it correctly or it isn't. When the same source is used to test multiple devices and one device fails and the others are fine, it's pretty ridiculous to say that the image is the problem.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note I717] K2Biker0:
I agree JJC. The fact that pictures that were taken on my Infuse looked great on that phone, then that same exact file viewed on my Note looks terrible is pretty definitive.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note I717] tenderchkn:
Can you check your picture with the batteries removed, and get the IMEI numbers from the label? I can't quite make it out on the picture posted on the forum, but you should be able to see them in the full size file.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note I717] talonted:
Just an FYI, my note was replaced under warranty by AT&T solely for this black crush issue. The process went like this:

Called 611, told them about the issue and asked for a replacement. They told me I'd need to go directly through Samsung.

Called Samsung, they agreed to replace it. They said they'd email me a shipping label, for me yo send it to them, they'd either fix it or replace it. Estimated 4 day turnaround of me being without a phone, so I declined. Super nice folks by the way, and the guy spoke flawless English.

Called 611 again. Told them I wasn't willing to go without my phone for 4 days so we needed another solution. They said since I bought it from best buy to go talk to them. I was near one anyway so dropped by and discussed it.

Best buy told me they'd fix me up. Said they would have to send off my phone and give me a loaner phone (not a note) in the meantime (I have the black tie protection). I declined and yold them I'd try AT&T one more time.

Called 611 again, explained what all I'd been through and that I wasn't willing to do without a note at all during the replacement process. They gave me the warranty dept # and they set me up with one immidiately. Ordered Friday, arrived Monday.

I had to jump through a few hoops, and I probably could've stomped my feet and gotten a replacement on the first call. I love the phone, and work in customer service myself, so I was very polite throughout the process. Firm at times, but polite. I'd encourage any of you concerned with the issue to have yours replaced and see how it works out.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note I717] cgibsong002:
Sounds like a lot of trouble to get an identical replacement

Sent from my Samsung Nizzote
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note I717] PeartFan40:
I don't get what all the fuss is about. I don't even notice this issue. Yhats probably because I'm not scrambling to look for it by using these tests. Just my two cents.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note I717] paleh0rse:
why do you keep crapping on this thread and the people who DO notice it during normal multimedia use?
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note I717] jjc5891:
Hey that's nice but just because you don't care about it doesn't mean we shouldn't also. In my opinion, the screen is the most important part of a phone like this, and if I see a problem with it that I'm going to notice everyday, you bet your ass ill be complaining all day until it gets fixed the right way.

This affects the whole UI. In ics the backgrounds fade from grey to black but it's not even a fade because the phone can't display the color right. I can see this on almost EVERY application that doesn't use some sort of background image.

I hate to say it but if you don't notice it or just don't care about it, then I don't understand why your in this thread.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note I717] Scythe024:
The 2nd one may look better, but it still isn't perfect. I've yet to see a perfect note
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note I717] Reclaim:
You've given your 2 cents about 10 times. It's obviously an issue with most people. That's what this forum is for. Let us discuss it without you giving your lackluster 20 cents.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note I717] talonted:
To the previous poster. It does seem like a lot of work to take the risk of receiving a phone with identical problems. However, if that had happened to me, I'd be on the phone having them send me another!
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note I717] tenderchkn:
Actually, it's pretty damn near perfect. Here's a picture of my calibrated Dell 2407WFP for comparison. Talonted's replacement phone is as good, if not better (due to the better black levels), than my monitor. I exposed the "21" to match his for better comparison.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note I717] srtpusher:
You think this is a Best Buy problem? Holy crap...
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note I717] hyukki:
Okay, so I messed around with Screen Adjuster for a little bit and realized setting the Contrast at -17 (your settings may differ) makes it almost perfect. Only downside is that the true blacks are a bit washed out.

You can do this by adjusting the contrast while watching your status bar. When you reach a certain number, the "true" black will suddenly turn gray, which mine was -17. Now, you shouldn't have any clipping problem.

Is there a way to change the Contrast/Gamma values in the kernel source? If so, it could be somewhat of an easy fix.

I'm attaching my results.

-Edit-

Setting each colors to +7 had the same effect as setting contrast to -17 on my phone.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note I717] tenderchkn:
That's a decent solution to the clipping problem, but the downside far outweighs the benefits, in my opinion. Doing this turns our display into looking like a cheap 10-year-old LCD display.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note I717] hyukki:
I totally agree but I think this will do for now, until we get a kernel source or locate wherever the screen values are and mess around with that instead.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note I717] dvd7000:
Both of your suggested setting options worked for me with NETFLIX and TEST PATTERNS, but had no effect on Dolphin Browser, or You Tube app.

While not a perfect solution, at least I can watch Netflix B&W films without cringing so much.

I truly hope that Samsung is working quickly to find a solution for this.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note I717] paleh0rse:
Sadly, Samsung hasn't even acknowledged that the problem exists, and they've told everyone who has reported the problem that they are "the first and only person" to do so... :(