M1 Pro and M1 Max MacBook Pro Owners Complain of Crashes Playing HDR YouTube Videos

[Pooneil]

Is there anything in common with the reboots, in terms of what you are doing when it freezes?

Not really. I am just using Safari. This evening I turned off anything that scans my Mac i.e. Clean My Mac, ClamXAV, and Malwarebytes. I MacBook even did a reboot with the cover closed and probably asleep. The console is not recording crashes.

 

[bradl]

I'm thinking it's the software as well. But unless I'm missing something, I do not think it is possible for this error to occur in anything other than Monterey, since all new MBPs ship with Monterey. Is it possible to move the OS backwards from Monterey to Big Sur using an earlier backup from another machine? Otherwise it's tough to eliminate hardware as a variable because everything is mutually exclusive. Apple's LR XDR display hardware is only available on M1 Pro silicon which only runs on Monterey. I still think there's likely to be a software solution, since this issue does not occur with HDR content displayed through other sources, ie. the TV app on macOS. Something with how these web browsers are rendering HDR content, or what the OS is doing with that information, is causing something to break.

True, but apparently someone above was able to reproduce this with their M1 iMac, which was released last year. Apparently they were running a beta version of 12.1. If so then the common link for this is Silicon, and Monterey.

So if someone has a Silicon Mac that was released last year, if they could reproduce this on Monterey, drop back down to Big Sur and NOT be able to reproduce this, then we would know that common links to causing the problem are Monterey, and Silicon.

That puts this as software being the problem, because whatever was working in Big Sur subsequently BROKE in Monterey, so they should be able to either fix the problem or revert the code that is causing the problem.

That's why the Big Sur test would tell us a lot.

BL.

 

[Realityck]

Not really. I am just using Safari. This evening I turned off anything that scans my Mac i.e. Clean My Mac, ClamXAV, and Malwarebytes. I MacBook even did a reboot with the cover closed and probably asleep. The console is not recording crashes.

I have a M1 Max that hasn't crashed at all, yes it doesn't do HDR currently. But just the fact that you got this other software installed instead of normal applications has me wondering if they aren't the cause. Seriously clean My Mac and two AV programs. Do you have Safari extensions also running attributed to utility programs?

The problem with some of these utilities are they are frequent causes of issues as seen on Mac Rumors. I might use one of these to scan, but never allow it to run background or within a application like safari.

You just might have to back your computer up and have apple staff do a DFU restore (wipe, redo FW/OS) then use migration assistant to selectively install only applications, not utilities.
Yes I have been zinged by allowing Migration Assistant to reinstall everything, sometimes you do copy your problems to a fresh system.

 

[TooManyNotes]

True, but apparently someone above was able to reproduce this with their M1 iMac, which was released last year. Apparently they were running a beta version of 12.1. If so then the common link for this is Silicon, and Monterey.

Yeah I noticed that too, but I don't think the M1 iMacs have XDR displays and certainly don't hit the same levels of peak brightness, so it wouldn't be an Apples to Apples comparison.

So if someone has a Silicon Mac that was released last year, if they could reproduce this on Monterey, drop back down to Big Sur and NOT be able to reproduce this, then we would know that common links to causing the problem are Monterey, and Silicon.

This is something I've always wondered. So it is possible to roll back the OS from a time machine backup?

 

[Pooneil]

Thanks. Can I not simply install the suspected apps?

 

[Pooneil]

I have a M1 Max that hasn't crashed at all, yes it doesn't do HDR currently. But just the fact that you got this other software installed instead of normal applications has me wondering if they aren't the cause. Seriously clean My Mac and two AV programs. Do you have Safari extensions also running attributed to utility programs?

The problem with some of these utilities are they are frequent causes of issues as seen on Mac Rumors. I might use one of these to scan, but never allow it to run background or within a application like safari.

You just might have to back your computer up and have apple staff do a DFU restore (wipe, redo FW/OS) then use migration assistant to selectively install only applications, not utilities.
Yes I have been zinged by allowing Migration Assistant to reinstall everything, sometimes you do copy your problems to a fresh system.

Thanks. Can I not simply uninstall the suspected programs?

 

[Realityck]

Thanks. Can I not simply install the suspected apps?

Yes you can, just look online also and see their instructions to fully remove the utilities. What you are trying to do is if Safari is crashing as a example is to make sure there are no extensions involved. Occasionally some update to a utility will introduce issue. Even my logic G Hub (used for a gaming mouse) had occasionally had issues. Hope you find the cause of these crashes by eliminated possibilities.

