If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have known about the Screen Balance app. I am big on color calibration since I do photography and also make presets for Lightroom. I'm curious what you think of my settings.
EXTREMELY GOOD SETTINGS: To achieve great performance, proper black levels, and great color without overdone saturation, the key is to combine the use of auto-brightness with perfectly calibrated black level output at the darkest screen brightness setting you use. Perfect black levels are only a benefit in very dark ambient light. In brighter light it is not beneficial and has negative consequences for overall performance and IQ. First set the Pixel 2 XL to saturated colors (don't worry, the oversaturation will be corrected) Then use AutoBrightness app with the following response curve to obtain ideal screen brightness relative to the ambient light. sensor lux reading : brightness on 255 scale (0:25, 16:28, 128:65, 500:125, 1000:255). Then with Autobrightness active, go into a totally dark room and set the screen balance app to set the black levels using the method described by Joe N Tell, but it should be close to the following settings: In white balance color mode, set temperature to fluorescent, white balance strength to 60%, contrast 100%, brightness 100%). This may seem to be a bright setting, but realize that even though the black output goes above zero in bright light, it is not perceivable and increases the responsivity of the screen, less text blur, and the effective gamma is lower so that colors don't look overly saturated and overly contrasted. In dark environments where it really matters to have zero black output the phone will nail it.
I've bought the app and tried all of your settings. It seems that the iPad pro with true black is the best for my screen, since the red is not contrasty compared to other settings. Thanks for your help!
Excellent!!! Saturated mode now is perfect after fixing the black level clipping. Stupid of Google to try to make their phones POP more by over contrasting the screens and causing black crush. With the black level corrected, the saturated mode does not look over done, in fact it looks absolutely perfect resembling OLED TV. Though I noticed the green is clipping at saturation.
@@joentell It should be noted that true black should be set under the dimmest brightness used and evlauated in a very dark room. The blacks should not be zero in bright conditions and rightly will increase with the output.
I think I have also noticed much less text blur when scrolling now that with the black levels properly calibrated. Perhaps the responsiveness is much better with the black level not being bottomed out unnecessarily in bright ambient light conditions.
i set the RGB strength around 6-10% to get better details on dark image/video. strength depends on brightness level. keep it mind i switch on adaptive brightness. my setup would be: (all setup adaptive brightness is enabled, brightness 100%, contrast 100%, red 255, blue 255, green 255) 1. brightness slider at 100% RGB Strength 6% 2. brightness slider at around 50% RGB Strength 8% 3. brightness slider at around 0% RGB Strength 10% try this and let me know if it helps! cause for me this setup does. and my display become better and show more details especially on shadowy content. thanks!
Joe N Tell almost deep blacks. you try reduce 1 or 2% from the setting which suits your eyes. i set at 50% brightness slider and 7 or 8% strength. 7 on Bright day and 8 on cloudy day. give it a try and let me know
Nice job. I dig the production value. 👍 My Filipino friends always said I have an interesting name in Tagalog: Takacs. It sounds like the word for "escape". 😂
Hey, thank you very much for the great video! I was already using the black crush fix from This Is Tech Today but now I am testing the iPad Pro Colors Only settings with 8% strength and they are surprisingly pleasing to my eyes! ^_^ And I found the iPhone X profiles too greenish for my taste. ;-)
I'm now using the Saturated profile+sRGB mode (developer settings) and it looks pretty neat to me! It's like the (almost, RIP wide-color gamut of I'm right) perfect balance between Boosted and Saturated only. I don't remember if you mention this setting in the video but in case you don't, I definitely advise to people who read this comment to activate it in the developers settings! (search on Google if you don't know how to activate it) Oh, and I'm using the Daylight white balance setting on Screen Balance (30%) even though I have the pro version, it just looks "perfect" to me. iPhone X is nice but I prefer cooler colors.
I'm already subbed to This Is Tech Today, but hadn't seen his video on this issue. I came across your video after watching the Moment Lens Video, and I'm really happy I did. Thanks for making such a good video!!
What do you mean by "Max Saturation" listed under "My Settings" are you talking about the Color mode built into the phone? "Natural, Boosted, Saturated" ? I too am trying to Calibrate my Pixel to match my 12.9" iPad Pro!
Hi, what is the difference between brightness in Screen Balance App with the brightness setting in the phone? Should I set both as 100% for this calibration?
Ended up using the Screen Balance settings that you shared (My Settings (Pixel 2 XL Max Saturation & True Black, Adaptive Brightness On)) What profile do I use for the device natively (outside of the app)? Natural, Boosted, or Saturated?
Fantastic video by the way. The quality is top notch and straight to the point. I was wondering if you've experienced black smearing at all on the Pixel 2 XL on low brightness? For example when I use a true black app at night on low brightness, the blacks "lag" a bit when scrolling.
Hey the screen balance app u have suggested does not change white balance & tint to the notification panel of my pixel 2Xl.Yes it does change everother part of screen but not the notification panel?why? Please reply!
