Introduction:
Ever wanted to have laptop-like control over your desktop monitor from inside the OS? This might be the guide for you.
A lot of monitors out there today support a really neat feature called DDC/CI, but not many people have ever heard of it, let alone know what it's for.
DDC/CI stands for Display Data Channel Command Interface and basically allows monitor control via the graphics card.
This is not like the software methods in your GPU control panel that just darken/brighten the image. With this approach, you're actually communicating with your monitor.
Wikipedia has a few lines DDC/CI it, I'll just leave it at that.
Please note that this guide will only work on DDC/CI enabled monitors. Most monitors do support this, but not all of them.
How to use it:
The reason why you've probably never heard of DDC/CI, even though your monitor is fully compatible, seems to be that manufacturers* are simply too lazy to develop the software for it. Fortunately the Internet is at our disposal here, though there isn't a lot to choose from and most apps feel outdated, clunky or just too complicated.
ScreenBright is according to my experience the best alternative out there. It's free, less than 1MB in size, and it's what I'll be using for this guide.
Edit: Site has been taken down, so here's an alternative download source: [Softpedia] ScreenBright
It's a really simple application that might not look like much, but let's not pass judgment just yet.
Taking full advantage of the features:
The graphical user interface is pretty straightforward. At a glance, it probably doesn't seem to be better than simply pressing the buttons on your monitor.
Hang on, here comes the good part; it supports command line arguments!
What that means, is that you can create custom one-click "profile" shortcuts that can be stuck to your taskbar or bound to a keyboard macro, etc!
For those who don't know how to add custom toolbars to the taskbar, check this guide.
I'm one of those people that always lowers screen brightness to minimum during the night, or it hurts my eyes, and then sets it back to normal in the morning.
With DDC/CI control, I don't have to get out of bed to do this (I usually watch a series or something on my PC before I fall asleep).
Command line arguments:
WARNING: You can turn your screen completely black if you use wrong command line arguments! (all colours to 0, etc.)
This can usually be fixed easily by doing a factory reset on your monitor, but still.
Start off by creating a shortcut to ScreenBright.exe, then right-click the shortcut and go to Properties. Find the field labeled Target; this is where you want to add your desired command(s), after the closing citation mark.
There are two types of commands for ScreenBright: -get < setting > and -set < setting > < value >
With < setting > being one of the following:
Note that, for the -set command, you can combine several settings in a single argument.
Example of a command line that sets brightness to minimum and contrast to 75%:
Code:
Multiple monitors are supported:
Code:
The -get argument simply shows the current value and interval of the setting.
Once you have added your commands to the Target field, press OK and you're done. I recommend renaming the shortcut to something descriptive and placing it somewhere handy.
Note: ScreenBright must be closed before running it with command line arguments.
Last words:
Thanks for looking, I hope that someone finds this as useful as I do!
This is my first guide, feel free to comment and ask questions.
![thumb.gif]( "thumb.gif")
*It seems that Samsung actually have their own DDC/CI app, MagicTune. Thanks to dragonxwas for the tip.
![thumb.gif]( "thumb.gif")
Ever wanted to have laptop-like control over your desktop monitor from inside the OS? This might be the guide for you.
A lot of monitors out there today support a really neat feature called DDC/CI, but not many people have ever heard of it, let alone know what it's for.
DDC/CI stands for Display Data Channel Command Interface and basically allows monitor control via the graphics card.
This is not like the software methods in your GPU control panel that just darken/brighten the image. With this approach, you're actually communicating with your monitor.
Wikipedia has a few lines DDC/CI it, I'll just leave it at that.
Please note that this guide will only work on DDC/CI enabled monitors. Most monitors do support this, but not all of them.
How to use it:
The reason why you've probably never heard of DDC/CI, even though your monitor is fully compatible, seems to be that manufacturers* are simply too lazy to develop the software for it. Fortunately the Internet is at our disposal here, though there isn't a lot to choose from and most apps feel outdated, clunky or just too complicated.
ScreenBright is according to my experience the best alternative out there. It's free, less than 1MB in size, and it's what I'll be using for this guide.
Edit: Site has been taken down, so here's an alternative download source: [Softpedia] ScreenBright
It's a really simple application that might not look like much, but let's not pass judgment just yet.
Taking full advantage of the features:
The graphical user interface is pretty straightforward. At a glance, it probably doesn't seem to be better than simply pressing the buttons on your monitor.
Hang on, here comes the good part; it supports command line arguments!
What that means, is that you can create custom one-click "profile" shortcuts that can be stuck to your taskbar or bound to a keyboard macro, etc!
For those who don't know how to add custom toolbars to the taskbar, check this guide.
I'm one of those people that always lowers screen brightness to minimum during the night, or it hurts my eyes, and then sets it back to normal in the morning.
With DDC/CI control, I don't have to get out of bed to do this (I usually watch a series or something on my PC before I fall asleep).
Command line arguments:
WARNING: You can turn your screen completely black if you use wrong command line arguments! (all colours to 0, etc.)
This can usually be fixed easily by doing a factory reset on your monitor, but still.
Start off by creating a shortcut to ScreenBright.exe, then right-click the shortcut and go to Properties. Find the field labeled Target; this is where you want to add your desired command(s), after the closing citation mark.
There are two types of commands for ScreenBright: -get < setting > and -set < setting > < value >
With < setting > being one of the following:
- brightness
- contrast
- red
- green
- blue
- screen
Note that, for the -set command, you can combine several settings in a single argument.
Example of a command line that sets brightness to minimum and contrast to 75%:
Code:
Code:
"C:\Program Files (x86)\ScreenBright\ScreenBright.exe" -set brightness 0 contrast 75Code:
Code:
"C:\Program Files (x86)\ScreenBright\ScreenBright.exe" -set screen 1 brightness 45 screen 2 brightness 60Once you have added your commands to the Target field, press OK and you're done. I recommend renaming the shortcut to something descriptive and placing it somewhere handy.
Note: ScreenBright must be closed before running it with command line arguments.
Last words:
Thanks for looking, I hope that someone finds this as useful as I do!
This is my first guide, feel free to comment and ask questions.
*It seems that Samsung actually have their own DDC/CI app, MagicTune. Thanks to dragonxwas for the tip.
