I want to share some of my new discoveries. Video output level is actually another issue.
1. When I set my video mode to "Limited" in the driver settings, the (16-235) in video window is the same as (0-255) on the desktop. However, neither of those levels are displayed correctly. Video is converted to (0-255), combined with the desktop, then converted back to (16-235). The blacks looks the same but equally gray.
2. Set video mode to "Full", the black in (16-235) video window is kept as (16-235), combined with the desktop, then converted to (16-235). Finally, the video is displayed as (30-219) and desktop as (16-235). The blacks looks both gray but the video's black grayer.
3.The pitfall is that, output level settings are applied just before the final stage: transmit to display device via HDMI port. Even though you might be able to resolve the low (0-15) and high(236-255) levels, they might still not be correctly displayed, because they are converted to (16-28) and (219-235) and you are always able to resolve (16-28) and (219-235).
4. Setting HDMI mode to YCbCr works, because YCbCr is always limited range, hence the display device and video processor agree easily and avoid all the trouble.
Conclusion:
In order for a video to be correctly displayed, you need: 1) set video mode in driver settings to limited so that (16-235) in the video data can be displayed the same as (0-255) on the desktop, and 2) make sure they are displayed correctly on your display device.
Using a resolution other than 1080p standard might works, such as customize resolutions, or, as I stated in the previous post, a CVT-RB advanced timing. I did not find a way to change timing options with the Intel drivers for Windows, so I'm not able to test it on Windows.
My environment:
Xeon E3-1245V3 with P4600 graphics
Windows 7 SP1
Driver 9.18.10.3165