waydabber/betterdisplay

Unlock your displays on your Mac! Flexible HiDPI scaling, XDR/HDR extra brightness, virtual screens, DDC control, extra dimming, PIP/streaming, EDID override and lots more!

betterdisplay's Issues

Higher resolutions

Thank you for this great tool!

I purchased the LG 34WK95U-W today and was totally disappointed about the limited Retina resolutions on my MacBook Air M1. But luckily I found your posts in the macrumors forums!

My question: The highest HiDPI resolution I can select for the Dummy is 3456 x 1458.

Is something like 3968 x 1674 (HiDPI) technically still possible or will it break my M1? ;-)

Thanks

About the color of the screen

First of all, thank you very much for enabling me to open hidpi.However, I found a problem. After turning on hidpi, the display on the screen became gray. Trying to adjust the display and the description file could not be significantly alleviated.I don't know what happened, can you help me?My external monitor is DELL U2520DR.Thank you!

Spaces switching stops working on Dummy Extended displays

Spaces switching works fine on Dummy Main display, but does not work on Dummy Extended display.
Attempting to switch the Dummy Extended display Spaces (four finger swipe on trackpad) will cause the Dummy Main display workspace to switch.

Extended display Spaces switching resumes as soon as the Dummy Extended display is disabled, and the Extended display is used as normal.

M1 Mac mini (Monterey 12.0.1)
Main display: LG 3440x1440 Ultrawide (34UC97)
Extended display: Benq 1920x1200 (SW240)

(thank you so so so much for making this app, you've saved my eyes and reduced fatigue from looking at the tiny text in Finder and other apps)

Git repo state is work in progress sometimes...

Hi, I bother you again :)

Few hours ago I clone your git and build app, then I update the git found there is not 1920X1080 resolution. And sometimes the app could crash and the computer restart and report some issues just happen. I don't know what caused this issue.

Pro Display XDR loses HDR color detection/support

I noticed one hiccup with HDR support, I'm not sure exactly what is causing it.

Hardware Setup

• 14" M1 Max MacBook Pro (closed in clamshell mode)
• Dual Pro Display XDR displays (both in P3-1600 nits mode)
• macOS Monterey 12.0.1

BetterDummy Config

• Two 16x9 dummies at 3840 x 2160
• Each Pro Display XDR configured to mirror a dummy.
• In display preferences, all set to optimize for the dummy.
• Version 1.0.9 Build 544

Issue Details

While using Google Chrome/Chrome Canary/Safari, viewing an HDR video on YouTube, when BetterDummy is active/mirroring, the HDR color modes are not offered within YouTube. If you stop mirroring or close BetterDummy and refresh the browser, the HDR video options show up properly (in YouTube).

I'm not sure if HDR is not working altogether, or the monitor/color profile detection that the browsers are using just won't recognize BetterDummy. I tried changing the color profile of the dummies in System Preferences, but none would fix this issue. I tried reopening the browsers to force HDR detection.

Test Note

Another test, I mirrored one dummy/XDR display and left the other XDR display at native settings. Opening YouTube on the native display, HDR works fine. While the video was playing in HDR, without refreshing the tab, I dragged the browser window to the dummy mirrored XDR display and HDR clearly wasn't enabled.

I tried forcing various HDR color profiles within chrome://flags, without any luck. #force-color-profile

Context

My reason for using BetterDummy was to enable 4K HiDPI resolution on the Pro Display XDRs, since the native resolution is limited to 3K HiDPI on M1 Apple Silicon, which results in the UI being slightly too big. It works perfectly except for this HDR issue.

-- Thanks for your excellent work on this app

3440x1440 and 165hz

Hello, first of all thanks!
I'm using a MBP 14'' with M1 pro on Monterey, I have 2 displays, one hdmi 1080p (which will be left as it is) and a 34'' connected with usb-C.
the monitor is 21:9 (3440x1440 with a refresh rate of 165hz).

Did lots of trying also using your beta app, but the refresh is stuck at 120hz (which is better than 60hz :) ).
If I unmirror and set to 165hz, and then mirror it back, the dummy will become mirror of the display, automatically, and lose its main display settings.

