AV Artists Complain Monterey 'Orange Dot' Security Feature Makes Macs Unsuitable for Live Performances

[northernmunky]

Its not just that, Monterey permanently enabled the 'You Screen is being observed' and 'your computer is being controlled' message over Remote Desktop which is really freaking out our users. I had to put a quick halt to the Monterey rollout and stick with previous OS for the time being until I know how to disable it again.

Not helpful from a support perspective.

 

[Wando64]

There should be some solution but it should not involve an easy to use disable feature.

If only there was a way to authenticate the device owner… like a sequence of letters and numbers only known to them that they could enter whenever they want to deactivate security features. ??

 

[Ethosik]

This all over.

How the hell can people just not comprehend that if you've spent ages designing big art installation visuals for public showing or are a live performance VJ that having a big orange dot in the corner of your art creation on every screen you display it on is completely unacceptable. I don't have to do this ever with my new Mac (or at least no immediate plans), but when I read the article I instantly though "F*******K!!!! Monterey would be completely unusable if I did and hadn't even considered it"! Likewise if I was in the audience to a show I'd instantly think something was screwed with the monitor if I didn't have Monterey, or figure what a total embarassment if I did.

It would be the visual equivalent of my Mac making a short beep noise or glitch once a minute during all the music I produced or was DJing. I can't comprehend how people can read the article and either not comprehend or start making excuses!

It's a nice security feature if you want it, but this definitely needs some option to turn it off. A computer that insists on putting anything additional you don't want on every screen it's outputting with no way to turn it off is straight up unusable for showing art to any audience and not looking completely amateur.

Imagine going to an IMAX cinema and the whole film having an orange dot in the corner - you'd ask for your money back! Same thing, just slightly different scenario.

Not to be "that guy" but if this is your business, you really should absolutely NOT do the following:

• Upgrade to the Latest OS for production without testing first using a test unit (which is why just a few months ago a few businesses I know upgraded from Windows 10 1809....thats a September 2018 version of Windows 10....And it wasn't updated to the latest version either, it was updated to one that ends support mid-next year)
• Buy a new system with a new OS by default to base your business on and don't expect issues.

If this orange dot is "destroying this person's business" like these comments state, there are bigger issues than what Apple has done and what I mentioned above.

And no, I am not an "apple apologist", I would make the SAME statement to those complaining about Windows 11 in a business/production environment. You should have stayed on Windows 10 until things are ready.

 

[Ethosik]

Its not just that, Monterey permanently enabled the 'You Screen is being observed' and 'your computer is being controlled' message over Remote Desktop which is really freaking out our users. I had to put a quick halt to the Monterey rollout and stick with previous OS for the time being until I know how to disable it again.

Not helpful from a support perspective.

Not sure why that is an issue? Personally I like seeing when our IT staff are in my computer and it shows up on Windows 10 with our remoting software for such auditing purposes. That really should not be hidden IMO.

 

[1129846]

Is it really though? Like let's be completely honest here, this isn't as big an issue as apps using your mic without telling you.

It is a massive issue. The difference between professional and armature work is in the details. That orange dot makes a proformace look like amateur hour. It is a massive fine detail that is wrong.

 

[Ethosik]

This is definitely an issue as someone that uses Resolume Arena and ProPresenter to feed video walls, projectors and video switchers. I put in a feedback request using Feedback Assistant.

Also, ? @ "AV Artists". Never heard that term.

Yeah sometimes abbreviations are not good to use. I got confused at first because I thought it was saying Anti-virus artists.

 

[funkypepper]

Everything aside, the executive who green lit forcefully displaying a permanent dot on a full-screen external setup should be fired immediately for incompetency. It's elementary.

 

[Wando64]

If a user can switch it off, so can a bad actor (no pun intended on the performance AV people). Kinda defeats the purpose…

No it doesn’t.
A bad actor would need to know your password to switch it off.
And if they know your own password they might as well switch off your FileVault, your Firewall and help themselves to the content of your keychain.

 

[Ethosik]

Honestly, I think this is a bit overblown. People commenting here make it seem like this orange dot is brining down these people's businesses. People can complain about it sure, I am not saying that we should just ignore it. But really? An orange dot which should appear outside the title/action safe area (if your content adheres to those guidelines) should not be an issue.

 

[funkypepper]

Honestly, I think this is a bit overblown. People commenting here make it seem like this orange dot is brining down these people's businesses. People can complain about it sure, I am not saying that we should just ignore it. But really? An orange dot which should appear outside the title/action safe area (if your content adheres to those guidelines) should not be an issue.

Imagine you are a movie director and the studio head puts an orange dot on your movie. What would all your work be worth?

 

[Ethosik]

Imagine you are a movie director and the studio head puts an orange dot on your movie. What would all your work be worth?

That is why you adhere to title/action safe areas. All relevant footage will be more towards the center of the content.

 

[funkypepper]

That is why you adhere to title/action safe areas. All relevant footage will be more towards the center of the content.

It looks like you would make a great visual artist.

 

[Ethosik]

It looks like you would make a great visual artist.

I do video production work. And guess what, I adhere to title/action safe. Its what you need to do. Why do you think title/action safe is there to begin with? You know some people have their TVs set up to blow up the image right? Title/action safe helps with that too. Sounds like you don't know what this safe area is.

