Display Rename

[NauticalWinter]

Hello everyone, I have a question I was hoping to get answered.

I’m on MacOS and I’ve got an intel iMac connected to an external GPU. I’m running three displays off of this GPU. All the displays are connected via SDI and require a converter on each end of the cable. All of these converters are the same blackmagic micro converter.

Upon booting the computer, the displays get mixed up and my presentation software reorganizes the displays and I have to manually organize them back. Each of the blackmagic boxes have the same display name, which explains why they are reorganized each time.

What I would like to do is edit the EDID of each of those converters and change their name to something specific and sequential so MacOS doesn’t reorganize them. Any ideas of how I’d accomplish this?

[waydabber]

You need to have an unique model/vendor/serial in the EDID for the displays, the name is not that critical for identification. BetterDisplay can not reprogram the EDID in your devices (most displays do not allow receiving EDIDs for obvious security reasons over HDMI - some do, usually a special mode can be enabled in the display's service menu). There are some tools that can be used to do this (bust most of them are for Linux or Windows). However if it's a special device/converter, it would be best to contact the manufacturer on how to update the EDID on it. BetterDisplay allows you to soft-override the EDID (at the Mac side) but this does not help with your use case I am afraid.

[cyclism6486]

To piggyback on this question...would it be possible to use Better Display to change the monitor name displayed in the System Settings without messing around with the EDID info? The app RDM can do it, but I don't want to install yet another monitor app if I don't have to.

[waydabber]

Sure, edit this block:

[cyclism6486]

Thanks for pointing me to this. I had never enabled "Edit the system configuration of this display model" - so I never saw the "More system configuration options" drop-down section. A system reboot later....I can see those options now. However, I changed my display name (which was DP) in the "Edited system display name" box to iMac 5K. I got the red box to "apply unapplied system configuration changes". I hit "apply", then restarted my machine. I notice in the Mac system settings the name is now iMac 5K, but at the top of Better Display it still show its name as DP. Is that the way it's supposed to work?

[waydabber]

You are right, the current version of the app takes the display takes the EDID name over the OS name. I'll change this as it makes little sense indeed.

#2759

[waydabber]

(note: you can change the in-app name anytime under Additional settings / Custom name)

[cyclism6486]

Thanks for that - not sure how I'm missing all these options!

[waydabber]

Note: I switched to the EDID product name because of the extended identification feature introduced in one of the past versions during summer. Made sure the current change does not break that.

[KrzysztofPrzygoda]

@waydabber I finally have found the way to rename displays system wide without having to change EDID in BetterDisplay.
Actually it's quite easy to achieve using /Library/Displays/Contents/Resources/Overrides/ and xml plist files like:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
    <key>DisplayProductName</key>
    <string>My own display name</string>
</dict>
</plist>

However, I couldn't find any plist file naming convention on the internet.

It looks like macOS certainly has some rules to identify appropriate plist file with display overrides since both naming conventions works:

1. vendor id and product id based: /Library/Displays/Contents/Resources/Overrides/DisplayVendorID-1e6d/DisplayProductID-5bc1 or
2. vendor id and manufacture date based: /Library/Displays/Contents/Resources/Overrides/DisplayVendorID-1e6d/DisplayYearManufacture-2021-DisplayWeekManufacture-10.

Any chance that do you know these rules? I thought I might narrow plist selectors to be more specific like:

3. vendor/product-serial: /Library/Displays/Contents/Resources/Overrides/DisplayVendorID-1e6d/DisplayProductID-5bc1-DisplaySerialNumber-3f2a4 or at least
4. vendor/product-year-week: /Library/Displays/Contents/Resources/Overrides/DisplayVendorID-1e6d/DisplayProductID-5bc1-DisplayYearManufacture-2021-DisplayWeekManufacture-10

but nothing than 1) and 2) seems to work.

Any insight or help appreciated.

[waydabber]

Hi @KrzysztofPrzygoda, no worries, I can add identification based on year/week manufacture as an option to configuration editing (afaik it's actually rare to help much since most display manufacturers don't bother editing these values - as well as serial number - on a per display basis during production since this requires individual flashing of every unit or maybe to save costs for each batch, that's why I did not have it implemented - but your case proves that this is not an uniform practice).

[waydabber]

#2832

[KrzysztofPrzygoda]

Unfortunately, it seems like currently macOS (WindowServer) is looking only for vendor/product then vendor/manufacture date files, so it's all we've got right now.

