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CM4DX Auto-brightness Settings

23701 Views 92 Replies 43 Participants Last post by  dacp283
There is lots of information on the internet about cm brightness settings, so I'm not going to go into depth on all of them. This post is about my experiences with dx specific things. (Note: Auto brightness doesn't work in the beta. I can't remember which nightly got the patch.)

First, a quick explanation of what makes the cm auto brightness special:
On the front of your dx, there is what's called an ambient light sensor. This is used to measure the light shinning on the front of your device. On stock moto, the light sensor reports an intensity and there are about 4 different brightnesses that the system chooses based on the current value.

CM is a little different. CM takes the values and averages them over a period of time. ("Window length" in settings). Why is this awesome? Have you ever been in a place where the system keeps jumping back and forth between two different brightness levels? This can be extremely annoying! Averaging the values can help deal with this. Are there any disadvantages? Unfortunately, yes. The system react more slowly to sudden changes in light. Lucky for us, Team Douche thought about this and there are things we can to fix this. Setting the "Reset threshold" will let the system react quickly to massive changes in light.

DX Specific:
If you are like me, using your stock DX in the dark is like letting loose 1000 suns directly into your eyes. Well, fear the dark no longer! CM can help. Check "Use custom." Then, set "Screen dim level" to 2. (Note: In Nightly9, a value of 1 appears to turn the backlight completely off. Not recommended.) Next, tap "Edit other levels..." Here's my settings:



Note: In the left most column, the fourth level says "50." Change this to "65" for best results.

As you can see, the lowest setting is now 2 instead of the moto stock 20. YAY! I bet you wondering, "gpaulu, why do you have two levels with the same brightness value?" Don't worry, I'll get to that. :wink2:

Unfortunately, moto kind of screwed us on brightness reporting on the low end. The lowest reported value is 10. The next one up from that is 100. This sucks for indoors because the true level in my house is around 60 or so. This means that the sensor reports 10 and the brightness level is at 2 while the lights are on. :androidsad:
I found 3 different solutions to this problem. I will tell you the first two and why they suck. Then I shall wow you with my genius!

1) Set bottom brightness level to 20 and use manual brightness widget when the lights are out. *slap* This is a writeup about AUTO BRIGHTNESS, you fool!
2) Don't check "Allow light decrease." This means that the brightness level won't decrease until you turn off the screen. Acceptable solution, but it kind of sucks.
3) Use the settings in my screen shot, then check "Allow light decrease" and set "Decrease hysteresis" to 70% or higher. (I like 90%). Now, if your sensor level ever gets above 10, the brightness will never go back down to 2 until you turn the screen off again. Notice how in my screen shot, the sensor is at 10 and the brightness level is 25. :grin3:

tl;dr;

check "Enabled"
"Reset threshold" 1000lux
check "Use Custom"
<EDIT>
"Screen dim level" 2
Select "Edit other levels" menu. Select "Set number of levels" and change it to 8.
</EDIT>
Use screen shot^. Change 50 in left column to 65.
check "Allow light decrease"
"Decrease hysteresis" 90%

Hope that helps! Let me know if you make any improvements. :android-smile:

<EDIT>
Night mode is awesome for the dark, too! Use the FX widget.
</EDIT>
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wait the picture didnt show up...with ur edits...so what do u mean when u say change 50 in the left column to 65?
Enable and use custom both checked
window length: 30 s
reset threshold: 1000 lux
sample interval: 1 s
screen dim level: 2

Other Levels
Lower Upper Screen Buttons
0--------10---------2----- 0
11-------14--------25-----255
15-------64--------25-----255
65------100--------50-----255
101-----2999-------96-----0
3000----5999------208-----0
6000----7999------246-----0
8000----e ---------255-----0

Allow light decrease checked
Decrease hysteresis: 90%

Everything look good?
(besides the arrangement of my graph hahaha)
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BrentBlend said:
Enable and use custom both checked
window length: 30 s
reset threshold: 1000 lux
sample interval: 1 s
screen dim level: 2

Other Levels
Lower Upper Screen Buttons
0--------10---------2----- 0
11-------14--------25-----255
15-------64--------25-----255
65-------100-------50-----255
101-----2999------96-----0
3000---5999------208----0
6000---7999------246----0
8000----e---------255----0

Allow light decrease checked
Decrease hysteresis: 90%

Everything look good?
Yep :android-smile: thanks.
gpaulu said:
Yep :android-smile: thanks.
Np, just wanted to check to see if i did it right, hopefully that'll help other people that are going to try this too :)
Looks great so far! Can't wait to see the battery savings. Btw nightly13 is the same as nightly9, brightness "1" is actually "0".

Also... where did you get your theme!?
gskellig said:
Looks great so far! Can't wait to see the battery savings. Btw nightly13 is the same as nightly9, brightness "1" is actually "0".

Also... where did you get your theme!?
Theme is Honey Bread from the market. Use the Theme Chooser app that comes with CM. Reboot and done.

http://market.android.com/details?id=com.gfxandroid.honeybreadtheme
Awesome! I'm glad you took the time to explain these settings as well.
These settings make the screen too dark for me. Which of the numbers should I adjust to make it brighter?
The third column labeled "screen". 2 is the min value and 255 is the max value.
I loaded these setting and now when I first turn on my screen it starts bright, then dims and then brightens again. Before changing the settings I didn't get the dimming of the screen when I first turned it on. It is pretty annoying. Any suggestions on how to fix it or what setting might be incorrect?

Thanks,
i cant get the settings to save....

EDIT: i lied, needed to reboot! oops!

THANKS LOVE THESE SETTINGS!
marciz34 said:
i cant get the settings to save....
are you hitting save&apply?
BrentBlend said:
are you hitting save&apply?
yeah i did but reboot fixed it. thanks, sorry
@ gpaulu

You may want to include in the OP this:
Select Edit other levels menu. Select Set number of levels and change it to 8.

As you explained the stock setting uses 4 levels but some folks may not know how to add the extra levels.

DX on CM7 via Tapatalk
i set mine up exactly like ur pic(except i put 65 where u have 50 in the left column) but under sensor (filter/raw) where it says screen mine says disabled and urs says 25 what did i miss
jbrock98 said:
i set mine up exactly like ur pic(except i put 65 where u have 50 in the left column) but under sensor (filter/raw) where it says screen mine says disabled and urs says 25 what did i miss
Do you have autobrightness turned on? Try checking the regular android brightness settings.

OnMy2ndGP said:
@ gpaulu

You may want to include in the OP this:
Select Edit other levels menu. Select Set number of levels and change it to 8.

As you explained the stock setting uses 4 levels but some folks may not know hire to add the extra levels.

DX on CM7 via Tapatalk
I'll do that, thanks.
sic0048 said:
I loaded these setting and now when I first turn on my screen it starts bright, then dims and then brightens again. Before changing the settings I didn't get the dimming of the screen when I first turned it on. It is pretty annoying. Any suggestions on how to fix it or what setting might be incorrect?

Thanks,
This happens to me, too. I'm not sure why, but I'm looking into it.
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