It probably does but it isn't noticable on the notification shade. The program doesn't pick what part of the screen it will affect or which app it affects.
Joe N Tell yes I agree with u but on my device the changed screen (after the screen balance on) looks whitish which it should be & the notification panel looks yellowish & this difference is completely visible to the naked eye. Do u have any fix for it? I have contacted to developer of the app but till now he didn't reply on this.
The notification shade color may change depending on what's behind it. What color is your wallpaper? Try changing it and see what happens. Also make sure night light mode is off.
Wow. Thanks Joe! Your fix works perfectly. With the color profile adjusted I can see how much detail was being lost due to crush. It was worse than I thought. I hope Google releases an official fix for this soon. It's a shame such an awesome device is held back by a poor screen.
Hm. I haven't noticed that. I only notice a slight change at maybe the very lowest brightness settings. Also, are you sure it's not the Night Light mode kicking in?
Joe N Tell so I don't really do any changes. I let everything run as it is for my Nexus 7 and Note 8. For the note I do leave it in basic colors. No changes and the new option for video enhancer they bring. I just leave it in off. Still I have not been able fix that. But now I will thanks to your video!
Also, thanks for you video on Moment lenses vs Sirui. You are right. The Moment Tell lens has a wierd soft ring close to the border. When you get some sun flare into the lense you can see the ring clear as day. Unfortunately such an expensive lense with such a wierd flaw.
For the same results but with a lower white point: Adaptive brightness OFF R: 255 B: 255 G: 255 Strength: 1% Contrast: 95% Brightness: 82% If you want to adjust how bright the whites are, mess with the brightness slider within the app. You may have to adjust the contrast slider to make sure your black crush remains fixed, but do not go below 95% or you will lose true blacks. These settings were meticulously tested on my Pixel 4a 5G with the calibration videos in the description.
Am using Samsung Note 8 and am also experiencing this very same issue, I guess this issue flared up after March/May Update..But yeah that did ruin my Movie watching Youtubing..Any fix for this?
i just got a pixel 2, a year after this video was made, and i'm very disappointed in the screen quality. google never did fix the black crush, it's terrible. my nexus 6p was much better in this respect. thanks for letting us know about a solution.
I don't think it is in the app store. If you're rooted, you will want to search the XDA forums for it. You will also need a kernel that supports it. So basically, you need your phone rooted a custom kernel that supports KCal and preferably a kernel that has an app associated with it with the ability to adjust KCal settings.
Joe N Tell oh ok. I have no idea what 'kernal' or 'rooted' or any of that means. So i think i should probably leave that option alone lol. I have the LG V30 and im trying to find a way to tone down the colours as they are way oversaturated. Thanks for the quick reply.
You can try the "best for web" setting under display settings. Also, if you enable "developer options" (just Google it) then you can turn on sRGB mode, but I don't think it sticks after reboot.
KidAFateen These settings are specific to the Pixel 2 XL screen made by LG. The Pixel 2 uses a Samsung screen and needs it's own calibration. Just use the chart I linked to to fix black crush and use 18% gray to find a white balance you like.
I'm not sure exactly what you mean. Red is a darker shade than on Samsung panels, but with the changes I recommend, they are well saturated and bright.
My phone display is pretty good except for the reds, they are dark, brownish and dull. In saturated mode they are orange. I wonder if my phone will be able to produce a firetruck red. BTW I bought the app and I am moving between your "My Settings profile" and the "iPhone X Simulation v1" both are great and Google should take a look at these profile for the boosted and saturated calibration.
I used some similar settings on my small pixel 2. I still notice it but in different areas now. The pixel 2 is easily worse then the 2XL. Owned both to compare. I spoke with Google and they were useless. I doubt there will be a proper fix without needing an app. I can't watch videos at night or in bed as they look like total shit. I even got crushing watching this haha.
Joe N Tell Yeah it's a bummer. The app does help a little so I'll stick with it for now. I'm tempted to go back to a 2XL as it wasn't as bad. Also miss the bigger screen. Will see how i go.
Bojan Bojovic That's funny because I've been doing color calibration on my screens for over 10 years. I've known about sRGB for about the same amount of time since I do photography. I understand what color space is. It isn't in my head when I can put my phone right next to an iMac 5k Retina screen and notice a huge difference in color rendering. I get paid for my understanding of color rendering since I also create camera emulation presets for Lightroom. I also have an sRGB calibrated home theater projector. I understand how an accurate image looks compared to a TV on display at Best Buy. The Pixel 2 XL is not accurate. What a measurement device says and what humans perceive are different things also, so please don't quote the recent XDA article saying that the screen is accurate. It's like saying that a log video file is more accurate than a rec709 corrected video since it has more data. That's what the Pixel 2 XL looks like in natural mode. It looks like a raw photo/video. As good as this phone is, it is primarily a content consumption device and the screen should be calibrated as such. Also, please tell me why we should trust your opinion? What is your level of experience with this and/or area of expertise? If I am wrong please explain in more detail why I am incorrect. I'm open to learning and always ready for a healthy debate. Go for it!