 

[Pooneil]

Yes you can, just look online also and see their instructions to fully remove the utilities. What you are trying to do is if Safari is crashing as a example is to make sure there are no extensions involved. Occasionally some update to a utility will introduce issue. Even my logic G Hub (used for a gaming mouse) had occasionally had issues. Hope you find the cause of these crashes by eliminated possibilities.

Thank you!!

 

[cvince]

Just got my 16" M1Pro (not Max) replacement and can at least confirm that HDR is still disabled by default in Safari and Chrome. The machine arrived with 12.0.1 preinstalled, so I cannot test for whether the update changed it. Are you sure your brother isn't still on 12.0?

Update: I changed the user agent to Windows/Chrome and tried watching a Jacob Schwartz HDR video on YT. Got my new machine to crash on the very first try! Pretty much confirms this isn't a Pro vs. Max issue as it's happened to me now with both.

Previous machine: M1 Max 10/32 32GB 1TB
Current machine: M1 Pro 10/16 32GB 2TB

Thanks for the update!

Here's where it gets strange. My brother switched to 12.0.1 and it still works for him. As someone speculated earlier, there might be some sort of machine ID or something beyond the user agent string that makes Google farm out non-HDR content to our computers. Still odd though, since this is a decoder issue.

Switching user agent to windows/chrome also does NOT make my mac crash.

 

[TooManyNotes]

Switching user agent to windows/chrome also does NOT make my mac crash.

That's because you aren't trying hard enough ?... in all seriousness, have you tried following the instructions previously posted of keeping the video windowed and slowly scrolling until the video scrolls past the menu bar? It may take a few tries. Re: your brother, something he should try is loading an HDR video in one browser and an SD version of the same video in another browser and do a comparison side by side to make sure the HDR video is truly playing in HDR, or if they look the same. I recall that for me at one point that Chrome was showing the "HDR" label below the video but it was actually playing in SDR.

 

[cvince]

True, but apparently someone above was able to reproduce this with their M1 iMac, which was released last year. Apparently they were running a beta version of 12.1. If so then the common link for this is Silicon, and Monterey.

So if someone has a Silicon Mac that was released last year, if they could reproduce this on Monterey, drop back down to Big Sur and NOT be able to reproduce this, then we would know that common links to causing the problem are Monterey, and Silicon.

That puts this as software being the problem, because whatever was working in Big Sur subsequently BROKE in Monterey, so they should be able to either fix the problem or revert the code that is causing the problem.

That's why the Big Sur test would tell us a lot.

BL.

If I (or anyone else) gets to Costco or a non-apple store that demos macs, there might be M1 macs that aren't updated to Monterey.

Once there, it'd be interesting to check these things:
1) Screenshot of User Agent strings
2) Screenshot of OS version.
3) Make/model/CPU of mac.
4) Whether HDR content works (obviously)
5) Anything else you guys find interesting?

 

[bradl]

Yeah I noticed that too, but I don't think the M1 iMacs have XDR displays and certainly don't hit the same levels of peak brightness, so it wouldn't be an Apples to Apples comparison.

This is something I've always wondered. So it is possible to roll back the OS from a time machine backup?

For the iMac, yes. I mean, on my mid-2011 13" MBA, it came with Lion. So Iv'e gone through Lion, Mountain Lion, Mavericks, Yosemite, El Capitan, and Sierra. When jumping to each one, I made a TM backup of my Mac each time before blowing my Mac away and doing an install from a USB stick. I went to High Sierra, which crashed almost every other minute, so I blew that away, reinstalled Sierra, restored everything else from TM backup, and off I've been on Sierra ever since.

In this case, if you create a USB install stick, you'd simply TM backup the iMac, boot to the USB stick, reformat the drive, and install. It would prompt if you'd want to use TM to restore the data, so answer that appropriately, and you're back on Big Sur.

If they try the test there, and the test fails (read: can not reproduce the problem), then software is the problem.

If they try the test there, and the test succeeds (read: can reproduce the problem), then Silicon would be the problem.

BL.

