Looking for some help + assistance with a consistent issue I’m experiencing with my eve spectrum monitor. See screenshots for current mac settings.
Monitor settings are:
USB-C Bandwidth Priority: USB 2.0 & 4K @144hz
Adaptive Sync: On (Turning this off the issue happens constantly)
Response time overdrive: Normal
Firmware version: 102
The monitor is currently hooked up to my Macbook Pro (2021) via USB-C to Display Port. I’m having an issue everyday where when I open a specific website or file the monitor has an issue rendering and the whole screen just turns black and doesn’t come back unless I disconnect the power and display port cable.
Is anyone else experiencing this issue? Pretty annoying to drop £700 on a monitor that keeps bugging out daily.
Based on the USB-C bandwidth priority setting value you’ve mentioned, I’m going to assume that you’re running the original firmware (v102) that came with your Spectrum.
There have been several firmware releases since then with the latest version being v106. There are also some test versions that are based on v106, which help with VRR-based blanking on certain systems.
If you have access to Windows, you can try installing one of these newer firmware versions. v106 can be downloaded from Eve’s support page (click on the word DOWNLOADS to see the downloads). The test firmware versions can be found in this thread.
Unfortunately, there is no macOS version of the firmware update tool. The current tool is provided by the company who makes the scaler chip that the Spectrum uses, and they’ve decided that a macOS updater tool isn’t a priority.
If you don’t have access to Windows, try changing from variable refresh rate to fixed 144Hz or 120Hz. People who have had screen blanking issues often report that the issue goes away if they turn VRR off.
Or, you could try the latest test build in the PS5 VRR line of firmware. Initially development started to specifically address the inability to use the Spectrum ES07D03 4K with a PS5 if VRR was enabled, and a fix for that was quickly found - which led to an immediate uptick in both black screens during use and an increase in unresponsiveness when waking from sleep.
Test 3 was supposed to fix those issues while retaining the PS5 VRR fix, but didn’t really. It did, however, start to fix some people’s flickering issues.
Test 4, from last week, was supposed to address the black screens and blanking, and added support for DSC over USB Type-C - ergo, higher resolutions for Macs in particular (and any device using Type-C for video in general).
Now, as of today, there is Test 5, which has some more fixes specifically address blanking and black screens - and needs testing.
Great to hear the team is trying to fix the black screen issue on the Mac and adding the DSC function into the latest test build! But I will wait for at least the RC build because I can’t get a Windows PC to update the monitor easily.