Here is the dump from fs_usage while powering up my LG Ultrafine display (vendor: 1e6d, model: 5bc2, year: 2022, week: 10) and no plist file was present for it, so I assume that macOS had to scan all the possibilities:

$ sudo fs_usage
16:08:28.534047  open              F=15       (R_________V_)  /Library/Preferences/com.apple.windowserver.displays.plist                                                                              0.000049   WindowServer.3945
16:08:28.538584  open              F=3        (R___________)  /Library/Preferences                                                                                                                    0.000012   cfprefsd.2069977
16:08:28.538602  openat            F=4        (R___________)  [3]/com.apple.windowserver.displays.plist                                                                                               0.000019   cfprefsd.2069977
16:08:28.538605  fcntl             F=4   <GETPATH>                                                                                                                                                    0.000003   cfprefsd.2069977
16:08:28.538633  fstatat64                              [3]/com.apple.windowserver.displays.plist                                                                                                     0.000007   cfprefsd.2069977
16:08:28.538663  fstatat64                              [3]/com.apple.windowserver.displays.plist                                                                                                     0.000004   cfprefsd.2069977
16:08:28.538669  close             F=4                                                                                                                                                                0.000003   cfprefsd.2069977
16:08:28.538766  openat            F=4        (R___________)  [3]/com.apple.windowserver.displays.plist                                                                                               0.000050   cfprefsd.2071975
16:08:28.538768  dup               F=4    F=5                                                                                                                                                         0.000002   cfprefsd.2071975
16:08:28.538773  fstat64           F=4                                                                                                                                                                0.000005   cfprefsd.2071975
16:08:28.538843  read              F=4    B=0x17414                                                                                                                                                   0.000058   cfprefsd.2071975
16:08:28.538845  read              F=4    B=0x0                                                                                                                                                       0.000002   cfprefsd.2071975
16:08:28.538847  fstat64           F=4                                                                                                                                                                0.000002   cfprefsd.2071975
16:08:28.538852  close             F=4                                                                                                                                                                0.000002   cfprefsd.2071975
16:08:28.539471  stat64                                 private/etc/passwd                                                                                                                            0.000024   WindowServer.3945
16:08:28.539477  stat64                                 private/etc/passwd                                                                                                                            0.000005   WindowServer.3945
16:08:28.539930  open              F=4        (R___________)  /Library/Managed Preferences                                                                                                            0.000008   cfprefsd.2069977
16:08:28.539934  openat                 [  2] (R___________)  [4]/com.apple.iokit.IOMobileGraphicsFamily.plist                                                                                        0.000004   cfprefsd.2069977
16:08:28.539936  close             F=4                                                                                                                                                                0.000002   cfprefsd.2069977
16:08:28.539997  open              F=4        (R___________)  /Library/Preferences                                                                                                                    0.000002   cfprefsd.2069977
16:08:28.540006  openat                 [  2] (R___________)  [4]/com.apple.iokit.IOMobileGraphicsFamily.plist                                                                                        0.000010   cfprefsd.2069977
16:08:28.540007  close             F=4                                                                                                                                                                0.000001   cfprefsd.2069977
16:08:28.540123  mmap              F=0    A=0x400000000001    O=0x00000000        B=0x4000100000000    <>                                                                                             0.000006   WindowServer.3945
16:08:28.540124  close             F=16                                                                                                                                                               0.000001   WindowServer.3945
16:08:28.540293  stat64                                 private/var/log/powermanagement                                                                                                               0.000039   syslogd.2071764
16:08:28.540303  lseek             F=7    O=0x00000000         <SEEK_SET>                                                                                                                             0.000004   syslogd.2071764
16:08:28.540313  read              F=7    B=0x8                                                                                                                                                       0.000009   syslogd.2071764
16:08:28.540314  lseek             F=7    O=0x00000000         <SEEK_SET>                                                                                                                             0.000001   syslogd.2071764
16:08:28.540337  write             F=7    B=0x8                                                                                                                                                       0.000022   syslogd.2071764
16:08:28.540340  lseek             F=6    O=0x001b8651         <SEEK_END>                                                                                                                             0.000003   syslogd.2071764
16:08:28.540405  write             F=6    B=0x12                                                                                                                                                      0.000044   syslogd.2071764
16:08:28.540410  lseek             F=6    O=0x001b8663         <SEEK_END>                                                                                                                             0.000001   syslogd.2071764