 

[cvince]

That's because you aren't trying hard enough ?... in all seriousness, have you tried following the instructions previously posted of keeping the video windowed and slowly scrolling until the video scrolls past the menu bar? It may take a few tries. Re: your brother, something he should try is loading an HDR video in one browser and an SD version of the same video in another browser and do a comparison side by side to make sure the HDR video is truly playing in HDR, or if they look the same. I recall that for me at one point that Chrome was showing the "HDR" label below the video but it was actually playing in SDR.

It was definitely HDR. The saxophone in this

is particularly blinding, and the HDR kung-foo of these macs is so strong, the contrast between the video and page content are very obvious (like the white page is probably half the brightness of the sky footage, or HDR highlights in the video)

 

[TooManyNotes]

It was definitely HDR. The saxophone in this is particularly blinding, and the HDR kung-foo of these macs is so strong, the contrast between the video and page content are very obvious (like the white page is probably half the brightness of the sky footage, or HDR highlights in the video)

Got it, thanks for confirming. Just trying to rule out all possibilities here. Very hard to understand how YT is detecting configuration differences and controlling deployment in such a way.

FWIW, I probably didn't test this issue with my new machine in the most scientific manner. When I got it, I restored from a TM backup taken from my previous M1 16" which was having this issue. If the issue is software-related, I suppose it is possible that something about my previous software configuration is a factor. I probably should have setup the new machine as a blank slate first to test things out. Anyone think it would be worth the effort to try this now? I would have to wipe my machine, setup everything as new, then restore from TM backup again later. It would be a pain and I'd rather not do it if superfluous.

 

[pst23]

Just got my 16" M1Pro (not Max) replacement and can at least confirm that HDR is still disabled by default in Safari and Chrome. The machine arrived with 12.0.1 preinstalled, so I cannot test for whether the update changed it. Are you sure your brother isn't still on 12.0?

Update: I changed the user agent to Windows/Chrome and tried watching a Jacob Schwartz HDR video on YT. Got my new machine to crash on the very first try! Pretty much confirms this isn't a Pro vs. Max issue as it's happened to me now with both.

Previous machine: M1 Max 10/32 32GB 1TB
Current machine: M1 Pro 10/16 32GB 2TB

I was going to try exchanging today guess it’s pointless.

 

[GyroFX]

I was going to try exchanging today guess it’s pointless.

yep, i still have mine. I just don't scroll if I want to watch HDR content, which I rarely do. I mainly use an external monitor but it crashes all the same. I'm just waiting for the OS updates. I wonder if they're still trying to figure out how they can fix this issue

 

[Crazy Badger]

Does this happen on latest the Safari Technology Preview?

 

[pst23]

Just got my 16" M1Pro (not Max) replacement and can at least confirm that HDR is still disabled by default in Safari and Chrome. The machine arrived with 12.0.1 preinstalled, so I cannot test for whether the update changed it. Are you sure your brother isn't still on 12.0?

Update: I changed the user agent to Windows/Chrome and tried watching a Jacob Schwartz HDR video on YT. Got my new machine to crash on the very first try! Pretty much confirms this isn't a Pro vs. Max issue as it's happened to me now with both.

Previous machine: M1 Max 10/32 32GB 1TB
Current machine: M1 Pro 10/16 32GB 2TB

Hdr is now an option in chrome. Crashed on first try.

 

[MBP14SAD]

Saturday 04DEC2021, posting from East Coast USA.

My previous messages are on Posts #261,280,323,377,387,389 and I’m a newbie so there may be an easy way to find my previous posts… but #261 gives most info.

Machine config, both initial and replacement: MBP 14inch, M1 MAX, 10CPU/24GPU/32GB/1TB

RECAP: virgin machine, OS 12, Safari 2160/4K/HDR… boom, crash, panic, reproducible.
Update to OS 12.0.1, Safari 2160/4K/HDR….boom, crash, panic, reproducible
Open case with Apple…. AC2 used for DFU RESTORE from my M1 MBA….boom, crash, panic, reproducible….. 

