diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -59,9 +59,10 @@
       TYPE OPTIONAL
       PURPOSE "Set monitor settings over DDC/CI channel"
   )
-else()
-  add_feature_info("DDCUtil" "Off" "DDCUtil library support is disabled by default as recomemded by authors, add -DWITH_DDCUTIL=On to enable")
+  add_definitions(-DWITH_DDCUTIL=true)
 endif()
+add_feature_info("DDCUtil" WITH_DDCUTIL "Set monitor settings over DDC/CI channel")
+
 
 include_directories (
     ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}
diff --git a/daemon/backends/upower/ddcutilbrightness.h b/daemon/backends/upower/ddcutilbrightness.h
--- a/daemon/backends/upower/ddcutilbrightness.h
+++ b/daemon/backends/upower/ddcutilbrightness.h
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@
 #include <QVector>
 #include <QTimer>
 
-#ifdef WITH_DDCUTIL
+#if WITH_DDCUTIL
 #include <ddcutil_c_api.h>
 #endif
 
@@ -43,14 +43,14 @@
     void setBrightnessAfterFilter();
 
 private:
-#ifdef WITH_DDCUTIL
+#if WITH_DDCUTIL
     QVector<DDCA_Display_Handle> m_displayHandleList;
     QVector<DDCA_Display_Info> m_displayInfoList;
 #endif //ifdef WITH_DDCUTIL
     //Per display properties
     //destription mapped to vcp values for easy retrieval
-    QVector<QMap<QString, int> > m_descrToVcp_perDisp;
-    QVector<QMap<int, QMap<int, QString> > > m_vcpTovcpValueWithDescr_perDisp;
+    QVector<int> m_usedVcp;
+    QVector<QVector<uint16_t>> m_supportedVcp_perDisp;
 
 
     long  m_tmpCurrentBrightness;
diff --git a/daemon/backends/upower/ddcutilbrightness.cpp b/daemon/backends/upower/ddcutilbrightness.cpp
--- a/daemon/backends/upower/ddcutilbrightness.cpp
+++ b/daemon/backends/upower/ddcutilbrightness.cpp
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@
 
 DDCutilBrightness::DDCutilBrightness()
 {
+    QVector<int> m_usedVcp = {0x10};
     m_setBrightnessEventFilter.setInterval(100);
     m_setBrightnessEventFilter.setSingleShot(true);
     connect(&m_setBrightnessEventFilter, &QTimer::timeout, this, &DDCutilBrightness::setBrightnessAfterFilter);
@@ -30,10 +31,7 @@
 
 void DDCutilBrightness::detect()
 {
-#ifndef WITH_DDCUTIL
-    qCInfo(POWERDEVIL)  << "[DDCutilBrightness] compiled without DDC/CI support";
-    return;
-#else
+    #if WITH_DDCUTIL
     DDCA_Status rc;
 
     qCDebug(POWERDEVIL) << "Check for monitors using ddca_get_displays()...";
@@ -43,8 +41,7 @@
     qCInfo(POWERDEVIL)  << "[DDCutilBrightness] " << dlist->ct << "display(s) were detected";
 
     for (int iDisp=0;iDisp<dlist->ct;iDisp++) {
-        DDCA_Display_Identifier did;
-        DDCA_Display_Ref dref;
+
         DDCA_Display_Handle dh = nullptr;  // initialize to avoid clang analyzer warning
 
         qCDebug(POWERDEVIL) << "Create a Display Identifier for display"<<iDisp <<
@@ -52,27 +49,8 @@
 
         m_displayInfoList.append(dlist->info[iDisp]);
 
-        rc = ddca_create_dispno_display_identifier(iDisp+1, &did); // ddcutil uses 1 paded indexing for displays
-
-        char * did_repr = ddca_did_repr(did);
-
-        qCDebug(POWERDEVIL) << "did="<<did_repr;
-
-        qCDebug(POWERDEVIL) << "Create a display reference from the display identifier...";
-        rc = ddca_get_display_ref(did, &dref);
-
-        if (rc != 0) {
-            qCWarning(POWERDEVIL) << "[DDCutilBrightness]: ddct_get_display_ref() returned "<<
-            rc<< " ("<<ddca_rc_name(rc) <<
-            "): "<< ddca_rc_name(rc);
-            continue;
-        }
-
-        char * dref_repr = ddca_dref_repr(dref);
-        qCDebug(POWERDEVIL) << "dref= " << dref_repr;
-
         qCDebug(POWERDEVIL) << "Open the display reference, creating a display handle...";
-        rc = ddca_open_display(dref, &dh);
+        rc = ddca_open_display(dlist->info[iDisp].dref, &dh);
         if (rc != 0) {
             qCWarning(POWERDEVIL) << "[DDCutilBrightness]: ddct_open_display"<< rc;
             continue;
@@ -80,81 +58,47 @@
 
