Turn Off the Lights

Turn Off the Lights Extension If you are going see a nice movie in the evening, then you certainly dim the light – because its not a nice feeling to watch a movie in a bright well-lit room. This extension has a similar effect also for the PC! The extension is called “Turn Off the Lights” and darkens when activated the area of the screen which is outside of the video you are watching. So you got “Cinema experience” for Youtube™ and others!

Comparison: YouTube™ video with and without darkening

As you can see, the effect is simple and effective and makes the viewing experience much more pleasant. However, the extension does not leave it to offer only a simple effect, but also convinces with secondary effects and extensive configuration options.

Administration area:

“Turn Off the Lights” brings much more setting possibilities than you has ever expected from such an extension , as the following screenshot suggests:

In the “Basic”-Settings menu the appearance of darkening be changed. For example, it does not have to be black – if you like it, you can also choose a red color for example. But you can also set a coverage (the transparency level of the color) or a gradient instead of a solid color darkening can be adjusted. If you like it, instead of a color you can also a set wallpaper – eg. a movie theater. The practical at the Extension: Any change in the settings is shown by an example live above – a laborious testing is not necessary. Impressive is the “Atmosphere Lighting”, which can be found under “Visual Effects”. A type of backlight is produced, as they are known by some televisions and is visible in the screenshot below:

Here, however, is not just used any background color – this dynamically adapts to the content of the video. Uses the video mostly green colors then the background becomes green – is the video dominated by blue colors – the background becomes blue blue (optinally a solid color can also be defined).

The extension offers now also the “Night Mode”, which you use on sites without video. Here the complete page inverts to allow read at night more pleasantly, as you can see in the following screenshot of the NY Times page:

Last but not least are still features the “Camera Motion” and “Speed Recognition” worth mentioning. This darkening of the page can use a gesture (which is detected and evaluated via webcam) or be activated by voice command.

Review of user opinions:

Opinions about the extension are generally positive. In the Webstore the extension has a rating of 4.5 / 5th. Negative comments are hard to find and usually go back to operator error or in rare cases, where the dimming function is not working correct for a web page.

Conclusion:

A practical extension for all users, who watch users not always in fullscreen mode – because it is really very pleasant if a bright white background does not bother. But also the additional features can be very useful.