Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
MBP TB can't play 4K h.265 files :(
- Thread starter iBrooker
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Because there are no current players which support the new ati cards/chips yer for hardware h265 playback. Wait for a vlc update or ping them a message on their forums.
Correct me if I'm wrong but I think this issue needs some clarification for some on WHY exactly it 'cant' play 4K HDR content (from Netflix). Your machine is not underpowered in any way, it is a limitation put in place for copyright protection by the content distributor? They rely on hardware recognition to verify some sort of piracy protection and that hardware they rely on is not present in skylake chip set's but is in Kaby lake? But 4K content not encoded with such protection is completely editable and playable otherwise?
If so this seemingly is not entirely unlike the first copyright protection built into HDMI a few years back. I recall days when i used to use my iPhone as a portable movie player all the time and suddenly particular TV's did not support me playing back my movies because of some sort of piracy conflict (even though they were all actually iTunes purchased files).
Again I'm not an expert on such matters but it seems a tad in error to blame Apple for such things when the hardware they are selling is technically capable but restricted due to iteration restrictions placed by a third party.
If so this seemingly is not entirely unlike the first copyright protection built into HDMI a few years back. I recall days when i used to use my iPhone as a portable movie player all the time and suddenly particular TV's did not support me playing back my movies because of some sort of piracy conflict (even though they were all actually iTunes purchased files).
Again I'm not an expert on such matters but it seems a tad in error to blame Apple for such things when the hardware they are selling is technically capable but restricted due to iteration restrictions placed by a third party.
Aw, but your explanation is so much less fun then yelling "I WISH STEVE JOBS WAS ALIVE, BOW YOUR HEAD IN SHAME BECAUSE TIM COOK SHOULD BE FIRED AND APPLE SUCKS".
Why use logic and reason when you can give into blind emotion!
The disappointing thing is that a £150 nvidia shieldtv android set top box running Kodi can hardware decode raw 4K bluray hevc, as well as pretty much anything else you can throw at it (4K hevc mkv files), while a £2.1K MacBook Pro 13" can't. You could argue that the screen resolution is sub 4K, and that it's not needed, but it's still amazing that a device this price cant manage many of the 4K files I can easily stream via my shieldtv. I love the MacBook, amazing user experience and browsing platform generally, macOS is fantastic, but seriously disappointing that it struggles with 4K decode. The fault is really with the embedded intel graphics, and I'm sure the 15" with discrete and gpu will manage it no problem.
and can we give the "if Steve was alive" a rest. I'm sure if he was alive, he would be tired of hearing it.
I reckon VLC and other players will be upgraded eventually to support this.
IMHO, i think Skylake processors are plenty powerful to handle software decoding of 4k h265 video. Of course hardware decode like in Kabylake would be ideal, but then the issue with the MBP would be.... TB3/USBC does not support (via HDMI or DP) 10-bit video output.
The reason I'm hopeful is because, I recently updated my RPi2, and even though there is 0 hardware support for h265 decoding, developers of LibreELEC have managed to implement it in software and it works pretty damn well.
Cheers
IMHO, i think Skylake processors are plenty powerful to handle software decoding of 4k h265 video. Of course hardware decode like in Kabylake would be ideal, but then the issue with the MBP would be.... TB3/USBC does not support (via HDMI or DP) 10-bit video output.
The reason I'm hopeful is because, I recently updated my RPi2, and even though there is 0 hardware support for h265 decoding, developers of LibreELEC have managed to implement it in software and it works pretty damn well.
Cheers
I've proven that you can in fact play a HEVC / H.265 / 10bit / 4K video on a Skylake Computer using VLC...the cpu CAN decode it.
VLC doesn't max out the cores and likely doesn't use the dGPU to it's potential either...so...
The complaining is a little premature, no? A software tweak could make all of this moot.
[doublepost=1483927132][/doublepost]
Software, not hardware, right?
VLC doesn't max out the cores and likely doesn't use the dGPU to it's potential either...so...
The complaining is a little premature, no? A software tweak could make all of this moot.
[doublepost=1483927132][/doublepost]
Software, not hardware, right?
i5 6600k will play 4K H.265 10bit video file with 1-3% CPU usage if you play it in Windows default video player.
If you play it in VLC it will max the CPU usage and play only the first few frames. PotPlayer manages to play the video but playback is really choppy and CPU is maxed, which makes the whole machine unusable.
Limiting 6600k to 2 cores, and setting turbo boost to 3.1GHz, we can roughly emulate the CPU in nTB MacBook Pro, in this case default Windows player manages to play the video file smoothly with 4-6% CPU usage, with occasional spikes to 15%.
Conclusion is that Skylake is more than capable of playing videos compressed with said codec, problem is on the software side.
edit: Conclusion is that I'm an idiot because I thought that video output is running from iGPU, forgetting that I put my GPU back inside this morning.
I have removed the GPU and rerun the playback with default Windows player, it maxed the CPU and was really choppy.
Last edited:
I'm surprised that Apple hasnt thrown its weight behind HEVC. I remember when they got on board the h264 bandwagon almost 10 years ago.
I realize that the licensing is an issue, but Apple, with its resources influence and technical expertise, should be able to figure it out.
In 2017, the codec should be included in macOS and iOS. (Personally, i'd rather they invest their resources and expertise in supporting the codec over 'features' like the touchbars and 3D touch, etc)
I realize that the licensing is an issue, but Apple, with its resources influence and technical expertise, should be able to figure it out.
