Spectrum ES07D03 | FW v106 and USB Hub FW Updates

[nkyadav]

Hello, hello, community,

Just a quick note to let you all know that we have new firmware finally available for direct download from the Eve Support page on our website.

Scaler firmware v106

This is the normal firmware that you’ve been upgrading on your Spectrums.

Changes in this version:

• Added split-screen mode, allowing the images from two different inputs to be displayed side-by-side
• Added quick actions to adjust video input source (joystick down) and USB hub source (joystick up)
• Improved the volume range by increasing the maximum volume and adjusted the volume curve to provide more even adjustment. - Improved compatibility for HDR and FreeSync on AMD graphics cards
• Resolved color issue in HDR mode over DisplayPort on NVIDIA 30-series graphics cards
• Resolved issue where video input source settings were not stored in presets.
• Resolved issue where the USB hub did not properly switch between host devices when set to Select automatically
• Resolved issue where the frame rate counter would sometimes stay in place when adjusting its position, and changed its color to red
• Adjusted default overdrive settings to provide a better user experience
• Adjusted the OSD corner locations to avoid obstruction of common task- and menu bar locations

For download, go to https://evedevices.com/pages/support/ then click DOWNLOADS, and under Spectrum ES07D03 expand the Scaler Firmware section to download v106. The file will be a .ZIP file that contains the FW Updater installer, the FW itself, and an instructions file in PDF format. Be sure to follow the instructions in the PDF.

USB firmware v06A4 / 0A.89.18.02

Also, for the first time, we have a user installable USB firmware update. This update, provided by the vendor, addresses two items.

• Improved video signal compatibility over USB Type-C
• Improved power delivery compatibility over USB Type-C

If you are experiencing compatibility issues with USB Type-C Power Delivery and / or USB Type-C video input, you may want to give the update a go and see if it fixes those issues.

Note: There have been reports that the USB firmware may not recognize your monitor. After speaking with the FW dev team last night, we suspect that it might be a symptom of the ‘Automatically select’ function for the USB Hub that was not working correctly. Try manually selecting the USB Hub source to see if the utility recognizes the monitor or not.

To download, go to https://evedevices.com/pages/support/ then click DOWNLOADS, and under Spectrum ES07D03 expand the USB Firmware section to download v06A4 / 0A.89.18.02. The download will be in .ZIP format, and contains 2 files, the instructions in PDF format and the USB firmware update tool. Be sure to follow the instructions in the PDF.

If you experience any issues with the scaler firmware

As we’ve noted previously, sometimes the monitors can be finicky. When upgrading to v106, technically the Spectrum should have load factory defaults - but if you are experiencing connectivity issues with devices that worked fine before the update, try this procedure:

1. Using the OSD, from the Presets tab, select Load factory defaults and click the joystick to the right to activate it.

2. After you’ve confirmed that factory defaults have been loaded, disconnect power from the monitor (turning it off from the power button usually doesn’t help, so please remove power).

3. Now power down all devices that are connected to the Spectrum via video / USB connection.

4. After all of this is done, connect power to the Spectrum, verify the Eve logo shows and then the monitor goes into standby - the LED should be white / cyan colored.

5. Finally, power on your primary device and verify connectivity, then follow with all subsequent devices, one at a time.

If you experience issues with the USB Hub upgrade

With the issues being faced primarily (but not necessarily exclusively) by M1 Mac users, I asked for a USB firmware roll back. I’ve gotten it, but it requires special instructions.

You must follow these instructions to the letter in order to not muck this up. It’s not a critical problem, but you may not get the previous version flashed if you do not do this.

1. Uninstall the current USB firmware tool. ← this is critical, do not skip it!
   Windows Settings → Apps → Apps & features → search for or scroll to VLI Hub PD FW Upgrade Tool → uninstall it.

2. Reboot your computer.

3. Download the package below and extract to a directory of your choice.

4. Read the instructions.pdf and follow them to the letter.
   The following images are what you will see, so use them as a replacement for the embedded images in the instructions.pdf:

5. When you first scan you should see this:
   

6. After flashing you will see this:
   

7. And After a successful scan, closing the app, then opening it again and pressing scan should show this:
   

Here is the download:

VL822_06A4_VL103R_89_17_02_Lehui_20210804.zip

I hope this helps those with the issues. Please let us know!