It is totally irrelevant what you do, how long, and whether you make money doing it if you say stuff like "desaturated", and "screen issue", It is about what you say, and not what you say about your self. As for debate, no thanks. My broken English will give you a great advantage. First of all you should be more precise about what are you talking about, the screen or calibration. Also, you should be more clear about content consumption argument because again it is not very clear are you suggesting it to be more accurate, or not accurate at all so the majority of people with their eyes burned with that asinine Samsung over-saturation will like this screen. It is true that this display is MAYBE not as good as some Samsung screens today, but it is as good or better than some Samsung previous generation screens, and ONLY if we talk about blue shift "issue". Look at note 5 and Nexus 6p screens for example, you will see the same amount of blue shift in those displays, and that was only 2 years a go. LG is learning, Apple and Google are paying for that, but that is just another story. Blue shift is normal thing for all OLED displays, only this screen is showing it a bit more. You are doing photography, great. Have you tried to look at it through a circular polarizer? If you are not, please do and you will understand why this screen has more blue shift than those from Samsung. Look through CPL and compare this screen with Note 8 screen, then make the video about it please. Desaturated? No, the right word is over-saturated, and that should be said for ALL Samsung default calibrations except for Basic, but Samsung is shipping their phones with Adaptive, which is overly saturated, and only few percent of people know about Basic, and just few percent of them use that profile. Samsung Basic profile and Google 6p sRGB, and Pixel's Natural mode give about the same results. Whether you or I like it or not it is irrelevant. It is their way to match what Apple is doing with the iPhone some time already, and please do not say that this is a bad move because it is not. I will repeat, there is a BIG difference between bad screen and bad calibration, and you and many others on UA-cam should know that and stop saying "screen issue", and "Google fix", because it was not broken, Google just added over-saturated mode for all those people who do not care about calibration. Again, the physical screen is good. It works well in bright light situations but it has that blue shift if viewed from some angle. I already explained why, and if you ask me it is ok trade off. As for burn in, that is just one case reported, and it is too early to speak about it. Not even early, it is impossible to draw some conclusion because people use their phones differently and some people will get burn in signs earlier than others. Me personally, I got burn in after just few months with Samsung display, then started using some apps for coloring navbar and hiding some status bar icons, then it lasted for more than 2 years without burn in. So, it all depends. When it comes to calibration, you are right when you say it is not perfect, but there is no phone with perfect calibrated screen, and I am not looking for one. But if you look Apple, their screens are very well calibrated, and Google is doing great job trying to replicate this. Then suddenly some people started this idiotic avalanche with "washed out colors", "dull colors", "bad screen" idiotic videos and headlines, now everyone are repeating their mantra. And please do not talk about my opinion, because it is not about opinion at all, it is about facts, and those should be the same for all of us.
Now I can say that my first comment is not at all about your video and it is not made for you, but for all of those who simply do not understand the difference between screen calibration and physical problem. I was reading some comments and again, and again people are repeating this mantra about bad screen... As for personal taste, I use Boosted. I have calibrated (video) monitor for my photography and videography, also I have corrected room for my (audio) monitors for my music and production, and I really like to have realistic representation of what I see and what I hear. Boosted is just a tad more saturated than Natural/Neutral, and as this device is not used for my video/photo/music creation, but as you said for media consumption, for me personally it is enough for it to be similar with my calibrated (video) monitor, which is enough for me. As for Google calibration, I could not agree more. Still, we need to put this in some context, Google, Samsung, and OnePlus are the only one who offer some sRGB calibration for their devices, and ONLY Google is shipping their phones with this calibration, or to be more precise they ship it with Boosted now. It should be better, but still it is good they are thinking about it. As for this app, it does not help much because it consumes more battery, and lower the performance of the device, it should be done in Kernel properly.
Bojan Bojovic I agree with most of what you said. I also am into audio and I use a calibration mic and REW to eq my room as well. This relates to a flat eq as well. I know many people think that flat is optimal for sound production, but others would argue for the use of a house curve. I do as well. You may want to look at the JBL Synthesis or Harman Curve tests. Most people prefer boosted lows and rolled of highs in a blind test. Some producers do not have studios with a flat curve. Think about how many people really have a system with a flat response. If you optimized for a flat response and someone listened to it on their system with boosted lows and rolled off highs, then the music you produce would have lows that are boosted even further. Again, this is a smartphone and I plan on consuming content on it, not creating. I prefer a screen that is pleasant to look at. Apple calibrated their displays for accuracy, but they also look good. The natural and boosted mode look less accurate (with respect to gamma) and are less pleasing to look at. I am not complaining without reason. I love this phone, and I would like the calibration to make the most of this capable LG display. I did mention the use of KCal with a custom kernel to do what I have done with this app. I have been monitoring the battery consumption of this app and have noticed very little consumption. In most cases, it is so low, it isn't even 1% of total usage and doesn't show up in the settings.
