iMac 27 2019 4k x264 2160p movies

[Gill Anderson]

Hello everybody, have a simple question.
Want to buy a new iMac, but the most expensive model would be a big overkill for me and to what I'm doing regularly: mostly internet surfing, listening to music and watching movies.
Will intel i5 8500 and Radeon 570x 4gb (iMac 2019 base model) be able to playback 4k 2160p movies smoothly without any lagging, fullscreen on 5k imac display, for example, through VLC? I'am not doing any video editing or something. Just don't want to buy a "typewriter" for 1800$. I want to make sure that after buying I could at least watch my favorite 4k movies without lagging.
Thank you for your help!

 

[iF34R]

I play 4k movies via VLC on my late 2012 iMac, 2GB GTX680. No issues with that. Display is only 1440p though, so not sure if that's going to make a difference.

 

[acorntoy]

You can play 4K X264 movies on much much older hardware than that (as mentioned above), what would push an older computer ( not the newer macs though) is 4K x265. You’ll be more than fine with the model your looking at.

 

[HDFan]

Will intel i5 8500 and Radeon 570x 4gb (iMac 2019 base model) be able to playback 4k 2160p movies smoothly without any lagging, fullscreen on 5k imac display, for example, through VLC?

Do you want to watch the movie with 4K screen resolution, or do you just want to watch it regardless of the screen resolution?

Display is only 1440p though,

In this case the movie isn't being played in 4K.

 

[priitv8]

I play 4k movies via VLC on my late 2012 iMac, 2GB GTX680.

I have switched from VLC to IINA: https://iina.io
Much smaller and cleaner little player. Also supports (tonemaps) HDR formats.

 

[iF34R]

I have switched from VLC to IINA: https://iina.io
Much smaller and cleaner little player. Also supports (tonemaps) HDR formats.

Nice, checking it out now. THanks.

 

[Gill Anderson]

Do you want to watch the movie with 4K screen resolution, or do you just want to watch it regardless of the screen resolution?

5k screen resolution 27'' 5120 × 2880, 4k movie.

 

[mikehalloran]

5k screen resolution 27'' 5120 × 2880, 4k movie.

Of course it will.

It may not stream at that but that's an internet issue, not the iMac.

 

[velocityg4]

That computer won't have any problem handling 4K video playback. Even with HEVC at original UHD Blu Ray bit rate. As it is VLC. As long as the video is formatted in a supported format for hardware acceleration. CPU usage should be negligible. As the integrated graphics can handle hardware accelerated decoding of HEVC. The Radeon GPU could definitely handle it without breaking a sweat.

In this case the movie isn't being played in 4K.

What really matters is the source file when it comes to playback. If the source is a high bitrate 4K HEVC file. It'll take about as much processing power to decode whether the output screen is 4K or 720p.

 

[Gill Anderson]

Thank you all for the replies.