We all have different situations. I have 200Mbps down, which is the slowest connection Comcast offers, and I never hit that when streaming media, so I’d gladly take the resolution increase if my computer and display can handle it.
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Are M1 Macs ready for 8K Youtube?
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Another benefit of 8K hardware decode is you don't have to transcode down for local content, otherwise, if someone shares an 8K video you'll have to transcode down to 4K or whatever the limitation of your hardware is. Nvidia dGPU and Intel QuickSync iGPU are usually leaders.
I can run 8k/4320p almost good a bit lag but no fan noise, 4k/2160p runs perfect no lag and no fan noise.
This is all running well on the MacBook Pro, 13, or the M2 8gb
This is all running well on the MacBook Pro, 13, or the M2 8gb
You don't need an 8K display to benefit from 8K decoding. People often play YouTube videos at a higher resolution than their display to compensate for compression and loss of detail. For local content, 8K content on 4K display has better detail than 4K on 4K.
I don't see the point of 8k from YouTube. YouTube's compression significantly reduces the quality of even 1080p content*, so the amount of compression they'd need to apply to 8k would certainly result in its quality being relatively poor.
*To see this, compare 1080p on YouTube to a 1080p Blu-Ray--the difference is striking (Blu-Ray is itself also compressed, but it's far less compressed than YouTube).
*To see this, compare 1080p on YouTube to a 1080p Blu-Ray--the difference is striking (Blu-Ray is itself also compressed, but it's far less compressed than YouTube).
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I have a fully spec'd MacBook Air M2. I only seem to have problems with 8K *HDR* videos on YouTube in AV1 (yes I realize that my screen is not HDR like MBP, but I can't simply request a non-HDR version on youtube). I have gigabit fiber internet, so that is not the issue. 8K non-HDR AV1 videos play just fine.
On Chrome:
8K HDR: laggy/skips:
8K non-HDR: plays smooth as silk (AV1!)
4K HDR and non-HDR both play fine (but both of these these are encoded in VP9 not AV1).
Can anyone else confirm that the 8K HDR video above is lagging for them? If any of you have a Mac that plays the first 8K HDR AV1 video smoothly without any dropped frames or lag, please let me know which model that is. Would be even curious if Pro Intel models are ok with that, or if having tons of CPU cores like with a Mac Studio or MBP M1 Pro/Max would solve the problem and play the 8K HDR AV1 videos fine.
For now, the M2 MBA (at least in my experience) cannot handle the software decoding of 8K (HDR) AV1 in Chrome, but non-HDR works well.
On Chrome:
8K HDR: laggy/skips:
8K non-HDR: plays smooth as silk (AV1!)
4K HDR and non-HDR both play fine (but both of these these are encoded in VP9 not AV1).
Can anyone else confirm that the 8K HDR video above is lagging for them? If any of you have a Mac that plays the first 8K HDR AV1 video smoothly without any dropped frames or lag, please let me know which model that is. Would be even curious if Pro Intel models are ok with that, or if having tons of CPU cores like with a Mac Studio or MBP M1 Pro/Max would solve the problem and play the 8K HDR AV1 videos fine.
For now, the M2 MBA (at least in my experience) cannot handle the software decoding of 8K (HDR) AV1 in Chrome, but non-HDR works well.
This in my opinion is a place where Apple is behind. Yes we have the Pro Display XDR and it’s 5 k support. For the most part, all of the PC industry is behind. The only 8k monitor that I know of is from Dell. It uses a funky two display port system. So one reason why no one does anything with 8k with true computer displays is because there is no standard for delivery of the video to the monitor.
Apple is in a perfect position to charge this. They use Thunderbolt four, and soon thunderbolt five for display hook up. They can provide a 8k display and the Thunderbolt way to connect it.
Apple is in a perfect position to charge this. They use Thunderbolt four, and soon thunderbolt five for display hook up. They can provide a 8k display and the Thunderbolt way to connect it.
It depends on what you need, really. When you're talking about the differences between 480P and 1080P, or even 1080P (which is 2K) and 4k, you might be able to see the difference on a large enough display (21"+). On my M2 Air I can't see a difference between 1440P and 4K, so i don't bother watching in 4K. The 8K difference is even subtler unless, as others have pointed out, you're watching the content on a cinema-sized screen (50 feet+).
