Same here, the Netflix stopped showing 4k although it worked before. Now it shows only 1080p in safari but with HDR/Dolby vision
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M1 Pro and M1 Max MacBook Pro Owners Complain of Crashes Playing HDR YouTube Videos
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Interesting, so you both are able to watch (1080p) HDR/DolbyVision on Netflix without any crashing? Is it possible to watch a video non-fullscreen and slowly scroll down until the video disappears behind the toolbar? Not sure if there's enough content on the page to do that...
Good news, guys and gals. According to this article it's confirmed that Monterey 12.1 includes a fix for our panicking MacBooks. And I quote:
This release also includes bug fixes for your Mac:
This release also includes bug fixes for your Mac:
- Desktop and Screen Saver may appear blank after selecting photos from the Photos library
- Trackpad could become unresponsive to taps or clicks
- External displays may not charge some MacBook Pro and MacBook Air computers when connected using Thunderbolt or USB-C
- HDR video playback on YouTube.com could cause 2021 MacBook Pro computers to panic
- Menu bar extras may be obscured by the camera housing on 2021 MacBook Pro computers
- MagSafe may stop charging on 2021 16-inch MacBook Pro computers when lid is closed and system is shut down
I'm having the problem playing video on Hulu and Amazon Prime. The video freezes periodically, then plays for a while, then freezes. This happens a few times and then I get a hard freeze of the whole system. Often it logs me out and I have to enter my password again.
MacBook Pro 16 inch just received Dec. 8
16 GB RAM, 1 TB hard drive.
MacBook Pro 16 inch just received Dec. 8
16 GB RAM, 1 TB hard drive.
I had a similar crash yesterday - different to the Kernal Panic from Youtube though it seems.
Did the system generate an error report? Mine didn't, which is odd & different.
I was playing HDR video (using the Infuse app) on the macbook screen, and had chrome open on a usb-c monitor. Similar screen freezes across both screens, but audio playback continued. Then the system black screened, and came up asking for my password, and all apps were closed, but no error report...
Interesting. Mine didn't generate an error report either and it also behaved like yours: The screen froze but audio continued, then the startup screen appeared asking for my password.
I just got this Macbook Pro and I'm not at all happy. I think it's a hardware problem.
It’s not your hardware. Monterey and Apple software in general is a mess right now and I’m not happy either. Let’s wait for 12.1 to come out, hopefully both your issue and mine will be addressed.
Dunno about that. My 2019 MacBook Pro 15 inch running Monterey was rock solid. I'm going to call the reseller and see if I can return this.
Interesting indeed... I've made sure to log all the issues so far with Apple.
If it was just the above described Youtube HDR issue, I'd be less concerned, but this was a different issue, also crashing the machine.
I also cannot output audio via HDMI (I get a terrible digital echo) - no one else seems to have this issue though, so for me at least, I may have a lemon.
I understand your concern but considering your description of the problem, I don't see how hardware could be logging you out of macOS. I also don't think your experience with Monterey on your 2019 MBP is indicative of anything, as code is written and utilized in different ways depending upon the type of hardware running it. Just my opinion, good luck either way.
Well I upgraded to 12.01 and for a couple of hours there was no problem. Just now, though, I had another freeze. I haven't decided whether to keep the computer or not.
Monterey 12.1 has just been released. I just upgraded and (so far) cannot get my system to crash playing HDR on YouTube. Woo hoo! Not sure if it will fix your issue, but worth a try.
Upgraded to 12.1 here too.
Torture-tested it in chrome with AV1 preferred: 3 Displays (2x 4k monitors + laptop 16" macbook screen), running 3 independant 8k streams, all in HDR.
Activity monitor registered upwards of 650% CPU utilisation - tried full screen, fast/slow scroll in comments - no crashes. Ran like **** though, unsurprisingly ?
Not the point though, at least no more crashes/kernel panic it seems, great stuff.
Torture-tested it in chrome with AV1 preferred: 3 Displays (2x 4k monitors + laptop 16" macbook screen), running 3 independant 8k streams, all in HDR.