I do not think only flat EQ curve is the best, of course everyone can adjust frequency curve to their taste, but it should be done with very broad Q factor so the actual "flat" curve remains, just with more overall bass or highs, depending on their taste. When I mentioned digital room correction I meant on some acoustic problems where we have more than 5 or 6db in just few hertz range, then deeps in frequency curve because of phase sweep and standing waves in most rooms without acoustic treatment. I personally work with flat curve, it is somewhat old school for audio mixing and production, I can hear the low frequencies down to 30hz, but without that popular boomy sound people like. No matter people are listening music the way they like, it is all about what you are used to in your studio, so if you work with a flat EQ curve and make a good mix in those condition, then it will sound correct no mater people listen it with more bass or highs, they will receive what they are used to. We always work with some reference points of course, but if you get boomy bass in my studio then you crossed the line. :) I do not have means to calibrate my phone display right now so I will stay with Boosted, it is good enough for me. Yes, the shadows are actually black in most cases, but as you said earlier, it is made for media consumption, not for creation. Still, it would be nice if Google sends some update with even better profile, but I doubt it will.
Another great informative video joe. 👍🏼 I'll have to try out these settings on my Pixel 2 XL. I agree the iPhone X colors are pretty nice, a bit warm, but nice.
When it is inaccurately desaturated. I'm all about accuracy. I calibrate my TV's and my projector. It is not accurate. Look at the dingy reds and yellows.
@@joentell it's much more accurate than basically any other Android device out of the box. Yes, it does lack in reds in the "natural" mode, but the boosted mode fixes that (while saturating the other colours a little bit). And afaik the Pixel 2s are the only ones which properly support colour management for now, so... It's a shame we don't see apps using colour management though. Anyway, thanks for this. The black crush is something that can really annoy me. Do you know if Google did anything to improve it with software updates?
Thanks for the shout out, dude!
If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have known about the Screen Balance app.
I am big on color calibration since I do photography and also make presets for Lightroom. I'm curious what you think of my settings.
EXTREMELY GOOD SETTINGS: To achieve great performance, proper black levels, and great color without overdone saturation, the key is to combine the use of auto-brightness with perfectly calibrated black level output at the darkest screen brightness setting you use. Perfect black levels are only a benefit in very dark ambient light. In brighter light it is not beneficial and has negative consequences for overall performance and IQ. First set the Pixel 2 XL to saturated colors (don't worry, the oversaturation will be corrected) Then use AutoBrightness app with the following response curve to obtain ideal screen brightness relative to the ambient light. sensor lux reading : brightness on 255 scale (0:25, 16:28, 128:65, 500:125, 1000:255). Then with Autobrightness active, go into a totally dark room and set the screen balance app to set the black levels using the method described by Joe N Tell, but it should be close to the following settings: In white balance color mode, set temperature to fluorescent, white balance strength to 60%, contrast 100%, brightness 100%). This may seem to be a bright setting, but realize that even though the black output goes above zero in bright light, it is not perceivable and increases the responsivity of the screen, less text blur, and the effective gamma is lower so that colors don't look overly saturated and overly contrasted. In dark environments where it really matters to have zero black output the phone will nail it.
Awesome. Thanks!
Which auto brightness app that i want to use ?
There's a link in the description
how tf this video doesnt have lots of view? thanks bro! i was always disappointed with pixel 2 xl color calibration. your setting did a great job.
Thank you for the great work. Pixel 2 xl is perfect now!
I've bought the app and tried all of your settings. It seems that the iPad pro with true black is the best for my screen, since the red is not contrasty compared to other settings. Thanks for your help!
Excellent!!! Saturated mode now is perfect after fixing the black level clipping. Stupid of Google to try to make their phones POP more by over contrasting the screens and causing black crush. With the black level corrected, the saturated mode does not look over done, in fact it looks absolutely perfect resembling OLED TV. Though I noticed the green is clipping at saturation.
Yes, glad it helped. You are correct about the green. It can't be helped.
@@joentell It should be noted that true black should be set under the dimmest brightness used and evlauated in a very dark room. The blacks should not be zero in bright conditions and rightly will increase with the output.
Good tip.
I think I have also noticed much less text blur when scrolling now that with the black levels properly calibrated. Perhaps the responsiveness is much better with the black level not being bottomed out unnecessarily in bright ambient light conditions.
i set the RGB strength around 6-10% to get better details on dark image/video. strength depends on brightness level. keep it mind i switch on adaptive brightness.
my setup would be:
(all setup adaptive brightness is enabled, brightness 100%, contrast 100%, red 255, blue 255, green 255)
1. brightness slider at 100%
RGB Strength 6%
2. brightness slider at around 50%
RGB Strength 8%
3. brightness slider at around 0%
RGB Strength 10%
try this and let me know if it helps! cause for me this setup does. and my display become better and show more details especially on shadowy content.
thanks!
