HiDPI for 5120x1440

[m1nyasha]

Hello everyone!

Thank you very much for your application, it allowed me to achieve HiDPI resolution at 3440x1440 ❤️. I've been waiting for this for almost a year.

I have a question question.

Is it possible to unblock HiDPI for 5120x1440 resolution?

[waydabber]

5120x1440 HiDPI would result in 10240px vertical resolution. Afaik M1 can handle only 8192 (maybe I should recheck this), that's why it is limited in 4096px max. I am not sure if M1 Pro changes this (I don't think so).

[waydabber]

Yes, BD supports 5120x1440 on OSX, or more appropriately, macOS and M1 supports this resolution by default. I might have misunderstood the original issue - for some reason the display currently does not produce this resolution? If so, then you have to check the connection - you should be using a USB-C or USB-C to DisplayPort cable (not HDMI) for this resolution to work properly.

[EvanCarroll]

No BetterDisplay can not set the display to 5120x1440. There are thousands of people raising this question on OSX with the CRG90 on reddit (not using BetterDisplay -- just struggling to get 5120x1440 on an M1). I've tried HDMI and a Thunderbolt-4 dock's HDMI. I don't understand what's imposing this limit.

https://apple.stackexchange.com/q/457124/76955

Is there anyway to get a 5120x1440 signal out on HDMI? Back to the earlier question, does the HDMI share the same framebuffer as the DisplayPort? Why is just the HDMI port incapable? Can I go from Thunderbolt to HDMI, or DisplayPort to HDMI?

Thanks, this is exactly the question. I feel we're on the same page now.

[waydabber]

Yes, M1 macs have severe limitations when it comes to HDMI connections and non-16:9 displays Even on 16:9 4K displays they seem to arbitrarily limit resolutions to a certain degree. Apple seemingly tested/optimized HDMI support to suit some 4K TVs only, but not for computer monitors, that's why it is best to use DisplayPort (or USB-C which internally uses DisplayPort). An other route (if you insist on using HDMI) might be to use EDID (this is the data the display reports about itself to the computer) override to convince macOS that the display is DP instead of HDMI, that might enable 5120x1440 via the Thunderbolt dock (not the built-in HDMI though) - this is possible, because a thunderbolt dock actually uses DisplayPort (data) to communicate with the Mac and Apple Silicon Macs take what the display reports about itself (is it HDMI or DP?) in its EDID for granted whether it's a HDMI or DP (if no data is given, then it probably checks the DPCD data to figure out if behind a DP dongle or dock there is HDMI or not). Here is a technique on how to do this (the thread is about enabling 4K@120Hz on HDMI, but could be applied to your situation as well): https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/dp-usb-c-thunderbolt-3-4-to-hdmi-2-1-4k-120hz-rgb4-4-4-10b-hdr-with-apple-silicon-m1-m2-now-possible.2381664/

Each active external display connection has its own framebuffer so it does not make a sense to ask whether HDMI shares the same framebuffer as DisplayPort.

[EvanCarroll]

@waydabber Thanks a ton. That's exactly the answer I was looking for. This is the kind of support I would pay for, so I did. It's been well over 10 years since I've bought software that wasn't a game. It's almost a first.

I ordered a Cable Matters USB-C-to-HDMI. I don't think that link is relevant for the new version. Cable Matters shipped me the VMM7100. I modded the EDID as described on your link. And though EXTREMELY finicky it works. You should test this flow though and come up with guidance on it. Better yet, provide the moded EDID dumps yourself for the ultrawide monitors and upsell them and the cable matters cable (or link with Amazon affiliate links). You're missing a few revenue streams here. ;)

And you know all the users affected by this issue, since you know the monitors and you can presumably tell from the EDID dump whether or not they support a resolution that the HDMI port doesn't support, and whether or not you're connecting to them over HDMI.

I hate OSX with a passion. This is a total waste of time and energy, (and money). Linux is in every way better, and more user friendly. At least it gets monitor support right: you get all the control with xrandr. But your support and software at least made it possible for me to exist on OSX. I have 5120x1440 displaying to my monitor. The only thing I need now is this issue solved, so my OSX box can be a thin wrapper around a Virtual Machine.. If you have any advice to get Linux running with 3d-acceleration inside of a vm on Apple Silicon give me a shout.

[waydabber]

Thanks @EvanCarroll for getting the app + glad you could make it work (even though finicky - it's a workaround). :)

[psaravan]

Got hit with this exact issue after my work laptop was upgraded from the 16" Intel MacBook Pro to an M1 MacBook Pro.

I have the Samsung G9 32:9 monitor (5120 x 1440) and it comes with Picture-by-Picture (PBP) mode. Essentially this allows me to connect two inputs to the monitor at once and they're each rendered on one half of the screen. Technically this feature is meant for using two computers at once on the same monitor but I was able to connect both DisplayPort inputs to my M1 Mac, which tricked it into thinking I have two 2560 x 1440 monitors. You can then unlock all HiDPI resolutions for each "monitor" (I'm using 2048 x 1152 @ 120Hz) and get good/native visual quality on the M1.

If you have a 5120 x 1440 monitor, chances are that you also have the PBP feature and can accomplish this.

[anon234235]

Which hub/connectors did you use to get displayport to connect to the m1 mac? I have tried this using out of the box usbc -> displayport cables and it doesn't work due to m1 external monitor limitations.

Edit: Unless of course you have an M1 Pro or Max which supports multiple monitors out of the box.

[EvanCarroll]

https://apple.stackexchange.com/a/457460/76955

[basvandriel]

Is this issue solved on the new M2 Mac's? I have a M1 MacBook Pro from 2021 and don't have the HiDPI option. Text looks blurry.

[waydabber]

Hi, on the new M2 Pro, the max. horizontal HiDPI resolution is 3840px (on entry level M2 it is 3072px). So between 3840 and 5120px width you can only go LoDPI (or use dummy mirroring to get HiDPI). So the limits are the same as with M1.

[basvandriel]

With this dummy mirroring, is this "true" HiDPI 5120x1440 possible then? Also, this means Macs don't support ultra wides?

[waydabber]

No, 5120x1440 should be supported by Macs with no problem (for some configs it might not work over HDMI but USB-C/DisplayPort is needed). So if you can't get a native 5120x1440 resolution with your Mac, then something else is the problem. The text can look blurry even with native connection with a low PPI Ultrawide (like a 49" display for example) nevertheless.

For more info: https://github.com/waydabber/BetterDisplay/wiki/MacOS-scaling,-HiDPI,-LoDPI-explanation

[anthonyjuarezsolis]

I have an m1 max and I have the same problem of 5120x1440 LoDPI on a 57-inch Samsung Neo G9. Now that the m4 is out, do you know if you can now use HiDPI 5120x1440 or higher? I know that since the m3, HDMI 2.1 is already accepted. I don't know which MacBook I should upgrade to or if I should wait longer.

[basvandriel]

Thank you for the information. I can get the resolution though, just the text looks bad. What are the options to get my text fully sharpened? Get a lower resolution monitor?

[juato4]

I recently got an viotek SUW49C, (max 3840px )… i like to scale it to 5120 x 1440.. but I can’t do it work.. and i am using a dock dell d600 displaylink.

[tslaton]

Does anyone know if M4 Pro or M4 Max changes the previous limitations on achieving 5120 X 1440 hidpi? Thunderbolt 5 is a new connection option too. I noticed there is a separate discussion related to my question: #3573