Resolved cMP5,1+Vega 56+4K display = badly aliased fonts

[imrazor]

Not too long ago I upgraded the display on my cMP5,1 from a 1080p 144Hz display to a Samsung 4K HDR screen. I expected to see razor sharp fonts on the new display, but have been rather badly disappointed. With no additional configuration, fonts are badly aliased (stair-step effect, or 'jaggies'.) If I turn on heavy font smoothing, white text on a black background looks good, but thin white fonts on a gray background, for example in the Mail app, look uneven and shimmering.

Is there anything I can do to resolve this? I can go back to my 1080p display, but that would seem like a waste. I have tried font smoothing and sub pixel anti-aliasing, but neither really fix the problem.

 

[Amethyst1]

What are your settings in the Monitors preference pane? Does the screen report the correct resolution in its on-screen menu?

 

[imrazor]

Display preferences correctly shows 3840x2160 as the native resolution. However, the fonts at that resolution are too small, so I've set the scaled resolution to 2560x1440. My MacBook Pro has no problem scaling fonts at non-native resolutions, so I'm not sure what the issue is with the cMP.

EDIT: Running Mojave, if that makes a difference.

 

[h9826790]

What you see at here?

 

[imrazor]

So it's not downscaling, but actually trying to display at 2560x1440. Is there any way to force scaling on the Mac instead of the monitor?

 

[h9826790]

View attachment 940058

So it's not downscaling, but actually trying to display at 2560x1440. Is there any way to force scaling on the Mac instead of the monitor?

Try ResXtreme, all 2x options are HiDPI resolutions.

 

[krakman]

this solution worked for me a number of times :

https://www.mathewinkson.com/2013/0...ix-the-picture-quality-of-an-external-monitor

 

[imrazor]

Try ResXtreme, all 2x options are HiDPI resolutions.

@h9826790 ResXtreme does indeed seem to fix the problem when set to HiDPI modes. Thanks!

@krakman I do think you're effectively right (screen flickers weird colors when changing resolution), but ResXtreme is simpler to deal with than the suggested EDID edit.

 

[chrisb42]

Also, if you keep the Option key pressed when selecting "Scaled", then all of a sudden a whole plethora of resolutions are presented.