Apple TV app and DRM’d 4K HDR streaming playback support in macOS 10.15 Catalina

[EugW]

I thought DRM’d 4K HDR video streaming and playback support would come to the Mac in 2017 with 2017 Kaby Lake Macs. It finally comes in 2019 with macOS 10.15 Catalina, in the form of an Apple TV app.

Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision supported.

iTunes and others like HBO supported but no mention of Netflix.

Also, no mention of which Macs supported but I’m still guessing 2017 Kaby Lake Macs or later.
[doublepost=1559590649][/doublepost]Dammit all to hell.

2018 or later Macs required.

1. 4K, 4K HDR, 4K Dolby Vision, Dolby Atmos, and HDR10 content is available on all Mac models introduced in 2018 or later with 4K-resolution screens.
2. Some services require a subscription
3. Dolby Atmos is available on Mac notebooks introduced in 2018 or later.

 

[Marketh]

Be interested to know if this applies to Netflix too/all HDR web content... hopefully it will.

 

[zorinlynx]

Why the hell are not all 4K and 5K iMacs supported? These machines have lovely screens and can easily playback 4K content. And they DO support it under Windows, so it's obviously not a hardware issue? WTF?

 

[DannyT2011]

Not aware of any differences in screens between the 2017 and 2019 5K iMacs so very disappointed to find mine isn't supported. Hopefully there'll be some changes in the coming months!

 

[sputnikBA]

I'm very interest in hearing the reasoning for this.

An iMac Pro can generate and manipulate a variety of 4K content regardless of codec and even RAW... but playback is somehow out of the question?????

 

[JimmyBanks6]

This is why people complain about planned obsolescence.

So they are saying my 2017 MBP can’t play 4K videos from my iTunes collection on my 4K monitor?

Ridiculous.

 

[EugW]

Why the hell are not all 4K and 5K iMacs supported? These machines have lovely screens and can easily playback 4K content. And they DO support it under Windows, so it's obviously not a hardware issue? WTF?

Mac hardware before 2017 does not support it. Likely requires the DRM hardware that first appeared with Kaby Lake chips. These showed up in Macs in 2017.

However, Apple still chose not to support the 2017 Macs.

 

[zorinlynx]

Mac hardware before 2017 does not support it. Likely requires the DRM hardware that first appeared with Kaby Lake chips. These showed up in Macs in 2017.

However, Apple still chose not to support the 2017 Macs.

If it requires special DRM hardware, then how come Windows machines have supported 4K Netflix and such for a while now? Are the studios holding Apple to a higher security standard?

This is all so absurd since the DRM has been cracked already anyway.

 

[EugW]

If it requires special DRM hardware, then how come Windows machines have supported 4K Netflix and such for a while now? Are the studios holding Apple to a higher security standard?

They’ve supported it since Kaby Lake came out and Windows was updated to support it. However, that was not until about November/December 2016, so 2.5 years ago.

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/201...ing-pc-kaby-lake-cpu-windows-10-edge-browser/

As mentioned, Apple got Kaby Lake in 2017. However, Apple never bothered updating the OS to support it until Catalina.

*I’m assuming they are using the same hardware DRM and not some other different hardware DRM. I know it’s not T2 since not all 2018 Macs have T2.

 

[JimmyBanks6]

I've emailed a complaint. You all should too.

 

[BeatCrazy]

I'm very interest in hearing the reasoning for this.

An iMac Pro can generate and manipulate a variety of 4K content regardless of codec and even RAW... but playback is somehow out of the question?????

Agreed, totally ridiculous. Apple has been known to update footnotes and video/display compatibility language, so I'm holding out hope that the iMac Pro will be added to the list.

 

[EugW]

Agreed, totally ridiculous. Apple has been known to update footnotes and video/display compatibility language, so I'm holding out hope that the iMac Pro will be added to the list.

Ironically, the 2017 iMac would be easier to support than the iMac Pro.

The iMac Pro CPUs do not have support for this, so they’d have to implement it differently, via the iMac Pro’s discrete GPU.