+Akim Eusof I can take a look. Does it retain true black levels?
Joe N Tell almost deep blacks. you try reduce 1 or 2% from the setting which suits your eyes. i set at 50% brightness slider and 7 or 8% strength. 7 on Bright day and 8 on cloudy day. give it a try and let me know
Joe N Tell its very hard to notice that it is not deep blacks unless you really open black image and look for it
In before you reach the 1k mark. Happy to see another Filipino fella here on UA-cam. Ingat!
Thank you for the support!!! Ingat! 🤣
Awesome video. Thank you!
This app is awesome! I keep experimenting different settings, I'm addicted! 😝
As far as my phone is concerned, it drastically improved the color white on my phone.....great app
Thank u so much for making the video 2 years ago, here I'm facing the issue with my pixel 3a xl
Nice job. I dig the production value. 👍
My Filipino friends always said I have an interesting name in Tagalog: Takacs. It sounds like the word for "escape". 😂
Thank you for your good work!
My pleasure!
Good stuff. New sub for the quality info/content.
+f0t0b0y Thank you!
Hey, thank you very much for the great video!
I was already using the black crush fix from This Is Tech Today but now I am testing the iPad Pro Colors Only settings with 8% strength and they are surprisingly pleasing to my eyes! ^_^
And I found the iPhone X profiles too greenish for my taste. ;-)
Glad you like them. Yeah, experiment with different settings! :-)
Joe N Tell Yeah, I will - thanks to the (even when unrooted) power of Android! ^o^
You've earned a subscriber, BTW. ;-)
I'm now using the Saturated profile+sRGB mode (developer settings) and it looks pretty neat to me!
It's like the (almost, RIP wide-color gamut of I'm right) perfect balance between Boosted and Saturated only.
I don't remember if you mention this setting in the video but in case you don't, I definitely advise to people who read this comment to activate it in the developers settings! (search on Google if you don't know how to activate it)
Oh, and I'm using the Daylight white balance setting on Screen Balance (30%) even though I have the pro version, it just looks "perfect" to me.
iPhone X is nice but I prefer cooler colors.
I'm already subbed to This Is Tech Today, but hadn't seen his video on this issue. I came across your video after watching the Moment Lens Video, and I'm really happy I did. Thanks for making such a good video!!
My pleasure!
Great Work Joey, Always Stepping it up! Tech Genius 😎
Aren Hovsepian Thanks brother
thanks for the video. Now I love my pixel 2 xl screen
Awesome!!!
I have an iPhone X and whites are much better than on pixel 2 xl. Can I get the same white balance of iphone with this app?
What do you mean by "Max Saturation" listed under "My Settings" are you talking about the Color mode built into the phone? "Natural, Boosted, Saturated" ? I too am trying to Calibrate my Pixel to match my 12.9" iPad Pro!
john fj I mean that settings are set to Saturated in the system settings and RGB values are at the maximum 255 value.
Joe N Tell oh okay awesome!! Thanks 😎
Did you use Natural, Boosted or Saturated in the Color profiles?
Hi, what is the difference between brightness in Screen Balance App with the brightness setting in the phone? Should I set both as 100% for this calibration?
+Kamil Iqram Set both to 100%. After calibration, change the brightness in the phone settings, not the app
Joe N Tell cheers. really helpful video, colour much better following your recommendation settings. convinced me enough to get the pro.
+Kamil Iqram Glad it helped!
Ended up using the Screen Balance settings that you shared (My Settings (Pixel 2 XL Max Saturation & True Black, Adaptive Brightness On))
What profile do I use for the device natively (outside of the app)? Natural, Boosted, or Saturated?
I use Saturated
Fantastic video by the way. The quality is top notch and straight to the point.
I was wondering if you've experienced black smearing at all on the Pixel 2 XL on low brightness? For example when I use a true black app at night on low brightness, the blacks "lag" a bit when scrolling.
Thank you. I haven't noticed the black smearing, but I will look out for it.
Should my phone be on boosted or saturated when applying the settings you've put in the description? Or it is personal preference
+iThroRoxAtBlind Kidz Saturated
+iThroRoxAtBlind Kidz Saturated
Hey the screen balance app u have suggested does not change white balance & tint to the notification panel of my pixel 2Xl.Yes it does change everother part of screen but not the notification panel?why? Please reply!
It probably does but it isn't noticable on the notification shade. The program doesn't pick what part of the screen it will affect or which app it affects.
Joe N Tell yes I agree with u but on my device the changed screen (after the screen balance on) looks whitish which it should be & the notification panel looks yellowish & this difference is completely visible to the naked eye. Do u have any fix for it? I have contacted to developer of the app but till now he didn't reply on this.
The notification shade color may change depending on what's behind it. What color is your wallpaper? Try changing it and see what happens. Also make sure night light mode is off.
good info meng
OMG thank you so much this is perfect!!!
With these settings, is your pixel in saturated mode?