         qCDebug(POWERDEVIL) << "adding handle to list";
         m_displayHandleList.append(dh);
-        qCDebug(POWERDEVIL) << "handles nb: "<<m_displayHandleList.count();
-        char* capabilityString;
-        DDCA_Capabilities* parsedCapabilities;
-        ddca_get_capabilities_string(dh, &capabilityString);
-        ddca_parse_capabilities_string(capabilityString, &parsedCapabilities);
-        qCInfo(POWERDEVIL) << "[DDCutilBrightness] " << parsedCapabilities->vcp_code_ct << "capabilities parsed";
-
-
-        m_descrToVcp_perDisp.append(QMap<QString, int>());
-        m_vcpTovcpValueWithDescr_perDisp.append(QMap<int, QMap<int, QString> >() );
-        //fill the feature description to vcp LUT
-
-        DDCA_Version_Feature_Info* featureInfo;
-        for (int iVcp=0;iVcp<parsedCapabilities->vcp_code_ct;iVcp++) {
-
-            int vcpCode=parsedCapabilities->vcp_codes[iVcp].feature_code;
-
-            m_vcpTovcpValueWithDescr_perDisp[iDisp].insert(vcpCode, QMap<int, QString>());
+        m_supportedVcp_perDisp.append(QVector<uint16_t>());
 
-            m_descrToVcp_perDisp[iDisp].insert(
-                QString(ddca_get_feature_name(vcpCode)), vcpCode);
-
-
-            ddca_get_feature_info_by_display(m_displayHandleList.at(iDisp), vcpCode, &featureInfo);
-            if (featureInfo == nullptr) {
-                continue;
+        for (int iVcp=0; iVcp<m_usedVcp.count();iVcp++) {
+            DDCA_Single_Vcp_Value *returnValue;
+            rc = ddca_get_vcp_value(dh, m_usedVcp[iVcp], DDCA_NON_TABLE_VCP_VALUE, &returnValue);
+            if (rc == 0) {
+                qCDebug(POWERDEVIL) << "[DDCutilBrightness]: This monitor does not seam to support " << m_usedVcp[iVcp];
             }
-            qCDebug(POWERDEVIL) << featureInfo->feature_code<<":"<<featureInfo->desc;
-            if ((featureInfo->feature_flags & DDCA_SIMPLE_NC) != DDCA_SIMPLE_NC) {
-                continue;
-            }
-            for (int iVcpVal=0;featureInfo->sl_values[iVcpVal].value_code!=0;++iVcpVal) {
-
-                qCDebug(POWERDEVIL) << "\t"<<featureInfo->sl_values[iVcpVal].value_code
-                <<":"<< featureInfo->sl_values[iVcpVal].value_name;
-
-                bool thisVcpValIsSupported=false;
-
-                for (int iSupportedVcpVal=0; iSupportedVcpVal<parsedCapabilities->vcp_codes[iVcp].value_ct; iSupportedVcpVal++) {
-                    if(parsedCapabilities->vcp_codes[iVcp].values[iSupportedVcpVal]
-                        ==featureInfo->sl_values[iVcpVal].value_code) {
-                        thisVcpValIsSupported=true;
-                        }
-                }
-
-                if (thisVcpValIsSupported) {
-                    (m_vcpTovcpValueWithDescr_perDisp[iDisp])[vcpCode].insert(
-                        featureInfo->sl_values[iVcpVal].value_code,
-                        featureInfo->sl_values[iVcpVal].value_name);
-                }
+            else {
+                m_supportedVcp_perDisp[iDisp].append(m_usedVcp[iVcp]);
             }
         }
-        ddca_free_display_identifier(did);
-        ddca_free_parsed_capabilities(parsedCapabilities);
     }
-#endif
+
+    #else
+    qCInfo(POWERDEVIL)  << "[DDCutilBrightness] compiled without DDC/CI support";
+    return;
+    #endif
 }
 