 

[BeatCrazy]

Ironically, the 2017 iMac would be easier to support than the iMac Pro.

The iMac Pro CPUs do not have support for this, so they’d have to implement it differently, via the iMac Pro’s discrete GPU.

Which makes the iMac Pro closer to the new Mac Pro, which of course will support 4K, HDR, Dolby Vision, etc. So whatever discrete GPU support they're doing for the Mac Pro, they should include for the iMac Pro, as well. It's not like it's going anywhere

 

[EugW]

Which makes the iMac Pro closer to the new Mac Pro, which of course will support 4K, HDR, Dolby Vision, etc. So whatever discrete GPU support they're doing for the Mac Pro, they should include for the iMac Pro, as well. It's not like it's going anywhere

Don’t get me wrong... I agree with you.

 

[OVERTASK]

I thought DRM’d 4K HDR video streaming and playback support would come to the Mac in 2017 with 2017 Kaby Lake Macs. It finally comes in 2019 with macOS 10.15 Catalina, in the form of an Apple TV app.

Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision supported.

iTunes and others like HBO supported but no mention of Netflix.

Also, no mention of which Macs supported but I’m still guessing 2017 Kaby Lake Macs or later.
[doublepost=1559590649][/doublepost]Dammit all to hell.

2018 or later Macs required.

1. 4K, 4K HDR, 4K Dolby Vision, Dolby Atmos, and HDR10 content is available on all Mac models introduced in 2018 or later with 4K-resolution screens.
2. Some services require a subscription
3. Dolby Atmos is available on Mac notebooks introduced in 2018 or later.

Honestly this mess of DRM is why a lot of people torrent - in my case despite having an active Netflix UHD sub, because sometimes I don't want to watch it on a TV or ht

 

[oppastopa]

I am really happy they are finally letting *some* users watch 4k content natively via iTunes.

 

[tod1212]

I might be wrong, but it looks like you need a coffee lake (or later) cpu for this.
I am not sure why, since the kaby lakes do support 4K and 10 Bit HDR.
This is really disappointing that an 2017 5K iMac that is perfectly capable to drive a 5K display will not be able to play 4K content...

 

[WhatTheCJ]

I thought DRM’d 4K HDR video streaming and playback support would come to the Mac in 2017 with 2017 Kaby Lake Macs. It finally comes in 2019 with macOS 10.15 Catalina, in the form of an Apple TV app.

Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision supported.

iTunes and others like HBO supported but no mention of Netflix.

Also, no mention of which Macs supported but I’m still guessing 2017 Kaby Lake Macs or later.
[doublepost=1559590649][/doublepost]Dammit all to hell.

2018 or later Macs required.

1. 4K, 4K HDR, 4K Dolby Vision, Dolby Atmos, and HDR10 content is available on all Mac models introduced in 2018 or later with 4K-resolution screens.
2. Some services require a subscription
3. Dolby Atmos is available on Mac notebooks introduced in 2018 or later.

Does the new  TV app bring you to the respective streaming service's website? For example, if I want to watch a show that is on Hulu how does it go about playing the video?

 

[Somian]

Im very upset by this.

I recently paid over $6000 for my iMac Pro for the precise feature of high resolution video support and editing and now they’re saying it can’t do 4K?

DRM is not a valid reason. If the device is technically capable of it (and the iMac pro was marketed as 8k video capable) they should allow it. Everything else is nothing but planned obsolescence.

The fact that movie studios might impose these restrictions doesn’t change anything either.

I recently wrote this on my blog and now these news feel like a slap in the face.

https://somian.net/blog/drm-obsolescence

DRM (= making something arbitrarily not work so people buy the new stuff) should be illegal.

 

[The Phazer]

They’ve supported it since Kaby Lake came out and Windows was updated to support it. However, that was not until about November/December 2016, so 2.5 years ago.

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/201...ing-pc-kaby-lake-cpu-windows-10-edge-browser/

As mentioned, Apple got Kaby Lake in 2017. However, Apple never bothered updating the OS to support it until Catalina.

