Monitor Switch vs Twinkle Tray

Monitor Switch is an MIT-licensed service for switching a monitor’s input and controlling its DDC/CI features through a browser interface, HTTP API, scripts, or Home Assistant. It is designed for people who use one monitor with multiple computers, including when the computer currently displayed is asleep or off. Where a monitor exposes the controls, the service can adjust brightness, contrast, volume, mute, picture mode, colour temperature, RGB gain, and black level. It can also read usage hours, firmware level, refresh rates, and power state. Editable profiles set monitor values and can replace incorrect capability detection. For Home Assistant, MQTT discovery presents profile features as entities such as selectors, sliders, and sensors. The service runs on a Raspberry Pi connected to the monitor by HDMI; setup requires Raspberry Pi OS and SSH, and installation uses an Ansible playbook. The project is described as usable but not yet released. Hardware verification is reported only for a Samsung Odyssey G9 with a Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W; other monitors have not been verified.

Twinkle Tray is a Windows utility for managing brightness on multiple monitors from a system-tray icon. Sliders can adjust one display or all displays at once, and the app can control DDC/CI monitor features such as contrast, volume, and power state. It supports most laptops and DDC/CI-enabled monitors, using WMI for internal laptop displays and DDC/CI for external displays. Users can schedule brightness adjustments by time of day or when the computer is idle, and bind hotkeys to particular displays or all of them. Command-line arguments support custom scripting, and the application is localized in over 20 languages. Twinkle Tray is free and can be obtained through the Microsoft Store or as a GitHub installer. Compatibility may be limited with VGA or DVI connections and some USB, Thunderbolt, or Surface docks using HDMI or DisplayPort. Its privacy policy describes collection of settings, operating system, CPU name, app version, user interactions, and estimated location through Google Analytics; users can opt out in Settings.