HP Spectre 13" OLED Screen issue (Screendoor effect, warm/yellowish whites)

I just received this laptop today and I noticed that the display has a very noticeable screendoor effect. I read somewhere that this is due to the digitizer for the stylus/pen. Is this true? Is there a way to fix this?

These micro dots or crosshatching effect or screendoor effect is really noticeable on white color.



Along with that, the color is pretty warm. The white is yellowish and I went through all the color profiles.


Are there any fixes to these issues? If not, I might consider returning it and getting a dell with OLED

Thanks

 

Not a bit of barn door on mine. OLED displays often have ever so slightly odd or color-casted whites, particularly at lower brightness levels. This is because they must illuminate all pixels to create white, and if one pixel color type is a little more or less bright, then white might not look perfect. It's not an HP issue, it's an OLED thing.

 

Below is a picture of what it looks like. It might look exaggerated in the picture, but I can see those dots with my eyes, being about a foot away from the screen.

Along with the screen issue, the speaker seem pretty quiet as well. anyone experience this too?

 

The top looks like moire, the second looks like a screen door/grid pattern. Moire is caused by the super-position of the camera sensor grid on the display's grid, creating 2 overlapping patterns (it's not really there, the two devices create the visual effect).

As for second image-- the screen door (uniform grid pattern) I can't see that on our unit, though your photo looks like a strong magnification that we might not be able to see with naked eyes. Still, it seems pretty strong. If you change the scaling in Windows display settings, does it get better?

 

I posted the two pictures, because that is what I visually see, I know the camera amplifies the effect. but it was just used as an example.

So you aren't seeing any dots or anything similar to my pictures on your unit? hmmm

And yes i played with the scaling and resolutions. Even when the laptop was doing the BIOS update, the effect was still there.

 

I'm returning this laptop. Its a shame, the oled panel is really good; the darks, the colors, the small 13" form factor. But I just couldn't stand looking at this screen with the screendoor effect. super distracting and when I scroll up or down, its even more noticeable.

I think I'll wait for gen 2 of these OLED displays.

 

I believe "pdagal" is confused: this is not moire. Or, they might not physically see the problem. Because this visible touch layer is well-known with HP's latest displays on the Spectre x360, for those with discerning eyes. You're not crazy: it's absolutely not moire, unfortunately.

This early-2019 HP Spectre x360 review calls out exactly the same issue, showing identical results. Their image illustrates it well: this isn't an "effect", it's just HP's shoddy touch layer that's visible:



Not everyone can notice it, but once you notice it, it's nigh impossible to un-see. You won't be the first one to return it because of this, much less the first to notice it. Some call it a honeycomb effect:



Sources:
https://www.notebookcheck.net/HP-Sp...nvertible-foiled-by-its-display.435009.0.html
https://www.reddit.com/r/Hewlett_Pa..._inch_amoled_spectre_with_oled_screen_issues/

 

That Notebookcheck review is for the last gen model with a full HD IPS display, not this year's AMOLED display. Their complaint is that the display is too glossy.

The Reddit thread refers to the 15.6" model.

BTW, OLED banding isn't uncommon... on TVs and on the 15.6" Samsung panel that's in a lot of 2019 laptops. Our x360 doesn't (yet) exhibit banding, but I've seen some 15" laptops that have). It can change with age (generally getting worse). TVs have an algorithm that runs every so often to try and refresh the pixels to reduce banding.

Digitizer grid visibility isn't unusual in laptops if you have keen eyes or look really close or use a camera to really get a close view. It's not particularly an OLED thing.

 

Yes, I think we're agreeing here: it can be visible on any touchscreen device these days, like this Surface Pro 7 pixel layout image from here. That Notebookcheck review of the FHD HP Spectre x360 display also had the peculiar ( peculiar in the technology, not peculiar in wanting privacy, heh) SureView privacy screen. But, you're right: they don't "call out" the touch layer negatively per se, even as it's noted specifically in the image caption.

Maybe it's the HP Spectre popularity (more devices -> more chances of it being visible to more people) or this particular panel + digitizer combination, but I've seen a couple of HP Spectre x360 comments about it.

It is good to know that it's invisible to most people (maybe like coil whine sensitivity), though I have read that it can depend on the particular unit, too (i.e., maybe some panel calibration irregularities make it more or less visible).

The banding on OLEDs & TV mitigation strategies: that's smart. I wonder if they'll ever port that to the laptop displays, as generally, I'd say people notice it more when you sit so close!

 

Hi all

I've exact same problem with my Spectre 15 df1xxx with Amoled screen. The digitizer related artefacts are so severe that the resolution appears to be lower than FHD!

Thus the UHD resolution on the Spectre 15 is completely useless and a bad joke...

Rgds

 

Hey there. HP-OLED and Dell OLED user here. I've been using an 15,6 inch HP AMOLED Spectre (1st Gen with 8th Gen Core i7) for a month and it had exactly the same pattern.

It's a pen-input layer that has a very rough raster and is visible at all resolutions.

Your Screenshot is actually my post at reddit (martin22_3 ^^). When I first got my Spectre, I was wondering if my unit was just faulty or if it was a common problem. I've been using a 13,3" (1440p) inch Spectre (2016) before and it also had touch input, but only with finger recognition. It did not have digitizer support so the overall image was totally clear. Even at lower PPI it looked much sharper and clearer than its 15 inch 4K AMOLEd successor.

Totally agree. I find it quite unbelievable that HP continues to use that honeycomb-like layer on its latest 13" 4K AMOLED Spectre. They totally ruin screen clearness. Both the 15 inch and the 13 inch OLED Spectres got reviewed on Youtube and none of the reviewers did notice that layer. Even many review sites did not mention it. People just dont look at it closely as they have limited time to review their units.

For those who look for an alternative: The Dell XPS 15 OLED suffers from vertical banding but has clear and natural whites (balanced white point), a semi-glossy panel which does not reflect too much, high peak brightness and no pen input layer. However - due to the anti reflective layer - you may see a slight cloudy layer on whites. This one steals very little from sharpness and is bearable compared to the awful HP Spectres.

I really wonder how Asus or Razer implemented their pen input layers on their OLED notebooks.

 

Sorry to say, but it's an HP thing. They have added mediocre pen input layers on their 2019s OLED laptops. AMOLED in its nature has the option to integrate capacitive touch input. SDI probably implemented this on the 2016 SDCA029 Revision. However, for pen input there seems to be another layer needed. HP sadly opted for a visible pen input structure. The problem with this grid is that it's very rough textured. I'd say it's visible as soon as you get a little bit closer to your laptop as usually. On the 15 inch model it was visible at normal distance and very annoying when displaying light colors (especially whites).

 

It's crazy that HP cut corners like this and materially affected what should have been an amazing display. Here's hoping they fix it on the 2020 model of OLED's, but for now I will not be buying this generation.