 
 bool DDCutilBrightness::isSupported() const
 {
-#ifndef WITH_DDCUTIL
-    return false;
-#else
+    #if WITH_DDCUTIL
     return !m_displayHandleList.isEmpty();
-#endif
+    #else
+    return false;
+    #endif
 }
 
 
 long DDCutilBrightness::brightness()
 {
-#ifdef WITH_DDCUTIL
+    #if WITH_DDCUTIL
+    if (m_supportedVcp_perDisp.at(0).contains(0x10)) {
+        qCDebug(POWERDEVIL) << "[DDCutilBrightness::brightness]: trying to get brightness for monitor that does not support it";
+        return 0;
+    }
     //we check wether the timer is running, this means we received new values but did not send them yet to the monitor
-    //not checking that results in the brightness slider jump to the previous vqlue when changing.
-    if(m_setBrightnessEventFilter.isActive()) {
+    //not checking that results in the brightness slider jump to the previous value when changing.
+    if (m_setBrightnessEventFilter.isActive()) {
         m_lastBrightnessKnown = m_tmpCurrentBrightness;
     }
     else {  //FIXME: gets value for display 1
@@ -162,7 +106,7 @@
         DDCA_Single_Vcp_Value *returnValue;
 
         rc = ddca_get_vcp_value(m_displayHandleList.at(0),
-                                m_descrToVcp_perDisp.at(0).value("Brightness"),
+                                0x10,
                                 DDCA_NON_TABLE_VCP_VALUE, &returnValue);
         qCDebug(POWERDEVIL) << "[DDCutilBrightness::brightness]: ddca_get_vcp_value returned" << rc;
 
@@ -172,19 +116,23 @@
         }
     }
     return m_lastBrightnessKnown;
-#else
+    #else
     return 0;
-#endif
+    #endif
 }
 
 long DDCutilBrightness::brightnessMax()
 {
-#ifdef WITH_DDCUTIL
+    #if WITH_DDCUTIL
+    if (m_supportedVcp_perDisp.at(0).contains(0x10)) {
+        qCDebug(POWERDEVIL) << "[DDCutilBrightness::brightnessMax]: trying to set brightness for monitor that does not support it";
+        return 0;
+    }
+
     DDCA_Status rc;
     DDCA_Single_Vcp_Value *returnValue;
 
-    rc = ddca_get_vcp_value(m_displayHandleList.at(0),
-                            m_descrToVcp_perDisp.at(0).value("Brightness"),
+    rc = ddca_get_vcp_value(m_displayHandleList.at(0), 0x10,
                             DDCA_NON_TABLE_VCP_VALUE, &returnValue);
     qCDebug(POWERDEVIL) << "[DDCutilBrightness::brightnessMax]: ddca_get_vcp_value returned" << rc;
 
@@ -194,9 +142,9 @@
     }
 
     return m_lastMaxBrightnessKnown;
-#else
+    #else
     return 100.0;
-#endif
+    #endif
 }
 
 void DDCutilBrightness::setBrightness(long value)
@@ -208,13 +156,17 @@
 
 void DDCutilBrightness::setBrightnessAfterFilter()
 {
-#ifdef WITH_DDCUTIL
+    #if WITH_DDCUTIL
+    if (m_supportedVcp_perDisp.at(0).contains(0x10)) {
+        qCDebug(POWERDEVIL) << "[DDCutilBrightness::brightness]: trying to set brightness for monitor that does not support it";
+        return;
+    }
+
     DDCA_Status rc;
     for (int iDisp=0;iDisp<m_displayHandleList.count();iDisp++) {          //FIXME: we set the same brightness to all monitors, plugin architecture needed
         qCDebug(POWERDEVIL) << "[DDCutilBrightness]: setting brightness "<<m_tmpCurrentBrightness;
-        rc = ddca_set_continuous_vcp_value(m_displayHandleList.at(iDisp), 
-                                        m_descrToVcp_perDisp.at(iDisp).value("Brightness"), 
-                                        (int)m_tmpCurrentBrightness);
+        rc = ddca_set_continuous_vcp_value(m_displayHandleList.at(iDisp), 0x10,
+                                           (int)m_tmpCurrentBrightness);
 
         if (rc != 0) {
             qCWarning(POWERDEVIL) << "[DDCutilBrightness::setBrightness] failed, trying to detect()";
@@ -223,7 +175,7 @@
             m_lastBrightnessKnown = m_tmpCurrentBrightness;
         }
     }
-#else
+    #else
     return;
-#endif
+    #endif
 }