The "Channel Effects" tab is accessed by selecting Sequencer Preferences from the Sequencer's Tools menu. From here you can control how channel effects are displayed on the sequence grid.
The Sequencer Preferences - Channel Effects Tab
Fades
When fade or intensity lighting effects are displayed in the Sequencer, they are displayed in one of two ways: "as ramps" or "as colors". You can use the "View fades as ramps" check box to control which is used.
When viewed "as colors", fades and intensities will be displayed as gradually varying shades between light grey (which indicates that the channel is off, i.e. the intensity is zero) and the color assigned to the channel (which indicates an intensity of 100%, i.e. full brightness).
When viewed "as ramps", they are instead displayed as partially filling in their cells with the color of the channel, to a degree based upon the intensity.
Neither of these settings have any effect on the behavior of your actual lights; they only affect how the Sequencer displays these lighting effects in the sequence grid.
A sequence with fades viewed using colors
The same sequence, with fades viewed as ramps
Split RGB Channels
The "Split RGB Channels" check box controls whether RGB channels are displayed with their red / green / blue sub-channels or not. Turning this option off can save memory, allowing larger sequences to be loaded. Note that this option is applied when a sequence is opened. Changing the option with sequences already open will not change the way the open sequences are displayed. To view those sequences with the new setting, close the sequences and then reopen them.
Split RGB Channels is enabled
Split RGB Channels is disabled
Channel Background Color
Regular channels and beat channels are displayed with a gray background on the sequence grid. However, you can control how light or dark you want the gray background to be. Use the slider to control the lightness. A sample is shown to the right of the slider.