Nvidia video cards: No gamma adjust for overlay? Help me please!

[kaon]

Hi all,

I've just changed from nvidia.com's official drivers to Forceware 81.84 from guru3d, but my problem still remains...

Am I the only one with this problem? Is there some other software tool I need for this?

What do you guys do if your videos are too dark and your monitor is maxed out?
I know certain DVD-player-software have gamma adjust, but ideally, I 'd like gamma adjustment for all overlay video. I prefer sticking with MPC for the plain UI, I cannot stand those retardedly skinned players.
(movies are usually more problematic (needing gamma boost) than TV shows... but I just want to show that I tried it out while an overlay app was active)
http://img382.imageshack.us/img382/865/nvidiawtff25kc.jpg
help me please... :(
TIA

other specs:
DFI NF4 Ultra-D, BIOS:623-3
Athlon64 Winch 3000+, stock HSF
2 x 512MB of Adata PC3200 (cheapo stuff)
6600GT (i think it's MSI)
36G Raptor, 250G Seagate, NEC 3520A
WinXP Pro SP2
OC: 248 x 9, mem:203, 1.55V

[CWR03]

Did you try to slide it? You should get a pop-up that says "This will discard your previously selected settings. Do you wish to continue?" When you click Yes the slider will work. I don't know if selecting Yes will affect other adjustments like Desktop, but it shouldn't.

[Myth!]

what about the 'all channels' option beneath, can you change that to something else and get the slider working?

though i see you aren't in the 'video overlay settings' option. I'd start there

[kaon]

Commonly suggested things that do NOT work

1. "Apply color changes to: Desktop / All": the gamma slider is enabled, but gamma changes still do not affect overlay content.

2. "Color profile: Advanced mode": you can play with the curve directly, but changes still do not affect overlay content.

3. "Just dragging the greyed out gamma slider": nothing happens.

4. All channels / R / G / B: nothing there.

5. "Use Powerstrip": Gamma changes do not affect overlay content.


If any of those actually work for you, please post.
Try it out with a video playing, and you'll most likely see how gamma adjust affects everything except the video.


Workarounds that I am aware of:

1. Set hardware acceleration to zero - now video doesnt use overlays, it is blocky, but at least it is affected by gamma changes.

2. The brightness and contrast sliders do work for overlays... but it's just not the same as gamma. Roughly speaking, gamma can enhance the visibility of dark details, but adjusting brightness/contrast cannot reveal any more detail.

My work-around for now:
I use Media Player Classic (MPC) for videos, so I set in View > Options > Output, VMR9 (Renderless)
I think this means overlay isn't used... or something. Anyway, now gamma adjust for All or Desktop affect the video as required.
(not that I claim credit for this, someone else suggested it, and I've put it off till now to try it out)

[Joe Fenton]

Well, I don't know about Windows, but the nvidia-settings control panel for Linux makes it a lot more clear what affects what by using completely different controls for overlay vs normal graphics displays. Gamma doesn't work on the overlay. It's not even shown in linux. You can change the saturation, contrast, brightness, and hue. When you switch to color correction (all channels), you get controls for brightness, contrast, and gamma.

It seems to me that you'll just have to adjust the brightness and contrast if you want to affect the overlay.

[CWR03]

It could just be something unusual/unique with the Forceware drivers you're using. Did you try one of the "retardedly skinned players," or even Windows Media Player 6.4? Can you not use nVidia's drivers?

[kaon]

It could just be something unusual/unique with the Forceware drivers you're using. Did you try one of the "retardedly skinned players," or even Windows Media Player 6.4? Can you not use nVidia's drivers?If you run a Nvidia card, you can see for yourself.

AFAIK, as of now, not a single Nvidia user has explicitly confirmed that he/she has overlay gamma adjust working correctly.
(I've posted about this in various forums)

I have checked with 4 friends who use Nvidia (various driver versions), and all of them have the same greyed-out gamma slider.

Until someone shows otherwise, I now assert that this bug / intentional-ommision is present for all Nvidia GeForce users, and it's just that most people have not noticed it, because perhaps they have monitors that are sufficiently bright and therefore have not needed to adjust gamma. Or they're totally unaware of the setting.

EDIT: in response to setarip, I agree that, most likely, Nvidia intentionally left overlay-gamma-adjust disabled/missing.

[setarip_old]

Until someone shows otherwise, I now assert that this bug is present for all Nvidia GeForce users

I would suggest to you that it's not a bug - rather, it's (for whatever the NVIDIA reason) intentional.

One of my systems has a GeForce V7100 Deluxe Combo board with the following sliders for the following categories:

1) Desktop, D3D/Game, Open GL - Brightness, Contrast, Gamma

2) Video - Brightness, Contrast, Hue, Saturation - NO slider is present for Gamma!

