Arch Linux

dvw10984

Member

Registered: 2013-02-16

Posts: 28

Xfce screen brightness(or backlight?) changes upon switching windows

I'm on a laptop

When I switch to a window whose contents is darker in average than the previous one,
the screen brightness gets lower
And vice versa
To describe in another way, when the main components in the screen is light, the brightness gets high,
and when the main components in the screen is dark, the brightness gets low.
The brightness did change; however the "configured brightness" did not

The screen might be adjusting the brightness to make the total feel the same,
but it's super annoying

Couldn't determine if it's a problem of xfce

Any solutions/suggestions/fixes?

= = = = =

EDIT:
Video showing the problem:
http://youtu.be/vb0GDFl8vTs
* camera's exposure was locked while videotaping *

configured brightness stands for this:

Last edited by dvw10984 (2014-05-19 10:02:58)

Head_on_a_Stick

Member

From: The Wirral

Registered: 2014-02-20

Posts: 9,003

Website

Re: Xfce screen brightness(or backlight?) changes upon switching windows

What does "configured brightness" mean?
Wouldn't the total light output of your screen always be lower if the stuff displayed on the screen is darker?
If the screen was adjusting the brightness "to make the total feel the same" it would do the opposite of what you are describing...

---

Jin, Jîyan, Azadî

quequotion

Member

From: Oita, Japan

Registered: 2013-07-29

Posts: 814

Website

Re: Xfce screen brightness(or backlight?) changes upon switching windows

My desktop monitor has a two features like that built into it, one called "D. Contrast" and the other "CRO".

The manufacturer claims they greatly improve power saving and color range; but in fact they are super annoying.

Are you using a laptop or a desktop? I have to use the switches on the monitor to disable these "features"; on a laptop they may be in BIOS.

Last edited by quequotion (2014-05-19 06:59:32)

---

makepkg-optimize · indicator-powersave · pantheon-{3d,lite} · {pantheon,higan}-qq

dvw10984

Member

Registered: 2013-02-16

Posts: 28

Re: Xfce screen brightness(or backlight?) changes upon switching windows

What does "configured brightness" mean?
Wouldn't the total light output of your screen always be lower if the stuff displayed on the screen is darker?
If the screen was adjusting the brightness "to make the total feel the same" it would do the opposite of what you are describing...

Original post updated, hope it will help to solve the problem
Yep, if it's adjusting, I think it should adjust the opposite way, but it didn't, and it's really annoying
just guessing what it's trying to do

dvw10984

Member

Registered: 2013-02-16

Posts: 28

Re: Xfce screen brightness(or backlight?) changes upon switching windows

My desktop monitor has a two features like that built into it, one called "D. Contrast" and the other "CRO".

The manufacturer claims they greatly improve power saving and color range; but in fact they are super annoying.

Are you using a laptop or a desktop? I have to use the switches on the monitor to disable these "features"; on a laptop they may be in BIOS.

On a laptop, mentioned in OP.
Checked my bios and there's no options for the monitor.
Just to mention, the issue doesn't exist on my dual boot windows 8.1.

toz

Member

Registered: 2011-10-28

Posts: 513

Re: Xfce screen brightness(or backlight?) changes upon switching windows

Does your laptop have an ATI video card with the Vari-Bright feature? That might be the cause. See: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/AM … ht_feature

quequotion

Member

From: Oita, Japan

Registered: 2013-07-29

Posts: 814

Website

Re: Xfce screen brightness(or backlight?) changes upon switching windows

On a laptop, mentioned in OP.

Don't know how I missed that...

---

makepkg-optimize · indicator-powersave · pantheon-{3d,lite} · {pantheon,higan}-qq

dvw10984

Member

Registered: 2013-02-16

Posts: 28

Re: Xfce screen brightness(or backlight?) changes upon switching windows

Does your laptop have an ATI video card with the Vari-Bright feature? That might be the cause. See: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/AM … ht_feature

The video card is Intel HD Graphics 4400, sorry for not mentioning it

laptop model: Dell Inspiron 14 7437, no touchscreen

stqn

Member

Registered: 2010-03-19

Posts: 1,191

Website

Re: Xfce screen brightness(or backlight?) changes upon switching windows

Looks like some dynamic contrast crap. My monitor does that too. You say it doesn’t happen on Windows, even if you display a very dark picture?

Head_on_a_Stick

Member

From: The Wirral

Registered: 2014-02-20

Posts: 9,003

Website

Re: Xfce screen brightness(or backlight?) changes upon switching windows

It could be that xfce is dimming the inactive window --- I can't really tell if the active window is also dim in your video 'cos it's a terminal
If this is the case, there should be an option in the xfce prefs relating to inactive window dimming (I haven't used xfce for a while so I can't remember any details, sorry)...

---

Jin, Jîyan, Azadî

dvw10984

Member

Registered: 2013-02-16

Posts: 28

Re: Xfce screen brightness(or backlight?) changes upon switching windows

It could be that xfce is dimming the inactive window --- I can't really tell if the active window is also dim in your video 'cos it's a terminal
If this is the case, there should be an option in the xfce prefs relating to inactive window dimming (I haven't used xfce for a while so I can't remember any details, sorry)...

Thanks for your help, but I think it's not the case
IMAGE of my window manager tweaks -> compositor

dvw10984

Member

Registered: 2013-02-16

Posts: 28

Re: Xfce screen brightness(or backlight?) changes upon switching windows

Looks like some dynamic contrast crap. My monitor does that too. You say it doesn’t happen on Windows, even if you display a very dark picture?

Yes, very sure.
It's a newly purchased laptop

Last edited by dvw10984 (2014-05-20 08:57:33)