I am new to this forum, I tried to do a quick search for related existing discussions but could not find it, my apologies if it is already discussed somewhere else.
I bought a MAC Studio M2 Max thinking I could use it - amongst other things - as a kind of Home Theater "PC".
But, while getting acquainted with this MAC (my first encounter with Apple computers since Apple II in highschool
), I immidiately ran into a major problem. And while googling I found some HTPC related statements about MACs that worry me. So now I am considering to return the MAC because maybe I made a very bad choice.
First the major problem:
I can not set the refresh rate to 23.976 Hz (or a whole multiple of that).
(And similar for 29.970 and 59.940 Hz, I can only select the "round" numbers 24, 25, 30, 50, 60, 100, 120).
Of course resulting in horrible stutter when playing movies with 23.976 frame rate.
I have a Samsung Q80 series TV that supports it, and with my old low-end Dell laptop I have no problem with these refresh rates using this TV.
Question: Does anyone have 23.976 (or a whole multiple) working with the MAC Studio M2 Max?
Or does anyone know with certainty that this MAC does or does not support this refresh rate?
To my completely baffling surprise apple support doesn't seem able to answer above question.
By the way: using 120 Hz refresh rate gives a little improvement, but still doesn't look anywhere near okay. Plus it isn't an option because normally I use a HDMI splitter with several other devices connected that can not handle 120 Hz.
Now some things I read that worry me:
I read about MAC Mini M2 Pro that it can not output Atmos via HDMI (true or not?). How is this with the MAC Studio M2 Max?
And what about HDR support?
(Some extra information about my plans, and why a MAC Studio that may seem big overkill. I am interested in speaker virtualisation over headphones (also for watching movies with 3d surround sound). Not Apple's spatial sound, but using for example Virtuoso with my personal HRTF. My HRTF to be calculated with free software called Mesh2HRTF, from a 3d model of my head and ears, to be scanned by an apple iphone and manually corrected/prepared with 3d graphical software like Blender. For the use of Mesh2HRTF and Blender the computing power of the Studio would come in handy of course. And the fact that (as I understood it) MAC can decode Atmos to 16 channels of PCM, and is more suitable for routing 16 channels of audio compared to Windows pc's, and is silent and energy efficient, made me think the MAC Studio would be a good choice.
In my ideal dream scenario I hope to be able to send normal bitstreamed Atmos - for example Dolby True HD with Atmos - out over HDMI and simultaniously use 16 channels of decoded Atmos internally for Virtuoso or other applications. But that is not a must. However a minimal requirement for me is that I have both options to choose between.)
I bought a MAC Studio M2 Max thinking I could use it - amongst other things - as a kind of Home Theater "PC".
But, while getting acquainted with this MAC (my first encounter with Apple computers since Apple II in highschool
), I immidiately ran into a major problem. And while googling I found some HTPC related statements about MACs that worry me. So now I am considering to return the MAC because maybe I made a very bad choice.First the major problem:
I can not set the refresh rate to 23.976 Hz (or a whole multiple of that).
(And similar for 29.970 and 59.940 Hz, I can only select the "round" numbers 24, 25, 30, 50, 60, 100, 120).
Of course resulting in horrible stutter when playing movies with 23.976 frame rate.
I have a Samsung Q80 series TV that supports it, and with my old low-end Dell laptop I have no problem with these refresh rates using this TV.
Question: Does anyone have 23.976 (or a whole multiple) working with the MAC Studio M2 Max?
Or does anyone know with certainty that this MAC does or does not support this refresh rate?
To my completely baffling surprise apple support doesn't seem able to answer above question.
By the way: using 120 Hz refresh rate gives a little improvement, but still doesn't look anywhere near okay. Plus it isn't an option because normally I use a HDMI splitter with several other devices connected that can not handle 120 Hz.
Now some things I read that worry me:
I read about MAC Mini M2 Pro that it can not output Atmos via HDMI (true or not?). How is this with the MAC Studio M2 Max?
And what about HDR support?
(Some extra information about my plans, and why a MAC Studio that may seem big overkill. I am interested in speaker virtualisation over headphones (also for watching movies with 3d surround sound). Not Apple's spatial sound, but using for example Virtuoso with my personal HRTF. My HRTF to be calculated with free software called Mesh2HRTF, from a 3d model of my head and ears, to be scanned by an apple iphone and manually corrected/prepared with 3d graphical software like Blender. For the use of Mesh2HRTF and Blender the computing power of the Studio would come in handy of course. And the fact that (as I understood it) MAC can decode Atmos to 16 channels of PCM, and is more suitable for routing 16 channels of audio compared to Windows pc's, and is silent and energy efficient, made me think the MAC Studio would be a good choice.
In my ideal dream scenario I hope to be able to send normal bitstreamed Atmos - for example Dolby True HD with Atmos - out over HDMI and simultaniously use 16 channels of decoded Atmos internally for Virtuoso or other applications. But that is not a must. However a minimal requirement for me is that I have both options to choose between.)