Also, one more thing, in my display settings I can't see HIDPI beside the resolution, I see -low resolution- on some, so by exclusion I believe where it doesn't say low resolution, is hidpi. I used this page http://mattmiklic.github.io/dpitest/test.html and I can see the 2x is highlighted.

PS in case, my systemprofiler says:

        Dummy 21.5:9:
          Resolution: 6880 x 2880
          UI Looks like: 3440 x 1440 @ 120.00Hz
--
        Huawei Mateview GT:
          Resolution: 6880 x 2880
          UI Looks like: 3440 x 1440 @ 120.00Hz
``

`

That's an awesome app and can we have high refresh rate in later versions?

Max Base Resolution is 1080p when using with my 4KTV, M1 Mac mini

M1 Mac mini, MacOS Monterey

So when I use BetterDummy on my M1 mac, set it to mirror for my 4KTV, I see a wide list of resolutions on SwitchX including many HiDPI ones. However no matter what I choose, my 4KTV resorts to displaying the image as 1080p, making HiDPI dysfunctional. Is there a way to set the base resolution so that when I mirror, it resorts to the full 4K resolution?

Add option to automatically disable dummy monitor when external monitor is detached

Feature request for small enhancement.

Works perfectly when external monitor is attached. A bit awkward when external monitor is detached and the dummy monitor still remains in the background. Windows in the dummy monitor remains in that monitor but are no longer visible, which may cause confusion and inconvenience.

Maybe we can add some functionalities to automatically configure dummy monitor according to layout of real monitor & adapt these changes automatically?

Pro / Business License?

This is useful for me at work. It's easier to buy a pro license with a receipt and a clear reason for expense than to give a donation.

Maybe one of those neverending shareware trials would be a good route?
(where technically you should buy, and you would as a business, but probably not as an average Joe)

I'd buy a $10 + year of free updates or $20 lifetime business license.

Or maybe it wouldn't create enough benefit for you, or take too much work in the wrong direction, or backfire.

Just a thought.

Add proper Preferences to the app

As the number of settings are growing and more complex settings will be needed, it is time to add a proper Preferences... window to the app.

How to use BetterDummy?

macOS 12.0.1

I can't change resolutions on dummy display, all it allows me to do is to change scale!

I cannot set-up version 1.07 and newer on my Air M1 Monterey 12.0.1. v1.06b2 is working perfectly fine. I have external display set to mirror for dummy and on dummy display I have set HiDPI res.

While on 1.07 and I can't set it up the same way. When I have external dispaly set to mirror for dummy I can't change resolutions on dummy display. All it allows me to do is to change scale.

HiDPI on portrait mode

Hello, when I use the 16:10 (w * XGZ) menu, hidpi can be selected, but when I select 10:16 (w * XGZ), there is no hidpi option. What's the problem? Can you add support for vertical screen?

Just wanted to say thanks

Thanks for creating this app. I have been looking for this kind of an app for YEARS to increase the macOS UI size without lowering the resolution on 1440p monitors. This is the only working solution I have used so far.

Works on Big Sur M1 for HiDPI Displays

Confirmed that this works on Big Sur as well. Woohoo!

1. Option ⌥ click to open the BetterDummy app (to ignore the unsigned warning)
2. Option ⌥ click-n-drag the Dummy onto the Thunderbolt (to mirror 2 of 3 displays)
   
3. Select "Optimize for Dummy 16:9"
   
4. Verify that the mirrored display is scaled to the BetterDummy display
   

Re: usr-sse2/RDM#26 (comment)

High Fps displays

Ok, so I found this, and this is amazing, it works very well. However I found an issue, my display is 1440p 165hz, and when doing the mirroring for some reason while it shows 150fps, the "mirrored" display is just showing 60fps, not sure if there is anything you can do about it but it's interesting to know.

can not switch workspace on hidpi display with four-fingers gesture or hotkey

can not switch workspace on hidpi display with four-fingers gesture or hotkey

M1 macbook pro MacOS 12.0.1
About BetterDummy
Version 1.0.5 Build 160

Custom resolution settings missing

version 1.0.8

When I upgraded the better Dummy version from 1.0.3 to 1.0.8, the custom resolution was replaced with 5 options I didn't want to set. The resolution option that works best for my 2K monitor is 1920*1080

.

Add keyboard shortcuts to control the app

It would be great to have keyboard shortcuts for various app functions.

Automate the process of mirror creation for a display

The feature should work like this:

• The user can select one of its existing physical displays from the menu.
• The app detects the display's aspect ratio and offers a wide range of relevant resolutions for the to be created dummy display in a submenu.
• The user then clicks the resolution he'd like to have.
• The app automatically creates the dummy display and also sets up the mirroring for the physical display.

This would result in a much nicer user experience and eliminate the need to fight with System Preferences/Displays which often fails to work properly.

Regardless of this the manual creation of dummies should remain as an advanced option.

Request for support for vertical mode on iPads

The added support for newer iPads is amazing. The 11" iPad Pro at 1393x973 is much better than 1194x834 for sidecar. I think that support for vertical rotation would be really excellent—it would make the iPad perfect for having an extra PDF open on the side.

(Also, it might be worth noting that I briefly tried the vertical 12:16 resolution on a previous version of BetterDummy. But I could not get it to display vertically on my iPad; it only displayed horizontally with very large black bars on the side.)

external monitor won't change to sleep mode and freezed when internal monitor is in sleep mode.

Better Dummy 1.0.7e Settings:
Main display is external monitor.

wontsleep.mp4

Support for hiding the menubar icon

I love this app, but once set up I don't expect to change its configuration in years potentially, so I'd really like to have an option to hide the menubar icon, to have a less cluttered menubar.

Support for portrait version of all aspect ratios

Hi,

thank you for your great tool!

It would also be great to support vertical resolutions for portrait displays.

Thanks!

Add setup option to start app on login

Could you please add HiDPI support without screen mirroring?

Hi, thank you for this fantastic app!
Could you please add an option to Use external display with HiDPI without screen mirroring, so we could use external display as main display, and mac as a second independent display.
Would be very useful in music production, video production, and other cases
Thank you!

In-menu resolution selector

It would be great to have an in-app resolution for the dummy (as well as the normal display). Under the Manage dummies section there should be a resolution selector for easy on-the-fly resolutions selection.

Hope to add resolution for rotate display

This app is so great to fix my problem of none hidpi with my 2k monitor. But there is a question that if I choose mirror from dummy display I can't rotate my display in normal, although there is an option you could change the rotate into 90 but the display also horizontal not vertical. I guess the reason is there is 1920x1080 resolution but no 1080x1920. Could you add these resolution to fix it ?

Is it possible to enable HiDPI 1080p on a 1440p display?

As per the title. I have BetterDummy set up but the only output that's HiDPI is 720p; 1080p is blurry. I've previously been able to get this display to display HiDPI with SwitchResX but that no longer works so was hoping BetterDummy would provide the solution.

Switching resolution loses main display setting

When switching between resolutions, the dummy screen switches from 'main display' to 'extend display' by itself.

My setup:

• MacBook Air M1
• macOS 12.0.1 Monterey
• LG 34WK95U-W

HDR stuck on

First off, this tool is amazing. Thanks for all the time and energy you're putting into it!

I haven't figure out the exact repro steps, but I've noticed that I sometimes get stuck with HDR enabled when the dummy is enabled. Is there anything in the dummy itself that controls this behavior?

Dual Display

Hi,

Thanks a lot for the work.
I'm experiencing an issue with my setup: Mac mini M1 and 2x HP 27" QHD which I intend to run at 2048x1152 (HDPI)
I can add a second dummy in the app, but it will show in System Preferences's Display menu only if the second dummy has a different ratio... I does work smoothly with one 16:9 and 16:10 but of course one of the screen has laterals blacks bars.

Any help would be much appreciated !

Windows don't stay in Spaces after a while

Config:

• M1 MacBook Pro 16" in clamshell mode
• macOS Monterey 12.0.1
• Apple Pro Display XDR
• 3 desktops/Spaces

I'm noticing that after letting the computer sleep for a while—maybe 10 min. or so—the windows that I've assigned to specific Spaces & desktops (or that I've just dragged there) all go back to the first Space, but in the right x-y positions on the screen. Feels like a bug with macOS and how Spaces interact + get saved with external displays, and admittedly somewhat of an edge case.

General resolution selector for non-dummy displays as well

Preferably, the app should also list physical displays, be able to change normal supported resolutions + add the option of automatic dummy+mirror creation (or activation and deactivation) and an extended list of dummy resolution selection in a single easy to use, combined interface. The issue is related to #2 and #83

Extend the range of resolutions from 720p to 8K

I use a hdmi dummy plug in my mac mini setting the resolution to 1280x720 for a bigger font. BetterDummy creates a 16x9 dummy with resolution 1664x936, and the font is too small.

Any plan to add ability to custom the resulution? Or how can I change the 'DummyDefinition' in Xcode project to hack that?

Sleep woes (does not sleep, windows rearrange etc.)

I'll consolidate all sleep issues into this single issue.

The typical issues are:

• Screen freezes instead of going to sleep
• Windows get rearranged or move between spaces during sleep or windows move off-screen during sleep.

About screen freeze issue:

• Virtual Displays (displays created by the CGVirtualDisplay functionality of macOS) mirrored to an other displays tend to break sleep on some setups (the screen just freezes).
• The problem is unrelated to BetterDummy and seems to be a bug in macOS - on affected setups it can be replicated without Better Dummy, simply by attempting to mirror a Sidecar display (or an other virtual screen of similar kind) and then initiate sleep.
• A Bug Report has been submitted to Apple regarding this but the timetable of a proper fix is highly uncertain.
• The bug is tested to be present in Monterey 12.0.1.
• BetterDummy implements two workarounds for the issue, which most (but not all) of the times seems to solve the issue:

1. Use mirrored dummy sleep workaround - This creates a temporary additional Dummy upon sleep and discards it upon wake. For some (illogical) reason this seems to fix the sleep issue most of the time. This option is enabled by default.
2. Disconnect and reconnect on sleep - This makes the dummies disconnect on sleep and reconnect them after wake + 3 seconds. This is needed for some. This option is disabled by default.

None of these methods fully solve the sleep issue which is inherently caused by a bug in how CGVirtualDisplay behaves.

YOU CAN HELP by issuing a bug report to Apple about this issue, this might help to escalate the fix.

The windows shuffling around probably happens due to multiple reasons:

• It might be that the dummy display is disconnected during a longer sleep which moves things around.
• There is a macOS bug that prevents sleeping when virtual displays are mirrored (this happens without BetterDumy, with Sidecar for example - a bug report was filed about it to Apple). To circumvent this, the app creates a temporary virtual display upon sleep notification which seems to enable sleep which is destroyed upon wake, which seems to solve the issue most of the time (not always) - this also causes Windows to move around further. This can be toggled with the Use mirrored dummy sleep workaround option
• The Disconnect and reconnect on sleep option also obviously moves the windows around.
• It is rather difficult to fix this problem since the root cause of this is a bug in the implementation of CGVirtualDisplay (which plagues mirrored Sidecar, DisplayLink, Airplay, ImmersedVR and other stuff that uses this API call - but mirroring is not that prevalent for those use cases while BetterDummy does not make sense without it).

Ability to create dummies with custom aspect ratio / resolution

Ability to define custom aspect ratio (or fixed resolution)

Workaround for DisplayLink and automatic re-association

Quitting DisplayLink Manager.app effectively disconnects the DisplayLink'ed monitors from the OS. Starting the app again reconnects the monitors. But BD auto-association doesn't seem to recognize them correctly. They are treated as new monitors.

DisplayLink generates new IDs for them every time. Do you want to consider adding other methods to recognize newly connected monitors, if they in reality are the same monitors? Perhaps by using labels or other metadata, and some additional logic to deal with duplicate labels?

