topic Re: Banding issues, compression artifacts in Stadia on Chrome

Banding issues, compression artifacts

stefan1123 — Wed, 23 Dec 2020 19:20:19 GMT

Banding on Stadia is really strong - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bCanllECk8 - this is how it looks in real life (looks like 8bit color depth...).
Same issue in other games (eg. beginning of RDR2 with dark scenes).
I tried different laptops, different Operating Systems (Windows 10, Ubuntu), different browsers (Edge, Chrome, Chromium), different displays (built in or external Dell monitors).

I've also tried to change color format (https://www.reddit.com/r/Stadia/comments/jsrcxt/my_stadia_banding_issues_solved/) - no luck.

I have Pro subscription, 4K enabled, "excellent" connection status. (500mbps, ethernet).

Are you having similar issues?

Re: Banding issues, compression artifacts

stefan1123 — Wed, 23 Dec 2020 22:14:13 GMT

Same issue in Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. Game looks really bad...

Re: Banding issues, compression artifacts

Steppo — Wed, 23 Dec 2020 23:33:56 GMT

I had the same issue but even worse. Contacted the support twice. They couldnt help me. A tech support with higher level would be required to look at my case. After 10days without any feedback I decided to refund cyberpunk.

Re: Banding issues, compression artifacts

cladstriff — Thu, 24 Dec 2020 08:19:54 GMT

Hi,

Same issue here. I only have Cyberpunk and no Pro subscription, but my screenshot are similars. Stadia told me there is a problem with server and they are working on a fix. But I have no news since 4 days.

Re: Banding issues, compression artifacts

cladstriff — Thu, 24 Dec 2020 08:44:04 GMT

Changing color format was the only thing I didn't try, but it doesn't change anything *sigh*

Re: Banding issues, compression artifacts

ChrisFromGoogle — Thu, 31 Dec 2020 00:02:20 GMT

Hi @stefan1123 and @cladstriff --

Are you both able to test your internet connection? The quality of the stream is almost entirely dependent on the strength and reliability of your internet connection. Things like bandwidth are important, but so is ensuring that your connection is not dropping and packets or signal. This may not be the exact solution to your individual problems, but it is worth investigating. Please run a packet loss test on your connection and report back when you are able. As a general rule, when transferring large quantities of data, such as through streaming Stadia, connecting via ethernet is encouraged.

Re: Banding issues, compression artifacts

eeestada — Thu, 31 Dec 2020 14:01:40 GMT

Hi, @ChrisFromGoogle . (btw. this is stefan1123 , I've accidentally wrote this response from my second account..)

I'm using ethernet, ~400mbps.

Yesterday I was private messaging with Stadia on their Facebook profile. We've tested my connection (and it's not an issue in my case), they also suggested switching to Google's DNS (8.8.8.8, 8.8.8.4) and forward certain TCP/UDP ports (ranging from 44700 - 44899) - this also didn't help.
Finally they've asked me to contact tech support through dedicated form (https://bit.ly/3aewHFR) and they will further contact me via email (as they want to investigate this issue).

In my opinion it is not a connection issue (at least in my case). It has to have sth to do with the compression algorithm and/or color encoding (eg. RGB vs Y′CBCR 4:2:2)
These artifacts are visible only in certain situations (usually when looking at the sky or some direct point of light) - when there is a need to display a smooth gradient/transition between colors.

Here's an example (4k and VP9 forced through Stadia Enhanced extension) - looking at the window where light is getting through - artifacts clearly visible:
banding artifacts

Same room, different perspective - image looks crisp with no banding (maybe a little bit on the floor - where Jackie is standing - but it's not distracting...):

Re: Banding issues, compression artifacts

eeestada — Thu, 31 Dec 2020 11:22:25 GMT

Btw. exact same issue in similar situations (when looking at sky and/or some source of light) is visible in Division 2 (btw. this game runs really good on Stadia - the only problem are those banding artifacts)

I would love to verify this issue on my oled TV with Chromecast Ultra and Stadia Controller - but unfortunatelly Google is not offering them here in Poland

Re: Banding issues, compression artifacts

stefan1123 — Thu, 31 Dec 2020 22:04:26 GMT

@ChrisFromGoogle I'm sending more examples (from Division 2)
1. examples where quality is good, no compression and banding artifacts, colors properly saturated, sharp text, sharp textures; in general - very good looking:

2. examples where banding/blocking artifacts kick in - basically all you need to do is to look at the sky or some point source of light

To be honest - in real life it looks much worse (uploading image to this forum seems to add some more blur, which smoothens everything).

