Studio Display 15.5 Firmware Beta 2
Apple today released a second beta version of new 15.5 firmware that’s coming to the Studio Display, with the software coming one week after the launch of the first beta. The Studio Display firmware is designed to improve the function of the webcam on the device.
Comparing the new beta Studio Display firmware (1st pic) with the beta from last week (2nd pic), picture quality does seem to be still improving - I’m less red and there’s more contrast.
We can debate the wisdom of putting Center Stage on a display most likely destined for the desks of nerds, but let’s leave that aside. How about the audacity of Apple shipping it without any interface to speak of? And how much better might the camera on the Studio Display have been received if it could be tweaked by its users to produce more pleasing images?
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My podcasting partner Myke Hurley, who lives in the U.K., has been frustrated for the past year that the M1 iMac and Studio Display don’t properly deal with the flicker rate of fluorescent lights in Europe. A recent update seems to have solved the issue on the iMac, but no such luck for the Studio Display. You know what might solve the issue? A flicker-frequency setting like the one found in the Webcam Settings app! But since Apple refuses to provide that sort of control, Myke’s forced to quit and re-launch apps in the hopes that the problem will eventually correct itself.
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Studio Display users are reporting that occasionally, the Studio Display’s audio–speakers or microphones or both–get a little choppy. That’s a common problem with audio hardware on the Mac (and as a podcaster I’d like to suggest that Apple should probably spend some time making the Mac’s audio subsystem more reliable) but it’s fixed by the classic tech problem solver: turn it off and back on.
Except… the Studio Display does not have a button.
I had to unplug mine recently, too.
Previously:
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The internal audio on my 2015 MBP was great as it used to be until MacOS 11. Events like the browser reloading a page now sometimes cause gaps in audio output. My guess is it's process handling and the additional process load that arrived with 11.
The USB audio choppiness is absolutely dreadful on macOS right now. I've resorted to using my hackintosh for audio recording since it's far less susceptible to this issue than my M1 Max MBP. I don't know what's happening over at the kernel and Core Audio teams, but they should be embarrassed by the current state of affairs.