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Christine H Author

Level 1

10 points

Screen Automatically Dimming During Movies

I watch a lot of movies on my computer. My screen has been dimming (even though it's on the highest bright setting) after 5-10 minutes of no movement on the trackpad/keyboard. I tried to change some settings, but I'm not sure if I adjusted the right ones.

I've been having this problem with both movies playing from the internet and actual DVDs.

Thanks!

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.4.7)

Posted on May 19, 2007 9:24 PM

Top-ranking reply

monk_eboy

Level 1

29 points

Posted on May 22, 2007 9:59 PM

The ones you need to change are in the battery settings. Depending on if you are running on the battery or power adapter open up "Energy Saver" which can be found under your batter icon. Once there, if you are running on the power adapter change the settings so that the monitor never dims or goes to sleep.
There should be no reason to reset the PRAM by the way. You can also set the battery settings to the same as the adapter but be aware that you will greatly shorten the time between charges. FYI.

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28 replies

Seanachai

Level 1

130 points

Jun 21, 2008 11:40 AM in response to Christine H

Christine,

No need for any 3rd party software or going into Terminal.

Open System Preferences/Energy Saver. Under Settings for: select Power Adapter. Click on Options. Uncheck the box that says "Automatically reduce the brightness of the display before display sleep". Then under Settings for: select Battery, and uncheck the box that says "Automatically reduce the brightness of the display before display sleep".

May 19, 2007 11:20 PM in response to Christine H

It does this on mine, as well. When it dims, click "Video" on the top and select "deinterlace."

That's always worked for me.

Christine H Author

Level 1

10 points

May 20, 2007 10:58 PM in response to TCUHornedFrogs

Thanks, I'll try it out.

Any suggestions for when I watch movie clips on Firefox, as opposed to the dvd player?

brontide

Level 1

5 points

May 21, 2007 11:29 AM in response to Christine H

At a terminal prompt.

sudo pmset -c halfdim 0

Languh

Level 1

0 points

Sep 10, 2007 3:41 AM in response to Christine H

You can also use the program caffeine: http://lightheadsw.com/caffeine/

you can use that to turn the dimming off

Sep 10, 2007 12:11 PM in response to Christine H

my computer is doing this as well but not in movies but in general use i dont know what to do it really anoyes me please help

tomekinc

Level 1

8 points

Sep 17, 2007 10:09 AM in response to tomekinc

Here's the link:

http://www.gibbilicious.com/gibbilicious/2005/12/abetter_mac_series_dimvision.html

Feb 7, 2008 2:07 AM in response to tomekinc

thank you so much! i just got upgraded to leopard today and that black screen was bugging the heck out of me, this fixed the problem.

AlfieBB

Level 1

20 points

Apr 9, 2008 8:38 AM in response to tomekinc

Hi Tom,
How do I open Terminal? It's in Library >Application Support > Terminal. When I open the folder, nothing is in it. How do I enter the steps you list? Thank!

Jun 20, 2008 8:59 PM in response to JamesLWood

This worked great for me. Thanks.

Seanachai

Level 1

130 points

Jun 21, 2008 11:44 AM in response to Seanachai

Christine,

Almost forgot. Under Battery/Options also uncheck "Slightly dim the display when using this power source"

leenuss

Level 1

0 points

Jun 24, 2008 8:32 AM in response to Languh

Yup, that's great software.

one-hoop

Level 1

8 points

Jul 7, 2008 10:22 PM in response to Languh

I'll have to give caffeine a try!

Another program that might provide a fix is Jiggler. (Freeware to boot!)
http://www.sticksoftware.com/software/Jiggler.html

M@

Screen Automatically Dimming During Movies