XR | Creative Technology Platform

XR is a Creative Technology Platform that streamlines workflows, maximizes asset value and speeds omnichannel campaign delivery with AI-powered tools.

extremereach.com

 

[northernmunky]

Not sure why that is an issue? Personally I like seeing when our IT staff are in my computer and it shows up on Windows 10 with our remoting software for such auditing purposes. That really should not be hidden IMO.

And when it pops up when youre not expecting it? I connect up to monitor an applications behaviour because others have reported a fault and it pops up and they think they're being spied on?

Imagine how well that's going to work in a classroom environment where theres a reason to monitor activity and kids see that message pop up. It needs to be hidden, our uses freak out when they see it and they have no idea its how we support their systems.

 

[Ethosik]

And when it pops up when youre not expecting it? I connect up to monitor an applications behaviour because others have reported a fault and it pops up and they think they're being spied on?

Imagine how well that's going to work in a classroom environment where theres a reason to monitor activity and kids see that message pop up. It needs to be hidden, our uses freak out when they see it and they have no idea its how we support their systems.

If it comes up when I am not expecting it, I report that user that is misusing their title and abilities to spy on the employees.

 

[Geek95]

I bet most of them didn’t. If someone’s work/livelihood depends on a particular setup—like the rig for a live performance—they’re probably some of the LEAST likely people to try “beta” anything on their production machines. Too risky.

Imagine cancelling a performance because some obscure 5yr old plug-in your set depends on gets broken by that Monterey 12.3 beta you were excited to try and couldn’t wait on that day. No way. Reliability is king for people/artists in that space.

If their work/livelihood does depend on a specific setup, then it would make even more sense to test the betas. Not on the production machine, but on an extra that can be used for testing and reporting bugs - and if needed restore a backup from the production machine if that dies.

 

[videosoul]

That is why you adhere to title/action safe areas. All relevant footage will be more towards the center of the content.

Respectfully, that's not correct.

Title safe/action safe come from the days of things like CRT screens where there was a real risk of the edges of the image being cropped off by the viewers display. Or 16:9 content being shown on legacy 4:3 displays.

These days, they're much less relevent.

Telling other video professionals that they should be using title safe/action safe because you, as a video professional adhere to them, is not cool.

There are a great many instances in the video production world where this is irrelevant, and live visuals (IMAG, VJing, art installations, digital signage, outdoor advertising is now of them. Why? Firstly because the content is often designed to be edge-to-edge to fill the entire available space, and secondly because in most instances with that sort of work the screen size is known )often a bespoke size) and content is custom created specifically for that display... so title safe/action safe are not important.

Implying that adhering to title safe/action safe is the solution here, is to also imply that those working in these environments will always have to crop and zoom-in their content... or have black borders around their content. Both of which are, frankly, laughable ideas.

 

[ulyssesric]

Wait a minute; why do they need to turn on camera on a computer that should be dedicated for screen projection ?

 

[deevey]

Wait a minute; why do they need to turn on camera on a computer that should be dedicated for screen projection ?

Live camera feeds and audio inputs for live video mixing applications.

 

[videosoul]

Wait a minute; why do they need to turn on camera on a computer that should be dedicated for screen projection ?

Several people have already answered that here. But for latecomers, some examples:

1. People are reporting that the orange shot shows even if external video inputs are being used. That could be a professional camera, an external webcam, a media player, another video device.

2. It also apparently shows with external audio inputs.

3. It shows when the mic is active, and they might be using that for something like sound-to-light control or beat-matching.

 

[1129846]

If their work/livelihood does depend on a specific setup, then it would make even more sense to test the betas. Not on the production machine, but on an extra that can be used for testing and reporting bugs - and if needed restore a backup from the production machine if that dies.

Spoken like someone who does not work in industry.
We barely have enough time to do our required work much less look at betas.
Betas get at best a spot check to make sure nothing is going to be busted hard core. No one does full production testing on betas unless you want to pay a ton of money for testing.

 

[djbuddha]

Don’t know if this is in the thread, but GitHub got on this.

GitHub - s4y/undot

Contribute to s4y/undot development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com

 

[Tnanman]

I agree, it's rather annoying.

Using an audio program like SoundID all the time, the orange dot is always there.

No way to get rid of it or even having the option is annoying.

 

[montuori]

Not to be "that guy" but if this is your business, you really should absolutely NOT do the following:

• Upgrade to the Latest OS for production without testing first using a test unit (which is why just a few months ago a few businesses I know upgraded from Windows 10 1809....thats a September 2018 version of Windows 10....And it wasn't updated to the latest version either, it was updated to one that ends support mid-next year)
• Buy a new system with a new OS by default to base your business on and don't expect issues.

If this orange dot is "destroying this person's business" like these comments state, there are bigger issues than what Apple has done and what I mentioned above.

Maybe in a perfect world. Here in the trenches you sound like that guy.

Most of the artists I work with have exactly one machine; many don't have a second display to test on. Even with available gear, I'm not sure I've ever worked on a show where all the paint is dry (both literally and figuratively) when the first curtain goes up: time to test is a luxury. It's not ideal but the choice to spend meager dollars on stuff like rent and food does not make anyone less professional.

Big, well funded productions might be different but most art is not that. (If we're honest, most of the well funded productions are less art and more spectacle -- looking squarely at you Hamilton -- but that's a digression for another time.) When money rolls in exactly zero people say "hey, let's buy a test computer." Paying the people who produce the work is far more urgent.

 

[adib]

Maybe apple can move the dot under the notch.

Before that, need to manufacture an external display having a notch in the first place. This is for "live performance", hence the external display is the one that needs to not have any indicators.