Yes, correct
Wow. Thanks Joe! Your fix works perfectly. With the color profile adjusted I can see how much detail was being lost due to crush. It was worse than I thought. I hope Google releases an official fix for this soon. It's a shame such an awesome device is held back by a poor screen.
Josh Rhoderick Glad it helped out.
Really thought you were hispanic too! Lol but good job man! To a million subs 🍻.
-Philippines
Lol!
I have a question, what are your White Tint setting I don't know how to put them. Thanks so much for the video!!
I use RGB mode on the Pro (Paid) version. I set the white tint there by adjusting the RGB values.
Joe N Tell I used the iPhone settings and compared them with my iPhone 6s, and I'm impressed thanks so much!
Do you find that when on adaptive display the white point can change depending on environment?
I don't think the white point changes. At least I haven't experienced that. It's not like Apple's True Tone .
Joe N Tell ever so slightly it changes .. from pink to blue sometimes depending on environment from what I've noticed ..very subtle though
Hm. I haven't noticed that. I only notice a slight change at maybe the very lowest brightness settings. Also, are you sure it's not the Night Light mode kicking in?
I have a Samsung. Love the screen. The colors can be fixed so that they are not over saturated and look more "natural". I dont like their blacks tho.
I know they have a bunch of different profiles to choose from right? Which do you use?
Joe N Tell so I don't really do any changes. I let everything run as it is for my Nexus 7 and Note 8. For the note I do leave it in basic colors. No changes and the new option for video enhancer they bring. I just leave it in off. Still I have not been able fix that. But now I will thanks to your video!
Also, thanks for you video on Moment lenses vs Sirui. You are right. The Moment Tell lens has a wierd soft ring close to the border. When you get some sun flare into the lense you can see the ring clear as day. Unfortunately such an expensive lense with such a wierd flaw.
Yeah, the wide lens is good, but not the Moment Tele. I like the Sirui better for sure
Nice.. thanks for video
Did Google fix any of these issues with software updates by now? (Sept 2018)
Not that I've noticed
Nope...issue is still here and Google support is just not addressing the issue
It is amazing how they intentionally shoot themselves in the foot. THE CAMERA IS INSANE ON THIS PHONE!!!!
Does your pixel 2 XL custom setting has any difference compare to the stock saturation mode?
Julian Tie Did you watch the video? 😁
For the same results but with a lower white point:
Adaptive brightness OFF
R: 255
B: 255
G: 255
Strength: 1%
Contrast: 95%
Brightness: 82%
If you want to adjust how bright the whites are, mess with the brightness slider within the app. You may have to adjust the contrast slider to make sure your black crush remains fixed, but do not go below 95% or you will lose true blacks.
These settings were meticulously tested on my Pixel 4a 5G with the calibration videos in the description.
Have you tried to convert these into KCAL so we could use it without a program drawing on top all the time?
I'm not sure that's possible from what I've heard.
My pixel 3 xl has green tint and black crush issue How to solve it plz reply
You absolute legend! Did this affect your battery life at all dude? Many thanks
+Joshua Newton I'm sure it does, but it's negligible. It doesn't even show up as 1% usage for me.
Does this app use a lot of battery?
Not that I've noticed. It can slow down the opening of the camera app for the first time. Only thing I've really noticed.
Can you make a same video for OnePlus 8? OnePlus 8 also have black crush
Are all the settings meant to be accompanied with "Saturated" Color Mode?
Yes, it's for Saturated mode
Joe N Tell Wow, impressed. Holding the phone against an X right now and I can tell I'm loving my 2XL XD.
Thanks bro, you got a new sub.
Glad it helped. Google should really fix this on their end.
Ikr, too much of a hassle for a software fix. Can't do anything about the blue shift though.
Blue shift doesn't bother me much at all
Need a good tutorial to emulate any phone display on any phone
Am using Samsung Note 8 and am also experiencing this very same issue,
I guess this issue flared up after March/May Update..But yeah that did ruin my Movie watching Youtubing..Any fix for this?
Please tell if you doing any fix
Same issue with LG V30
i just got a pixel 2, a year after this video was made, and i'm very disappointed in the screen quality. google never did fix the black crush, it's terrible. my nexus 6p was much better in this respect. thanks for letting us know about a solution.
Glad I could help a bit.
Do you have a link for the 'kcal' app? I can't find it on the play store
I don't think it is in the app store. If you're rooted, you will want to search the XDA forums for it. You will also need a kernel that supports it. So basically, you need your phone rooted a custom kernel that supports KCal and preferably a kernel that has an app associated with it with the ability to adjust KCal settings.
Joe N Tell oh ok. I have no idea what 'kernal' or 'rooted' or any of that means. So i think i should probably leave that option alone lol. I have the LG V30 and im trying to find a way to tone down the colours as they are way oversaturated. Thanks for the quick reply.
Yeah, you may just want to try the app I talked about in this video.
Joe N Tell yes i already have it. I can turn the colours up even more but i don't think there is a way to turn the colours down in the app.