16:08:28.540421  write             F=6    B=0x10a                                                                                                                                                     0.000011   syslogd.2071764
16:08:28.540422  lseek             F=6    O=0x001b853d         <SEEK_SET>                                                                                                                             0.000001   syslogd.2071764
16:08:28.540429  write             F=6    B=0x8                                                                                                                                                       0.000006   syslogd.2071764
16:08:28.540430  lseek             F=6    O=0x00000025         <SEEK_SET>                                                                                                                             0.000001   syslogd.2071764
16:08:28.540439  write             F=6    B=0x8                                                                                                                                                       0.000009   syslogd.2071764
16:08:28.540440  lseek             F=6    O=0x001b876d         <SEEK_END>                                                                                                                             0.000001   syslogd.2071764
16:08:28.544318  stat64                 [  2]           /Library/Displays/Contents/Resources/Overrides/DisplayVendorID-1e6d/DisplayProductID-5bc2                                                     0.000014   WindowServer.3945
16:08:28.544326  open                   [  2] (R___________)  /Library/Displays/Contents/Resources/Overrides/DisplayVendorID-1e6d/DisplayProductID-5bc2                                               0.000004   WindowServer.3945
16:08:28.544331  stat64                 [  2]           /Library/Displays/Contents/Resources/Overrides/DisplayVendorID-1e6d/DisplayYearManufacture-2022-DisplayWeekManufacture-10                     0.000003   WindowServer.3945
16:08:28.544335  open                   [  2] (R___________)  /Library/Displays/Contents/Resources/Overrides/DisplayVendorID-1e6d/DisplayYearManufacture-2022-DisplayWeekManufacture-10               0.000002   WindowServer.3945
16:08:28.544338  stat64                 [  2]           /AppleInternal>>>>>>>>>>                                                                                                                      0.000002   WindowServer.3945
16:08:28.544341  open                   [  2] (R___________)  /AppleInternal>>>>>>>>>>                                                                                                                0.000002   WindowServer.3945
16:08:28.544344  stat64                 [  2]           /AppleInternal>>>>>>>>>>                                                                                                                      0.000001   WindowServer.3945
16:08:28.544346  open                   [  2] (R___________)  /AppleInternal>>>>>>>>>>                                                                                                                0.000002   WindowServer.3945
16:08:28.544354  stat64                 [  2]           /System/Library/Displays/Contents/Resources/Overrides/DisplayVendorID-1e6d/DisplayProductID-5bc2                                              0.000006   WindowServer.3945
16:08:28.544357  open                   [  2] (R___________)  /System/Library/Displays/Contents/Resources/Overrides/DisplayVendorID-1e6d/DisplayProductID-5bc2                                        0.000002   WindowServer.3945
16:08:28.544360  stat64                 [  2]           /System/Library/Displays/Contents/Resources/Overrides/DisplayVendorID-1e6d/DisplayYearManufacture-2022-DisplayWeekManufacture-10              0.000002   WindowServer.3945
16:08:28.544363  open                   [  2] (R___________)  /System/Library/Displays/Contents/Resources/Overrides/DisplayVendorID-1e6d/DisplayYearManufacture-2022-DisplayWeekManufacture-10        0.000002   WindowServer.3945
16:08:28.544367  stat64                 [  2]           /Library/Displays/Contents/Resources/Overrides/Icons.plist                                                                                    0.000002   WindowServer.3945
16:08:28.544369  open                   [  2] (R___________)  /Library/Displays/Contents/Resources/Overrides/Icons.plist                                                                              0.000002   WindowServer.3945
16:08:28.544372  stat64                 [  2]           /AppleInternal>>>>>>>>>>                                                                                                                      0.000001   WindowServer.3945
16:08:28.544374  open                   [  2] (R___________)  /AppleInternal>>>>>>>>>>                                                                                                                0.000002   WindowServer.3945
16:08:28.544400  stat64                                 /System/Library/Displays/Contents/Resources/Overrides/Icons.plist                                                                             0.000025   WindowServer.3945
16:08:28.544442  open              F=16       (R___________)  /System/Library/Displays/Contents/Resources/Overrides/Icons.plist                                                                       0.000041   WindowServer.3945
16:08:28.544446  fstat64           F=16                                                                                                                                                               0.000004   WindowServer.3945
16:08:28.544452  fstat64           F=16                                                                                                                                                               0.000002   WindowServer.3945
16:08:28.544455  fstat64           F=16                                                                                                                                                               0.000002   WindowServer.3945
16:08:28.544456  lseek             F=16   O=0x00000000         <SEEK_CUR>                                                                                                                             0.000001   WindowServer.3945
16:08:28.544489  read              F=16   B=0x4ecd9                                                                                                                                                   0.000032   WindowServer.3945

[waydabber]

Nice! Very useful to confirm that! Did not even think of checking this! 👍

[KrzysztofPrzygoda]

Feature request sent for „Display Overrides with DisplaySerialString” to Apple via Feedback Assistant app. However, without hope for positive effects (several years experience based sad Apple user/developer reality).

[tardis89]

Is there a way to do this with DisplayLink devices? I have 4 displays that are passed through two separate DisplayLink adapters. For a physical monitor that I have hooked up, I have an expandable "More system configuration options..." where I can rename the display with the "Edid system display name" option. However, with my 4 DisplayLink monitors, I do not have this option available and wondered if there was another way to get it working?

[waydabber]

No, since the DisplayLink displays are managed by the DisplayLink driver (they are virtual screens), the DL app should give an option to rename these displays.