diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -50,16 +50,17 @@
 
 find_package(XCB REQUIRED COMPONENTS XCB RANDR DPMS)
 
-option(WITH_DDCUTIL "DDCUtil library support" OFF)
-if(WITH_DDCUTIL)
-  find_package(DDCUtil REQUIRED)
-  set_package_properties(DDCUtil
-      PROPERTIES DESCRIPTION "DDCUtil library support"
-      TYPE OPTIONAL
-      PURPOSE "Set monitor settings over DDC/CI channel"
-  )
+option(HAVE_DDCUTIL "DDCUtil library support" OFF)
+if(HAVE_DDCUTIL)
+    find_package(DDCUtil REQUIRED)
+    add_compile_definitions(WITH_DDCUTIL)
+    set_package_properties(DDCUtil
+        PROPERTIES DESCRIPTION "DDCUtil library support"
+        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_feature_info("DDCUtil" HAVE_DDCUTIL "DDCUtil library support is disabled by default as recomended by authors, add -DHAVE_DDCUTIL=On to enable")
 endif()
 
 include_directories (
diff --git a/daemon/backends/upower/ddcutilbrightness.h b/backends/upower/ddcutilbrightness.h
rename from daemon/backends/upower/ddcutilbrightness.h
rename to backends/upower/ddcutilbrightness.h
--- a/daemon/backends/upower/ddcutilbrightness.h
+++ b/backends/upower/ddcutilbrightness.h
@@ -49,9 +49,8 @@
 #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;
     QTimer m_setBrightnessEventFilter;
diff --git a/backends/upower/ddcutilbrightness.cpp b/backends/upower/ddcutilbrightness.cpp
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/backends/upower/ddcutilbrightness.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,169 @@
+/*  This file is part of the KDE project
+ *    Copyright (C) 2017 Dorian Vogel <dorianvogel@gmail.com>
+ *
+ *    This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
+ *    modify it under the terms of the GNU Library General Public
+ *    License version 2 as published by the Free Software Foundation.
+ *
+ *    This library is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+ *    but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+ *    MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU
+ *    Library General Public License for more details.
+ *
+ *    You should have received a copy of the GNU Library General Public License
+ *    along with this library; see the file COPYING.LIB.  If not, write to
+ *    the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor,
+ *    Boston, MA 02110-1301, USA.
+ *
+ */
+
+#include <powerdevil_debug.h>
+#include "ddcutilbrightness.h"
+
+DDCutilBrightness::DDCutilBrightness()
+    : m_usedVcp({0x10})
+{
+    m_setBrightnessEventFilter.setInterval(100);
+    m_setBrightnessEventFilter.setSingleShot(true);
+    connect(&m_setBrightnessEventFilter, &QTimer::timeout, this, &DDCutilBrightness::setBrightnessAfterFilter);
+}
+
+void DDCutilBrightness::detect()
+{
+#ifdef WITH_DDCUTIL
+    DDCA_Status rc;
+
+    qCDebug(POWERDEVIL) << "Check for monitors using ddca_get_displays()...";
+    // Inquire about detected monitors.
+    DDCA_Display_Info_List * dlist = nullptr;
+    ddca_get_display_info_list2(true, &dlist);
+    qCInfo(POWERDEVIL)  << "[DDCutilBrightness] " << dlist->ct << "display(s) were detected";
+
+    for (int iDisp = 0; iDisp < dlist->ct; ++iDisp) {
+        DDCA_Display_Handle dh = nullptr;  // initialize to avoid clang analyzer warning
+
+        qCDebug(POWERDEVIL) << "Create a Display Identifier for display"<<iDisp <<
+        " : "<< dlist->info[iDisp].model_name;
+
+        m_displayInfoList.append(dlist->info[iDisp]);
+
+        qCDebug(POWERDEVIL) << "Opening the display reference, creating a display handle...";
+        rc = ddca_open_display2(dlist->info[iDisp].dref, true, &dh);
+        if (rc != 0) {
+            qCWarning(POWERDEVIL) << "[DDCutilBrightness]: ddct_open_display"<< rc;
+            continue;
+        }
+        
+        DDCA_Feature_List vcpList;
+        ddca_get_feature_list_by_dref(DDCA_SUBSET_COLOR, dh, false, &vcpList);
+        qCDebug(POWERDEVIL) << "ddca_feature_list: "<< ddca_feature_list_string(&vcpList, "0x", ",");
+        QVector<uint16_t> tmpVcpList;
+        for (int iVcp = 0; iVcp < m_usedVcp.count(); ++iVcp) {
+            DDCA_Non_Table_Vcp_Value returnValue;
+            rc = ddca_get_non_table_vcp_value(dh,m_usedVcp.value(iVcp), &returnValue);
+
+            if (rc < 0) {
+                qCDebug(POWERDEVIL) << "[DDCutilBrightness]: This monitor does not seem to support " << m_usedVcp[iVcp];
+            } else {
+                qCDebug(POWERDEVIL) << "[DDCutilBrightness]: This monitor supports " << m_usedVcp[iVcp];
+                tmpVcpList.append(m_usedVcp.value(iVcp));
+            }
+        }
+        //we only store displays that actually support the features we want.
