Flash and 16 bit vs 32 bit color

Well actually my computer down stairs is totally up to date, its just using Windows 98 like Steen. I don't think that is the problem. I think it might be the monitor itself or maybe the display card. Has to be something like that. Wish I could pinpoint it.

sounds to me like display card if it's capped at 16-bit. but what do i know? nothing!

i used to have a 98 machine with 32-bit display, so i know it can be done.
this definitely a very very weird problem.

Its not capped at 16 bit. When I put it on 32 bit on that machine its perfectly fine. When I put it on 16 bit on that machine I see the distinction.

ok i see what you mean. the computer I was talking about for me was
old enough that 16-bit was as good as it gets.

I have an old p166 here, with a 2yo compaq monitor on it. The video
card only goes to 16-bit, and when I go to bigwebmaster.com i don't see
the color difference.

so, so strange.

Frustrating bug. Enough for me to rally this thread.

http://www.macromedia.com/support/flash ... itmaps.htm

I'm developing a flash application where the users are using thin clients. Needless to say the "important" people are using 16bit, not just someones sister with an underpowered video card.

A big issue is I have shapes that I set their alpha value to 0 to hide them. Guess what. They show up.

So, anyone have any ideas on how to hide a movieclip that can accept mouse events without using alpha = 0?

Ok, i'm answering my own question, but happy I have one. So here is my solution.
Make a giant square that takes up the whole screen on the top layer and make its alpha=0. Gives the whole movie a slightly grainy look but is alot better then the grain only around imported buttons. Also this will only affect 16 bit displays, 32 bit and others will not see any difference.

32Bit == 24Bit Colour + 8Bit transparency.

You won't get transparency in 16Bit (not true alpha/gradient transparency). you'll get on-or-off 1Bit transparency though (like in a transparent GIF).

@jhenigin: Use the _visible property to hide the clip without setting the alpha to 0.

Example: