Rikl did you make sure framebufferBoolProperty in the BetterDisplayCLI command is "off", not "false"? i thought it didn't work at first because i was typing false but you actually need to type off
I disabled dithering on Apple silicon + Introducing Stillcolor macOS M1/M2/M3
photon78s That lead to me briefly research and find a Texas Instruments article on display panel temperature dependent pixel artifacts.
Have you tried messing with temperature compensation as well?
/Applications/BetterDisplay.app/Contents/MacOS/BetterDisplay set -namelike=built -framebufferBoolProperty=off -specifier=IOMFBTemperatureCompensationEnable
It's also on by default, unlike backlight compensation I can't immediately see a difference but I wonder if it will affect that time you see pixel flicker on the test chart
Also, are you also using the while loop script to force disable ambient light sensor contrast enhancenment?
DisplaysShouldNotBeTVs Yep. I was doing this: -framebufferNumericProperty=0x0 should have been this: framebufferBoolProperty=off.
Thank you.
Also, IOMFBContrastEnhancerStrength is always 0 for me. I'll mess with the IOMFBTemperatureCompensationEnable and see!
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Rikl It seems like it's "always" 0 until using the laptop outside or it sometimes gets stuck after going back indoors, then it shoots up to really high numbers and you start to see "moving blotches" across certain colors that change in response to moving the mouse (which become obvious because dithering is also disabled, which means the OS can't "hide" these artifacts). Sometimes I also catch it moving very slightly in some brighter indoor locations but around lower numbers
Still pixel flickering under the scope with both these scripts. The while loop script is immediately noticeable by naked eye. I let it run and re-test.
photon78s For MBP try with 60 hz. ProMotion has its own flicker issues.
This is still my setup on mbp m1. Didn't mess around with it for weeks. Along with blocked light sensor and 60 hz.
"enableDither": false,
"uniformity2D": false, // true
"overdriveCompCutoff": 0,
"enable2DTemperatureCorrection": false,
"AmbientBrightness": 0,
"DisableTempComp": true,
"IOMFBContrastEnhancerStrength": 0, // important to avoid text glow
"IOMFBTemperatureCompensationEnable": false, // has some effect
"IOMFBBrightnessCompensationEnable": false,
"IOMFBSupports2DBL": false, // no idea what this does
"VUCEnable": false, // true, visible effect, but not sure what, supposedly affects blotching
"enableDarkEnhancer": false, // true
"BLMAHMode": NSNumber(1), // 2 default. 1 seems better
"BLMPowergateEnable": false, // can't see any difference
"enableBLMSloper": false, // true
"enableDBMMode": false, // true on m1 max, not there on touchbar
"DisableDisplayOptimize": NSNumber(1), // 0, not sure if stable
"IdleCachingMethod": NSNumber(1), // 2, disables a flag that switches back and forth on activity. prevents colored cursor from switching color profile upon software/hardware cursor.
"APTEnableDefaultGray" : false, // no idea what it does
"APTEnablePRC": false,
"APTEnableCA": false,
"APTEnableCDFD" : false,
"APTPDCEnable": false,
"CMDegammaMethod": 0, // 1, sends colors directly or something, glowing
"APTFixedRR" : NSNumber(0),
"APTLimitRefreshRate" : false,photon78s that's correct, only the mini-led ones have ProMotion. the m2 tb is only 60hz
@aiaf is it maybe an idea to add an option to StillColor to disable IOMFBContrastEnhancerStrength ?
It looks like IOMFBContrastEnhancerStrength is also messing with the screen
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photon78s Maybe try DFU restore to earlier macOS version? Not just a reinstall but a full DFU restore - requires connecting to another Mac (or unofficially a Linux device) with USB-C - which is how you downgrade not only the OS but also the bootloader/firmware version
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Too bad I returned the other mac mini. Will look into this. In the meantime, if I'm going to use it for long periods of time, I would remote in or the lossy capture card approach from a PC.
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photon78s by this, do you mean that even the "000000 panel" touch bar M2 MBP that initially had less flicker ended up not being usable?
Yes, that's one. I would not say 100% not usable thought I've had more eyestrain lately but out of precaution I will not try finding out even more.
Has anyone figured out why dithering autoenables itself even while Stillcolor is on? It happened again this morning as I felt something weird in my eyes.
@madmozg Can you elaborate on your issues with the mba? I just got an m3 air and it still seems to make me a bit nauseous. It's just the white balance that has that slight yellow glow that sort of bugs me. I keep fussing with the brightness but can't find a setting that I settle on. I've got stillcolour and font smoothing disabled and sRGB.
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Ruoma I tried two M2 airs and one definitely had less yellow glow than the other, they had different panels so probably M3 has panel lottery too. Unfortunately though, if one of them is already giving you that feeling, I'm pretty sure that modern MacBook in general won't work for you as for example I still get the same feeling to a wide extent (mostly while using it indoors) on the M1 Air.
What laptop are you upgrading from?
Another thing to try is disabling brightness compensation (needs BetterDisplay installed and running). This made my M1 Air screen noticeably less yellow:
/Applications/BetterDisplay.app/Contents/MacOS/BetterDisplay set -namelike=built -framebufferBoolProperty=off -specifier=IOMFBBrightnessCompensationEnable
Weirdly enough, I've noticed that a lot of the yellow glow feeling is gone on my M1 Air while booted into Asahi Linux (even though I can still see temporal dithering), but of course can't really transfer that into macOS.
If you can't get things working for you within the return period I'd highly suggest you return, as in my case I've only ever had issues like this (in the case of laptops) on MacBooks, a lot of the problems come from the screen and not my eyes.
I've definitely seen some bad Windows laptops I also wouldn't want to use daily (mostly newer ones) but still nothing has that extreme disorientation and "your field of vision is continuously becoming more crushed down and constrained" feeling that is present within all new Mac internal displays/iPhones/iPads and can even slightly be felt in older Apple devices too.
Maybe try another M2 or M3 Air after that, since many ship with entirely different LCD panels from the last as I experienced.
Another one to try is the M2 Touch Bar Pro (but only units that have "000000" in their display EDID are good. If you end up getting one with "FMX" in the EDID or no zeroes, it's one of the really bad ones as confirmed by multiple people here. Definitely try one more if you end up with an FMX Touch Bar Pro panel.)
if still doesn't work after that, modern MacBooks are probably not for you and you should look for a different laptop.