Activity monitor registered upwards of 650% CPU utilisation - tried full screen, fast/slow scroll in comments - no crashes. Ran like **** though, unsurprisingly ?
Not the point though, at least no more crashes/kernel panic it seems, great stuff.
Apple doesn’t have hardware acceleration for av1, just wait a few days and Google will enable HDR again for VP9
Yeah absolutely, completely agree.
I'm just trying to stress the system/push it to the edge - the idea is you should get, at the very worst, a soft crash of the app.
The hard crash was a bug that's hopefully now been fixed, which is great. VP9 HDR on Safari & Chrome soon!
Was that 12.01 or 12.1? Was it freeze with no report like before? Or this HDR Youtube issue?
FWIW, my machine would easily crash on 12.0.1 using Safari and Chrome/Windows as the user agent. Was it not using VP9 in that case? Regardless, it does not crash now.
I have a new Macbook Pro 16-inch with 16 GB of RAM and I'm having weird crashes while watching videos on Firefox. Happens on Hulu's site, Amazon Prime and Netflix. These things happen seemingly randomly: screen freezes but audio continues, then the screen unfreezes and playback continues normally. Sometimes the cursor just freezes for a few seconds, this can happen in any app. And sometimes the video freezes and the startup screen appears and I have to log in again. During the freezes, the cursor is frozen; I can sometimes invoke 'force quit' but I can't select the app to force quit. I've had a couple of instances where I had to force a shutdown and restart.
Some 14 and 16-inch MacBook Pro owners have been experiencing kernel crashes when watching HDR YouTube videos, according to a number of complaints on the MacRumors forums.
As explained by MacRumors reader Cababah, watching an HDR YouTube video in Safari and then scrolling through the comments results in a kernel error on macOS Monterey 12.0.1. Watching YouTube in full screen and then and exiting full screen mode can also cause the error, and it may be primarily affecting 16GB machines, though 32GB/64GB models can also be affected.
Other MacRumors readers were able to replicate the error, which appears to happen after watching a few YouTube videos. From MacRumors reader spiritedaway:
From MacRumors reader Sam.b1:Some MacBook Pro owners speculate that it's an issue with AV1 decoding, but it is not yet clear what the specific problem is or if it's something that can be fixed in a software update. Not all MacBook Pro owners are seeing this issue, but we were able to replicate it in our own testing.
The macOS Monterey 12.1 beta may fix the problem as some users are reporting improved performance after updating. If you're experiencing the same issue with YouTube, let us know in the comments.
Article Link: M1 Pro and M1 Max MacBook Pro Owners Complain of Crashes Playing HDR YouTube Videos
The curious thing is none of these events have elicited an error report.
I updated to 12.0.1 and for a few hours I thought the problem was solved. But after running video for a while, the freezes started up again.
I'm going to return the computer and wait for Monterey/M1 to get ready for primetime.
Why not try upgrading to 12.1 before returning your machine? Let us know if it helps.
Looks like YouTube is again serving HDR to Safari under macOS 12.1. No need for the "user agent" trick. At least not at my location (USA Pacific NW).
Yep. After upgrading to 12.1 HDR is enabled for me as well in Safari. And even better, I cannot get it to crash anymore 
same problem (youtube, netlfix, disney+), i also initialized the mac, but it keeps doing it.
this problem is very serious for a mac of this power
Exactly the same on my 16" MBP M1 MAX 64Gb 8Tb. I cannot work if the screen randomly freezes, the fan goes to full power and then the MBP reboots. I lose anything I was working on and that's not acceptable. I returned it (Early-Jan '22) and was given a full refund.
Video of a freeze, fan boost and reboot
Apple said read the user postings and come back after a few months when there has been an OS update and the issue is resolved.
Video of a freeze, fan boost and reboot
Apple said read the user postings and come back after a few months when there has been an OS update and the issue is resolved.
Seems like anything Apple makes these days turns to junk.. while the M1 is nice, kinda like how PowerPC made the Mac feel like one and think differently, the M1 is cool, but the new Macs are built like Junk.