Bug 15247 - Disabling DPMS messes with backlight brightness - problem for media players
Summary: Disabling DPMS messes with backlight brightness - problem for media players
Status: CLOSED WORKSFORME
Alias: None
Product: DRI
Classification: Unclassified
Component: DRM/Intel (show other bugs)
Version: unspecified
Hardware: x86-64 (AMD64) Linux (All)
: medium normal
Assignee: Intel GFX Bugs mailing list
QA Contact: Intel GFX Bugs mailing list
URL: https://bugs.launchpad.net/xlibs/+bug...
Whiteboard: 2011BRB_Reviewed
Keywords:
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2008-03-28 15:59 UTC by Alastair M. Robinson
Modified: 2018-09-10 13:26 UTC (History)
2 users (show)

See Also:
i915 platform:
i915 features:


Attachments
Config file (2.56 KB, application/octet-stream)
2008-03-29 10:05 UTC, Alastair M. Robinson
no flags Details
Log file (38.45 KB, application/octet-stream)
2008-03-29 10:10 UTC, Alastair M. Robinson
no flags Details

Description Alastair M. Robinson 2008-03-28 15:59:53 UTC
On my HP6720s laptop, I tend to keep the backlight brightness at a few stops lower than maximum.

MPlayer and VLC both cause the brightness to jump to maximum whenever a video is played, and today I traced this problem to their disabling DPMS to avoid the screen blanking through seeming inactivity while watching a movie.

The shell command: xset -dpms has the same effect.

I've stuck the Ubuntu bug's URL in the URL field, for your convenience.

As you'll see, another user has this issue, but on his machine, a Fujitsu Siemens Amilo Pi 2515, the screen brightness jumps to minimum rather than maximum.
Comment 1 Julien Cristau 2008-03-29 09:49:35 UTC
On Fri, Mar 28, 2008 at 15:59:53 -0700, bugzilla-daemon@freedesktop.org wrote:

> MPlayer and VLC both cause the brightness to jump to maximum whenever a video
> is played, and today I traced this problem to their disabling DPMS to avoid the
> screen blanking through seeming inactivity while watching a movie.
> 
Please attach your X config and log.

Cheers,
Julien
Comment 2 Alastair M. Robinson 2008-03-29 10:05:29 UTC
Created attachment 15559 [details]
Config file
Comment 3 Alastair M. Robinson 2008-03-29 10:10:12 UTC
Created attachment 15561 [details]
Log file

Log and config file attached.

The version of Xorg is the version installed at the time of writing by Ubuntu 8.04 alpha.
Comment 4 John 2008-09-22 09:16:37 UTC
I've noticed the same thing, running an Asus z35f, kubuntu 8.04, kernel 2.6.24-19-generic.  I think I have a suspect:

# cd /sys/class/backlight/
:/sys/class/backlight# ls
acpi_video0  asus-laptop

These two devices have different values for what the "brightness" is currently set to, different values for max brightness, etc.

If I now type these two commands, my brightness does not change:
/sys/class/backlight# bright=`cat asus-laptop/brightness`
/sys/class/backlight# echo $bright > asus-laptop/brightness

If I type these two commands, however, the screen brightness changes to the same dim value I get when I type "xset -dpms":
/sys/class/backlight# bright=`cat acpi_video0/brightness`
/sys/class/backlight# echo $bright > acpi_video0/brightness

Worth checking out what's listed in /sys/class/backlight as well as other settings, IMHO...

I know technically having two backlight devices is not a problem with freedesktop or xorg, that's a kernel or kernel module issue.  However, if X is using /sys/class/backlight/acpi_video0 regardless of what else is there, then... well, wouldn't that be an easy thing to make configurable?
Comment 5 Alastair M. Robinson 2008-09-22 10:49:30 UTC
@John:

Interesting - but if that's the cause, it doesn't apply on my machine I'm afraid.

I've just checked, and in /sys/classes/backlight I only have the one directory - acpi_video0 - and your test case:

/sys/class/backlight# bright=`cat acpi_video0/brightness`
/sys/class/backlight# echo $bright > acpi_video0/brightness

doesn't cause the brightness change on my machine.
Comment 6 John 2008-09-22 21:30:54 UTC
May not be the culprit, then.  Although, to beat a dead horse, replacing "brightness" with "max_brightness" in my case yields the identical behavior as I keep my monitor on 100%.  So, if xset -dpms is invoking something akin to:

/sys/class/backlight/acpi_video0# echo `cat max_brightness` > brightness

...then you'd get brightening on your machine, dimming on mine.
Comment 7 Jeremy Huddleston Sequoia 2011-10-03 09:31:20 UTC
Are you still having these issues?
Comment 8 Adam Jackson 2018-06-11 19:47:43 UTC
This is an intel ddx issue if it's anything.
Comment 9 Jani Saarinen 2018-06-25 10:21:50 UTC
Reporter, for this ooollldddd bug still issue? We will close this in a month if not feedback received.
Comment 10 Lakshmi 2018-09-10 13:25:48 UTC
No feedback in many months, closing as resolved works for me.
Please re-open is still the case after testing latest https://cgit.freedesktop.org/drm-tip and send dmesg from boot with drm.debug=0x1e log_buf_len=4M?


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