The Android 14 update is now available globally for the Xperia 1 V/5 V series. A notable enhancement introduced with this Android 14 update is the resolution of a persistent issue related to video playback, commonly referred to as “block noise.”
This block noise issue, which users have reported since the release of Xperia 1 V and Xperia 5 V (with its occurrence status unknown on Xperia 10 V), previously caused images to appear blocky and rough when watching videos on platforms like YouTube.
The “block noise” problem has been a widely reported concern both domestically and internationally, especially for the Xperia 1 V/5 V series.
It appears that there is an issue with audio synchronization when using the YouTube app, specifically when playing videos encoded with AV1 codec. The problem manifests as the audio falling behind the video, and YouTube’s “stats for nerds” feature indicates frame drops when the video is paused.
This issue seems to be linked to the YouTube app’s utilization of the AV1 codec for video streaming, which is supported by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2. Interestingly, this problem is isolated to the YouTube app, as there are no similar artifacts when using other video players like VLC and MX Player to play the same AV1-encoded videos. To further investigate and share this concern with others, the user is considering making a post about the issue at a later time.
Significantly, the latest Android 14 update has successfully addressed and resolved this long-standing issue. Many users are reporting on Reddit and Twitter that the Xperia 1 V/5 V block noise issue is fixed probably after the Android 14 update.
It’s worth emphasizing that this particular problem appears to be unique to the V series and has not been reported on Xperia models preceding the IV series.
In case you have not yet upgraded to Android 14, you can disable the video image enhancement feature in the image quality settings on your phone that has been found to resolve the issue for few!
