Digital Noise - What Is It? What Causes It? And How Can I Get Rid Of It?
The term "digital noise" is most often employed to refer to the visual artefact - an unwanted and annoying disruption of a display's picture quality. This type of digital noise is usually caused by internal processes, such as poor computer hardware, or external factors like electromagnetic interference.
These types of digital noise manifest themselves in many ways, but they all share a few common traits: they're consistently present no matter what happens on-screen; some are colored and others are not; some cover the entire screen while others only show up at isolated spots; and they can be static or moving.
If you have any amount of experience with technology, chances are you've encountered one type of digital noise at least once in your life. Over the past decade or so, countless manufacturers and repair technicians have been called upon to figure out what these digital artifacts are. And they've basically agreed that there are two primary forms: pattern noise and sprite noise.
The pattern noise is the more common form of digital noise, because it can be so thoroughly random. The sprites (also known as "snow" or "fluttering") can also be random in nature, but this is where they differ most significantly from pattern noise. They usually exhibit a clear cyclic motion across the screen, which can be both gorgeous and irritating at the same time.
In both cases, the origin of the problem is fairly easy to pinpoint. It's almost always caused by a short-circuit or malfunction in a display cable or other hardware checking device. And in either case, it can be rectified by replacing the defective cable with a new one, or resoldering the problematic components in question.
We should also note that pattern noise is more than just an annoying digital disturbance – it can actually be dangerous to your system's health and performance. And when it comes to sprite noise, that's not much less true. In both cases, this digital disruption stems from a problem with the system's cables – and in most cases these are video cables.
Most modern video cards ship with a DVI cable and a VGA cable, but there are times when you might need to use a third-party cable to connect your system. If that's the case, we strongly recommend using the highest quality cables available – they're much less likely to cause problems in the first place. Although many digital noise problems can be prevented by this simple precautionary measure, it's still important not to ignore them.
Finally, we should mention that both pattern noise and sprite noise can be detrimental to your computer's performance – often enough that most users will want to get rid of them as soon as possible. But whether you're dealing with pattern noise or sprite noise, there are a couple of things you can do to help eradicate it.
How To Get Rid Of Digital Noise (Pattern Noise) - Screenshot on the left, undistorted picture on the right
Intro - What Is Digital Noise?
Digital noise is best described as a type of visual disturbance that manifests itself in the form of an image that appears grainy, speckled, or blurred. It's most commonly caused by problems with certain components within your system, but it can also be caused by other factors like electromagnetic interference and dirty air vents. Regardless of the cause, it's usually consistently present no matter what happens on-screen. Some digital noise is static, while other kinds are continuously moving across the display.
Circuit Bracket - Pattern Noise
Digital noise is often referred to as "pattern noise", although it's really more of a term for the specific type of digital distortion we're talking about here. The distortion itself isn't actually uniform; the artifacts on-screen don't just occur within an area of uniform color or texture. This makes it much more difficult to view, since everything becomes an abstraction of color and shape rather than a real image in and of itself. In many situations, this image-like quality is a major part of what makes digital noise so annoying – but not always.
Wavy Colored Lines - Pattern Noise
This form of digital noise is most commonly caused by a short-circuit in an electrical component – usually a cable or some kind of internal circuit. When this happens, the electrical signals sent to the screen aren't displayed properly, causing visual artifacts to occur. These artifacts can move back and forth in a consistent pattern, or they may be completely random. They can also cover the entire screen or only isolated spots on it. Regardless of what kind of pattern you're dealing with, these kinds of digital noise are generally static and don't move around on-screen (although that's not always true).
Digital Noise And Color - Pattern Noise
In many cases, pattern noise will only cover a tiny fraction of the screen – often enough to be overlooked. However, in some situations it can cover the entire display, either in discrete colors or in some formless way. This kind of digital noise is much harder to ignore and makes it much more difficult to view anything on-screen. Even worse, it can make your display look slightly washed out or faded whenever it's on. Thankfully, clear and vivid displays actually do a much better job of displaying pattern noise than any other kind of image.
Digital Noise On-Screen And Columns Of Colored Blocks - Pattern Noise
In the example to the left, we've taken a relatively static pattern noise artifact and added another layer of moving digital noise to it. In the resulting image, you can see how the static pattern noise is actually made up of color cubes arranged in tiny columns that move back and forth across the screen. This kind of "columnar" distortion tends to be much more difficult to see at first glance; but it's very easy to spot if you know what to look for.
Digital Noise On-Screen And Columns Of Colored Blocks - Pattern Noise
In the example to the left, we've taken a relatively static pattern noise artifact and added another layer of moving digital noise to it. In the resulting image, you can see how the static pattern noise is actually made up of color cubes arranged in tiny columns that move back and forth across the screen. This kind of "columnar" distortion tends to be much more difficult to see at first glance; but it's very easy to spot if you know what to look for.
Pattern Noise Fine-Tuning - Pattern Noise
In this next example, we've made a few adjustments to the image above. Now, the columns of pixels (colored cubes) have become slightly more angular and tend to appear as zig-zagging streaks of color. These streaks are much more obvious than they were before. This is because the zig-zag pattern itself makes it much easier to spot the otherwise subtle distortions caused by pattern noise.
Digital Noise On-Screen And Dots Of Color - Pattern Noise
In this next example, we're dealing with another form of pattern noise that causes tiny dots of color to appear on your screen in a static, ground-like kind of way. The dots can range from being nearly invisible to covering large swaths of the display area.
Conclusion
The different types of pattern noise are all caused by similar problems, but they don't always appear in the same way. Some are static, some move slowly, and some move very quickly. Some make everything look grainy and blurry, while others cause images to appear faded and washed-out. But no matter what kind of pattern noise you're dealing with, it's always a problem that can greatly impact your computer's performance – particularly if you're playing games. Even worse, digital noise can also take a serious toll on your display's lifespan if it isn't eliminated promptly. Fortunately though, digital noise is pretty easy to get rid of once you know what you're doing.