One last observation - when I'm opening screenshots in default Windows Image Viewer - banding artifacts are almost gone - as if it was applying some filter to remove them (something similar to "Smooth Gradation" filter available in Sony ang LG TVs). I can only show this using my phone's camera (I'm sending direct links to Google Photos, as I don't want to change the image by uploading it on forum):

1. Picture taken when screenshot was opened in Stadia app (generally this is how it looks during gameplay)
https://photos.app.goo.gl/k3pmoSNBPRwWmFEf7

2. Picture taken when screenshot was opened in Windows Image Viewer (this is exactly same screenshot!)
https://photos.app.goo.gl/NhqmNc5uvb9Kc5kc8
- you can clearly tell, that banding artifact (though still a bit visible) are "smoothened"

I hope this will help...

Re: Banding issues, compression artifacts

stefan1123 — Fri, 01 Jan 2021 12:24:25 GMT

@ChrisFromGoogle one last observation (sorry for all the messages, but I would really like to help to solve this issue).

Cyberpunk 2077, 4K and VP9 enabled, "Quality" mode set in game. Bandwith measurments with "Stadia Enhanced" extension (look at "Current traffic" measurement)

1. Looking at the "street" level while moving camera around - about 19-20 Mb/s of bandwith usage and artifacts-free image (you can clearly see all the details of the "antenna" in the distance, even motion blur does not generate any artifacts):

2. Looking at the sky - ugly artifacts but only around 2-3Mb/s of bandwith usage:

(also direct link, as it is better visible: https://photos.app.goo.gl/Ubq79jbZRW5KFKxc6 )

So even though there's a lot of bandwith left, compression algorithm decides to apply very strong compression (as if it didn't recognize properly that image in this situation requires more bandwith) and as a result - banding and block artifacts are visible.

I know that Stadia is using Google's own VP9 codec, so I hope you will be able to tweak it correctly..

Re: Banding issues, compression artifacts

stefan1123 — Sat, 02 Jan 2021 18:09:26 GMT

https://youtu.be/x6y4MnlFLNE?t=300 well, Digital Foundry pointed out these issues about a year ago...Since Stadia team did nothing about this for a whole year (I was testing RDR2 by myslef about 2 weeks ago), I think I won't waste more time on this...maybe I'll return to Stadia next year and see if anything has changed...

Re: Banding issues, compression artifacts

ChrisFromGoogle — Tue, 05 Jan 2021 18:41:48 GMT

Hi @stefan1123 -- thanks for your thorough and detailed responses. Having this documented so well makes troubleshooting and escalation easier. If you are able to, please submit feedback in-app about this, and please include the special hashtag "#bandingissue" in the body of the report somewhere so we can more easily search for it. Thank you again for being so helpful.

Re: Banding issues, compression artifacts

stefan1123 — Wed, 06 Jan 2021 11:11:05 GMT

@ChrisFromGoogle - done. I've sent reports for few games - with screenshots attached (sorry, but I don't to waste more time on this). Another game, that really struggles because of these issues is "Gylt". These artifacts are really very visible in this games and it's even worse in motion...

Anyway, I hope you'll do something about it.

Re: Banding issues, compression artifacts

Ronxide — Tue, 26 Jan 2021 20:21:17 GMT

Hi @stefan1123 ,

Listen, I've got some bad news man: this "issue"will not be fixed anytime soon since it's not a server side problem, it's a compression "issue" Google knows this. This could be solved by a different type of compression preferably a codec with a cbr, constant bit rate, or a less agressive cbr,variable bitrate , av1 might do the trick(who knows) H265 most likely would but at what cost: higher latency? More bandwith? The type of screen and settings is also important, for example :oled=more contrast artifacts/macroblocks more noticeable.

Let's hope for the best they'll fix it: once you see it you can't unsee it, you will notice it in every dark scene. Skies are usually an easy way to spot it..

Re: Banding issues, compression artifacts

Ronxide — Tue, 26 Jan 2021 20:22:56 GMT

*Cbr: constant bitrate vbr: variable bitrate