Touch LCD clone looks weird unless resetting

I got this touch LCD clone and I am using the Adafruit TFTLCD tftbmp library/example. The tftbmp_shield example does not work, I assume something to do with pin locations.

Anyway, the screen has weird contrast and seems sort of dim until I hit the reset button. Then it looks great until it restarts and it goes back to looking weird.

Notice how there's the bright blotch in the sky and the pelican is very dark, that is really exaggerated in person. When I hit reset it looks a little washed out in the video but it looks perfect in person.

The same thing happens even if I power it externally with a good quality power adapter. I realize that it being a clone there's a million things that could be wrong but I am hoping that since it is fixed while resetting there is some way to narrow down the problem. What is different while the arduino is about to reset that could be causing thing?

Here is the exact code, I've only modified it to load one image at startup:

#include <Adafruit_GFX.h>    // Core graphics library
#include <Adafruit_TFTLCD.h> // Hardware-specific library
#include <SD.h>

// The control pins for the LCD can be assigned to any digital or
// analog pins...but we'll use the analog pins as this allows us to
// double up the pins with the touch screen (see the TFT paint example).
#define LCD_CS A3 // Chip Select goes to Analog 3
#define LCD_CD A2 // Command/Data goes to Analog 2
#define LCD_WR A1 // LCD Write goes to Analog 1
#define LCD_RD A0 // LCD Read goes to Analog 0

// When using the BREAKOUT BOARD only, use these 8 data lines to the LCD:
// For the Arduino Uno, Duemilanove, Diecimila, etc.:
//   D0 connects to digital pin 8  (Notice these are
//   D1 connects to digital pin 9   NOT in order!)
//   D2 connects to digital pin 2
//   D3 connects to digital pin 3
//   D4 connects to digital pin 4
//   D5 connects to digital pin 5
//   D6 connects to digital pin 6
//   D7 connects to digital pin 7
// For the Arduino Mega, use digital pins 22 through 29
// (on the 2-row header at the end of the board).

// For Arduino Uno/Duemilanove, etc
//  connect the SD card with DI going to pin 11, DO going to pin 12 and SCK going to pin 13 (standard)
//  Then pin 10 goes to CS (or whatever you have set up)
#define SD_CS 10     // Set the chip select line to whatever you use (10 doesnt conflict with the library)

// In the SD card, place 24 bit color BMP files (be sure they are 24-bit!)
// There are examples in the sketch folder

// our TFT wiring
Adafruit_TFTLCD tft(LCD_CS, LCD_CD, LCD_WR, LCD_RD, A4);

void setup()
{
  Serial.begin(9600);

  tft.reset();

  uint16_t identifier = tft.readID();

  if(identifier == 0x9325) {
    Serial.println(F("Found ILI9325 LCD driver"));
  } else if(identifier == 0x9328) {
    Serial.println(F("Found ILI9328 LCD driver"));
  } else if(identifier == 0x7575) {
    Serial.println(F("Found HX8347G LCD driver"));
  } else {
    Serial.print(F("Unknown LCD driver chip: "));
    Serial.println(identifier, HEX);
    Serial.println(F("If using the Adafruit 2.8\" TFT Arduino shield, the line:"));
    Serial.println(F("  #define USE_ADAFRUIT_SHIELD_PINOUT"));
    Serial.println(F("should appear in the library header (Adafruit_TFT.h)."));
    Serial.println(F("If using the breakout board, it should NOT be #defined!"));
    Serial.println(F("Also if using the breakout, double-check that all wiring"));
    Serial.println(F("matches the tutorial."));
    return;
  }

  tft.begin(identifier);

  Serial.print(F("Initializing SD card..."));
  if (!SD.begin(SD_CS)) {
    Serial.println(F("failed!"));
    return;
  }
  Serial.println(F("OK!"));
  tft.setRotation(1);
  bmpDraw("woof.bmp", 0, 0);
  delay(1000);
}

void loop()
{

}

// This function opens a Windows Bitmap (BMP) file and
// displays it at the given coordinates.  It's sped up
// by reading many pixels worth of data at a time
// (rather than pixel by pixel).  Increasing the buffer
// size takes more of the Arduino's precious RAM but
// makes loading a little faster.  20 pixels seems a
// good balance.

#define BUFFPIXEL 20

void bmpDraw(char *filename, int x, int y) {

  File     bmpFile;
  int      bmpWidth, bmpHeight;   // W+H in pixels
  uint8_t  bmpDepth;              // Bit depth (currently must be 24)
  uint32_t bmpImageoffset;        // Start of image data in file
  uint32_t rowSize;               // Not always = bmpWidth; may have padding
  uint8_t  sdbuffer[3*BUFFPIXEL]; // pixel in buffer (R+G+B per pixel)
  uint16_t lcdbuffer[BUFFPIXEL];  // pixel out buffer (16-bit per pixel)
  uint8_t  buffidx = sizeof(sdbuffer); // Current position in sdbuffer
  boolean  goodBmp = false;       // Set to true on valid header parse
  boolean  flip    = true;        // BMP is stored bottom-to-top
  int      w, h, row, col;
  uint8_t  r, g, b;
  uint32_t pos = 0, startTime = millis();
  uint8_t  lcdidx = 0;
  boolean  first = true;

  if((x >= tft.width()) || (y >= tft.height())) return;

  Serial.println();
  Serial.print(F("Loading image '"));
  Serial.print(filename);
  Serial.println('\'');
  // Open requested file on SD card
  if ((bmpFile = SD.open(filename)) == NULL) {
    Serial.println(F("File not found"));
    return;
  }

