Alternate brightness settings for VPC-Z display

Well I was toying around with my Vaio Z brightness (1080p non-glossy panel), because I did not like the distribution of values much and I do not use the automatic brightness feature (Sony, can you please move that sensor to a place where it does not measure the screen instead of the environment? Something like the screen bezel, facing up or outside would be nicer).

For me the lower 3 dot levels were too dark to be useful and the lowest level (no dots) could be darker to conserve power and reduce distraction when you just need to peek every once in a while (for instance when waiting for a download or compiling software).

So I decided to change that. The Sony Event Service has 9 brightness settings for the LCD panel, besides off. Those can be found in the registry (Widowskey-R->regedit) of the 64 bit Windows 7 at this location:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Sony Corporation\VAIO Event Service\Settings\VESAutoDimmer

For the 32 bit Windows 7 it should be:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Sony Corporation\VAIO Event Service\Settings\VESAutoDimmer
(can someone verify this?)

I made a small graph comparing the Sony OEM values to my preferred values and a linear ramp profile for reference (not recommended, because while it may be a linear increase in brightness value, it is certainly not a linear increase in perceived brightness).
As you can see I tried to preserve the user experience of the normal range


Be aware that the values here are shown as decimal, while they are stored as hexadecimal in the registry. When manually entering the values just change the 'Base' option to 'Decimal'.

Below is the table, including the hexadecimal values:


If you are lazy you can also just try my values by copying the following section to a text file and change its extension to .reg. That will allow you to add the settings to the registry of your 64 bit Windows.

Code:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Sony Corporation\VAIO Event Service\Settings\VESAutoDimmer]
"P00BrightnessLevel0"=dword:00000004
"P01BrightnessLevel1"=dword:0000002d
"P02BrightnessLevel2"=dword:00000037
"P03BrightnessLevel3"=dword:00000041
"P04BrightnessLevel4"=dword:00000050
"P05BrightnessLevel5"=dword:00000064
"P06BrightnessLevel6"=dword:00000087
"P07BrightnessLevel7"=dword:000000b9
"P08BrightnessLevel8"=dword:000000ff

If you want to restore the settings:

Code:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Sony Corporation\VAIO Event Service\Settings\VESAutoDimmer]
"P00BrightnessLevel0"=dword:00000008
"P01BrightnessLevel1"=dword:0000000e
"P02BrightnessLevel2"=dword:00000016
"P03BrightnessLevel3"=dword:00000025
"P04BrightnessLevel4"=dword:00000036
"P05BrightnessLevel5"=dword:00000050
"P06BrightnessLevel6"=dword:00000077
"P07BrightnessLevel7"=dword:000000ae
"P08BrightnessLevel8"=dword:000000ff

Don't forget to reboot to see the effects of your changes.

Good luck!

 

Great sum-up. Set my brightness to linear first but your progressive setup fits my brightness needs better. I suggest to add a setup with 0 brightness as well, so you can turn off your screen with the brightness level on low.

Rep added.

 

Thanks so much for this! Now my VAIO Z emits as much light as Cyclops from XMEN!

The VAIO Control Panel says my display brightness is now at 142% (One Forty Two Percent)... and i could definately tell, this thing looks like watching down a flashlight barrel. This could definately help in the Sunlight.

It was somehow previously locked at Decimal value of 182... i upped it to 255.

Rep+