Black level is off by default - ARC A770

[grega125]

Hello,

I have this problem where the monitor black level is off by default. 

What I think could be related:

1. My card is plugged to the monitor using an HDMI cable. My monitor is set to 1080p60Hz.

Blacks are by default more gray than black and when I set a higher bandwidth with CRU tool, black color becomes properly black. This is a really weird thing to happen in my opinion. I have tried this with multiple cables.

The setting I use is visible on the screenshot in attachments. Notice the default pixel clock vs. mod pixel clock.

2. I have tried this with two monitors. My main monitor is Dell P2319H and the other one is HP Envy 23. These are very similar and display the same issue.

3. I have not changed any brightness or contrast settings in the ARC Control app.

Best regards,

Grega

[GTX]

Hello, maybe you can set it up by downloading the Intel Graphics Command Center from Microsoft Store.

[grega125]

Thanks for suggestion. First I reset the CRU back to default and then continued to IGCC. I switched the color mapping from RGB to YCbCr_444 which corrected the black level. While changing this, I was also looking at the monitor settings which automatically changed from RGB to YPbPr.

This to me seems like a workaround which hides the real issue.

While doing this I found another setting which seems to ruin everything and that is "Automatically manage colour for apps". It is a Windows setting in System>Display>Advanced Display. When enabled it makes my monitor very dark. Seems like 0% brightness.

I took photos of the monitor with my phone with locked shutter and ISO. 1/60 and 640 ISO. The difference between black levels is a lot more visible IRL than in photos but atleast you can try to understand how it looks.

The contrast in YCbCr seems ok after checking the Windows Color Calibration tool. Nothing needs adjusting. This is how it should be for RGB right?

[grega125]

I decided to try and fully reinstall the ARC driver. I booted into safe mode and uninstalled the driver with DDU. After rebooting the display was looking normal and was also set to default RGB colour profile. After installing the latest driver 5989 the issue came back. This points to a driver issue. I would not say it is this driver version specifically.

[RobbieR_Intel]

Hello grega125,

Thank you for reaching out to our communities. It seems that the issue has been solved. Regardless, we would like to thank you for your feedback.

I will have this concern raised to our Engineers for further investigation. If you have further questions, kindly let us know.

We look forward to your response!

Best Regards,

Robbie R.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[RobbieR_Intel]

Hello grega125,

Thank you for your patience. We would like you to try the following steps:

• Click 'reset to defaults' in the Arc Control Panel and check for any improvements.
• Test with a different straight (HDMI to HDMI) Cable
• Determine if only HDMI is affected, If possible, kindly test the affected monitor with a DisplayPort connection.

We look forward to your response!

Best Regards,

Robbie R.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[JeanetteC_Intel]

Hello grega125,

Greetings.

We're still waiting for an update regarding the recommendations we shared to fix this issue. We will wait for your reply to know if you need further assistance.

Looking forward to your response.

Best regards,

Jeanette C.

Intel® Customer Support Technician

[RobbieR_Intel]

Hello grega125, 

I have not heard back from you so I will close this inquiry now. If you need further assistance, please submit a new question as this thread will no longer be monitored.

Best regards,

Robbie R.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[Johnabray1122]

The black level is set to "off" by default on the ARC A770.