dark video & pictures.

[lumis]

something i've noticed over the past few months but never really started bothering me until now is that whenever i play video or view pictures they're very dark.. sometimes in dark scenes in movies, its almost unwatchable..

i've done a clean install of windows (xp w/ sp2 intergrated) since i first noticed this, but that doesnt seem to cure it at all.

i'm watching my movies through powerdvd (for dvd's, svcd's, vcd's), for divx/xvid its vlc & bsplayer..

this also happens with images, no matter what i'm viewing it through..

for example, in this thread https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=257957&highlight=gigantic+hard+drive

i posted a picture of a big harddrive next to a cd-rom, on my monitor you cant really tell what color the carpet is.. it just looks dark.

i visit a website for MMA news, www.sherdog.com, i believe the background color on the page should be grey, but it displays as black on my screen..

i've checked the montior cable itself and there arent any bent pins, but it looks like there might be some missing.

the monitor i'm using is an old hp 17 inch (5259a), i've got a geforce fx 5200 video card, and as previously mentioned i'm using windows xp w/ sp2 intergrated (all hotfixes)..

my monitors are the newest available from the nvidia website.

any ideas on what might be going on?

[Poppa_Meth]

I'd almost bet on it being the monitor. I've seen so many HP monitors go dark and then crap out completely its rediculous. Try a different monitor if you can and see if the problem disappears.

[Solarjetman]

You did not mention this so lets start simple. Have you upped the brightness setting on your monitor?

[Soopafresh]

http://www.hex2bit.com/products/product_mcw.asp#features

http://epaperpress.com/monitorcal/

http://www.pawprint.net/designresources/monitorcalibration.php

[pfh]

Nvidia adjustment properties should also be looked at.

[offline]

Good advice above. If your videos are dark but the
"normal" screen is ok, your overlay settings have
been reset by accident. This can occur with non
genuine video drivers, video tweaking software and
with some other applications.

The fix is simple. Hidden in plain sight in your advanced
video settings are gamma, brightness, contrast and
color overlay settings. These will be on a different
tab to your regular settings.