+        if (tmpVcpList.contains(0x10)) {
+            qCDebug(POWERDEVIL) << "Display supports Brightness, adding handle to list";
+            m_displayHandleList.append(dh);
+            m_supportedVcp_perDisp.value(iDisp).append(tmpVcpList);
+        }
+    }
+#else
+    qCInfo(POWERDEVIL)  << "[DDCutilBrightness] compiled without DDC/CI support";
+    return;
+#endif
+}
+
+bool DDCutilBrightness::isSupported() const
+{
+#ifdef WITH_DDCUTIL
+    return !m_displayHandleList.isEmpty();
+#else
+    return false;
+#endif
+}
+
+long DDCutilBrightness::brightness()
+{
+#ifdef WITH_DDCUTIL
+    //we check whether 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 value when changing.
+    if (m_setBrightnessEventFilter.isActive()) {
+        m_lastBrightnessKnown = m_tmpCurrentBrightness;
+    } else {  //FIXME: gets value for display 1
+        DDCA_Status rc;
+        DDCA_Non_Table_Vcp_Value returnValue;
+
+        rc = ddca_get_non_table_vcp_value(m_displayHandleList.at(0),
+                                0x10, &returnValue);
+        qCDebug(POWERDEVIL) << "[DDCutilBrightness::brightness]: ddca_get_vcp_value returned" << rc;
+
+        //check rc to prevent crash on wake from idle and the monitor has gone to powersave mode
+        if (rc == 0) {
+            m_lastBrightnessKnown = (long)(returnValue.sh <<8|returnValue.sl);
+        }
+    }
+    return m_lastBrightnessKnown;
+#else
+    return 0;
+#endif
+}
+
+long DDCutilBrightness::brightnessMax()
+{
+#ifdef WITH_DDCUTIL
+    DDCA_Status rc;
+    DDCA_Non_Table_Vcp_Value returnValue;
+
+    rc = ddca_get_non_table_vcp_value(m_displayHandleList.at(0)
+                                    , 0x10, &returnValue);
+    qCDebug(POWERDEVIL) << "[DDCutilBrightness::brightnessMax]: ddca_get_vcp_value returned" << rc;
+
+    //check rc to prevent crash on wake from idle and the monitor has gone to powersave mode
+    if (rc == 0) {
+        m_lastMaxBrightnessKnown = (long)(returnValue.mh <<8|returnValue.ml);
+    }
+
+    return m_lastMaxBrightnessKnown;
+#else
+    return 100.0;
+#endif
+}
+
+void DDCutilBrightness::setBrightness(long value)
+{
+    m_tmpCurrentBrightness = value;
+    qCDebug(POWERDEVIL) << "[DDCutilBrightness]: saving brightness value: " << value;
+    m_setBrightnessEventFilter.start();
+}
+
+void DDCutilBrightness::setBrightnessAfterFilter()
+{
+#ifdef WITH_DDCUTIL
+    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;
+        uint8_t newsh = (uint16_t)m_tmpCurrentBrightness >> 8;
+        uint8_t newsl = (uint16_t)m_tmpCurrentBrightness & 0x00ff;
+        rc = ddca_set_non_table_vcp_value(m_displayHandleList.at(iDisp), 0x10,
+                                           newsh, newsl);
+
+        if (rc < 0) {
+            qCWarning(POWERDEVIL) << "[DDCutilBrightness::setBrightness] failed, trying to detect()";
+            detect();
+        } else {
+            m_lastBrightnessKnown = m_tmpCurrentBrightness;
+        }
+    }
+#else
+    return;
+#endif
+}
diff --git a/daemon/backends/upower/ddcutilbrightness.cpp b/daemon/backends/upower/ddcutilbrightness.cpp
deleted file mode 100644
--- a/daemon/backends/upower/ddcutilbrightness.cpp
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,229 +0,0 @@
-/*  This file is part of the KDE project
- *    Copyright (C) 2017 Dorian Vogel <dorianvogel@gmail.com>
- *
- *    This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
- *    modify it under the terms of the GNU Library General Public
- *    License version 2 as published by the Free Software Foundation.