Add option to activate/deactivate dummies without deleting/creating them

An option is needed to activate/deactivate a dummy as deleting and recreating them all the time is not an optimal solution (the OS forgets the configuration associated with the deleted dummy and upon creation a new color profile is created unnecessarily).

This is also needed for the option to cycle dummy activation after sleep - see #13.

Unable to set resolution to 3440 x 1440 (HiDPI)

Hey, I just discovered this awesome tool! Thank you for your work so far!

On my MacBook Pro M1 (2021) I am unable to select the 3440 x 1440 (HiDPI) because it does not show up. I already tried different combinations of aspect ratios (see screenshots). Have I overlooked something?

My setup:
MacBook Pro M1 14" (2021)
USB-C --> Displayport --> Display (34", 3440x1440, iiyama G-MASTER Red Eagle GB3461WQSU-B1)

21,5:9

21,3:9

Thank you very much for your help!

Option to disconnect/reconnect dummies after sleep to further fix sleep issues

Hi, I'm using MBA M1 on my 34uc88 (2k) monitor and I really like the app. The only issue that I have is that is does not display any picture on the external device once MBA is waking from sleep. I have to kill the app and re-launch it, which is daunting. Is there any way to fix this?

v1.0.10 beta bugs and issues

Testing today's beta. For me it crashes every time I lock the screen with CMD-CTRL-q. Or if I leave the computer alone for long enough for it to auto-lock itself.

Upon locking, the login screen changes size, back to non-dummy resolution. Then after unlocking the screen, BD isn't running anymore. Relaunching restores things back to normal.

I did "associate" my 3 displays with the new build, that was the only setting I changed.

Then I deleted v1.0.10-beta. Replaced the .app with BD 1.0.9. Launched it. Things are back to normal.

If you'd like me to debug this further, let me know how?�

Sound from monitor

I cant hear sound from my monitor connected to speaker via 3.5mm jack when using BetterDummy

Support for M1 Pro Macs with notch

Hi there,

a great app and so far very easy to use and reliable.

What I noticed on a new Mac with the notch though is that the area around the notch is not supported and stays black. The content of the dummy monitor starts below it. Is there any possibility to support the area around the notch?

Prevent situation when user set dummy display as main and mirror its to notebook display

It will be good to prevent situation when user set dummy display as main and mirror it to notebook display. Then you will have on notebook and external display nothing. No menu, no dock, only Spotlight.

While testing this app I had that situation last night. I had to open terminal with Spotlight, go with mouse to dummy display seeing nothing, trying to catch terminal's title bar and move it to notebook or external display, find BetterDummy process and kill its 😄

Have a nicer resolution selector (slider)

Instead of the superlong menu listing resolutions found in v1.0.10 a nice resolution slider would make more sense.

Minimized windows pop up after closing and opening lid on MacBook Pro

Thanks for the amazing tool - it works great for me.

One thing I noticed, though, is that when I have BetterDummy launched, previously minimized windows get back from the dock to desktop, after I close and open the lid. I tested a few times and got the same results with several windows from different apps. Also tried restarting the laptop, but that didn't help. Only after I quit the app, the issue is gone.

I have 1 dummy monitor set up, but I didn't have the external monitor connected at the time when I spotted the issue. The laptop I'm using is M1 MacBook Pro 13-inch, macOS Monterey (12.0.1).

Cannot find the running program.

How to use? I cannot find the running program.

HiDPI on 1080P Monitor

Hello there!

Thank you for your hard work! My question is, I'm totally new to hidpi thing. I have a Philips 24" 1920x1080P monitor and
blurry text cries my eyes. I downloaded betterdummy to reach hidpi on my macbook air m1.

The thing is, what's the resulation for 1080P to get hidpi? Is it 960x540? Because only resulations that I get a sharp and smooth display is 960x540 and below resulations. If yes, what can I do for huge menu bar and other huge things after using 960x540? Because everything is so big on my screen and really hard to work with.

Thanks!