You can try the "best for web" setting under display settings. Also, if you enable "developer options" (just Google it) then you can turn on sRGB mode, but I don't think it sticks after reboot.
Do these settings work with Pixel 2?
KidAFateen These settings are specific to the Pixel 2 XL screen made by LG. The Pixel 2 uses a Samsung screen and needs it's own calibration. Just use the chart I linked to to fix black crush
and use 18% gray to find a white balance you like.
Does this works on Rog 3
All I want is the RED to be display correctly, is the Pixel 2 XL able to display RED ?
I'm not sure exactly what you mean. Red is a darker shade than on Samsung panels, but with the changes I recommend, they are well saturated and bright.
My phone display is pretty good except for the reds, they are dark, brownish and dull. In saturated mode they are orange. I wonder if my phone will be able to produce a firetruck red. BTW I bought the app and I am moving between your "My Settings profile" and the "iPhone X Simulation v1" both are great and Google should take a look at these profile for the boosted and saturated calibration.
Simon Duguay I just googled fire truck red and Ferrari red. With my settings, the images looked bright, vibrant and accurate.
Must be my phone.....
And you don't have night shift mode on by any chance right?
I used some similar settings on my small pixel 2. I still notice it but in different areas now. The pixel 2 is easily worse then the 2XL. Owned both to compare. I spoke with Google and they were useless. I doubt there will be a proper fix without needing an app. I can't watch videos at night or in bed as they look like total shit. I even got crushing watching this haha.
I've heard the same thing from others about the Pixel 2. Sorry to hear that.
Joe N Tell Yeah it's a bummer. The app does help a little so I'll stick with it for now. I'm tempted to go back to a 2XL as it wasn't as bad. Also miss the bigger screen. Will see how i go.
Colors are good. The screen is good. Learn what sRGB is. It is an issue, but only in your head.
Bojan Bojovic That's funny because I've been doing color calibration on my screens for over 10 years. I've known about sRGB for about the same amount of time since I do photography. I understand what color space is. It isn't in my head when I can put my phone right next to an iMac 5k Retina screen and notice a huge difference in color rendering. I get paid for my understanding of color rendering since I also create camera emulation presets for Lightroom. I also have an sRGB calibrated home theater projector. I understand how an accurate image looks compared to a TV on display at Best Buy. The Pixel 2 XL is not accurate. What a measurement device says and what humans perceive are different things also, so please don't quote the recent XDA article saying that the screen is accurate. It's like saying that a log video file is more accurate than a rec709 corrected video since it has more data. That's what the Pixel 2 XL looks like in natural mode. It looks like a raw photo/video. As good as this phone is, it is primarily a content consumption device and the screen should be calibrated as such.
Also, please tell me why we should trust your opinion? What is your level of experience with this and/or area of expertise? If I am wrong please explain in more detail why I am incorrect. I'm open to learning and always ready for a healthy debate. Go for it!
It is totally irrelevant what you do, how long, and whether you make money doing it if you say stuff like "desaturated", and "screen issue", It is about what you say, and not what you say about your self.
As for debate, no thanks. My broken English will give you a great advantage.
First of all you should be more precise about what are you talking about, the screen or calibration. Also, you should be more clear about content consumption argument because again it is not very clear are you suggesting it to be more accurate, or not accurate at all so the majority of people with their eyes burned with that asinine Samsung over-saturation will like this screen.
It is true that this display is MAYBE not as good as some Samsung screens today, but it is as good or better than some Samsung previous generation screens, and ONLY if we talk about blue shift "issue". Look at note 5 and Nexus 6p screens for example, you will see the same amount of blue shift in those displays, and that was only 2 years a go. LG is learning, Apple and Google are paying for that, but that is just another story.
Blue shift is normal thing for all OLED displays, only this screen is showing it a bit more. You are doing photography, great. Have you tried to look at it through a circular polarizer? If you are not, please do and you will understand why this screen has more blue shift than those from Samsung. Look through CPL and compare this screen with Note 8 screen, then make the video about it please.
Desaturated? No, the right word is over-saturated, and that should be said for ALL Samsung default calibrations except for Basic, but Samsung is shipping their phones with Adaptive, which is overly saturated, and only few percent of people know about Basic, and just few percent of them use that profile.
Samsung Basic profile and Google 6p sRGB, and Pixel's Natural mode give about the same results.
Whether you or I like it or not it is irrelevant. It is their way to match what Apple is doing with the iPhone some time already, and please do not say that this is a bad move because it is not.
I will repeat, there is a BIG difference between bad screen and bad calibration, and you and many others on UA-cam should know that and stop saying "screen issue", and "Google fix", because it was not broken, Google just added over-saturated mode for all those people who do not care about calibration.
Again, the physical screen is good. It works well in bright light situations but it has that blue shift if viewed from some angle. I already explained why, and if you ask me it is ok trade off.
