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iPad 3 retina display is greenish -- it's best feature is messed up

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rconn2

iPF Noob
I compared my iPad 2 and iPad 3 playing the same 720p video simultaneously and side by side last night. In scene after scene, I strongly perceived my iPad 2 as having better picture quality (at 720p, the resolution didn't matter).

The colors seemed true and natural and realistic on the iPad 2. They seemed unnatural on the iPad 3. How utterly disappointing! I was biased to want to be favorably impressed by the iPad 3 and the 2 had the significantly better display.

What was going on? The iPad 3 colors were too greenish. If we had an advanced display setting (of course Apple won't allow that), I'd be looking to shift the hue over to the red a bit and away from the green.

How bad is it? Am I some overly critical videophile? It's bad and no, I don't think so. The major selling point of the iPad 3 is the retina display. The trade-off is cost (for those replacing their older iPad) extra weight, thicker size, and slower battery charging. And what is gained? Regarding color fidelity, the display is seriously flawed and there's no setting to be changed.

On certain scenes (various videos) faces and hair have a greenish cast. Once noticed, it's obvious and annoying. Grass looks cartoonish with a neon glow, while it appears completely natural on the iPad 2 -- this is the easiest test. Water appears greenish, not blue. It's very evident.

I did a google and found this, so I'm not alone:
Falk Lumo: Apple iPad 3: A first screen evaluation

I suppose Apple could fix this with an upgrade. But, it's not even an acknowledged problem. I don't know, but I guess it's just a bad setting choice and affects all 3's. If so, didn't anyone test this? I noticed right away.

As things stand -- I'm just digesting this disappointing discovery -- I see no sense in keeping my iPad 3 with an overall worse display. Crisp text is good, but video is where it should wow and it doesn't... it uggs instead.

EDIT 03/25/2012: Things have considerably changed based on new observations. The above conjectures were premature and likely wrong -- at least in part, if not completely turned-around.
Please read later posts.
 
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Mine doesn't have a green tint. Get yours replaced. Mine matches the one on the right.
 
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For the picture on that Falk link above, the frame of the white iPad is way off color balance. The guy definitely does not know what he is doing.

Edit: I got back on my computer - took a copy of the picture and edited it. Turns out the photo has a very noticeable green shift. You have to adjust color quite a bit to remove that and make the frame look as it should.

It's also important that you have the right lighting when watching a movie. In my theater room I've replaced all lights with Halogen and the TV is adjusted to that color balance. If you are looking at the ipad in tungsten light everything will appear more greenish to your eyes than it is.
 
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Ok, just to beat this topic to death - I've been looking online and notice that many people write about this effect of the screen seeming green in comparison to iPad 1 and 2 - however, not having an iPad 1 or 2 myself I was not used to anything. One particular forum user reported this, and then went to calibrate his monitors - then promptly re-posted to 'eat his words' - turns out the iPad 3 is much more color accurate than the iPad 1 and 2 - which both shifted toward red quite a bit. Now he notices that the yellows on his 1 and 2 are more orange.

Anyways - here is another link that is even better at explaining iPad3 color
Answers about the new iPad and Color | CDTobie's Photo Blog
 
You worked hard on this one, zphone. I had an iPad 2 and I know this display is fine. It amazes me out people can come up with total nonsense like this.

Anyway, thanks for your efforts. I did read the links you gave.
 
A few people have received iPads from a batch that were not calibrated properly. All were tuned with a greenish tint. Apple will gladly exchange any iPad that is not considered right.
 
@seadog: Thanks. How do you know this -- can you direct me to where I can find out more? This is important because if this is a fact, then I should definitely return mine and spend no more time thinking about the issue.

Re: lighting conditions etc. I compared my iPad2 and 3 running the same videos side-by-side. Grass on the iPad 3 looked cartoonish and glowing versus natural on the 2; flesh tones and hair with a greenish cast or slight hue compared to natural on the 2. There was a distinct green shift on the iPad 3, no question. I'm going to compare some test patterns on my laptop, hdtv (mirroring from my iPad though my ATV)...

