Contrast problem with dark images

[girarcat]

Hi! I've noticed with my SP2 there's a problem with the contrast of dark images, specially night skies. I first noticed that playing Skyrim. I thought it was something related to the game, so I didn't pay much attention to that. However, today I've replaced the wallpaper of the desktop mode with a night image, but the night sky seems to have the same contrast problem I had when playing Skyrim. It is quite difficult to explain exactly what the problem is. I tried a screen capture, but when I watch it on another computer, the contrast problem vanishes, so I think the only way to show it is by taking a picture of the screen with my cell phone.

This is how I see the sky on my SP2:



This is how I see it on my desktop computer:


Anyone with the same issue?

 

[Ruffles]

It looks like a case where the monitor profiles on your surface and desktop don't match. Your desktop screen is much darker which hides the pixelation in the sky. Does the problem lessen when you dim the Surface backlight? If so, your real solution is to color calibrate your tablet and monitor to get accurate color on both. I use an older i1Display 2 from x-rite but there are plenty of others out there. After calibrating, my tablet matches my desktop (which matches my printers) exactly.

 

[eelpout]

I had this issue with my first SP2, it appears to be a problem with either the video driver or video memory handling. It's like it is running at an 8-bit video depth rather than 32-bit.

I tried a myriad of things to fix it on mine, but nothing worked. Some have had success by updating to Intel's latest video driver. Be sure and create a restore point before installing it. Windows Update will want to roll you back to the old driver, so be aware of that.

Like I said though, that didn't fix it for me, so I finally exchanged mine at Best Buy and my current one doesn't have the problem.

I am curious though if the firmware update just released had any impact on this. Though I doubt it since it seems to be targeted towards battery and sleep issues.

Good luck.

 

[beq]

I had color calibrated all our SP2's with the Spyder4 from Datacolor. Too bad that according to it, our SP2 displays only cover ~74% of sRGB (and only 55% of AdobeRGB). Does anyone else's Surface have a wider color gamut?

 

[girarcat]

Thanks for your answers! As I can see on the post created by Eelpou, many other people are having the same issue. Is it happening to all SP2?

It seems the newest Intel drivers reduce battery life of the Surface, so for the moment I don't think I will install them. Just hope Microsoft releases another firmware update which solves this issue.

And Ruffles, the problem is definitely reduced when screen brightness is decreased.

bye!