8K YouTube Video on 14" MBP Shutters

[x302]

This is a weird issue, one I didn't think I'd experience with a new M1 Pro laptop.

The attached video shows an 8K YouTube video shuttering which is annoying to say the least as my 2019 27" iMac doesn't experience the same issue.

I'd have thought the way Apple was promoting the MBPs wouldn't have this problem.

Any suggestions of what I could try to fix this?

 

[Fomalhaut]

This is a weird issue, one I didn't think I'd experience with a new M1 Pro laptop.

The attached video shows an 8K YouTube video shuttering which is annoying to say the least as my 2019 27" iMac doesn't experience the same issue.

I'd have thought the way Apple was promoting the MBPs wouldn't have this problem.

Any suggestions of what I could try to fix this?

View attachment 1880372 er

Is your Internet connection up to it, or under load from other users?

See if you can find some non-streaming 8K footage to download and repeat the test

 

[Krevnik]

I see the same thing. Seeing as the CPU usage is only 20% playing back 8K, and the buffer is perfectly healthy, it has to be something with the VP9 hardware decoder or a bug in the software driving the decoder.

That said, Apple's talk has been on H.265 and ProRes. I'm honestly surprised they have a hardware decoder for VP9 at all.

 

[x302]

I see the same thing. Seeing as the CPU usage is only 20% playing back 8K, and the buffer is perfectly healthy, it has to be something with the VP9 hardware decoder or a bug in the software driving the decoder.

Thanks! Happy in a way to know it isn't just me. Weird that there's no issue on my older iMac but is on the new MBP. Since it isn't a hardware issue I'm not worried now.

 

[Adarna]

Thanks! Happy in a way to know it isn't just me. Weird that there's no issue on my older iMac but is on the new MBP. Since it isn't a hardware issue I'm not worried now.

How does it look on your 8K projector or external display?

 

[white7561]

Thanks! Happy in a way to know it isn't just me. Weird that there's no issue on my older iMac but is on the new MBP. Since it isn't a hardware issue I'm not worried now.

Are both running AV1? since it seems like YouTube is starting to push AV1 usage instead of VP9 on 8K videos. Check on both Mac and right click and check stats for nerds. It'll show you if it's av1 or vp9

 

[Frank7f]

I see the same thing. Seeing as the CPU usage is only 20% playing back 8K, and the buffer is perfectly healthy, it has to be something with the VP9 hardware decoder or a bug in the software driving the decoder.

That said, Apple's talk has been on H.265 and ProRes. I'm honestly surprised they have a hardware decoder for VP9 at all.

Actually M1 Macs already had it.

 

[senttoschool]

I see the same thing. Seeing as the CPU usage is only 20% playing back 8K, and the buffer is perfectly healthy, it has to be something with the VP9 hardware decoder or a bug in the software driving the decoder.

That said, Apple's talk has been on H.265 and ProRes. I'm honestly surprised they have a hardware decoder for VP9 at all.

Saves a lot of battery life with a hardware decoder since Youtube is used a lot by users and reviewers.

 

[Frank7f]

Are both running AV1? since it seems like YouTube is starting to push AV1 usage instead of VP9 on 8K videos. Check on both Mac and right click and check stats for nerds. It'll show you if it's av1 or vp9

He's already showing it, it's playing with VP9. I'd suggest trying with Google Chrome, and also try playing with AV1, by enabling it in the YouTube page.

 

[Frank7f]

To play with AV1 set "Always prefer AV1" in the YouTube settings, with Google Chrome. Then you can play some video that supports it, such as this one:

He's already showing it, it's playing with VP9. I'd suggest trying with Google Chrome, and also try playing with AV1, by enabling it in the YouTube page.

 

[white7561]

He's already showing it, it's playing with VP9. I'd suggest trying with Google Chrome, and also try playing with AV1, by enabling it in the YouTube page.

Yeh. Would need to compare the power usage and performance on chrome for AV1 vs VP9 on things like 4k and 4k HDR .

Also. Does anyone know if 4k HDR in YouTube on chrome is more washed out than in safari?

 

[x302]

Thanks for the suggestions.

The Japan video using AV1 in chrome was flawless, as was the NY video using VP9 with Chrome so it seems to be a Safari issue, which is odd.

 

[white7561]

Thanks for the suggestions.

The Japan video using AV1 in chrome was flawless, as was the NY video using VP9 with Chrome so it seems to be a Safari issue, which is odd.

On 8K? Nice. So yeah i think safari on Monterey is buggy . With the 120fps issue and this. Yeah i think they need to fix it later haha.

We have another issue. Some people on other thread tried playing HDR YouTube and when you scroll in the comments like fast, it kernel panics. Both on chrome and safari. Might be Monterey too. The person said it is fixed when I recommended the vp9 only using an extension. So idk for sure. Since again I can't test it in my machine since it's not here yet

 

[Macintosh IIcx]

Thanks for the suggestions.

