Simple question re contrast problem

[Lynne]

My graphics generated by ATI 128 Radeon 9600XT card has suddenly become very
contrasty, I downloaded the latest drivers about 3 weeks ago and everything
was working fine.
Now...
the dark areas of any image makes any detail 'blot' out and any light areas
seem to be bleached and overly bright. Similar to a picture that has been
over-exposed by two stops in the light areas and under-expose by 2/3 stops
in the dark area. Colours in Cartoon images (i.e games software) are way to
vibrant.

Done the usual twiddling around with settings but to no avail.

I'm sure I had this problem before (5/6 years ago) but can't remember how I
resolved it.

Can you help

Lynne

 

[Ben Pope]

My graphics generated by ATI 128 Radeon 9600XT card has suddenly become
very contrasty, I downloaded the latest drivers about 3 weeks ago and
everything was working fine.
Now...
the dark areas of any image makes any detail 'blot' out and any light
areas seem to be bleached and overly bright. Similar to a picture that
has been over-exposed by two stops in the light areas and under-expose by
2/3 stops in the dark area. Colours in Cartoon images (i.e games
software) are way to vibrant.

Done the usual twiddling around with settings but to no avail.

I'm sure I had this problem before (5/6 years ago) but can't remember how
I resolved it.

Have you checked the gamma curve? Monitor Profile?

Sounds like something more complicated than gamma though, to get both under
and over exposed-like effects. Maybe gamma and brightness together...

<general related rant>
I always adjust my screen controls in the dark - turn down the contrast and
brightness, then turn up the brightness until you can just see the
background change from black. Then adjust contrast according to ambient
light conditions, leaving the contrast alone. Thats when you notice that
games appear dark, most people turn up their brightness, but what they
actually need is a gamma of 1.3.
</general related rant>

Ben