There you have it. The firmware that was released last week and is now live on the website this week.

[NZgeek]

Important reminder for USB-C users:

After the update, the USB-C connection will be reset to high USB data speed. This will reduce your refresh rate from 60Hz → 30Hz, or 144Hz → 30Hz or 60Hz.

This can be easily fixed by changing the USB bandwidth priority setting in the OSD to high refresh rate.

[nkyadav]

Correct - that happens when factory defaults are loaded during the install process.

[twistednexus]

Is there any update on the ability to load firmware from a USB drive or a Mac firmware update utility? It would be great to try these out but I don’t have a way to install them.

[Saeven]

Thanks for the update guys. I keep watching these closely. The one fix that I’m looking for, is that the monitor takes forever to ‘wake up’; I’ve timed it, and it’s easily 6 seconds more than my LG monitors that are connected as 2nd and 3rd screen (my beautiful Spectrum is in the center!).

Keep up the good work, and I look forward to an improvement on wake-up speed.

[Tikio]

Great to get an update, but disappointed that there isn’t a fix for the Spectrum not waking from sleep, backlight staying on when sleeping, flickering, Gsync and HDR causing frequent disconnections, screen turning gray, audio crackling, etc. . A lot of these issues have been ongoing and I have reported them multiple time since I received the monitor at release.

I’ll test this firmware update and see if it fixes any of the major issues I have been having and keep waiting otherwise. Love the monitor, but really frustrated with the major issues that have not been fixed as of yet.

[tech_o_maniac]

Why is the firmware update and usb update separate actions?

[Lambicus]

Some nice additions and fixes here. Are the fw team still investigate various bugs/improvements for the newer gen consoles? Mainly in relation to 2.1,HDR and VRR compatibility. I still encounter some odd bugs here and there on Xbox Series X.

Edit: NOT tried 106 yet though.

[PDRX91]

Any update on the option to manually change DP modes? I am still unable to use my monitor from my DP 1.2 dock which is disappointing.

Edit: This is the post where DP 1.2 compatibility mode is mentioned as being “to be implemented”
Project: Spectrum | OSD and Firmware Improvements - Development / Project: Spectrum | Development - Eve Community

[nkyadav]

As noted previously by me and others - can’t fix something if you don’t know the cause.

It’s why we have the polls for blanking and flickering, and why USB audio low volume output has been addressed, and why I am doing all of this firmware liaison thing, with help from Theo and Marvin and Grant, coordinating with the fw dev team. Any issue mentioned at all has been brought to their attention, and anything they can directly address they have.

As for my monitor, at least now I can actually test a lot more things than I could before, as I have hardware that can make full use of the monitor, and it has given us progress. But with 149 respondees for blanking alone, 70%+ of who report always or frequently, getting the needed data from those 70% users, 113+, it will take time.

I’m disappointed I’ve started having issues - but I can touch my monitor, test it, try all sorts of things in direct response to the fw dev team’s requests, and these polls are helping gather real world data because, as we all know, can’t fix what we can’t see. So we’re trying to see your device, without having 149 of you send them in for physical access, while you wait without a monitor at all.

But if we didn’t care about fixing these and other issues, I wouldn’t be fulfilling this role, we wouldn’t need a liaison at all, and we wouldn’t have made polls to gather this info. That, alone, is indicative of just how much we want these issues solved as much as all our customers do.

[Justin_Froelich]

Great work! Been looking forward to a new firmware update.

[nkyadav]

@PDRX91

Any update on the option to manually change DP modes? I am still unable to use my monitor from my DP 1.2 dock which is disappointing.

Yup - we are. Want a sneak peek? Because it’s already implemented in the ES07D02 280 Hz Engineering sample I’ve got. See Spectrum | The Future Of Firmware - #204

We do plan to backport all the improvements that come with the D02 280 Hz monitors to the 4K monitors, so, yes, it will be there.

[PDRX91]

@nkyadav Excellent news, thank you. As far as timeline goes does that mean we shouldn’t expect that update until after the 280Hz model starts shipping?

