ASUS VE248H (Black Level Settings Permanent? EEPROM?))

[flexy123]

I got a VE248H which is a fantastic monitor for a standard LCD monitor, probably best standard 24" I ever had. (It does NOT have the dreaded ghosting. Monitor was made in August 2012)

However, it has a *minor* issue, that is that the black levels have a slight hue towards brownish regardless of the standard RGB settings. Now I found that using tools for DDC/CI like SoftMCCS or EasyMCC, in addition for standard RGB gain etc. the monitor also exposes Red, Green, Blue "Video Black Level" settings which is *exactly* what I need. A quick tweak there, and the blacks are PERFECT.

Unfortunately, these settings are not in the OSD of the monitor, and they are not kept when I set them via a DDC/CI tool, the black level settings always reset to 50,50,50 when the monitor is off or when the display mode changes.

Obviously I also checked the service menu of this monitor, and there too are settings for
RGB gain, and RGB offset.

Whereas RGB gain is, well, exactly that and the "offset" as I understand it would be exactly what I need, since this would be the bias/black level for this monitor.

However, changing any of these values in the service menu DOES NOTHING. I don't see any change in the RGB levels of the display whatsoever when I change either a gain value or a offset value, say Green Gain from 112 to 20, I don't see any change in the display.

Anyone an idea why?

What other way would be to somehow change black level settings and make them permanent?
(Can the EEPROM of this monitor be programmed in software? Maybe this would be some way)

[Chief Blur Buster]

Very good question -- unfortunately, monitor quirks are often monitor specific -- sometimes there's no way to save specific settings.

However, three workarounds possible (two mainstream, one developer):

(A) Use a good colorimeter + color profile file that Windows automatically loads upon bootup. Many colorimeters, however, will have some difficulties accurately adjusting the color of blacks, so make sure you get a good one (or can borrow a good one).

(B) Use a utility that can semi-automatically set it for you. One example of possiblities is that Entech Taiwan (who makes softmccs) has something called "mControl" which can be automated by a command line, so you can automatically set RGB value from a batch file. You may need multiple commands in a batch file to adjust all the values automatically to your liking. But once you've made the batch file, fixing becomes as easy as doubleclicking an icon or pressing a hotkey (assigned to the icon).

(C) For Software App Developers: Write a background (system tray utility) that monitor resolution changes such as SystemEvents.DisplaySettingsChanged (modern managed API) or via WM_DISPLAYCHANGE (old Win32 API), and then send appropriate DDC/CI commands via SetVCPFeature() ... You may need to monitor other system events, or run as administrator-privelages service, since otherwise the OS may not always signal your app that another app changed resolution (e.g. full screen game).

[flexy123]

Hello!

Yeah 2) I got already, one option here is using the cmdline of Screenbright which allows sending VCP commands, including for the black levels. And even better, EasyMCC, which IMHO is great since it has all the stuff like Brightness/Contrast AND allows the black level settings. (I am using this now). Problem: Despite it being able to save Profiles/Presets it doesn't load them automatically

and yes, I was pondering about 3) yesterday including that API and in particular checking for Display Changes, I didn't find anything but now you say that this is in the API as well...so I guess this will likely be the way to go.

Still stupid since I really wish there was a permanent way to do this "in hardware" somehow...