Mac Studio: Dropped frames in Safari (Youtube) and Photos App Videos...Multiple Displays..."Displays have separate Spaces"

[simacc]

Basically as the title says, anyone else noticed this? It doesn't happen when either display is connected on its own...only when both are connected. Chrome and other browsers are fine, it only seems to affect Safari and Photos App...even Final Cut seems OK (can't say for sure yet). What's really weird is it happens on both displays.

I'm using 2x Displays:
- Apple Studio Display at default (Main)
- 2k 32" at default (native 2560x1440 60Hz)

Now here's the even weirder one: after trying everything I could think of, I eventually narrowed it down to "Displays have separate Spaces" turned off! (Which is how I've used a Mac for like 20 years, I hate all that stuff). As soon as I turned it back on, (log out/in) gone, and back off, (log out/in) back again...it's 100% that setting only.

Does anyone have any ideas? I tried leaving it at "Displays have separate Spaces" on but it really messes with my workflow...

List of things I tried that made no difference...I'll update when I try something, or remember:

- Updated to 12.6.
- Cables: tried every cable type to other display, and a few of each cable to be sure, (HDMI, USBC, Displayport, DVI, even HDMI via a TB Hub).
- Safe Mode
- Loads of different combinations of resolutions/Hz
- True Tone on/off
- Nightshift on/off
- Later installed SwitchResx
- BetterDisplay (P.S. this is a cool App check it out)

...genuinely think it's an OS bug...

 

[Pressure]

This is a known issue with M1 and having more than one display.

You need to click on the "Displays have separate Spaces", then log out of your user account and log in again.

There is no other solution so please report the issue to Apple. I've also been scratching my head about this since receiving the Mac Studio and why it would behave that way.

It must be a power management issue or something.

 

[simacc]

This is a known issue with M1 and having more than one display.

You need to click on the "Displays have separate Spaces", then log out of your user account and log in again.

There is no other solution so please report the issue to Apple. I've also been scratching my head about this since receiving the Mac Studio and why it would behave that way.

It must be a power management issue or something.

Cheers. I found the thread you were on now. https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/video-stutter-when-displays-have-separate-spaces.2351840/ for anyone that lands on this page. Do you know of any others? I haven't been able to find many reports at all...

 

[simacc]

This is a known issue with M1 and having more than one display.

You need to click on the "Displays have separate Spaces", then log out of your user account and log in again.

There is no other solution so please report the issue to Apple. I've also been scratching my head about this since receiving the Mac Studio and why it would behave that way.

It must be a power management issue or something.

Theory re power management: care to try "pmset -g" and post a screenshot? Here's mine:

 

[Pressure]

Sure thing,

Nothing really revealing there though.

 

[Pressure]

This appears to be fixed in the newest beta of Ventura (at least with the Dell UP3218K). No dropped frames now with "Displays have separate Spaces" unchecked.

 

[gusping]

This appears to be fixed in the newest beta of Ventura (at least with the Dell UP3218K). No dropped frames now with "Displays have separate Spaces" unchecked.

Do you know how common this issue is with M1 Macs and >1 monitor. I assume it's not guaranteed to happen.

 

[Pressure]

Do you know how common this issue is with M1 Macs and >1 monitor. I assume it's not guaranteed to happen.

Not that many run with multi monitor setups with "Displays have separate Spaces" unchecked to notice this in the first place. I mean, only 3 people, including myself, have experienced it here on MacRumors.

 

[simacc]

Note it may have been quietly fixed in Monterey also. I just tried it yesterday and everything seems to be working fine with the same setup. Edit: Nope. Have to leave DHSS on.

Note SwitchResX can also cause problems...I un-installed that a while ago, as it was causing some other issues with frame drops...I even reinstalled latest version yesterday, and the issues reappeared, so gone again...using BetterDisplay instead.

 

[5580463]

This problem persists in 13.3.1 (22E261). Has any workaround been found, other than enabling DHSS?

 

[Don MacDonald]

Yeah, I experienced this issue as well (although not using a Mac Studio but a 16” M1 MBP with a Studio display). Video stutter in YouTube and QuickTime as well as Apple TV, but it’s intermittent: doesn’t appear all the time. Interestingly, with QT video, if you hover over the video so the controls appear, the stutter stops. I noticed as well in Photos, when opening a photo stored on the cloud (i.e. needs to be downloaded from iCloud) the photo will do a refresh stutter when it launches. If the photo has already been downloaded, it behaves normally. Switching off Displays Have Separate Spaces solves all these issues (or at least has so far). It could be, as suggested above, a power management issue: maybe trying to keep two high resolution displays in a single space is choking the M1? It’s too bad as I prefer to keep everything in one space, it seems like the old ways, to me.