Just as a pilot has a pre-flight checklist to ensure the plane is ready to fly we have created a general checklist for you to use prior to running PlaybackPro Plus X in a show.
Some settings are specific to the version of macOS you are using so please click the appropriate tab below.
Download Preflight for macOS Sonoma/Sequoia (14.x - 15.x)
All of the settings are found under System Preferences and should be changed prior to launching PlaybackPro Plus X.
Disable Display Mirroring
System Preferences
Right-click on image of display
Select "Stop Mirroring"
PlaybackPro Plus only works in Extended desktop mode.
The option to "Stop Mirroring" will only be available if the displays are actively mirroring.
Disable Displays Have Separate Spaces
System Preferences
Uncheck “Displays have separate Spaces”
If this setting is checked, some Mac and switcher combinations will produce black on all displays.
Disable Screen Saver and Lock Screen
System Preferences
Set all display settings to “Never”
Disable True Tone and Automatically Adjust Brightness
System Preferences
Uncheck “True Tone”
Uncheck “Automaticaly Adjust Brightness”
If your system supports True Tone, it is possible it will also adjust your external display, giving you unpredictable color on your output.
It is also possible for Automatic Brightness to try to adjust the brightness on your output.
Disable Night Shift
System Preferences
Select “Night Shift” from the bottom of the panel and then set the Schedule to “Off”.
Night Shift changes the colors of your monitor and can also change the colors on your output.
Disable System Audio Sounds
System Preferences
Uncheck “Play user interface sound effects”
Uncheck “Play feedback when audio is changed”
These settings mute all MacOS sounds.
System Preferences
Select your desired audio output on the Output tab
Disable Automatic Updates
System Preferences
Disable all automatic updates
Unanticipated software updates significatly impact system performance.
Disable Time Machine
System Preferences
Set Back up frequency to “Manually”
Continual backups can cause computer performance degradation and affect playback.
Disable Spotlight Indexing
System Preferences
Turn off MacOS Spotlight indexing for external drives
Indexing helps macOS locate files faster on a drive but it takes time and can slow down a system.
Disable File Vault
System Preferences
Confirm FileVault is disabled
FileVault is data encryption and is off by default. Encryption requires significant processing overhead and can impact playback performance. If your system has FileVault enabled, you need to check with the system admin before changing this setting.
Control Apps On Startup and Background Processes
System Preferences
Review apps loaded at startup and in the background
If possible, minimize the number of apps loaded at startup and that run in the background.
Enable Scroll Bars
System Preferences
Under “Show scroll bars”, select Always
Modern macOS versions hide scroll bars based on mouse or trackpad activity. It is helpful to always have them enabled when using PlaybackPro Plus.
Disable Clicking Wallpaper
Desktop and Dock
Under “Click wallpaper to reveal desktop”, select “Only in Stage Manager”.
If this is not checked, clicking anywhere on your desktop will temporarly pause playback.
Re-encoding Videos
If a file does not play well in PlaybackPro Plus, a quick solution can be to re-encode and rewrap the file in a .mov container. This can be done easily and in bulk from Finder by following these steps.
System Preferences
Check “Encode Selected Audio Files” and “Encode Selected Video Files”.
After the Encoding options are enabled, you can right-click on single or multiple files and batch encode them.
Select either h.264 or HEVC (h.265) with the highest resolution setting. Your videos will be encoded in their original resolution up to the highest setting.
Other transcoding software like Apple Compressor or Adobe Media Encoder can be very helpful to process playback content.
Our recommended codecs are Apple ProRes 422 (Standard), h.264 or h.265 in a .mov (preferred) or .mp4 container.
