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Yeah I have no idea why the lowest levels on monitors are so bright. Are there models that can go really low without the PWM flicker effect kicking in (that's a

by bserge 6y ago

Yeah I have no idea why the lowest levels on monitors are so bright. Are there models that can go really low without the PWM flicker effect kicking in (that's another problem I have with monitors, I can notice the damn cheap PWM backlight)? Laptop (and phone) displays don't seem to have this problem, the brightness goes really low...

ianai 6y ago
After lowering brightness to 0 the brightness can be lowered by lowering the contrast ratio. It’s obviously not perfect but does work.
hombre_fatal 6y ago
I’ve always wished the Macbook’s lowest brightness setting was subdivided two or more times. It’s still too bright when I feel like reading in my dark room perhaps on the way to sleep. I have to use an app called Shady to cover the screen in a dimming overlay.
- cmurphycode 6y ago
  Have you tried using option-shift-[f1] to subdivide? or the brightness slider in the settings.
  - Infernal 6y ago
    Interestingly, on my early 2015 13" MacBook Pro, the very lowest brightness setting seems to have no change in brightness on those last three subdivisions. Once I get down to one full "block" of brightness, option-shift-F1 moves the slider down in quarter-block increments but the screen gets no (perceptibly) dimmer until it shuts off entirely. All the other brightness settings have perceptible changes in brightness at every subdivision level.
    - deleted 6y ago
      [deleted]
  - 4ad 6y ago
    Oh my god, thank you! How does one find these "hidden" features?
  - jlokier 6y ago
    Wow, I had no idea that was available. Unfortunately it doesn't reduce the dimmest level on my MBP. The bottom 4 subdivisions look identical. Like level 0.25, 0.50, 0.75 and 1.00 are all the same brightness, only 1.25+ starts to get brighter. The lowest level is still too bright at night. That's unfortunate. However it does reduce the dimmest level of the keyboard illumination! That's great. I always found the keyboard too bright at its lowest level at night, but some illumination at night would be helpful for obvious reasons. Now I can enjoy 3 subdivisions lower - thank you :-)
onli 6y ago
Yes, there are a bunch of monitors now that do not use PWM for brightness control. And since PWM became known as a problem PWM rate is tested in professional benchmarks. So you definitely can get monitors that do not have that flicker, where the minimal brightness will also not be too high.
jdietrich 6y ago
The vast majority of modern high-quality monitors have flicker-free backlights without PWM dimming. https://www.rtings.com/monitor/tests/motion/image-flicker https://www.rtings.com/monitor/tests/motion/image-flicker
formerly_proven 6y ago
Most better monitors and everything targeted at office use does not use PWM for backlight brightness control. LCDs have poor blacks because they're a filter put in front of a lamp, so to render black, they have to try and block as much light as possible, but our visual perception is logarithmic and adaptive, making them look quite bad. The workaround is to add bias light behind the monitor; it quite literally provides a bias for the eye to keep it inside a certain adaption range, which reduces the perceived poorness of dark tones. (It also is more ergonomic.).

by bserge 6y ago

ianai 6y ago

After lowering brightness to 0 the brightness can be lowered by lowering the contrast ratio. It’s obviously not perfect but does work.

hombre_fatal 6y ago

I’ve always wished the Macbook’s lowest brightness setting was subdivided two or more times. It’s still too bright when I feel like reading in my dark room perhaps on the way to sleep. I have to use an app called Shady to cover the screen in a dimming overlay.

cmurphycode 6y ago
Have you tried using option-shift-[f1] to subdivide? or the brightness slider in the settings.
- Infernal 6y ago
  Interestingly, on my early 2015 13" MacBook Pro, the very lowest brightness setting seems to have no change in brightness on those last three subdivisions. Once I get down to one full "block" of brightness, option-shift-F1 moves the slider down in quarter-block increments but the screen gets no (perceptibly) dimmer until it shuts off entirely. All the other brightness settings have perceptible changes in brightness at every subdivision level.
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
- 4ad 6y ago
  Oh my god, thank you! How does one find these "hidden" features?
- jlokier 6y ago
  Wow, I had no idea that was available. Unfortunately it doesn't reduce the dimmest level on my MBP. The bottom 4 subdivisions look identical. Like level 0.25, 0.50, 0.75 and 1.00 are all the same brightness, only 1.25+ starts to get brighter. The lowest level is still too bright at night. That's unfortunate. However it does reduce the dimmest level of the keyboard illumination! That's great. I always found the keyboard too bright at its lowest level at night, but some illumination at night would be helpful for obvious reasons. Now I can enjoy 3 subdivisions lower - thank you :-)

onli 6y ago

Yes, there are a bunch of monitors now that do not use PWM for brightness control. And since PWM became known as a problem PWM rate is tested in professional benchmarks. So you definitely can get monitors that do not have that flicker, where the minimal brightness will also not be too high.

jdietrich 6y ago

The vast majority of modern high-quality monitors have flicker-free backlights without PWM dimming. https://www.rtings.com/monitor/tests/motion/image-flicker https://www.rtings.com/monitor/tests/motion/image-flicker

formerly_proven 6y ago

Most better monitors and everything targeted at office use does not use PWM for backlight brightness control. LCDs have poor blacks because they're a filter put in front of a lamp, so to render black, they have to try and block as much light as possible, but our visual perception is logarithmic and adaptive, making them look quite bad. The workaround is to add bias light behind the monitor; it quite literally provides a bias for the eye to keep it inside a certain adaption range, which reduces the perceived poorness of dark tones. (It also is more ergonomic.).