  // Parse BMP header
  if(read16(bmpFile) == 0x4D42) { // BMP signature
    Serial.println(F("File size: ")); Serial.println(read32(bmpFile));
    (void)read32(bmpFile); // Read & ignore creator bytes
    bmpImageoffset = read32(bmpFile); // Start of image data
    Serial.print(F("Image Offset: ")); Serial.println(bmpImageoffset, DEC);
    // Read DIB header
    Serial.print(F("Header size: ")); Serial.println(read32(bmpFile));
    bmpWidth  = read32(bmpFile);
    bmpHeight = read32(bmpFile);
    if(read16(bmpFile) == 1) { // # planes -- must be '1'
      bmpDepth = read16(bmpFile); // bits per pixel
      Serial.print(F("Bit Depth: ")); Serial.println(bmpDepth);
      if((bmpDepth == 24) && (read32(bmpFile) == 0)) { // 0 = uncompressed

        goodBmp = true; // Supported BMP format -- proceed!
        Serial.print(F("Image size: "));
        Serial.print(bmpWidth);
        Serial.print('x');
        Serial.println(bmpHeight);

        // BMP rows are padded (if needed) to 4-byte boundary
        rowSize = (bmpWidth * 3 + 3) & ~3;

        // If bmpHeight is negative, image is in top-down order.
        // This is not canon but has been observed in the wild.
        if(bmpHeight < 0) {
          bmpHeight = -bmpHeight;
          flip      = false;
        }

        // Crop area to be loaded
        w = bmpWidth;
        h = bmpHeight;
        if((x+w-1) >= tft.width())  w = tft.width()  - x;
        if((y+h-1) >= tft.height()) h = tft.height() - y;

        // Set TFT address window to clipped image bounds
        tft.setAddrWindow(x, y, x+w-1, y+h-1);

        for (row=0; row<h; row++) { // For each scanline...
          // Seek to start of scan line.  It might seem labor-
          // intensive to be doing this on every line, but this
          // method covers a lot of gritty details like cropping
          // and scanline padding.  Also, the seek only takes
          // place if the file position actually needs to change
          // (avoids a lot of cluster math in SD library).
          if(flip) // Bitmap is stored bottom-to-top order (normal BMP)
            pos = bmpImageoffset + (bmpHeight - 1 - row) * rowSize;
          else     // Bitmap is stored top-to-bottom
            pos = bmpImageoffset + row * rowSize;
          if(bmpFile.position() != pos) { // Need seek?
            bmpFile.seek(pos);
            buffidx = sizeof(sdbuffer); // Force buffer reload
          }

          for (col=0; col<w; col++) { // For each column...
            // Time to read more pixel data?
            if (buffidx >= sizeof(sdbuffer)) { // Indeed
              // Push LCD buffer to the display first
              if(lcdidx > 0) {
                tft.pushColors(lcdbuffer, lcdidx, first);
                lcdidx = 0;
                first  = false;
              }
              bmpFile.read(sdbuffer, sizeof(sdbuffer));
              buffidx = 0; // Set index to beginning
            }

            // Convert pixel from BMP to TFT format
            b = sdbuffer[buffidx++];
            g = sdbuffer[buffidx++];
            r = sdbuffer[buffidx++];
            lcdbuffer[lcdidx++] = tft.color565(r,g,b);
          } // end pixel
        } // end scanline
        // Write any remaining data to LCD
        if(lcdidx > 0) {
          tft.pushColors(lcdbuffer, lcdidx, first);
        } 
        Serial.print(F("Loaded in "));
        Serial.print(millis() - startTime);
        Serial.println(" ms");
      } // end goodBmp
    }
  }

  bmpFile.close();
  if(!goodBmp) Serial.println(F("BMP format not recognized."));
}

// These read 16- and 32-bit types from the SD card file.
// BMP data is stored little-endian, Arduino is little-endian too.
// May need to reverse subscript order if porting elsewhere.

uint16_t read16(File f) {
  uint16_t result;
  ((uint8_t *)&result)[0] = f.read(); // LSB
  ((uint8_t *)&result)[1] = f.read(); // MSB
  return result;
}

uint32_t read32(File f) {
  uint32_t result;
  ((uint8_t *)&result)[0] = f.read(); // LSB
  ((uint8_t *)&result)[1] = f.read();
  ((uint8_t *)&result)[2] = f.read();
  ((uint8_t *)&result)[3] = f.read(); // MSB
  return result;
}

stoopkid:
Anyway, the screen has weird contrast and seems sort of dim until I hit the reset button. Then it looks great until it restarts and it goes back to looking weird.

Not sure, but perhaps adjusting the gamma settings for the display may improve the display quality. The gamma control settings are set in the Adafruit_TFTLCD.cpp file in this section of code (I assume the LCD driver chips is an ILI932X ?):

  ILI932X_GAMMA_CTRL1      , 0x0000,
  ILI932X_GAMMA_CTRL2      , 0x0000,
  ILI932X_GAMMA_CTRL3      , 0x0000,
  ILI932X_GAMMA_CTRL4      , 0x0206,
  ILI932X_GAMMA_CTRL5      , 0x0808,
  ILI932X_GAMMA_CTRL6      , 0x0007,
  ILI932X_GAMMA_CTRL7      , 0x0201,
  ILI932X_GAMMA_CTRL8      , 0x0000,
  ILI932X_GAMMA_CTRL9      , 0x0000,
  ILI932X_GAMMA_CTRL10     , 0x0000,

I've seen alternative values in different drivers, but don't know how to interpret them. At least you can change these values and see if it makes a difference, although I suspect randomly changing values may not give predictable results.

I have seen similar things in video games and such graphics, where the graphic resolution input is less then the graphic resolution of the screen. Load up quake the original on your new computer,, you will get exactly that kind of detail. I am not sure how that helps, or even if it does, but it might give you a different perspective to troubleshoot from.