Flashing white line at the very top of the screen
I have my 8 cameras running in full screen (using the new fab layout feature) running on my Mac mini 2018.
When in full screen there is a white line that constantly pulses atop the 1080p screen. I've tried SS on another monitor (same model, Acer) and it does it on that too.
A search online brings up this Reddit thread:
Is there a similar top line hack for SS? The white line thing doesn't happen with any other app I've tried.
To be clear: it's not screen flashing or flickering, just that singular line.
Many thanks, Robbie
Comments
Hi Robbie, this is not something we've seen before or had reported by any user, so I'm not immediately sure what it could be! Could you please post a screenshot here so that we can see what you are describing. Or, if you don't want to post this publicly, email it to us at support@bensoftware.com and we'll help you with this issue directly. Can you also please describe what exactly you mean by "pulses" - so it's not a constant white line, but it changes colour/shade somehow?
Hi Ben
By pulses I mean a thin white line appears the horizonal width of the very top of the screen. It then vanishes for a second. (My screen's wallpaper is solid black.) Then the white line appears for another second. Then it vanishes. Repeat the entire time the SS window is full screen.
I'll try to take a screengrab tomorrow, if not a photo. Not worried about privacy since I'll trim the image accordingly.
Rather amateur hour, I'm afraid Ben. I couldn't get a full screen snapshot so I took a couple of snaps with my iPhone.
This is a full screen view of the SS window. No white line.
And every second this white line blinks on and then off.
Actually ... I don't think I captured the white line.... Hang on ....
I thought so.
The blinking white line. It vanishes. Then it's back. Then it vanishes.
Thanks for the screenshots. This is strange! Can I just clarify exactly how you are entering full-screen mode: is this via the "Full Screen Mode" item in the Window menu (Command-F), or by clicking the green button at the top-left of the window?
Please try both these methods - it's possible that one will exhibit this issue while the other does not.
Also, what macOS system version are you running? Some forum chatter indicates this is could be a Big Sur issue specifically.
macOS Ventura: 13.3.1 (a)
Note:
o I have two identical Acer 1080p monitors attached.
o I have the Desktop & Dock setting: "Displays have separate Spaces" turned on.
o Each display only has one Space.
I typically go full screen by clicking on the round green window button on the window title bar.
Using Command-F: one monitor displays FOUR of the EIGHT cameras that I have set up in the SS group window layout. The other monitor displays: "Right-click to add cameras". A white line is not visible (and thus does not blink). I tried Command-F with both the "Displays have separate Spaces" turned OFF. Again, four of the eight cameras on one monitor, with the other monitor displaying:
However, clicking on the green title bar circle button while "Displays have separate Spaces" turned OFF, results in SS showing four of the eight cameras on one display and a blank screen on the other and no "Right-click to add cameras" message, which I guess is what you expected?
I did log out and back in each time I changed settings.
In case it's helpful, my group window layout is as follows:
Honestly, Ben, this doesn't overly bother me. A blinking white line is hardly that important, but I thought it might be worth sharing if there was a simple fix or something I'd missed. And if there isn't, no biggie.
This is interesting. The green-button full-screen mode is handled entirely by macOS, so we don't have a lot of control over this.
Conversely, the Command-F full-screen mode is created by SecuritySpy. One advantage of this is that you can have different displays on different monitors (compared to the macOS full-screen mode, where the window will expand to just one monitor, with the others being blank).
So my recommendation here would be to use the Command-F full screen mode, and to set this up to display the cameras you want with the layout you want. As the on-screen note in your screenshot indicates, you can right-click on each screen to add/remove cameras, and also to customise the display to set some cameras larger than others.
I'd recommend that you turn OFF the option "Displays have separate Spaces".
I hope this will be a good solution for you.
Thanks Ben.
Just offering closure on this topic: I noticed one day, while running SecuritySpy version 5 and macOS Sonoma that the pulsing line had stopped flashing. It's now a solid white line in full screen. But that's less distracting. 😀
And it's the same in SecuritySpy 6. So all is well.