As for burn in, that is just one case reported, and it is too early to speak about it. Not even early, it is impossible to draw some conclusion because people use their phones differently and some people will get burn in signs earlier than others. Me personally, I got burn in after just few months with Samsung display, then started using some apps for coloring navbar and hiding some status bar icons, then it lasted for more than 2 years without burn in. So, it all depends.
When it comes to calibration, you are right when you say it is not perfect, but there is no phone with perfect calibrated screen, and I am not looking for one. But if you look Apple, their screens are very well calibrated, and Google is doing great job trying to replicate this. Then suddenly some people started this idiotic avalanche with "washed out colors", "dull colors", "bad screen" idiotic videos and headlines, now everyone are repeating their mantra.
And please do not talk about my opinion, because it is not about opinion at all, it is about facts, and those should be the same for all of us.
Now I can say that my first comment is not at all about your video and it is not made for you, but for all of those who simply do not understand the difference between screen calibration and physical problem. I was reading some comments and again, and again people are repeating this mantra about bad screen...
As for personal taste, I use Boosted. I have calibrated (video) monitor for my photography and videography, also I have corrected room for my (audio) monitors for my music and production, and I really like to have realistic representation of what I see and what I hear.
Boosted is just a tad more saturated than Natural/Neutral, and as this device is not used for my video/photo/music creation, but as you said for media consumption, for me personally it is enough for it to be similar with my calibrated (video) monitor, which is enough for me.
As for Google calibration, I could not agree more. Still, we need to put this in some context, Google, Samsung, and OnePlus are the only one who offer some sRGB calibration for their devices, and ONLY Google is shipping their phones with this calibration, or to be more precise they ship it with Boosted now. It should be better, but still it is good they are thinking about it.
As for this app, it does not help much because it consumes more battery, and lower the performance of the device, it should be done in Kernel properly.
Bojan Bojovic I agree with most of what you said. I also am into audio and I use a calibration mic and REW to eq my room as well. This relates to a flat eq as well. I know many people think that flat is optimal for sound production, but others would argue for the use of a house curve. I do as well. You may want to look at the JBL Synthesis or Harman Curve tests. Most people prefer boosted lows and rolled of highs in a blind test. Some producers do not have studios with a flat curve. Think about how many people really have a system with a flat response. If you optimized for a flat response and someone listened to it on their system with boosted lows and rolled off highs, then the music you produce would have lows that are boosted even further.
Again, this is a smartphone and I plan on consuming content on it, not creating. I prefer a screen that is pleasant to look at.
Apple calibrated their displays for accuracy, but they also look good. The natural and boosted mode look less accurate (with respect to gamma) and are less pleasing to look at.
I am not complaining without reason. I love this phone, and I would like the calibration to make the most of this capable LG display.
I did mention the use of KCal with a custom kernel to do what I have done with this app. I have been monitoring the battery consumption of this app and have noticed very little consumption. In most cases, it is so low, it isn't even 1% of total usage and doesn't show up in the settings.
I do not think only flat EQ curve is the best, of course everyone can adjust frequency curve to their taste, but it should be done with very broad Q factor so the actual "flat" curve remains, just with more overall bass or highs, depending on their taste.
When I mentioned digital room correction I meant on some acoustic problems where we have more than 5 or 6db in just few hertz range, then deeps in frequency curve because of phase sweep and standing waves in most rooms without acoustic treatment.
I personally work with flat curve, it is somewhat old school for audio mixing and production, I can hear the low frequencies down to 30hz, but without that popular boomy sound people like.
No matter people are listening music the way they like, it is all about what you are used to in your studio, so if you work with a flat EQ curve and make a good mix in those condition, then it will sound correct no mater people listen it with more bass or highs, they will receive what they are used to. We always work with some reference points of course, but if you get boomy bass in my studio then you crossed the line. :)
I do not have means to calibrate my phone display right now so I will stay with Boosted, it is good enough for me. Yes, the shadows are actually black in most cases, but as you said earlier, it is made for media consumption, not for creation. Still, it would be nice if Google sends some update with even better profile, but I doubt it will.
Another great informative video joe. 👍🏼 I'll have to try out these settings on my Pixel 2 XL. I agree the iPhone X colors are pretty nice, a bit warm, but nice.
Let me know how it works for you.
👍👍👍👍
Since when did accurate became "desaturated"? Smh
When it is inaccurately desaturated. I'm all about accuracy. I calibrate my TV's and my projector. It is not accurate. Look at the dingy reds and yellows.
@@joentell it's much more accurate than basically any other Android device out of the box. Yes, it does lack in reds in the "natural" mode, but the boosted mode fixes that (while saturating the other colours a little bit). And afaik the Pixel 2s are the only ones which properly support colour management for now, so...
It's a shame we don't see apps using colour management though. Anyway, thanks for this. The black crush is something that can really annoy me. Do you know if Google did anything to improve it with software updates?
Funny how someone thought he was Hispanic lol clearly Philippines lol
Work for Asus Rog 3?