Question When a game asks you to adjust your brightness, what do you do?

[ZedClampet]

You know, the image on the left should be barely visible? Well, I can't stand not being able to see, so I take it a notch up from "barely visible" to "obviously visible". I try not to take it up so high that the game will look washed out in any way.

In some games, you can get a clear advantage by raising the gamma. Most multiplayer survival games come to mind, as do Phasmophobia and Ghost Exile.

So how do you handle the brightness slider? Are you a good boy/girl/they and make the image on the left barely visible? Do you sit there and think, can I see that?

 

[Brian Boru]

I can't stand not being able to see, so I take it a notch up

Same here, I set it like you and wish the screen 'Buenos notches'

 

[Colif]

i did last time I played Diablo 2 but then changed it after as it was too dark, It didn't help I set it with my lights off and then tried to play in day.

I seem to recall I have ignored them in the past.

what colours are around something can change your perspective of things... and make you see colors that don't exist

but I still haven't seen Octarine

 

[Pifanjr]

I usually put it until the one image is barely visible and then turn it up slightly, because I don't trust the developers not to make something vital too dark to see.

 

[Ryzengang]

I just leave it at default most of the time, but I agree with most of the people in this thread that I would much rather bump up the brightness a touch to be safe. I hate having trouble seeing things in games.

 

[WoodenSaucer]

I'm with you, Zed. I like to have it just a little bit brighter than what they want me to have it.

 

[Johnway]

Like most here, when they say barely visible, i always take it one or 2 notches above that. So you can see the faint object as opposed to barely visible.

 

[Frag Maniac]

I usually find if the game has good lighting balance, I can leave it at the default brightness setting. However in games that lack lighting balance, which is typically those where dark areas look too dark, I often raise it up a bit. I really hate games looking washed out though, so if the lighting balance is pretty bad, I usually raise the color warmth to combat washing. This fortunately is easy to do on my TV via it's remote. Raising color saturation to combat elevated brightness washing is something I never see talked about, but it helps a lot.

I happen to have an old school Panasonic IPS TV. IPS displays aren't as bright as other LCD tech like VA, but mine also is CCFL lit, so darker than the new LED lit ones. I did buy and return a $900 Sony Bravia VA panel TV that looked far too washed out in bright scenes though, and once I adjusted the brightness to account for it, it had as much if not more black crush as my IPS. I also felt my IPS had more accurate colors, especially in tones that are hard to replicate, like skin tones. I concluded VA panels are definitely not for me.

The next display I get will likely be OLED. They are roughly in between IPS and VA in brightness, but due to the fact that they are self illuminating, they never tend to look too dark to me. LG has also added tech to their new EVO OLEDs that makes them brighter. Their new 42" OLED doesn't have the screen coating to further enhance the brightness, but Vincent Teoh of HDTVTest compared it to the bigger ones that do have the coating, showing it looking just as bright, but without the tradeoff of the tint from the coating.

Now I know most of that may sound off topic to the thread question, but it's actually not. The type of display you use can affect brightness quite a bit.

 

[Zloth]

The default tends to be pretty close to right, but I sometimes turn it down so I can barely see the image. I don't have any problems seeing unless the sun is shining right at me through the blinds.

 

[DXCHASE]

I dont do anything, just click click click to play. If i dont like it then ill go back and change it but its usually defaulted nicely for me.

 

[Brian Boru]

most of that may sound off topic

Looks to me like you upped the brightness of the thread a notch!

 

[WoodenSaucer]

I usually find if the game has good lighting balance, I can leave it at the default brightness setting. However in games that lack lighting balance, which is typically those where dark areas look too dark, I often raise it up a bit. I really hate games looking washed out though, so if the lighting balance is pretty bad, I usually raise the color warmth to combat washing. This fortunately is easy to do on my TV via it's remote. Raising color saturation to combat elevated brightness washing is something I never see talked about, but it helps a lot.

I happen to have an old school Panasonic IPS TV. IPS displays aren't as bright as other LCD tech like VA, but mine also is CCFL lit, so darker than the new LED lit ones. I did buy and return a $900 Sony Bravia VA panel TV that looked far too washed out in bright scenes though, and once I adjusted the brightness to account for it, it had as much if not more black crush as my IPS. I also felt my IPS had more accurate colors, especially in tones that are hard to replicate, like skin tones. I concluded VA panels are definitely not for me.

The next display I get will likely be OLED. They are roughly in between IPS and VA in brightness, but due to the fact that they are self illuminating, they never tend to look too dark to me. LG has also added tech to their new EVO OLEDs that makes them brighter. Their new 42" OLED doesn't have the screen coating to further enhance the brightness, but Vincent Teoh of HDTVTest compared it to the bigger ones that do have the coating, showing it looking just as bright, but without the tradeoff of the tint from the coating.

Now I know most of that may sound off topic to the thread question, but it's actually not. The type of display you use can affect brightness quite a bit.

Yeah, really good point. It also makes a difference whether or not the game is making good use of HDR.

 

[Frag Maniac]

Looks to me like you upped the brightness of the thread a notch!

LOL, yeah, I was trying to emphasize things that often aren't considered or talked about. I however forgot to mention that the default setting on my display often times renders the image on the left as invisible vs barely visible, but I don't find that page to be an accurate determination for many games with my display. I go more by how dark the dark areas are in the actual game.

I was once on a family vacation as a kid and we visited the Lewis and Clark Caverns. At one point the tour guide cuts all the lights and tells you to wiggle your fingers in front of your face to see if they're visible (of course they're not). I like to use that as a reference because games that have really bad lighting balance often make it hard to see anything at all in dark areas.

Just remember to crank up the color saturation a bit if things start looking washed out.

 

[Slasken]

I take it up a notch or two and still barely see it.

 

[Frindis]

It depends on the game. When I played Warzone I would leave it pretty much as is (to be honest, not even sure if they ask you to adjust it) and instead go into my GeForce Experience photo mode and adjust sliders there so I would be seeing more clearer in dark areas. Slightly adjusted the color balance on my screen also so some colors would stand out a little more and others less, making the image crisper.

In Metro Exodus, I put the bar all the way to the left, so I can barely see the picture. My screen got a deep and solid black so it actually looks really dark. This means that I have to use a light source for navigating in dark areas or it would be absolutely impossible to see anything around me. Bumps the suspense niveau slightly for me and makes the game even more realistic.