- *
- *    This library is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
- *    but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
- *    MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU
- *    Library General Public License for more details.
- *
- *    You should have received a copy of the GNU Library General Public License
- *    along with this library; see the file COPYING.LIB.  If not, write to
- *    the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor,
- *    Boston, MA 02110-1301, USA.
- *
- */
-
-#include <powerdevil_debug.h>
-#include "ddcutilbrightness.h"
-
-
-DDCutilBrightness::DDCutilBrightness()
-{
-    m_setBrightnessEventFilter.setInterval(100);
-    m_setBrightnessEventFilter.setSingleShot(true);
-    connect(&m_setBrightnessEventFilter, &QTimer::timeout, this, &DDCutilBrightness::setBrightnessAfterFilter);
-}
-
-void DDCutilBrightness::detect()
-{
-#ifndef WITH_DDCUTIL
-    qCInfo(POWERDEVIL)  << "[DDCutilBrightness] compiled without DDC/CI support";
-    return;
-#else
-    DDCA_Status rc;
-
-    qCDebug(POWERDEVIL) << "Check for monitors using ddca_get_displays()...";
-    // Inquire about detected monitors.
-    DDCA_Display_Info_List * dlist = ddca_get_display_info_list();
-    qCDebug(POWERDEVIL) << "ddca_get_display_info_list() returned "<< dlist;
-    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 <<
-        " : "<< dlist->info[iDisp].model_name;
-
-        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);
-        if (rc != 0) {
-            qCWarning(POWERDEVIL) << "[DDCutilBrightness]: ddct_open_display"<< rc;
-            continue;
-        }
-
-        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_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;
-            }
-            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);
-                }
-            }
-        }
-        ddca_free_display_identifier(did);
-        ddca_free_parsed_capabilities(parsedCapabilities);
-    }
-#endif
-}
-
-
-bool DDCutilBrightness::isSupported() const
-{
-#ifndef WITH_DDCUTIL
-    return false;
-#else
-    return !m_displayHandleList.isEmpty();
-#endif
-}
-
-
-long DDCutilBrightness::brightness()
-{
-#ifdef WITH_DDCUTIL
-    //we check whether 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()) {
-        m_lastBrightnessKnown = m_tmpCurrentBrightness;
-    }
-    else {  //FIXME: gets value for display 1
-        DDCA_Status rc;
-        DDCA_Single_Vcp_Value *returnValue;
-
-        rc = ddca_get_vcp_value(m_displayHandleList.at(0),
-                                m_descrToVcp_perDisp.at(0).value("Brightness"),
-                                DDCA_NON_TABLE_VCP_VALUE, &returnValue);
-        qCDebug(POWERDEVIL) << "[DDCutilBrightness::brightness]: ddca_get_vcp_value returned" << rc;
-
-        //check rc to prevent crash on wake from idle and the monitor has gone to powersave mode
-        if (rc == 0) {
-            m_lastBrightnessKnown = (long)returnValue->val.c.cur_val;
-        }
-    }
-    return m_lastBrightnessKnown;
-#else
-    return 0;
-#endif
-}
-
-long DDCutilBrightness::brightnessMax()
-{
-#ifdef WITH_DDCUTIL
-    DDCA_Status rc;
-    DDCA_Single_Vcp_Value *returnValue;
-
-    rc = ddca_get_vcp_value(m_displayHandleList.at(0),
-                            m_descrToVcp_perDisp.at(0).value("Brightness"),
-                            DDCA_NON_TABLE_VCP_VALUE, &returnValue);
-    qCDebug(POWERDEVIL) << "[DDCutilBrightness::brightnessMax]: ddca_get_vcp_value returned" << rc;
-
-    //check rc to prevent crash on wake from idle and the monitor has gone to powersave mode
-    if (rc == 0) {
-        m_lastMaxBrightnessKnown = (long)returnValue->val.c.max_val;
-    }
-
-    return m_lastMaxBrightnessKnown;
-#else
-    return 100.0;
-#endif
-}
-
-void DDCutilBrightness::setBrightness(long value)
-{
-    m_tmpCurrentBrightness = value;
-    qCDebug(POWERDEVIL) << "[DDCutilBrightness]: saving brightness value: " << value;
-    m_setBrightnessEventFilter.start();
-}
-
-void DDCutilBrightness::setBrightnessAfterFilter()
-{
-#ifdef WITH_DDCUTIL
-    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);
-
-        if (rc != 0) {
-            qCWarning(POWERDEVIL) << "[DDCutilBrightness::setBrightness] failed, trying to detect()";
-            detect();
-        } else {
-            m_lastBrightnessKnown = m_tmpCurrentBrightness;
-        }
-    }
-#else
-    return;
-#endif
-}