Amazon Prime cycles through slow pans of static images for content they are promoting. The image quality is high, but several of them had a distracting shimmer in high contrast areas. It might be that the image resolution was too high and they are subsampling without mip maps, but my bet would be on not doing gamma correct texture filtering. Always use sRGB(A) texture formats for images! Copy from RGB or YUV image formats if necessary, making sure to perfectly match the pixel centers. If you are just using textures like a pixel blitter with no stretching or subpixel movement you won’t notice a difference, but slow slides of an image will highlight the issue.

Nov 7, 2025 · 5:14 PM UTC

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Replying to @ID_AA_Carmack
I love Dexter!!!! ❤️ 🔪 @grok please explain gamma correct texture filtering
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Replying to @ID_AA_Carmack
Is Dexter a recommendation? never watched it
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Replying to @ID_AA_Carmack
Could be web front end slopped together without sophisticated image design experience. When Amazon first came to AppleTV devices it was clunky custom web code with a poor experience. No business requirement for that team to understand pixel let alone sub-pixel image motion optimization.
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Replying to @ID_AA_Carmack
love the image of you staring at the slowly moving prime menu images real close up analyzing them
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Replying to @ID_AA_Carmack
only Dexter would notice a detail like that
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Replying to @ID_AA_Carmack
Interesting (There is something seriously not ok in 2D screens… and it is not my role to fix what I didn’t make or break) Just a janitor
Replying to @ID_AA_Carmack
Decades later and you're still taking us to school. Much appreciated!
Replying to @ID_AA_Carmack
any recommendations for good shows? 😂
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Replying to @ID_AA_Carmack
Yeah but their games and gaming platforms are the best though! Right?
Replying to @ID_AA_Carmack
Are you also trying to tell us to watch Dexter John? 👀
Replying to @ID_AA_Carmack
*I sincerly doubt any VOD platform uses mipmaps.
Replying to @ID_AA_Carmack
Pixel splatter analysis.
Replying to @ID_AA_Carmack
you should give a ted talk on computer graphics
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Replying to @ID_AA_Carmack
Oh boy would you be disappointed by the tech stack running video streaming services.
Replying to @ID_AA_Carmack
we learning today chat.
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Replying to @ID_AA_Carmack
I tend to see a shimmer when the image resolution is much higher than native and scaled down. Seems like pixels are fighting for their spot on the screen. It can also create a weird moire.
Replying to @ID_AA_Carmack
Amazon also aggressively compresses their thumbnails so much you can see the jpeg artefacts. I guess every byte is money.
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Replying to @ID_AA_Carmack
I get a nasty shimmer on my windowed YT videos that extends well outside the window now. I always use 32-bit color depth in Windows so I know it's not banding caused by low bit color epth. What do you think that is, John?
Replying to @ID_AA_Carmack
Could be your hardware, or some combination of the stream quality/compression + hardware.
Replying to @ID_AA_Carmack
Do you choose your victims through their images?
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Replying to @ID_AA_Carmack
I gotta tell you, the encoding quality of Amazon prime streams is ROUTINELY awful. It's even more shocking cause they employ a guy who literally wrote the book on video encoding! It baffles me. amazon.com/Compression-Great…
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Replying to @ID_AA_Carmack
You surely have chosen the right company name with that keen eye you've got Here's hoping your expertise may advance the field!
Replying to @ID_AA_Carmack
It is subliminal mind control but you saw right through it
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Replying to @ID_AA_Carmack
Great tip on using sRGB(A) texture formats for images! Thanks for sharing the insight.
Replying to @ID_AA_Carmack
Maybe monitor issue 🤔
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Replying to @ID_AA_Carmack
Great tip on image quality, thanks for sharing!
Replying to @ID_AA_Carmack
You’re overthinking John, just watch the show for once
Replying to @ID_AA_Carmack
If this bothers you (and I appreciate that it does), you'd hate a lot of the things many photographers routinely do in terms of photo postprocessing. Some of the common practices are maddening.
Replying to @ID_AA_Carmack
This is the ultimate "once you see it, you can't unsee it" post. The programmer's curse is real... you can't even relax on the Amazon main menu. Love the specific, actionable fix. 🧠
Replying to @ID_AA_Carmack
Every time you post I realize how vastly far ahead of me you are in knowledge. I'm younger though and you share your ideas at great detail. So only time can stop me from catching up with you eventually, Æ @ID_AA_Carmack
Replying to @ID_AA_Carmack
Lol. They should pay you Cousultant fee for your advice. Lol
Replying to @ID_AA_Carmack
who watches so much TV that they notice these things. go outside and touch some grass boomer!
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Replying to @ID_AA_Carmack
Prime video has always had horrid compression compared to other streamers. I say compression but not sure what it actually is, the video even from their in house titles at 4K DV is always blocky and artifact-y. Apple TV on the other hand is dangerously clean and clear.
Replying to @ID_AA_Carmack
Some poor webdev who just used the img tag will feel ashamed
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Replying to @ID_AA_Carmack
Some unknown dev at Amazon just got the bug report of his life!
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