iPad Messages

[dask]

A friend sent a short video of a Halloween display he saw in a department store to the message app on my iPad. Before I pressed Play, it looked like this:

When I pressed play, it looked like this:

However, when I saved the video to my photo gallery it played normally rather than all washed out, and when I sent the clip to myself in the message app it play fine also. Several other clips he sent recently behave the same way. Anyone have any ideas what might be causing this? It may be a coincidence but this has only been happening after I converted from copper to fiber for internet connection but that should only improve the video, not make it worse. Besides, the video was also sent to my Android phone and played normally using the same fiber WiFi.

 

[Foxbat]

I’ve noticed in the past that sometimes (but not always), a way to deal with a corrupted or somehow strangely performing file is to make a copy of it and then find that the copy works normally. By saving the file to your own device, you are effectively making a copy of it and the playback works normally. In a compressed file, remember that you are getting a list of ones and zeros and where they go (which is smaller than the actual number of ones and zeroes needed). This is basically how file compression works.

It needs to be decoded and decompressed before playback so I’d suggest the problem may be at your friend’s end because 1…the file integrity appears to be okay because you can play the saved copy back and it looks normal…
2…it plays fine on your other devices, indicating that your fibre is working okay.


Just a guess

 

[dask]

It makes sense to me. Thank you for your input. I asked my friend to send the clip to my email so I could see how it played on the desktop but it wouldn’t go through, something about the file being too big.

 

[Wayne Mack]

I suggest that it is likely an issue on the receiving end, as the same image and file displayed differently at different times. It is likely that different display applications were used. The thumbnail display used one application, the text app used a video app (or perhaps the phone had different ambient settings at the time), and the photo gallery used a different video app.

Somewhat related, I have yet found a way to force my phone's text app to use my preferred web browser. Instead, it defaults to the phone manufacturer's custom browser. This has caused me numerous headaches when the custom browser had problems displaying a forwarded site.