Brightness controller

Alphared · 05-29-2003, 09:50 AM

well I know many are having problems with screens being too bright at night. SO, i whipped up a small program to handle that.

I'll decrease the brightness almost in half (depending on OS) with just one click and return back to normal with one click (depending on OS)

I've tested it on Win2k, XP and 98. but should work for 95 and ME as well.

Well this is only for a Window OS. so people with linux and CE, this isn't going to work. (i don't think anyone is using a mac here, but that don't work either)

and the Cost?

nothing, Its free. Since it only took me a few hours to whip up, no point in charging. Plus I like free stuff like the next guy

.

If you want it just go here:

http://www.taylormacintosh.com

Click on Programs on the menu

Then click on eclipse's banner

Watch the demo and download on the bottom of the page.

Interface should look familar, I just took my buttons from my Fairlady interace to do this. Quick and simple

Well enjoy and let me know if theres any bugs.

heres an image for those who like to see pictures in post.

eCar™ · 05-29-2003, 09:29 PM

Cool. Thanks, I'll check it out.

Zip-Lock · 05-29-2003, 10:30 PM

Alphared you are the man! I've been looking for something like that for a while. Thanks a lot!

Alphared · 05-29-2003, 11:35 PM

Uploaded a fixed version. if your resolution is less than 1024x768, download again.

Moose · 05-30-2003, 01:14 AM

I know beggers shouldn't be choosers, but I have a few requests and a bug if you ever dolly with this again.
Bug first: when I hit the brightness up button my contrast gets real high and some of my colors go flourescent. A print screen doesn't show it, so I will take a digital pic if you need it.
Wish List:
- Would be nice to have a couple increments up and down as different LCD's have different nits to start with. Like 3 levels down and 3 levels up. Or to make is simpler/smaller get rid of up and down buttons and make one button that toggles the up or down image when it is dark or bright, respectively. If there were multiple brightness levels you could just hit the one button with a left or right click to change the brightness number from 1-9 using the button graphics you already have.
- Would be cool to schedule it where it will increment the brightness up or down over a half hour in the evening or morning.
- Minimize to tray and no window title bar.
- Wish it faded like your cool shockwave demo.
Anyways, I know my list is full of crap that you'll just nod your head at (I make the programmers at work do the same with my wish lists there). But hey I can dream right? Either way thanks for the great tool.

Zip-Lock · 05-30-2003, 01:45 AM

I can report that I had the same problem as Moose. When I pressed the up button, some of my colors go funky and florescent.

The only improvement I would wish for would be some sort of connection with a photo sensor. The photo senor would determine the ambient light level and adjust the screen brightness as needed. Obviously this would make the program much more complicated and require a hardware photo senor.

Thanks for what you have given us, it makes LCD use a lot more practical. LCD brightness at night has been my #1 reason to avoid putting and LCD in my dash.

Alphared · 05-30-2003, 01:45 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Moose
I know beggers shouldn't be choosers, but I have a few requests and a bug if you ever dolly with this again.
Bug first: when I hit the brightness up button my contrast gets real high and some of my colors go flourescent. A print screen doesn't show it, so I will take a digital pic if you need it.
Wish List:
- Would be nice to have a couple increments up and down as different LCD's have different nits to start with. Like 3 levels down and 3 levels up. Or to make is simpler/smaller get rid of up and down buttons and make one button that toggles the up or down image when it is dark or bright, respectively. If there were multiple brightness levels you could just hit the one button with a left or right click to change the brightness number from 1-9 using the button graphics you already have.
- Would be cool to schedule it where it will increment the brightness up or down over a half hour in the evening or morning.
- Minimize to tray and no window title bar.
- Wish it faded like your cool shockwave demo.
Anyways, I know my list is full of crap that you'll just nod your head at (I make the programmers at work do the same with my wish lists there). But hey I can dream right? Either way thanks for the great tool.

yeah, the brightness will not work for Win2k and up. Microsoft changed their drivers, so its pretty hard to do increments. I'll go back and work on it and see if theres a loop hole, but I have other stuff on my plate that needs attention first.
There isn't one thing on your wish list that I haven't thought of when doing it. that'll include more programing (not really hard, just tedious) Took me an hour or so to whip this up and another for webpage, but thats all for now on this program. Got to finish other stuff before adding to this one.

Alphared · 05-30-2003, 01:51 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Zip-Lock
I can report that I had the same problem as Moose. When I pressed the up button, some of my colors go funky and florescent.

The only improvement I would wish for would be some sort of connection with a photo sensor. The photo senor would determine the ambient light level and adjust the screen brightness as needed. Obviously this would make the program much more complicated and require a hardware photo senor.

Thanks for what you have given us, it makes LCD use a lot more practical. LCD brightness at night has been my #1 reason to avoid putting and LCD in my dash.

cool idea, I have that on my rear view mirror. but its really tricky. depending where you put it. Like in the rear window. If its night and a car comes up too close the headlight would trigger it and the screen might go all the way bright. Not really hard to do a hardware for it, just basically a dimmer switch. but depending on the processor, might bog it down by constantly checking surrounding brightness.

digitallexus · 05-31-2003, 03:33 PM

What API are you using? SetDeviceGammaRamp?

jol · 05-31-2003, 03:58 PM

make it
e.exe -brighter
e.exe -darker
e.exe -normal
for girder users.

aoLhaTer · 05-31-2003, 08:44 PM

ya, command line options would be great

SuperMatty · 06-01-2003, 01:14 AM

Does this thing actually work to dim the backlight on the LCD? My LCD does not have a brightness control, and it's 350 nit, so at night its practically like having the dome lamp on. Will this thing allow me to dim it using Win XP?

aoLhaTer · 06-01-2003, 01:17 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by SuperMatty
Does this thing actually work to dim the backlight on the LCD? My LCD does not have a brightness control, and it's 350 nit, so at night its practically like having the dome lamp on. Will this thing allow me to dim it using Win XP?

no
it manipulates the graphic output settings of the OS
basically turning the gamma up and down

ccsnet · 06-01-2003, 06:19 AM

It would also be nice if this was intergrated in to Media Engine... Has Carcomp seen this ?

Terran

jshrieve · 06-02-2003, 04:18 AM

Definitely command line options.

I use IRAssistant and don't want an app or any buttons to push, as I do all my control from a remote. If it was all controllable with command line options it'd be easy to add 'brighten' and 'darken' buttons to it.

Thanks for your cool work.