*I’m assuming they are using the same hardware DRM and not some other different hardware DRM. I know it’s not T2 since not all 2018 Macs have T2.

It's not the same hardware DRM. On Windows an IP block of Microsoft's PlayReady DRM is built into the processor or graphics card. On MacOS it's Apple's FairPlay. Apple aren't going to use PlayReady because they'd have to pay Microsoft to do so.

 

[sputnikBA]

I've emailed a complaint. You all should too.

I am currently doing the same. I'm trying to keep it formal while making it clear how annoyed I am by this turn of events.

Im very upset by this.

I recently paid over $6000 for my iMac Pro for the precise feature of high resolution video support and editing and now they’re saying it can’t do 4K?

You should write in too https://www.apple.com/feedback/imac-pro.html
- and anyone else with an upper-tier Mac. https://www.apple.com/feedback/

 

[redheeler]

I thought DRM’d 4K HDR video streaming and playback support would come to the Mac in 2017 with 2017 Kaby Lake Macs. It finally comes in 2019 with macOS 10.15 Catalina, in the form of an Apple TV app.

Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision supported.

iTunes and others like HBO supported but no mention of Netflix.

Also, no mention of which Macs supported but I’m still guessing 2017 Kaby Lake Macs or later.
[doublepost=1559590649][/doublepost]Dammit all to hell.

2018 or later Macs required.

1. 4K, 4K HDR, 4K Dolby Vision, Dolby Atmos, and HDR10 content is available on all Mac models introduced in 2018 or later with 4K-resolution screens.
2. Some services require a subscription
3. Dolby Atmos is available on Mac notebooks introduced in 2018 or later.

No software or GPU-based decoding for older hardware, not even 2017 models? Apple is determined to keep 4K movie piracy alive. Sure beats dealing with these various DRM schemes that do more to encourage piracy than dissuade it...

 

[EugW]

I am currently doing the same. I'm trying to keep it formal while making it clear how annoyed I am by this turn of events.

You should write in too https://www.apple.com/feedback/imac-pro.html
- and anyone else with an upper-tier Mac. https://www.apple.com/feedback/

I have written in.

It should be noted that the 2017 iMacs were for sale until less than three months ago, and the iMac Pro is STILL for sale as the most up-to-date model.

It's not the same hardware DRM. On Windows an IP block of Microsoft's PlayReady DRM is built into the processor or graphics card. On MacOS it's Apple's FairPlay. Apple aren't going to use PlayReady because they'd have to pay Microsoft to do so.

? Are you sure it's Microsoft's IP on Intel's chips? I haven't seen any link that states that. Correct me if I'm wrong but my understanding was that MS's PlayReady 3.0 was a software solution that utilizes third party secure hardware DRM features. If true, that would mean that FairPlay would be the competing software solution that utilizes the same third party security hardware DRM features.

If it really is a different hardware solution for Macs, then what is that hardware? We know it's not T2, since it will run on non-T2 Macs. And Coffee Lake is basically just Kaby Lake with more cores and an updated chipset.

 

[Shirasaki]

Why the hell are not all 4K and 5K iMacs supported? These machines have lovely screens and can easily playback 4K content. And they DO support it under Windows, so it's obviously not a hardware issue? WTF?

I'm very interest in hearing the reasoning for this.

An iMac Pro can generate and manipulate a variety of 4K content regardless of codec and even RAW... but playback is somehow out of the question?????

Probably just to compete with other guys. Hell, even DRM needs competition.
Just like Somian says, with the incoming IoT, do our light bulb need replacement because software on that bulb cannot be upgraded anymore? Sadly, I see no one bother breaking this horrible future, and it will come. Not able to watch 4K is nothing compared to the huge forced replacement cost of home appliances because of DRM.

 

[vagos1103gr]

I have a Mac mini 2018 i5 with razor vega64 and lg 27 4k hdr monitor connected with display port, but I can't see any of my 4k movies in uhd on Catalina beta 1. Shows as hd, maybe cause is still in beta?