SP3 display: poor black levels, and possible fix

[wmgreenjr]

Using Intel's HD 5000 version 10.18.10.3621 at gamma .6 to get proper white and black levels I have to set brightness to 40 and contrast to the lowest allowable level which is 40.

Is there a way to see if dynamic contrast is on or off without installing the tweak tool

I think since you installed the Intel driver, you can find a setting called Display Power Saving and turn it off (probably on by default for battery settings and off for plugged in settings... but I never loaded the Intel driver so not sure what is exactly in the control panel).

Here are some links to the registry location of what this setting affects but haven't dug deep into it.... you may want to hit up Goodbytes here as he is familiar with the before/after registry settings of dynamic contrast... but again since you have Intel driver instead of the one by Microsoft I don't think you need to go into the registry:
http://forums.wpcentral.com/microso...-banding-dynamic-contrast-fix-i-made-fix.html

http://www.surfaceforums.net/threads/its-that-time-of-the-month-again.8079/page-3#post-54182

 

[Knuck]

Thanks for the info wmgreenjr. that's what makes this forum so great. Unfortunately I haven't found the Display Power Setting yet. Hopefully Goodbyes can help.

 

[wynand32]

Hmm... My black levels are pretty bad (don't even know that I can see #14 as some have mentioned). And, the Tweak tool is stuck off and won't turn on. So, it makes no difference to improving this.

I've read the thread, and I'm a bit confused. Is there a way, with the stock drivers, to improve the black levels?

 

[wmgreenjr]

Only 3 ways I know of are:

• The Tweak tool (the setting is supposed to be off but I think I had to reboot to see the effect...don't remember exactly; not sure why you are not seeing it but try a reboot or try a couple times and reboot each time to see if it sticks)
• Edit the registry (see a couple of posts up for links; but I do not know what you are supposed to change the settings to since I used the Tweak tool to do this for me) - if anyone gets in touch with Goodbytes and can confirm what those settings need to be changed to, pls post a link or the info here
• Load the Intel display drivers and turn off auto-updates so the Intel driver does not get replaced by the MS one (may lose some battery life; but then no stock drivers like you are wanting)

 

[wynand32]

Only 3 ways I know of are:

• The Tweak tool (the setting is supposed to be off but I think I had to reboot to see the effect...don't remember exactly; not sure why you are not seeing it but try a reboot or try a couple times and reboot each time to see if it sticks)
• Edit the registry (see a couple of posts up for links; but I do not know what you are supposed to change the settings to since I used the Tweak tool to do this for me) - if anyone gets in touch with Goodbytes and can confirm what those settings need to be changed to, pls post a link or the info here
• Load the Intel display drivers and turn off auto-updates so the Intel driver does not get replaced by the MS one (may lose some battery life; but then no stock drivers like you are wanting)

Thanks! I can't get the Tweak tool to do anything, as far as I can tell. I turn on the relevant setting, it turns back off once the tool loses focus. Rebooting and fiddling doesn't seem to do anything. I'll keep digging.

Thing is, I was watching Hemlock Grove on Netflix the other night and remarking to myself how dark it is (being gothic horror, a lot of it is at night, natch). Brighter scenes are excellent, but night scenes are pretty much unwatchable. Now I know why.

 

[wmgreenjr]

Well the only setting I changed was the top one... and it needs to be in off position. Is this what you are doing? I assume so but just making sure.

 

[cbrooker]

Same things is happening to me. Stock drivers, used the tweak tool turned that option off rebooted, no difference. Tried a few times

The download link to the Registry fix doesn't work.

 

[malberttoo]

Same things is happening to me. Stock drivers, used the tweak tool turned that option off rebooted, no difference. Tried a few times

The download link to the Registry fix doesn't work.

Mine didn't work initially either. Then after I turned it back, then rebooted, then success.

The way I did it... opened tweak tool, turned off Adaptive, rebooted, no change. Turned on Adaptive, no change. Rebooted, then could see most all black tiles.

YMMV.

 

[Knuck]

I guess with the Intel drivers (not the MS ones) you don't need to turn dynamic contrast off because I can see all black level boxes and the chickened pattern in all white saturation boxes at gamma 1.0, 0.8 and 0.6. I have created profiles for each depending on the lighting of the room. Much better for both PS and video.

I do find video to be a little soft, probably because of the weird native resolution of the Surface 3.

 

[wynand32]

Alrighty, this is getting a little frustrating. First, no matter what I do, the Tweak tool won't actually change anything as far as I can tell. My black levels on that page remain atrocious--basically, all I can see is the white block.

Then, I can't seem to uninstall the stock drivers and install the Intel HD 4400 drivers. When I uninstall and try to install, I get an error that the machine doesn't support the drivers (different from the error when I try to install over the existing drivers). So, I can't try the Intel drivers to see if I can fix the issue.

I'm tempted to do a restore. Grrr.

 

[wmgreenjr]

Did you try and run Intel's .exe or the unzipped file? I haven't done it but others stated you have to load the unzipped file in device manager... see this post:
http://www.surfaceforums.net/threads/graphics-control-panel-colour-management.9947/#post-71285. (choosing correct version based off of graphics card)

Or maybe you did it like this already... it seems some things are working for some and not others

 

[wynand32]

Did you try and run Intel's .exe or the unzipped file? I haven't done it but others stated you have to load the unzipped file in device manager... see this post:
http://www.surfaceforums.net/threads/graphics-control-panel-colour-management.9947/#post-71285. (choosing correct version based off of graphics card)

Or maybe you did it like this already... it seems some things are working for some and not others

Ah, okay, thanks. I was trying the .exe. I'll give the zip a try if this restore I just did doesn't help.