Will the M1 playback 8K YouTube? Totally. Playback is way easier than rendering or exporting in those resolutions. My previous machine, a 2015 MBP, could play back 4K content without issue so I see no reason an M1 couldn't handle 8K. My M2 Air barely breaks temperatures off idle playing 8K.
So the capability is there. But the question you want to ask is, do you really need it?
Will the M1 playback 8K YouTube? Totally. Playback is way easier than rendering or exporting in those resolutions. My previous machine, a 2015 MBP, could play back 4K content without issue so I see no reason an M1 couldn't handle 8K. My M2 Air barely breaks temperatures off idle playing 8K.
So the capability is there. But the question you want to ask is, do you really need it?
I’ve got a Sony 65x95j and my mini m1 runs at 1080p , anything higher res and even if I sit close it’s too small
God knows why anyone would use an 8k screen in native to uses as a Mac monitor 😆
God knows why anyone would use an 8k screen in native to uses as a Mac monitor 😆
8K is a useless tech that companies try to sell you so you dump all your crap out and buy new crap, mainly televisions 8k for the majority of people will be pointless tech, but a lot of people will buy a 55' 8K tv anyways and dump out their AMOLED 4KTV they just bought 3 years ago after they just dumped out their 4K LED 2 years before that, and there 1080P TV 2 years before that. I really miss when a TV was basically a piece of furniture, you bought one every 10-20 years if that.
8K not only is completely useless on any of the current Macs, but I'm also pretty sure that the current Macs other than maybe the Studio can even output in it.
8K not only is completely useless on any of the current Macs, but I'm also pretty sure that the current Macs other than maybe the Studio can even output in it.
Can you confirm that this video:
They don't make 55" 8k TVs. It would be useless on a screen that small. There are relatively very few 8k TVs in existence and they all cost thousands of dollars. No one is rushing out to buy 8k yet.
I get that. There weren’t any 30in 4K TVs either but here we are. We don’t have it now but as the tech gets cheaper we will. Whatever they got to do to sell a tv they will do it.
The M2 MacBook Air has a 2560 x 1664 resolution, that's 2.5K horizontal pixels. It can't even show a full 4K video (3840 x 2160) in native resolution. Unless you plug in an external 6K@60Hz monitor. So why do you even want to see an 8K option?
I can confirm it runs smoothly in 720p60 HDR, which is all you need until you go fullscreen. 😜
8K is only useless for Apple Silicon with HDMI 2.0. 2019 Mac Pro owners have embraced 8K.
https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...-2-0-displays-on-mac-pro-yes-you-can.2309750/
The biggest issue is getting the ability to play 8K on YouTube. I usually have to download them as YouTube simply don't give me the option, be it Safari, Chrome or Brave.
Some of the videos from Jacob + Katie Schwarz play back fine with AV1 8K, like the Iceland video while others have dropped frames. If the videos are 10-bit HDR AV1 the bitrate is far higher than just 8K AV1, which result in the dropped frames on my M1 Max.
I should mention these videos are played on my 8K display.
By your logic 4K, 1440p, 1080p and 720p were useless and we should stick to 480p.
For others that need a large workspace with high pixel density on a single monitor then 8K is progress. DisplayPort 2.1 with support for 8K 85Hz rumored to be announced by AMD at 1pm PDT today will accelerate 8K adoption like HDMI 2.1/DisplayPort 1.4 did for 4K.
Not at all. There are a lot of people that would love a 32" 8K display that renders 4K Retina. I'm a developer. I want real estate and I want clarity, and right now we haver to pick one or the other.
For reference, I'm currently running 2x Dell 2720Q's @ 4K native (no scaling). I'd happily fork over XDR prices for 4K retina though.
I can confirm 4320p60 playback via Chrome on my Mac Studio + Pro Display XDR. A few dropped frames, but nothing too bad.
I tried it also on my M1 MacBook Air, and the buffering made it unwatchable. This was with a wired LAN connection (2.5Gb connection and 5Gb fiber internet), so I think the decoding of the base M1 simply could not keep up with YouTube. And the M1 Air got really hot trying to play it!