Returned machine to Apple for replacement

Replacement machine arrived Wednesday with OS12.0.1 already installed… Safari 15.1 (17612.2.9.1.20)…. So .. straight to YT and no HDR available to Safari… enabled the “DEVELOP” menu in Safari and back to YT… no HDR
Safari/DEVELOP/User Agent = Google Chrome Windows… YT 2160/4K/HDR worked…..boom, crash, panic. 
Safari/DEVELOP/User Agent = MSFT Edge…. YT 2160/4K/HDR….. boom, crash, panic…
So… basically, 2nd machine straight out of box has same behavior

Enroll in PUBLIC BETA program for Monterey OS.
Install Monterey 12.1 BETA 4 (21C5045a) which included Safari 15.2 (17612.3.6.1.4)
Shut down, reboot, check for updates (none) head back to YT… for more HDR trials
Safari User Agent = DEFAULT…. No HDR on YT
Safari User Agent = Google Chrome Windows.. YT 2160/4K/HDR…. SUCCESSSSSSS… tried for 2 days to make it fail, and I failed…. It worked with every different HDR video that crashed it before…
Safari User Agent = MSFT EDGE… YT 2160/4K/HDR…. AGAIN SUCCESSSSSSS… tried to make it fail, and again I failed…. It worked with every different HDR video that crashed it before…. With Agent EDGE, I got a warning from Safari I was using an outdated profile, but no weird happenings.

SO – Monterey 12.1 B4 with Safari 15.2 was stable, and although I could ONLY get HDR using the non-Safari User Agent, I had zero crashing…. But wait, there is more…
Unenrolled machine from Public Beta…. Used my M1 MBA and AC2…. Did full RFU RESTORE (only way to get back to the official release of Monterey OS) and yep… headed to YT…
Official released Monterey 12.0.1/Safari 15.1/YT with User Agent Google Windows/HDR… crash, boom, panic….REPRODUCIBLE…

So it is clear there is some sensitivity in some machines that makes them unhappy with YT HDR, and it can be addressed by SW update from Apple. I still have NO IDEA if this behavior is caused by HW/FW/SW… but the machine was rock solid with OS12.1B4/Safari 15.2.

I have about 10 days left in my 14day return window (I’m trading in my M1 MBA, which only has a 14day trade-in window) so I’ll play a little more, but I’m feeling like I will keep this HW and just wait for the official release of OS12.1/SF15.2….

Open to recommendations from the Forum..

 

[macpeterr]

Could it not have to do with external displays?
I am migrating from a retina 2015 MBP to my new 16" 2021 M1 MBP. Transferring files (not using migration assistant because does want old settings, libs of deinstalled apps to be migrated) repeatedly crashed my M1 MBP.
After multiple attempts I disconnected my LG 5K monitor and tried again.. seems to have resolved the crash issue.

 

[pst23]

Could it not have to do with external displays?
I am migrating from a retina 2015 MBP to my new 16" 2021 M1 MBP. Transferring files (not using migration assistant because does want old settings, libs of deinstalled apps to be migrated) repeatedly crashed my M1 MBP.
After multiple attempts I disconnected my LG 5K monitor and tried again.. seems to have resolved the crash issue.

No

 

[pst23]

Today on chrome HDR option is gone.

Now, Safari, Edge, Chrome highest YouTube playback resolution on HDR videos is 4320 8K

 

[TooManyNotes]

Open to recommendations from the Forum..

Awesome summary of testing, thank you. My recommendation is to keep the machine; at least that is what I am doing. I tried the replacement route and it did not help, same as you. Whether the issue is primarily HW or SW, I am fairly confident it will be fixed with SW. Your experience with Monterey 12.1 B4 gives me great hope!

 

[MBP14SAD]

Awesome summary of testing, thank you. My recommendation is to keep the machine; at least that is what I am doing. I tried the replacement route and it did not help, same as you. Whether the issue is primarily HW or SW, I am fairly confident it will be fixed with SW. Your experience with Monterey 12.1 B4 gives me great hope!

Thanks for the feedback and I am strongly inclined to keep the machine given its stable behavior with 12.1B4... In a perfect world Apple would have replied and OS12.1 would be released in a couple of days and I could try the official release within my trade-in time window... so........ for now, I am preparing a clean SSD to make a virgin, full TimeMachine backup of my MBA and will most likely keep the MBP14 and despatch the MBA. I really like the MBP14 and having my SD card reader and HDMI back is really good !! Good luck with your machine and I expect with 12.1 GM we will both be able to put this fiasco behind us.

 

[Jazmodo]

Just found this thread. Add another name to the list.

Forced AV1 codec through Youtube on Chrome to get Rec.2020, multiple crashes have ensued whilst trying to watch content.

It seems Netflix doesn't even attempt to stream 4K either (shift+ctrl+opt+D when viewing Netflix content) - is this related, or a Netflix issue/constraint?
Edit: It seems Netflix works in HDR on Safari, but not on Chrome. So a compatibility issue with Chrome perhaps?