video playback issue, strange one

[Tunnah]

heyhey folks finally built my new system (and its amaaaaaaazing!) all is running fine and dandy except a strange problem

after i play a game (at full res..with all settings on max..sorry i'm so giddy ) when i quit and try to play a video of any kind, its extremely dark with lil bits of blue..like the brightness n contrast are turned waaaaay down
if i start up the nvidia control panel tho (do nothing else except launch it) then try to play the vid its fine

got latest nv drivers
spec is
xfx 8800gts on 22" LG L226WTQ

[notsobig]

Isn't this driver issue? Have you tried other sets? Or codec problem maybe? Try third party Video player with built-in codec(such as GOM)and see if that makes any difference. Or simply trading in for my inferior but perfect working card

[Clunk]

Does indeed sound like the dreaded contrast bug.

I fixed mine with a reinstall of the drivers, but even those are really flaky.