New wallpapers and screensavers are not sharp

[bluesteel]

Upgraded my 16" M1 Max MBP to Macos Sonoma the other day. Anyone else notice that the new landscape, cityscape, and underwater wallpaper and screensavers are a bit blurry, not sharp? Doesn't seem right. Any idea why they are not sharp?

 

[gank41]

Upgraded my 16" M1 Max MBP to Macos Sonoma the other day. Anyone else notice that the new landscape, cityscape, and underwater wallpaper and screensavers are a bit blurry, not sharp? Doesn't seem right. Any idea why they are not sharp?

I’ve noticed this, too. The video that plays for the screensaver looks alright but then when it freezes for the desktop background it looks pretty blurry.

 

[Heat_Fan89]

The default Sonoma screensaver looks good in 4K. The others i've tried look low-res.

 

[Steve Ballmer]

I think it was done deliberately to cut down on their download + size.

 

[bluesteel]

I’ve noticed this, too. The video that plays for the screensaver looks alright but then when it freezes for the desktop background it looks pretty blurry.

Yeah, I'm noticing that too. The screensaver video looks ok, but the same wallpaper image isn't sharp. It almost looks like the wallpaper image is too large for my display. MacOS Ventura had options that allowed a user to fit their wallpaper to the display in different ways, there were like three or four options. I think one of them was"fit to screen" or something. At the same time, the resolution of the wallpaper images might not be high enough. I don't know.

The screensaver videos are stored at (/Library/Application Support/com.apple.idleassetsd) inside the "Customer" folder. The wallpaper and screensaver thumbnails are also stored at this location in the "Snapshots" folder.

Any idea where in Macos Sonoma the actual wallpaper images are stored? I'd like to take a look at the metadata of those images.

 

[gank41]

Yeah, I'm noticing that too. The screensaver video looks ok, but the same wallpaper image isn't sharp. It almost looks like the wallpaper image is too large for my display. MacOS Ventura had options that allowed a user to fit their wallpaper to the display in different ways, there were like three or four options. I think one of them was"fit to screen" or something. At the same time, the resolution of the wallpaper images might not be high enough. I don't know.

The screensaver videos are stored at (/Library/Application Support/com.apple.idleassetsd) inside the "Customer" folder. The wallpaper and screensaver thumbnails are also stored at this location in the "Snapshots" folder.

Any idea where in Macos Sonoma the actual wallpaper images are stored? I'd like to take a look at the metadata of those images.

I’m not sure. It’s possible it’s some cached file of a video frame somewhere

 

[bluesteel]

I’m not sure. It’s possible it’s some cached file of a video frame somewhere

That's what I was afraid of. It would explain why the wallpaper looks the way it does. It literally looks like a frame of the parent screensaver.

 

[imdog]

Can't believe more people aren't complaining about this. I thought the video wallpapers/screensavers were going to look so cool but the stills look 720p. I remember all the way back with the 5K iMac being blown away looking at how sharp & beautiful the wallpaper was, now on my StudioDisplay I have this low quality joke of a wallpaper

 

[bluesteel]

Can't believe more people aren't complaining about this. I thought the video wallpapers/screensavers were going to look so cool but the stills look 720p.

I thought including all these new wallpapers and screensavers was a big deal too. But the screensavers are meh, and the wallpapers look terrible. More than 150,000 employees and almost 3 trillion dollar market cap, and they don't have someone to make sure these wallpapers and screensavers don't look anything less than amazing on their Macs?

 

[rukind2]

The wallpaper also experience judder when the video starts; on my imac anyway.

 

[imdog]

I thought including all these new wallpapers and screensavers was a big deal too. But the screensavers are meh, and the wallpapers look terrible. More than 150,000 employees and almost 3 trillion dollar market cap, and they don't have someone to make sure these wallpapers and screensavers don't look anything less than amazing on their Macs?

Any idea if we're able to add our own video screensavers? I'm sure anyone with a $500 DJI mini drone could make a nicer screensaver. Apple really dropped the ball here

 

[PlayMoneyPro]

I'd just like to know why it always reverts back to the Sonoma wallpaper when I have it set to "Middle East" in the Earth section.....so annoying.

 

[Harmonious Zen]

So my question is: how do we download these even faster? Each screen saver takes forever to download. I'm talking 4-5 minutes or so.

 

[mstipic]

I am also dissapointed in these new wallpapers, in thumbnail they look beautiful but after download very blurry. I checked the downloaded files and it says hdr4k240fps. For me, only default Sonoma live wallpaper look Ok, the rest of them not.

 

[chugg]

Yeah it's a cool effect but all of them except the default one look like garbage

 

[Royksöpp]

They are just stills from a 4k video. I'm using a 5K display and noticed immediately. Perhaps the next update will add new wallpapers that are downsized from 8K.

 

[MacMan988]

Specially, they look blurry and crappy on my 4K external monitor