Keyboard Volume Controls Not Working w/ Samsung Viewfinity S9

[joekwon]

BetterDisplay reports the monitor as supporting DDC Volume, however the volume up/down/mute keyboard controls do not work (Apple Magic Keyboard on M1 iMac).

Display Info:

[waydabber]

Hi there - the app does not detect but assumes compatibility (detection is often somewhat unreliable) if the connection otherwise supports it. Afaik the Samsung Viewfinity S9 does not support DDC at all. You simply need to turn of DDC support in the app for the display.

Sorry for the confusion this might have caused.

[joekwon]

no worries, it's a great app still!

[cyformatician]

I have the same monitor coupled with an LG 32un880 used with a mac pro 5,1 ... The way I manage both monitor volumes is by using an app called loopback and feed both monitor audio sources, with their hardware-level volumes manually set at 35, into a main audio device which is controllable by the OS and BetterDisplay.

I recommend you adjust the samsung monitor's audio preferences from the monitor's menu to match up the sound quality/level to any other monitor/s you may be using.

Cheers

[joekwon]

Thank you! I actually came up with a similar solution using SoundSource by the same company that makes loopback. however I hadn't concerned matching volumes so that's a great tip!

[ghost]

@joekwon how did you solve the issue with SoundSource? #2900

[popcornhax]

Looks like DisplayBuddy just added support for Samsung monitors by connecting over WiFi. I don't have a Samsung Monitor and have no skin in this game, but I found it interesting. This could be a feature request for BetterDisplay.

https://displaybuddy.app/blog/2024-05-22/control-samsung-smart-monitor-from-mac

[waydabber]

Nice - it's good to see ppl innovating! I'd be happy to add the feature but I don't have a Samsung Smart monitor either. :) But let's add this to the enhancement list.

[waydabber]

It is using this: http://sc0ty.pl/2012/02/samsung-tv-network-remote-control-protocol/

The problem is that it's just using the remote codes, so brightness, contrast etc. control is not available. However you can control volume, input source. It should work with any Samsung TVs in general. I was planning to add some mainstream TV and AV controller remote support for a while but due to its limited nature it wasn't a high priority so far + I'd need a TV for each brand to experiment which is somewhat of an issue. Also, there are various third party TV control apps out there already.

These keycodes are available (source: https://github.com/luvaihassanali/SamsungRemote/blob/master/SamsungRemote/SamsungRemote.cs):

        public static string NUM0 { get => "KEY_0"; }
        public static string NUM1 { get => "KEY_1"; }
        public static string NUM2 { get => "KEY_2"; }
        public static string NUM3 { get => "KEY_3"; }
        public static string NUM4 { get => "KEY_4"; }
        public static string NUM5 { get => "KEY_5"; }
        public static string NUM6 { get => "KEY_6"; }
        public static string NUM7 { get => "KEY_7"; }
        public static string NUM8 { get => "KEY_8"; }
        public static string NUM9 { get => "KEY_9"; }
        public static string POWER { get => "KEY_POWER"; }
        public static string SOURCE { get => "KEY_SOURCE"; }
        public static string PLUS100 { get => "KEY_PLUS100"; } // DASH/MINUS "-" button
        public static string PRECH { get => "KEY_PRECH"; }
        public static string VOLUP { get => "KEY_VOLUP"; }
        public static string VOLDOWN { get => "KEY_VOLDOWN"; }
        public static string MUTE { get => "KEY_MUTE"; }
        public static string CH_LIST { get => "KEY_CH_LIST"; }
        public static string CHDOWN { get => "KEY_CHDOWN"; }
        public static string CHUP { get => "KEY_CHUP"; }
        public static string HOME { get => "KEY_HOME"; }
        public static string GUIDE { get => "KEY_GUIDE"; }
        public static string LEFT { get => "KEY_LEFT"; }
        public static string UP { get => "KEY_UP"; }
        public static string RIGHT { get => "KEY_RIGHT"; }
        public static string DOWN { get => "KEY_DOWN"; }
        public static string ENTER { get => "KEY_ENTER"; }
        public static string RETURN { get => "KEY_RETURN"; }
        public static string EXIT { get => "KEY_EXIT"; }
        public static string MENU { get => "KEY_MENU"; } // SETTINGS button
        public static string INFO { get => "KEY_INFO"; }
        public static string SUB_TITLE { get => "KEY_SUB_TITLE"; } // CC/VD button
        public static string STOP { get => "KEY_STOP"; }
        public static string REWIND { get => "KEY_REWIND"; }
        public static string FF { get => "KEY_FF"; }
        public static string PLAY { get => "KEY_PLAY"; }
        public static string PAUSE { get => "KEY_PAUSE"; }
        public static string RED { get => "KEY_RED"; }
        public static string GREEN { get => "KEY_GREEN"; }
        public static string YELLOW { get => "KEY_YELLOW"; }
        public static string CYAN { get => "KEY_CYAN"; }

[cyformatician]

So I've just installed DisplayBuddy and ran several tests on my S9, and I wasn't impressed - here's why:

• App uses filters to control brightness / contrast which is bad for picture quality - not just on my S9, but also on my 32" LG HDR 4K which is supposedly being controlled via DDC ... at least with BetterDisplay, the LG is controllable with no impact to picture quality
• Reading current display contrast/brightness values doesn't seem to work on either my S9 or LG ... Shows full bar on my S9 when brightness is 1 and no bar on my LG when it's at 53%
• Only thing that works (from the tests I ran) is the volume control, but only from the dropdown menu ... using the keyboard's (MX Keys S) volume controls, only the LG is controllable. I did not test the remote control feature so can't comment on that.

I'm sticking with BetterDisplay and my volume control workaround I posted about earlier. As for brightness / contrast on the S9, best to leave to the monitor's internal OS/controls to manage for optimal picture quality. The monitor has an ambient light sensor which works perfectly coupled with auto brightness optimization (sweet spot values are between 0 and 3).

Cheers