Monitor automatically changing brightness

[richboyliang]

I have a 1680x1050 Dell 2208wfp monitor with a problem. Its brightness changes depending on what's currently on the screen. It gets brighter when I play League of Legends and darker when I minimize the game to go on Firefox. This is annoying especially since it takes a few seconds to make the switch. How do I just make the monitor stay on one setting? I flipped through the settings on the monitor and tried googling to no avail.

 

[ssddx]

quite a few screens do this.

since the screens only have one backlight setting for the whole screen (as opposed to some led grids on new tvs) the backlight automatically dims and brightens to best match the content displayed.

you would have to look for a setting about backlight automatic control or dimming or somthing of the sort.

 

[richboyliang]

Where would I find that? Don't even think the word backlight is in the settings

 

[jaguarskx]

It's called dynamic contrast... very annoying.

Unfortunately, based on Dell's documentation there does not seem to be an option to disable it.

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/monitors/2208WFP/en/ug/operate.htm

 

[richboyliang]

Has anybody found a way to disable this dynamic contrast on this specific monitor? I don't know why but I looked at the manual for another Dell monitor and its pictures show a menu with an option about dynamic contrast in brightness & contrast...

 

[ssddx]

jskx linked you with the manual for your monitor.

just because other monitors support a setting doesnt mean yours does.

 

[richboyliang]

I know that, don't adopt a condescending tone on people here please. But since these monitors are of the same series they really should have the same settings.

 

[ssddx]

i simply made a statement. if you assume it is made in a condescending tone, then that is your opinion and not factual.

yes, one would think that models in the same series would be similar. this is not always true though. you could try to look for the setting you want in the other manual if you desire but realize that it might not exist.

the best source for information is normally the manual for the model you have. the only exception is if it is poorly written or is very vague. again, you are more than welcome to try using the manual for a similar model but it might not be accurate.

 

[jaguarskx]

Unfortunately, there is nothing you can do about it. You only have two options:

1. Deal with it.
2. Buy a new monitor with an option to disable Dynamic Contrast. For example, all Asus monitor's have the option to disable Dynamic Contrast (they call it something else though) to the best of my knowledge. And I believe all current Dell monitor's allow you to do so as well.

 

[BadAsAl]

Energy saving mode also does this, as I just learned because I accidentally turned it on a couple days ago.

 

[Nateman2000]

I was having this problem as well and I thought it had something to do with Windows 8. After going through trying to disable every adaptive brightness option and searching the Nvidia control panel and disabling services...it still was adjusting based on screen content. (The oddity is it would affect my secondary CRT monitor brightness as well that I use for watching shows and movies)

But it did happen to be a setting on my LCD. It's an older Asus 22" VK-222 LCD and I messed around with the settings like a week ago to drop its brightness while watching a movie on the other screen. I had inadvertently changed a setting on called ASCR. I turned it back off and it fixed it completely. No more content-based brightness adjustments on either screen.

 

[jaguarskx]

ASCR stands for Asus Smart Contrast Ratio.

It's the name they give for Dynamic Contrast Ratio.

Graphic cards do not have any settings that would mimic DCR.