Samsung 997MB is too bright - is this repairable?

I've had this 997MB (same as 997DF, 19" CRT) for about a month now and I'm not very happy with it.

The problem (well, there are several, but the one that irritates me the most) is that even when I set the brightness to the absolute minimum, I cannot get a true black. Normally, when you turn the brightness to zero on a CRT, it should look as though it is turned off. Playing games with dark pictures (like Thief or Doom 3) look washed out and grey.

I have some even cheaper 15" CRTs that can go this dark, so I'm thinking something is probably wrong. I've heard of other people with the same problem, most just don't notice it. Chalk it up to mexican manufacturing, I guess.

Nevertheless, the monitor has a 3-year warranty. Is this the kind of thing that a repair shop could fix, or is it just an inherent flaw in the design?

ps - I have already tried every gamma adjusting method there is. There is a set level of brightness that this monitor simply CANNOT go below.

It's not the contrast. Like I said, I've tried everything - every option in the OSD, and more software than I can remember. I think that maybe the "MagicBright" feature is the cause... but you can't disable it.