Flickering dock when enabling "advanced display control" while IntelliJ IDEA is running (IntelliJ bug, see details for workaround)

[alex-necula]

Hi,
I'm using a MacBook Pro 16 2021 with a 2K Samsung display and when the "advanced display control" option is enabled, the dock on the MacBook monitor constantly flickers (without moving the mouse). The dock on the external display does not manifest such behaviour.

Disabling the option or disconnecting the external display solves this issue. I am using native smooth scrolling. I've tried disabling multiple options from the tabs but the general one (advanced display control) is the only one fixing it.

Currently I'm using MonitorControl for the extra brightness control features, which does not have this bug.
Is this a known issue?

[waydabber]

Hi @alex-necula - sorry for not responding to this. No, this is not a known issue, did not encounter this so far. Can you please try the following:

• if you change the brightness via the slider, does it have any effect?
• if you turn off Enable XDR brightness upscale for the display, does the flickering go away?
• if you turn off Enable software-based video adjustments do you see any difference?

It is important to change these settings under the built-in display (probably "Color LCD").

Thank you!

[alex-necula]

Apologies for the delay. I have tried manually disabling each of those options, but with no effect. The only thing that seems to have effect is globally disabling "advanced display control". I also tried recording it but the flickering is not visible on the recording.

Changing the brightness seems to have no effect. Also, disconnecting the external display fixes the issue.

I am using latest version 1.2.8

[waydabber]

Hmm. This is super weird. What happens if you let Advanced display control on but disable Enable color table manipulation on all your connected display (internal and external) and restart the app? Does the flickering happen that way as well?

Sorry for burdening you with experiments like this, just want to understand the issue better. :)

[alex-necula]

Have been testing this for a few days. I'm not really sure what causes it. Enabling/disabling color table manipulation doesn't do anything. The flickering doesn't happen all the time, however when it does, it stops immediately after disabling "advanced display control"

[waydabber]

Interesting. Did you disable color table manipulation on all displays?

You can also try toggling Disable continuos XDR upscaling readiness under Advanced and see if that changes anything. or check if the problem is present when you increase the brightness of the macbook screen beyond 100% or employ any kind of changes under More Options / Color Adjustments for the macbook screen.

Also, can you make a video of the dock with your phone maybe so I better understand how does it look like?

[alex-necula]

Yes, I have tried enabling/disabling all the options.
It does not happen all the time, I'm not sure what triggers it, but closing BetterDisplay or disabling Advanced display control fixes it.

flicker.mov

[waydabber]

Hmm. I see that IntelliJ running when this is happening (I don't see any effect on the video but I presume it is happening). It is know to have an issue with the macbook display when EDR mode is active - #909. Maybe this somehow has an effect on the dock?

[alex-necula]

Indeed, it seems that closing IntelliJ solves the issue. Thanks for linking this issue.

[waydabber]

Hi, IntelliJ acknowledged the issue. They also offer a temporary workaround until there is a permanent fix:

https://youtrack.jetbrains.com/issue/JBR-4680

note: thanks to #909 (comment)