[nkyadav]

Not 100% sure on that - the fw dev team is definitely focused on working the 280 Hz firmware so it can be produced ASAP, so that would be what I would consider ‘normal’ case - but, if they get that firmware locked down enough we’ll see if we can cajole them to quickly backport the new features to the 4k units. All of this is, of course, contingent that they have the time to do it. So, best I can offer is “I expect yes, after, but I hope that they find time to sneak in the porting somewhere before the 280 Hz QHDs are ready.”

[Tikio]

Thanks for the response. I totally agree and understand. I am still hopeful and am happy it is being looked into. For your information, I reported these issues with the prototype, and a few times after words.

You can message me directly if you want more details on the feedback I shared a few times, but otherwise I look forward to the cause of the issues being found and resolve.

Thank you for all your hard work

[Lend]

My main use case with the monitor is just PS5 and M1 MacBook Air. Overall experience has been good, but always hoping for faster response times as input switching is on the slower side and waking up the monitor with Mac is also relatively slow (10s give or take, hoping for sub 3s). Not sure how much of it can be improved from what it is, but I’m happy.

[nkyadav]

@Tikio

Thanks for the response. I totally agree and understand. I am still hopeful and am happy it is being looked into. For your information, I reported these issues with the prototype, and a few times after words.

You can message me directly if you want more details on the feedback I shared a few times, but otherwise I look forward to the cause of the issues being found and resolve.

Thank you for all your hard work

Yup - I’m still using the prototype myself, and had nary an issue - until I got the 3080 Ti. Now,. I’ve got a myriad of issues - but I can now test them directly, instead of asking someone to “do, this / try that / what do you see?” type thing lol.

That has been the hardest part the one thing that the fw dev team were able to reproduce was a blanking effect in Radeon 5000 series and older cards, which they addressed. But they could not reliably reproduce the issues that folks on nVidia cards, consoles, and MBs / MBPs were experiencing, at all, and without the reproduction, they cannot guess at what the fix is. But another benefit of me getting the new GPU is that, now, they can start testing certain things and send me test files to see if they work or not - and I can recover from things like bad flashes, wonky builds, and whatnot, pretty easily.

Also, yeah, I can find your posts easily enough, @Tikio, but even more so, I still have access to the prototype tracker we were using in the past, so I have all that information as well.

At least you’ve been able to move to the MP unit lol. I’m holding out for the glossy ones…so I’ve got the prototype 4k and the Engineering sample of the QHD. Some days I never know if my issue is from my GPU, from the monitor, or Windows 11

Finally - thanks in return for all the work you and the other prototype testers put in to testing those units. We learned a lot from that, and it’s one of the reasons why we have a much better start to the firmware development for the 280 Hz QHD model. And the cherry on top is that the improvements made to that model get backported to the 4K.

[quinton]

After updating both the USB firmware and the scaler firmware, the monitor no longer works on my MacBook Pro (2022 M1 Max).

This is incredibly frustrating.

Edit: it was working previously using USB-C with a Thunderbolt 4 cable.

Edit (x2): I’ve tried using other cables as well as other input methods (HDMI and DisplayPort via my CalDigit TS3+)

[nkyadav]

@Lend

My main use case with the monitor is just PS5 and M1 MacBook Air. Overall experience has been good, but always hoping for faster response times as input switching is on the slower side and waking up the monitor with Mac is also relatively slow (10s give or take, hoping for sub 3s). Not sure how much of it can be improved from what it is, but I’m happy.

Input switching is a major point of contention for me, and has been, even before I got my modern GPU - but it has absolutely gotten worse after I upgraded. It’s something that we still have not been told “No, it cannot be done” in no uncertain terms, so we’re continuing to push for that, as well as faster wake times from sleep.

[nkyadav]

@quinton

After updating both the USB firmware and the scaler firmware, the monitor no longer works on my MacBook Pro (2022 M1 Max).

This is incredibly frustrating.

Edit: it was working previously using USB-C with a Thunderbolt 4 cable.

Edit (x2): I’ve tried using other cables as well as other input methods (HDMI and DisplayPort via my CalDigit TS3+)

The firmware update will reset the USB connection, so make sure to verify that you have the USB Type-C bandwidth priority set back to High refresh rate. Also, try manually selecting the Type-C as the video input source (if no signal is detected, press the joystick in (toward you, not up / down / left / right) to wake it up, then use down presses on the joystick the change from automatically select to Type-C) and see if it then picks up your MBP.