The Japan video using AV1 in chrome was flawless, as was the NY video using VP9 with Chrome so it seems to be a Safari issue, which is odd.

LOL, I'm starting to think they shipped the wrong version on Safari on the macOS 12 ARM build - also issues with ProMotion! ?

 

[white7561]

LOL, I'm starting to think they shipped the wrong version on Safari on the macOS 12 ARM build - also issues with ProMotion! ?

TRUE LOL

 

[Fomalhaut]

LOL, I'm starting to think they shipped the wrong version on Safari on the macOS 12 ARM build - also issues with ProMotion! ?

Ah, the joys of being an early-adopter

I'll give it 2-3 months to let others smoke-test the system and find the bugs, plus allow a couple of MacOS version upgrades to fix them.

 

[Frank7f]

Anyway I can confirm the same behavior on mine. Lot of stuttering with 8K VP9 on Safari. Though I noticed it also on Chrome and Firefox (8K VP9), even though it seems they're using software decoding, since cpu usage was >60%.
As far as AV1 is concerned it seems there's no hw decoding in M1 Pro, since on Safari/Chrome/Firefox the CPU usage skyrockets (both with 8K and 4K videos, 8K are unwatchable, with CPU > 80% and lot of stuttering).
I should say that I've only tested it with YouTube in browsers, test with downloaded videos should carry definitive answers.

 

[white7561]

Anyway I can confirm the same behavior on mine. Lot of stuttering with 8K VP9 on Safari. Though I noticed it also on Chrome and Firefox (8K VP9), even though it seems they're using software decoding, since cpu usage was >60%.
As far as AV1 is concerned it seems there's no hw decoding in M1 Pro, since on Safari/Chrome/Firefox the CPU usage skyrockets (both with 8K and 4K videos, 8K are unwatchable, with CPU > 80% and lot of stuttering).
I should say that I've only tested it with YouTube in browsers, test with downloaded videos should carry definitive answers.

For downloaded videos. It doesn't take that much power compared to vp9 4k. Check this out . This is a testing on the M1 https://singhkays.com/blog/apple-silicon-m1-video-power-consumption-pt-2/#videos-tested

Anyways, so in 4K and 4K HDR. does AV1 noticably uses more CPU than VP9? if yes I will remember to use an extension to disable AV1 . Thank you

 

[Frank7f]

For downloaded videos. It doesn't take that much power compared to vp9 4k. Check this out . This is a testing on the M1 https://singhkays.com/blog/apple-silicon-m1-video-power-consumption-pt-2/#videos-tested

Anyways, so in 4K and 4K HDR. does AV1 noticably uses more CPU than VP9? if yes I will remember to use an extension to disable AV1 . Thank you

Yeah, on M1 Pro, with Firefox for reference, a 4K VP9 video on YouTube takes max 10% of CPU (HW decoding), while a 4K AV1 (SW decoding) around 30%. Obviously these will slightly differ upon diff bitrate, future sw decoder optimizations etc.

 

[white7561]

Yeah, on M1 Pro, with Firefox for reference, a 4K VP9 video on YouTube takes max 10% of CPU (HW decoding), while a 4K AV1 (SW decoding) around 30%. Obviously these will slightly differ upon diff bitrate, future sw decoder optimizations etc.

Yeah i guess Im using extension to disable av1 for now. Since it doesn't matter anyways. We'll always get 4k which is more than enough.

Also 4k should be hw accelerated to 4096x4096 . According to chrome://gpu .

My question is
1. Does VP9 8K uses that much more CPU usage (which suggests SW decoding) compared to the VP9 4K?
2. Does VP9 4K HDR uses much power compared to normal VP9 4K?

I would try it myself since i don't want to bother anyone but I haven't gotten my MBP yet

 

[mi7chy]

Anyway I can confirm the same behavior on mine. Lot of stuttering with 8K VP9 on Safari. Though I noticed it also on Chrome and Firefox (8K VP9), even though it seems they're using software decoding, since cpu usage was >60%.
As far as AV1 is concerned it seems there's no hw decoding in M1 Pro, since on Safari/Chrome/Firefox the CPU usage skyrockets (both with 8K and 4K videos, 8K are unwatchable, with CPU > 80% and lot of stuttering).
I should say that I've only tested it with YouTube in browsers, test with downloaded videos should carry definitive answers.

You're on the right track. I've used youtube-dl to download the 8k vp9 and av1 videos to play locally with Apple native player and IINA to see if it's just a browser issue or system wide. On the MBA M1 it also appears to be software decoding with higher CPU utilization.

Very few devices on the market like mobile Nvidia 3000 series dGPUs that can hardware decode 8k av1 and vp9.