I don't want to go through a replacement merry-go-round. I rarely return things (I'm not that type) and don't want to turn this into an annoying and time consuming chore. I'll check out the test patterns and read any responses and remain open minded. Otherwise, if still dissatisfied, I'll return it to a local Apple store for a refund within my 14-day window. I don't want to spend time explaining or asking for a refund -- it's easiest to just do and be done with it during the easy refund period.
 
rconn2 if all of them had a greenish hue as you suggest this would be BIG NEW and would be all over print and TV news. Just look at what happened with the small higher temps that people saw. The new iPad has been subjected to a LOT of scrutiny.
 
i-4JBpqrx.jpg


He may not have got the color comparison correct but he got a good comparison of the pixies between the two. He got the coarser pixels but the pixel bleed as well on the 2. I don't know how people can't see this on the 2 and not notice it is not on the 3.
 
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rconn2 said:
@seadog: Thanks. How do you know this -- can you direct me to where I can find out more? This is important because if this is a fact, then I should definitely return mine and spend no more time thinking about the issue.
Click to expand...

You are quite right - if you do have an issue - why don't you take it to any store that has a couple of iPad3s on display and compare them to yours. I'm pretty sure this is not an epidemic though.
The fact is if they are the same then your 3 does not have any issue - it's as accurate a color pallet as you can get on a tablet right now. You may still see it as green shifted when comparing to your ipad2 simply because the 2 is so red shifted and you have gotten used to seeing colors that way, but then you would know that it's just an optical illusion.
 
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rconn2 said:
I compared my iPad 2 and iPad 3 playing the same 720p video simultaneously and side by side last night. In scene after scene, I strongly perceived my iPad 2 as having better picture quality (at 720p, the resolution didn't matter).

The colors seemed true and natural and realistic on the iPad 2. They seemed unnatural on the iPad 3. How utterly disappointing! I was biased to want to be favorably impressed by the iPad 3 and the 2 had the significantly better display.

What was going on? The iPad 3 colors were too greenish. If we had an advanced display setting (of course Apple won't allow that), I'd be looking to shift the hue over to the red a bit and away from the green.

How bad is it? Am I some overly critical videophile? It's bad and no, I don't think so. The major selling point of the iPad 3 is the retina display. The trade-off is cost (for those replacing their older iPad) extra weight, thicker size, and slower battery charging. And what is gained? Regarding color fidelity, the display is seriously flawed and there's no setting to be changed.

On certain scenes (various videos) faces and hair have a greenish cast. Once noticed, it's obvious and annoying. Grass looks cartoonish with a neon glow, while it appears completely natural on the iPad 2 -- this is the easiest test. Water appears greenish, not blue. It's very evident.

I did a google and found this, so I'm not alone:
Falk Lumo: Apple iPad 3: A first screen evaluation

I suppose Apple could fix this with an upgrade. But, it's not even an acknowledged problem. I don't know, but I guess it's just a bad setting choice and affects all 3's. If so, didn't anyone test this? I noticed right away.

As things stand -- I'm just digesting this disappointing discovery -- I see no sense in keeping my iPad 3 with an overall worse display. Crisp text is good, but video is where it should wow and it doesn't... it uggs instead.
Click to expand...

I finally received my new IPad last night and was sorely disappointed. After setting it up, I discovered the strange greenish/yellow hue. I promptly drove over to the Apple Store about a half an hour away.

The young lady that took care of me told me that many iPads have different hues some have blue hues, some red and some the yellow/green hues as mine. She told me that it was well within Apple's standards. I told her that it was not within my standards. She said, well what are you going to do - exchange up to 15 times before you are satisfied? Needless to say, I was very shocked she took this stance.

I did exchange it and now I am very happy. No strange hue, no heat-gate, no extra heaviness of the product and alas no battery issues.

A postscript, the guy exchanging the IPad (at the register) agreed with my screen assessment. She told him he was wrong.

Sent from my iPad2 32 3G Black :)
 
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Alas - it looks like the Spyder only let's you adjust color for the particular viewing application it works with. Possibly great for photographers that need to show actual color - but does not much for the rest of us.

I have heard however, that it is possible to make adjustments in a Jailbroken iPad. Which is a good enough reason for me to look into jailbreak.
 
Most HDTV should on break in period for about first 200 hour......don't know that new Ipad should break in or not......
 
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