[kaon]

I would suggest to you that it's not a bug - rather, it's (for whatever the NVIDIA reason) intentional.
I agree that omitting/disabling overlay-gamma-adjust was probably intentional on Nvidia's part.
My bet is that the reason for the ommision is that they had difficulty making it work.
I want to know whether they have given up on it or if they're working on it...
At least some kind of acknowledgement from Nvidia.

[CWR03]

AFAIK, as of now, not a single Nvidia user has explicitly confirmed that he/she has overlay gamma adjust working correctly.
(I've posted about this in various forums)
I thought that my first post in this thread indicated that I did have gamma control - as I said, when I clicked the slider it was activated, and I have full control of gamma for desktop and overlay individually. I'm running nVidia version 7.7.7.7 drivers.

[SeeMoreDigital]

I have checked with 4 friends who use Nvidia (various driver versions), and all of them have the same greyed-out gamma slider. I run an FX5200 with 77.76 "ForceWare" and I'm able to access the Gamma control via all three modes: -

http://img41.imageshack.us/img41/3928/all8ug.png

http://img41.imageshack.us/img41/6651/desktop7oo.png

http://img41.imageshack.us/img41/7000/overlay7pt.png


Cheers

[Joe Fenton]

Uh - your pictures don't show you setting the gamma. Go back and snap a shot of you changing the gamma for the overlay and we'll believe you.

[dragongodz]

your pictures don't show you setting the gamma. Go back and snap a shot of you changing the gamma for the overlay and we'll believe you.
it does show the gamma control active in overlay mode however which is normally disabled. so is sharpening aswell. so indeed it would be interesting to see if they were changed if they had any effect or not.

[kaon]

SeeMoreDigital and CWR,
That is very interesting if true, could you please confirm that the gamma slider actually DOES CHANGE GAMMA FOR OVERLAY VIDEO?
pretty please...

[kaon]

My work-around for now:
I use Media Player Classic (MPC) for videos, so I set in View > Options > Output, VMR9 (Renderless)
I think this means overlay isn't used... or something. Anyway, now gamma adjust for All or Desktop affect the video as required.
(not that I claim credit for this, someone else suggested it, and I've put it off till now to try it out)

[CWR03]

I haven't a place to store it online where I can link it...


*Edit:http://img144.imageshack.us/img144/5476/gamma18io.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[kaon]

I haven't a place to store it online where I can link it...Have you tried out http://www.imageshack.us/ ?
Very convenient free service.

[SeeMoreDigital]

Well just for you guys......

http://img161.imageshack.us/img161/6739/gammahigh4gw.png

http://img135.imageshack.us/img135/8012/gammalow5rr.png

Have a nice day ;)


Cheers

[dragongodz]

SMD - not desktop mode but overlay mode. also can you say if the actual picture changes with playback and not just the line in settings ?

[SeeMoreDigital]

Jeez...

http://img352.imageshack.us/img352/7129/019oy.png

http://img326.imageshack.us/img326/1494/025qs.png

And yes, when I adjust the slider... only the images in my media player(s) are affected.


Cheers

[CWR03]

Maybe the 6600GT simply doesn't allow for gamma correction.

[SeeMoreDigital]

Maybe the 6600GT simply doesn't allow for gamma correction.I can't imagine why :eek:

[Joe Fenton]

Jeez...

And yes, when I adjust the slider... only the images in my media player(s) are affected.

Cheers

Thanks. I believe you. :D It doesn't do that with my FX5600. Maybe it depends on the driver version and where you got it. For example, Guru3D has "hacked" and beta versions of drivers that have more options than many official drivers. Maybe adjusting the gamma of the overlay is one of those beta things many drivers disable while nVidia plays with it.

[SeeMoreDigital]

I got the drivers from the official site!

I upgraded to the 77.78 drivers but dropped back to 77.77 beta because they seemed a little unstable and sluggish.... not that I'm "gemmed up" on such matters!


Cheers

[reepa]

As far as I know, this problem has been fixed in the most recent ForceWare drivers (91.47). I had the same problem, until yesterday when I reinstalled Windows and upgraded all the drivers (I had ForceWare 91.31 before). I noticed the gamma slider was enabled (classic control panel view). My display adapter is GeForce 6200-based.
http://img144.imageshack.us/img144/8791/settingstd2.jpg

[dancho]

it doesnt work for me,
91.47_forceware_winxp2k_english_whql driver

http://img99.imageshack.us/img99/568/drvvq7.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[CWR03]

It's likely that your older card doesn't support gamma adjustment for overlay. I have the same card, and I don't recall ever having the ability to adjust desktop and overlay separately. You can always install ffdshow which should give you the same control.