pp2012

I have seen many fantastic renders using IBL and decided that I'd fool around with it for use in promos in the future.  Problem is that no matter what I do - everything is dark.  Even with IBL sets that I have purchased in the past, where it shows that it should be a fairly well lit scene I wind up with barely visible characters.  

Is there something that I am missing here?  I almost wonder if it is my moniter settings but then - why would I see the icon so brightly.  

Any tips or pointing to tutorials on these lights will be helpful.

Thanks.

I am:  aka Velocity3d