MP 1,1-5,1 4k playback video laggy on Catalina and 3.1 Mac Pro

[3LegsLuigi]

Dear All,



I have a question concerning 4K video playback.



I've upgraded my 2008 Mac Pro 3.1. to following setup and think, that 4K video should play smoothly, but no, it is laggy and stuttering.



Specs:

OS: Catalina 10.15.12

Device: Mac Pro Early 2008

Processor: 2 x 2,8 GHz Quad Core Intel Xeon

RAM: 28 GT

Startup Disk: SSD

GPU: AMD Radeon R9 280x, 3 GT

Could anyone tell me, if it is possible to get 4K to run smoothly? On Youtube etc. I am able to Stream in 4K.



I have an external acer 4K-monitor that currently just runs at 30hz. Anybody having an Idea, how to get it run on 60hz (the Monitor is Supporting 60hz).



Best

Mika

 

[h9826790]

Dear All,



I have a question concerning 4K video playback.



I've upgraded my 2008 Mac Pro 3.1. to following setup and think, that 4K video should play smoothly, but no, it is laggy and stuttering.



Specs:

OS: Catalina 10.15.12

Device: Mac Pro Early 2008

Processor: 2 x 2,8 GHz Quad Core Intel Xeon

RAM: 28 GT

Startup Disk: SSD

GPU: AMD Radeon R9 280x, 3 GT

View attachment 942090





Could anyone tell me, if it is possible to get 4K to run smoothly? On Youtube etc. I am able to Stream in 4K.



I have an external acer 4K-monitor that currently just runs at 30hz. Anybody having an Idea, how to get it run on 60hz (the Monitor is Supporting 60hz).



Best

Mika

If your CPU isn't fast enough, then there is not much you can do. AFAIK, Youtube use VP9 for 4K video, only can be decoded by CPU in macOS on your 3,1, nothing can help.

Anyway, please make sure you connect the monitor via Display Port, but not HDMI. Also, make sure the monitor set to DP 1.2, but not 1.1.

 

[3LegsLuigi]

If your CPU isn't fast enough, then there is not much you can do. AFAIK, Youtube use VP9 for 4K video, only can be decoded by CPU in macOS on your 3,1, nothing can help.

Anyway, please make sure you connect the monitor via Display Port, but not HDMI. Also, make sure the monitor set to DP 1.2, but not 1.1.

Thanks for the fast reply - so it seems, that there is no way getting around buying a new Mac #WaitingForANewImac

 

[Dayo]

Hyvaa,
I'm on a 3,1 as well.
Can you point me to an example of 4k video on Youtube that you have playback issues with?

 

[3LegsLuigi]

Hyvaa,
I'm on a 3,1 as well.
Can you point me to an example of 4k video on Youtube that you have playback issues with?

Hey - i think you guys misunderstood me. 4k is running well on Youtube, but not on my SSD. Seems, that my SSD might be too slow.

Best

 

[opeter]

I don't think that has anything to do with your SSD. The video needs to be decoded by GPU and/or CPU (or combination of both).

Maybe you can upgrade your graphics card to something newer, that is more modern? Like at least a Radeon RX 560 or better...

Here is an interesting video about this:

 

[3LegsLuigi]

Just enabled TRIM and the video began directly become smoother, but still minor stuttering.
Here my Black Magic Disk speed Report.

The GPU should be fast enough for 4k. Bough

 

[h9826790]

Hey - i think you guys misunderstood me. 4k is running well on Youtube, but not on my SSD. Seems, that my SSD might be too slow.

Best

Then you have to show us the video info. Otherwise, no way to tell what's wrong.

e.g. You can use the free version of MediaInfo

MediaInfo - Download MediaInfo for macOS

MediaInfo is a convenient unified display of the most relevant technical and tag data for video and audio files

mediaarea.net

 

[3LegsLuigi]

here one of the video details

View attachment 942867
[automerge]1597074763[/automerge]

 

[opeter]

The 4k video playback (H264) does work on a mechanical hard drive too, because I tested it not long ago on a 2014 Mac mini...

The problem is your CPU/GPU, which cannot hardware decode HEVC/H265 files. That is while it is laggy.

 

[EugW]

The 4k video playback (H264) does work on a mechanical hard drive too, because I tested it not long ago on a 2014 Mac mini...

The problem is your CPU/GPU, which cannot hardware decode HEVC/H265 files. That is while it is laggy.

The video he listed is AVC.

AVC is h.264, not h.265 HEVC.

 

[opeter]

I don't see the his video, so I don't know. If I click on the link he attached, I only get this error message:

 

[EugW]

I don't see the his video, so I don't know. If I click on the link he attached, I only get this error message:

He posted a screen grab of the specs too, and in the specs it is listed as AVC.

 

[h9826790]

here one of the video details
View attachment 942871

View attachment 942867
[automerge]1597074763[/automerge]

Upgrade the GPU to RX460 or above (require SSE emulation), then install OpenCore to activate HWAccel.

This should allow you to play this video smoothly.

 

[Dayo]

Hey - i think you guys misunderstood me. 4k is running well on Youtube, but not on my SSD.

Terve,
That is no reason to buy anything new. You just need to enable video acceleration. Will need OpenCore.
See here for easy setup. The default OpenCore config in that post already has video acceleration.

 

[opeter]

He posted a screen grab of the specs too, and in the specs it is listed as AVC.

Ah, OK. I had to clear the cache of my browser. I didn't see his screen grab. Now I see. Thanks for clarify.

 

[OS6-OSX]

Really not enough information given by the OP.

Playback is soooooo vague!

1. Was playback done by hitting the space bar?
2. Played in an app?

The 4K file I tested for "playback" was 4096 x 2160 Panasonic GH4.
Sitting on what now is a 4 spinner internal RAID 0

A. Hitting space bar-Plays Smoothly
B. MPEG Streamclip 1.9.2-Plays Jittery
C. Quicktime Player 7-Plays Jittery
D. Quicktime Player 10-Plays Jittery
E. VLC 3.0.7.1-Plays Smoothly
F. INA 1.0.1-Plays Smoothly
G. Avid 8.10 Timeline-Plays Smoothly
H. DaVinci 15.3.1 (CUDA CORES)-Plays Smoothly

In addition to the P GH4, I have Alexa, R3D, Sony etc. So yes, it depends on how the 4K is "played back"!

 

[h9826790]

Terve,
That is no reason to buy anything new. You just need to enable video acceleration. Will need OpenCore.
See here for easy setup. The default OpenCore config in that post already has video acceleration.

280X cannot do HWAccel in macOS. OP need a new GPU for that.