In 2017, the codec should be included in macOS and iOS. (Personally, i'd rather they invest their resources and expertise in supporting the codec over 'features' like the touchbars and 3D touch, etc)
Ok posted a thread on the VLC forums: https://forum.videolan.org/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=137010
I wonder what they'll say
I wonder what they'll say
Yep, IINA ( https://lhc70000.github.io/iina/ ) same, but it's a great MediaPlayer based on mpv.
Btw. PlexMediaPlayer is also based on mpv.
How does playback look via bootcamp using Windows software?
PS>> FWIW http://nucblog.net/2016/01/skylake-nuc-review-nuc6i3syh-htpc-usage/
Note: It mentions OpenELEC, which has since been superseded by LibreELEC(as far as HEVC, IMHO)
[doublepost=1483994565][/doublepost]Oh and I cant overstate it, but even if the new MBPs *could* decode 10-bit HEVC at *any* resolution, neither the build-in display nor ANY external display would be able to use it.
I suspect "full" 10-bit support (ie processor/gpu, display and HDMI/DP) will make it into a future Mac. The current MBP doesn't seem to have the pieces to make it work in a meaningful way.
CORRECTION: It has been brought to my attention that ThunderBolt3 via DisplayPort 1.2 supports 4k 30-bit color @ 60 Hz
PS>> FWIW http://nucblog.net/2016/01/skylake-nuc-review-nuc6i3syh-htpc-usage/
Note: It mentions OpenELEC, which has since been superseded by LibreELEC(as far as HEVC, IMHO)
[doublepost=1483994565][/doublepost]Oh and I cant overstate it, but even if the new MBPs *could* decode 10-bit HEVC at *any* resolution, neither the build-in display nor ANY external display would be able to use it.
I suspect "full" 10-bit support (ie processor/gpu, display and HDMI/DP) will make it into a future Mac. The current MBP doesn't seem to have the pieces to make it work in a meaningful way.
CORRECTION: It has been brought to my attention that ThunderBolt3 via DisplayPort 1.2 supports 4k 30-bit color @ 60 Hz
Last edited:
The other really important thing here is that "HDR" doesn't really matter right now. 10-bit doesn't really matter right now. h265 doesn't really matter right now.
You can make absolutely beautiful 4K content packaged in h264 and 8-bit, and the files aren't unmanageably huge at all. I'm sure h265 files are better compressed, but if you've got a setup where you are watching 4K content, I'm sure you have the storage to keep the media.
I work with 8 bit 4K footage on a daily basis from the content creation side of things, and while I'm not saying there's zero difference, it's really not that big of a deal right now. It's kind of like these new P3 displays on recent Macs. Sure, it's a bit more colorful, but there was absolutely nothing wrong with the 2012-2015 15" Retina displays. They're still beautiful screens.
You can make absolutely beautiful 4K content packaged in h264 and 8-bit, and the files aren't unmanageably huge at all. I'm sure h265 files are better compressed, but if you've got a setup where you are watching 4K content, I'm sure you have the storage to keep the media.
I work with 8 bit 4K footage on a daily basis from the content creation side of things, and while I'm not saying there's zero difference, it's really not that big of a deal right now. It's kind of like these new P3 displays on recent Macs. Sure, it's a bit more colorful, but there was absolutely nothing wrong with the 2012-2015 15" Retina displays. They're still beautiful screens.
How on earth it wouldn't matter? Have you compared for e.g. The Revenant bluray vs uhd bluray versions. The difference is day and night. 10-bit does indeed matter as the wide color gamut is quite striking in the uhd version as well as HDR. Atleast watch a few on a HDR TV before making such claims.
I've tested this 4K HDR HEVC 10 bit video http://demo-uhd3d.com/fiche.php?cat=uhd&id=150
It's just black and nothing happens in MacOS + VLC
However, I tested it in Windows + MPC and it ran just fine. Mind you that the fans started to go 100% though.
Not feasible for a whole movie.
This is on a 15" MBP 2016, 2,9ghz and AMD 460.
It's just black and nothing happens in MacOS + VLC
However, I tested it in Windows + MPC and it ran just fine. Mind you that the fans started to go 100% though.
Not feasible for a whole movie.
This is on a 15" MBP 2016, 2,9ghz and AMD 460.
Just a thought to those of you who are disappointed....
What are the chances you would actually watch a 4K 10-bit h265 video on your Skylake MBP?
In all honestly, new ARM devices(phones, tablets, mini PCs) with playback support for UHD 10-bit h265 and HDMI w/ 4k 60fps HDR support, will be out eventually and they will be a lot more efficient and probably cheaper than Apple's/intel's offerings. IMHO
[doublepost=1484077591][/doublepost]
Do you really want to debate the quality differential between BluRay/UHD BluRay and streaming/online solutions available today?
What are the chances you would actually watch a 4K 10-bit h265 video on your Skylake MBP?
In all honestly, new ARM devices(phones, tablets, mini PCs) with playback support for UHD 10-bit h265 and HDMI w/ 4k 60fps HDR support, will be out eventually and they will be a lot more efficient and probably cheaper than Apple's/intel's offerings. IMHO
[doublepost=1484077591][/doublepost]
Do you really want to debate the quality differential between BluRay/UHD BluRay and streaming/online solutions available today?
A debate about "quality" doesn't matter when discs are more costly and less convenient.
"Quality" takes a back seat to "Can I watch it now?"